As His World Turns, Baseball Is Still No. 1

When Dave Kindred of the Sporting News is asked, “Which is the national pastime, baseball or football?” he always answers baseball.

When a questioner responded, “But wasn’t there more interest in the NFL draft than in that day’s major league baseball games?” Kindred’s answer was, “That day there was more interest in ‘Days of Our Lives’ than in either the NFL draft or Mark McGwire. Does that make soap operas our national pastime?”

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Trivia time: Who managed the most major league games without winning a pennant?

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Heads up: Kevin Keegan, newly named coach of England’s national soccer team, apparently has his priorities straight.

“It’s my job not to get beheaded,” the former English star said. “I don’t want a knighthood, but I want to keep my head on my shoulders.”

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Sorry, Janice: Janice Braxton of the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers jokingly asked for a new Mercedes-Benz as a retirement gift.

Instead, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist got a framed version of her No. 8 Rocker jersey.

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Remembering Jackie: Texas Ranger shortstop Royce Clayton became the first active major leaguer to donate to the Jackie Robinson Foundation when he made a $100,000 contribution for an endowed scholarship.

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Ring ‘em up: Colorado Rocky coach Rich Donnelly, after his team had scored in every inning (111-121-222) against the Chicago Cubs, remarked that the scoreboard “looked like three of these new area codes.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1948, Citation, ridden by Eddie Arcaro, won the Preakness Stakes by 5 1/2 lengths over Vulcan’s Forge.

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Do as you’re told: Ebenezer Ekuban, the defensive end drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, had never seen a game of football when he enrolled at Bladensburg (Md.) High from his family’s native Ghana.

When he tried out for the football team, he didn’t know enough English to understand what was being said in the huddle, so coaches told him, “On defense, if you see a guy with the ball, catch him. On offense, if we throw you the ball, you catch it.”

Ekuban followed orders well enough to play at North Carolina and become a first-round draft choice.

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Double jeopardy: Martina Hingis, the top-ranked women’s tennis player, on having to face the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, in the same tournament:

“Beating the whole family all the time is not easy. They’re very powerful, the best out there.”

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Trivia answer: Gene Mauch, 3,942 games in 26 seasons. His Angel teams won division titles in 1982 and ’86 but lost in the league championship series.

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And finally: When the Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal did a backward somersault after falling down in the second playoff game against the Houston Rockets, TNT play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan said, “I’m holding up a 9 card right now.”