Nomo Is Shot, but Guns Can’t Stop Hershiser

Jon Heyman writing in Newsday on former Dodgers Hideo Nomo and Orel Hershiser:

“Age is only a number, they say. But so, too, are gun readings. And that is one reason Nomo is out [with the Mets] now.

“Nomo’s were down so much--in the 86-mph range from the 90s--that many people assume he is either hurt or done. ‘He threw a lot of pitches in Japan,’ several pointed out.

“Hershiser, 40, has thrown many more pitches, of course. The difference is that smoke alone won’t work for Hershiser. He uses smoke and mirrors.”

Trivia time: When UCLA won its first NCAA basketball championship in 1964, which school did the Bruins defeat in the title game?

Wait a minute: Dave Kindred writing in the Sporting News: “I laughed out loud reading that Michael Jordan has ‘decided’ not to play the PGA Tour.

“That’s like me ‘deciding’ not to carry on with Cindy Crawford because I wouldn’t want to hurt Goldie Hawn’s feelings.”

More Kindred: “Minnesota basketball’s recruiting pitch: ‘10,000 lakes and 10,000 papers done for you.’ ”

Convenient excuse? Steve Rosenbloom in the Chicago Tribune: “Jordan was seen turning away several fans who wanted autographs in New York, claiming he’s still suffering from the finger injury courtesy of a nasty cigar cutter.

“This has been what, two or three months with that injury already? Whose cigar cutter did he use. Black’s or Decker’s?”

Born for the part: Skip Bayless in the Chicago Tribune: “Imagine Roberto Benigni playing the lead in ‘The Dick Vitale Story.’ Cinch second Oscar.”

Only in America: Boxing promoter Bob Arum says he wants a system that will allow fans to see how the judges are scoring a fight at the end of each round.

“Today Don King said he would go one step further,” says Jay Leno. “He said he could put a system in that will allow fans to see how the judges are scoring each round before the fight even begins.”

Escaping ridicule: Lufthansa, which started flying between Philadelphia and Frankfurt, Germany, promotes the service in Philly with ads that say: “Escape to over 100 cities where nobody makes jokes about the Eagles.”

Less stressful: The Philadelphia Daily News reports that Harvard-educated Michael McCaskey, fired as president of the Chicago Bears by his family, is now in charge of landscaping at the club’s Halas Hall training facility.

Trivia answer: Duke, 98-83. It was the highest winning score in NCAA championship game history at the time.

And finally: Cal Ripken Jr., whose father died Thursday of lung cancer, said an incident that happened to his dad when Cal was 16 inspired him during his record consecutive-games streak.

Cal Sr. was hit on the head with a crank that flew off a tractor hooked up to a snowplow, but he resumed plowing rather than go to a hospital.