It May Take Better Halves to Solve This

David Casstevens, writing in the Arizona Republic on the NBA lockout: “The real issue, the most important question players may be asking themselves, or soon will, is how many paychecks their wives are willing to miss.

“It’s my belief that pro basketball’s labor strife won’t be settled by the commissioner or the owners or the union, but rather by the players’ spouses or significant others.

“A friend may have described many marriages when he said of his own, ‘I make all the big decisions. My wife makes the little ones. And she decides which ones are which.’ ”

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Trivia time: Which kicker holds the Pacific 10 Conference record for field goals made in a game?

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Sarcasm: ESPN’s Dick Schaap on locked-out NBA players suggesting they might stop talking to NBA carrier NBC:

“Does this mean that Michael Jordan will stop talking to [NBC’s] Ahmad Rashad? How will we know his innermost thoughts without Rashad’s probing questions? Will journalism survive?”

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Boring: With the NBA inoperative, the NFL isn’t filling the void, according to Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic.

“Bad games. Bad teams. Bad football.

“Eight weeks into the season, and the King of American sports rests uneasy on the throne. Television ratings are down. Mediocrity rules. And just last week [Oct. 25], two games were played without a touchdown being scored.”

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Boo! Oregon defensive back Michael Fletcher, reacting to Arizona’s 38-3 rout of the Ducks on Saturday:

“We just ran into a storm tonight. It was Halloween, and the Arizona ghosts were flying over the field. They scared us in the second half.”

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Wrong sport: If Pete Rose had played football, he already would be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

“The rules specify that it’s performance on the field that gets you elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” said John Steadman of the Baltimore Sun, a member of the board of selectors. “There’s not a citizenry clause like there is in baseball.”

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Play the parakeet: Ron Borges of the Boston Globe, commenting on recently AWOL quarterback Tony Banks of the St. Louis Rams:

“Banks scored an 8 on the Wonderlic intelligence test coming out of college [Michigan State]. My daughter has a parakeet who could score 8 by pecking the page.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1899, Jim Jeffries defeated “Sailor” Tom Sharkey to retain the heavyweight title after the referee stopped the fight in the 25th round at New York.

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Looking back again: On this day in 1973, UCLA, coached by Pepper Rodgers, routed Washington, 62-13, at the Coliseum.

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Trivia answer: John Lee of UCLA, six against San Diego State in 1984.

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And finally: At a recent NFL owners’ meeting, Al Davis poked his head out of a conference room and a TV reporter shouted: “Mr. Davis, will you be going back to Los Angeles?”

As he closed the door, Davis said, “Yes. I go back there a lot.”