You Really Need to Pay Attention to This Rookie

An impressive rookie in Detroit Tiger camp has been Gabe Kapler, an outfielder who played in high school at Woodland Hills Taft. “I have no question in my mind that he’s going to be a star,” said Hall of Famer Al Kaline, for one.

Equally impressive is the way Kapler has overcome attention deficit disorder, which was diagnosed his sophomore year of high school.

Judy Kapler, his mother, tells Lynn Henning of the Detroit News, “He told me when he was in junior high school that he had already learned everything there was to know, and that he would just look up the rest.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the NCAA men’s championship game record for highest field-goal percentage?

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Wait a minute: Skip Bayless in the Chicago Tribune: “Of the Final Four coaches, Jim Calhoun [of Connecticut] is most likely to screw it up, and his team is the most likely to stink it up.”

Not yet, Skip. Connecticut is in the title game tonight against Duke after beating Ohio State, 64-58, on Saturday.

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Squeeze play: Art Spander in the Oakland Tribune: “Duke squeezes the life out of you, like some monstrous python. You’re in the game trailing by a few points, and like that you’re out of the game, trailing by a dozen.”

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Stop and go: Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post: “They used to call Dominique Wilkins the Human Highlight Film. Does that make Dennis Rodman, he of the red, green and yellow hair, the Human Traffic Light?”

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Rain man: Davis Love III has a new nickname after angrily breaking a sprinkler head with his sand wedge and causing a minor flood at the recent Bay Hill tournament.

“They’re calling me ‘water boy,’ ” Love told Golf World, “They keep saying I ought to get a sponsorship deal with Toro [a company that makes sprinkler heads].”

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Let’s skip dessert: Phil Collier in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “If you’ve been thinking baseball is penny-wise and pound-foolish, consider this:

“In this day of $80-million team player payrolls, the minors have decided that meal money for umpires in Class AAA will be reduced this season from $22 to $20.”

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Epic holdout: Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News: “Tuesday marks the 33rd anniversary of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale ending the first and only tandem holdout in history.

“The Dodger pair skipped 32 days of spring drills before signing for $100,000 each.”

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Trivia answer: Bill Walton of UCLA, 95.5%, 21 of 22, against Memphis in 1973. The Bruins won, 87-66.

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And finally: Reporter to Venus Williams on the eve of her Lipton Championships final with kid sister Serena: “Would you say a new era has arrived in women’s tennis as of this week?”

Venus: “I guess so. It could be said.”

Reporter: “Would you say it?”

Venus: “I could say it, yes: A new era has arrived this week in women’s tennis.”