So Tiny Tim Is No Mighty Mike: Is That So Bad?

Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune rejects any notion that San Antonio’s Tim Duncan would ever be compared favorably to Michael Jordan:

“Jordan is not just a tough act to follow, he is, like snowflakes and fingerprints, impossible to match. And yet the search goes on: Grant Hill, Shaquille O’Neal, now Duncan.

“No matter were the Spurs to win the next six championships, with Duncan the MVP in every one, for Jordan was touched by special angels while Duncan, alas, seems slapped by Mr. Ho and Mrs. Hum. I mean, the next Michael is going to have a personality, isn’t he?

” . . . The irretrievably dull Duncan also labors in a media backwater, apologies to the tidy little San Antonio River. This place is the trailer park of the NBA, apologies to Indianapolis, a hick twin without fajitas.”

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Trivia time: Three players hold the NBA finals record for most blocked shots in a game with eight. Who was the first?

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Success stalker: Steve Kerr, the former Chicago Bull, who doesn’t get much playing time with the Spurs, on the probability of getting his fourth NBA championship ring:

“I like to say that championships follow me around,” he told Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times, “but it’s the other way around.”

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Like a sedative: The Spurs’ Will Perdue, a former Chicago Bull, when asked to comment on Phil Jackson’s Zen thing:

“Yeah, we meditated,” Perdue recalled, “and it was relaxing. But a lot of guys just fell asleep.”

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Hey, old-timer: Like most players-turned-broadcasters, Seattle’s Ron Fairly talks about the old days. When Fairly walked through the clubhouse, Mariner first baseman David Segui gave him the needle with a mock broadcast:

“Back when I played, the balls were half the size they are now--just golf balls with stitches. Back when I played, the balls were dead, you couldn’t hit home runs like these kids now.”

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Different game: How does Atlanta Brave General Manager John Schuerholz feel about the American League brand of ball that fosters offensive outbursts rivaling football scores?

He calls it “arena baseball.”

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Resigned: Milwaukee Brewer outfielder Jeromy Burnitz on his last-place team: “I just think you are what you are, man. You are as good as your record. If your record’s bad, you’re a bad team.”

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FYI: The U.S. Open 18-hole record is 63, set by Johnny Miller in 1973 and equaled by Tom Weiskopf and Jack Nicklaus in 1980. No one shot better than 67 at Pinehurst this week.

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Trivia answer: Bill Walton of Portland against Philadelphia on June 5, 1977. The others are Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing.

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And finally: Cincinnati Red General Manger Jim Bowden talking to ESPN’s Peter Gammons about the state of the game:

“We can’t agree on revenue sharing, interleague play or the DH, but one thing we finally agree on is that there isn’t any pitching.”