He Scored for the Other Team? Get Me the FBI

The box score of a March 23, 1979, game between the New Jersey Nets and Philadelphia 76ers had three players playing for both teams--and it wasn’t a typographical error.

The game originally was played Nov. 8, 1978, with the 76ers winning in double overtime. However, the game was protested with 5:50 remaining in the third quarter with the 76ers leading, 84-81, because of errors by the officials.

The game was then replayed from the third quarter on March 23, with an altered cast. Eric Money, who was with New Jersey, and Harvey Catchings and Ralph Simpson, who were with the 76ers, switched teams in a trade Feb. 7, 1979.

The 76ers finally won after a four-month delay, 123-117. Money had the distinction of scoring for both teams--23 for the losers, and four for the winners.

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Trivia time: Who holds the record for the highest field-goal percentage in the NCAA men’s championship basketball game?

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Tip money: After seldom-used Ed Pinckney of the Miami Heat played 11 minutes in a recent game, he jokingly complained about his $300,000 salary.

The word got back to Heat Coach Pat Riley, who then handed Pinckney a $100 bill. “I’m sure I’ll get called on the carpet for that,” Riley said of the NBA’s salary-cap rules.

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Money watch: Actor Ving Rhames has been signed to star as Don King in a biographical film about the boxing promoter for HBO Pictures.

Said Michael Ventre of MSNBC: “The producers are still searching for just the right sack of cash to play King’s love interest.”

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Hoop dreams: Carol Adubato, wife of Orlando Magic Coach Richie Adubato, on her husband’s obsession with basketball:

“I woke up with his hand on my head. He was palming it. I asked him, ‘What are you doing?’ and he said he was dreaming he was going in for a dunk. The man is consumed with basketball.”

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Student athletes: The University of Georgia has graduated a 91-year-old student, prompting this comment from Jay Leno:

“This is going into the Guinness book of records. They said this is the longest amount of time taken to graduate by someone who is not on a football scholarship.”

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Come again? Wide receiver Andre Rison, recently released by the Green Bay Packers: “Jerry Rice is the greatest, and I’m the best.”

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Trivia answer: Bill Walton of UCLA against Memphis State in 1973, 21 of 22, 95.5%

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And finally: If you’re looking for a golf course where caddies won’t be giving you advice, the River Valley Country Club in the Canadian city of St. Marys is the place.

Former New York Ranger star Walt Tkaczuk, who is co-owner of the course, plans to use four llamas as caddies. The llamas will be available at $25-$30 for nine holes and $35-$40 for 18.

Will they also be available to help you look for lost balls?