‘At the Wire, It’s Pea Soup By a Nose!’

Bruce Keidan of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recalls that Charlie Hinkle was the track announcer at the Meadows in Western Pennsylvania when he called the race of his life one foggy night 20-some years ago:

“The patrons could not see the racetrack, so impenetrable was the fog. But Charlie described the race for them, and a thriller it was, culminating in a three-horse duel down the stretch.”

Keidan writes that Charlie called out the names of the win, place and show horses and some people went to collect on their wagers.

“There was only one problem: The stewards had postponed the race. It had yet to be run. The thrilling duel to the wire had taken place in Charlie’s well-oiled imagination, nowhere else.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the men’s NCAA Division I record for most blocked shots in a tournament game?

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Shorter too: Gene Sarazen, a golf legend at 96, on why he changed his name from Eugenio Saraceni after he saw it in newspapers as a young man: “It looked too much like a violin player.”

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Trashing Tubbs: Random thoughts from Tim Keown of the San Francisco Chronicle on the men’s NCAA basketball tournament:

* “The one coach who deserves to be beaten 117-49: Billy Tubbs. [Florida State beat Texas Christian, but only 96-89.]

* “If [the selection committee] puts so much value on a strong finish, there’s one team with a major gripe: USC.

* “Put the letters back when you’re finished, please: Nkechi Ezugwu [of Eastern Michigan].”

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Throw in some fries: A Romanian soccer team recently dealt a player for two tons of meat.

Said Bob Kravitz of the Rocky Mountain News: “I’m wondering, could the Nuggets get a quarter-pounder with cheese for Priest Lauderdale?”

Isolation: Letter to the San Jose Mercury News from Bill Pugh: “The Warriors should keep Latrell Sprewell, eat the $17 million, and make him sit on the bench for the next two years.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1963, Guy Rodgers of the San Francisco Warriors had 28 assists in a 114-109 loss to the St. Louis Hawks, tying an NBA record set by Boston’s Bob Cousy in 1959.

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Trivia answer: Shaquille O’Neal of Louisiana State, with 11 against Brigham Young in a first-round West Regional game in 1992.

LSU won, 94-83, but lost to Indiana in the second round, 89-79.

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And finally: More from Bud Withers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on hazards of the road in college basketball:

“After a game at Northwestern, Michigan State found itself cooling its heels in bad weather at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. [Coach Jud] Heathcote, ducking out of a service door to survey progress, got a surprise.

“ ‘I ran into the [airplane] de-icer,’ Heathcote says. “ ‘I’m just soaked from head to to foot. The kids were pointing and giggling.’ ”