Rescuing Track and Field Would Be His Biggest Leap

There’s nothing wrong with track and field that Jesse “the Mind” Ventura couldn’t cure.

Unfortunately, he’s occupied for four years.

So it’s up to Dwight “the Mouth” Stones to help rescue the sport.

I give him that nickname, by the way, with sincere regard. First, he makes a living as track and field’s most insightful television commentator and, second, he’s among the few who care about the sport who still has the energy to preach.

“I told people in 1984 that our sport was like the Olympic flame; it goes out after 16 days unless we have a plan to build off the Games in Los Angeles,” he said recently.

“Lo and behold, we had another golden opportunity 12 years later with the Games in Atlanta, and the same thing happened. We had no plan and we were sticking to it.”

Stones, however, is doing whatever he can as a special envoy to athletes from the new USA Track & Field executive director, Craig Masback.

“The first thing I tell them is that you always have to assume you’re behind in the debt we owe to the sport and that you’d better keep making payments,” said Stones, 44, a three-time Olympic high jumper.

They can do that, he said, by agreeing to compete in domestic meets such as the Mt. SAC Relays and Modesto Relays even if they have to settle for expense checks. They can make plenty of money later in the year in Europe.

Also, he said, they need to sell themselves a little harder.

For those who aren’t sure how to do that, he’s showing them World Wrestling Federation tapes. The sprinters don’t need them. Stone Cold Steve Austin could learn from Jon Drummond, Ato Boldon, Maurice Greene and Donovan Bailey. But most other track and field athletes need to loosen up.

“We’re not curing cancer here,” Stones said.

He will be inducted Thursday night in Orlando, Fla., into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame along with Greg Foster, Francie Larrieu Smith and Jay Silvester. Xerox is the sponsor. Too bad they can’t duplicate Stones.

*

If Todd Hundley is healthy, most teams would consider him a better value at his salary than Mike Piazza at his. . . .

The Mets aren’t one of them. . . .

Or either they don’t think Hundley is healed from elbow surgery. But the Dodgers do, and if they’re right, they made a great deal Tuesday. . . .

Hundley is no Piazza as a hitter, few in history have been. . . .

Hundley, however, hits with power from both sides of the plate and is better defensively than Piazza. . . .

This probably isn’t a trade Tom Lasorda would have made. . . .

Hundley feuded in New York with Bobby Valentine, Lasorda’s favorite manager. . . .

But Lasorda wouldn’t have had to trade for a catcher because he never would have let Piazza go. . . .

Maybe you think John Wooden Classic refers to the basketball extravaganza this weekend at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. . . .

Wrong. Actually, it refers to a day the coach had on a South Bend, Ind., golf course almost 60 years ago. . . .

He aced a par-three, 175-yard hole on the front nine, then, using a brassie, had a double eagle on a par-five, 525-yard hole on the back nine. . . .

Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks repeated as Track & Field News’ female athlete of the year. . . .

Ranked No. 1 in the 100 meters, 200 and long jump, she is only the third person to achieve that triple. Carl Lewis was the last, in 1987. . . .

John Godina, formerly of UCLA, was the magazine’s top American man, with world rankings of No. 1 in the shotput and No. 3 in the discus. . . .

How good is Canada’s Bailey at trash talking? Even while vowing to quit, he said, “I got caught up in things being said by other, less intelligent competitors.” . . .

USC’s track coach, Ron Allice, deserves some credit for Paul Hackett’s successful recruitment of two Long Beach Poly stars--wide receiver Kareem Kelly and defensive back Darrell Rideaux. . . .

Rideaux, the state 100 champion, and Kelly, the state 200 champion, wanted to be part of the Trojan resurgence in football and track. . . .

Speculation is that Vanderbilt’s head coach, Woody Widenhofer, will step up to take the Florida defensive coordinator job vacated by Bob Stoops. . . .

Yes, that’s considered a step up.

*

While wondering why the colors of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Marques Johnson and Jamaal Wilkes are no longer good enough for UCLA, I was thinking: Track and field is the best sport even if hardly anyone realizes it, Bryant Young is almost as much of a loss to the 49ers as Steve Young would have been, I’m already tired of hearing, “Oklahoma Stoops to Conquer.”

*

Randy Harvey can be reached at randy.harvey@latimes.com.