Even Out of NBA, There’s a Place for a Rodman

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and as we close out another year, it seems everyone has his or her all-century lists, with ideas about whom belongs on them and where.

Bruce Keidan of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette put his in print Sunday, with Muhammad Ali and Babe Didrikson as the top male and female athletes. But he added a few other categories in an attempt to give others their place in history.

Among them: O.J. Simpson as Jerk of the Century; Tonya Harding with Simpson in the made-for-each-other category; Chris Evert as the most gracious in defeat, and Dick Vitale as the most overrated announcer.

There are many others, including none other than Dennis Rodman as Miss Congeniality.

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Trivia time: Who holds the NBA record for most seasons leading the league in free-throw percentage?

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Rock-solid answer: Washington guard Rock Nelson, when asked about the problems the Huskies faced in losing to UCLA on Saturday: “[The Bruins] did stuff we didn’t prepare for, which was stuff they hadn’t done all season, so it’s no one’s fault.”

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Sick flick: Washington Coach Rick Neuheisel, on what figures to be a long day in the film room: “We’re gonna look at the entire game and be sick.”

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Hairing it out: John Laun, a junior English major at UCLA, did the play-by-play on the Bruin game for Live365.com on the Internet after being selected for the honor by a panel of judges.

One of the judges, Terry Bradshaw, congratulated Laun on his winning performance, but told him, “If you want to work in this business [sportscasting], you’re going to have to do something about that hair.”

He was referring to a bad dye job.

Said Channel 4’s Carlos Del Valle, another judge: “Terry, you’re the last guy who should be criticizing someone’s hair.”

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Pugilism 101: Woody Paige of the Denver Post, on what he perceived to be another bad decision in the rematch Saturday between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, won by Lewis: “And Eugenia Williams was nowhere to be found . . . If she were judging the Nebraska-Kansas State game Saturday, she would have voted for KState, three quarters to one. She’d give a rat eight rounds to four for the lion.”

Nebraska whipped Kansas State, 41-15.

As for Williams, she was the lone judge--and perhaps the only person watching the bout--to have Holyfield winning in the first fight last March. That one ended in a highly controversial draw, resulting in Saturday’s rematch.

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Trivia answer: Bill Sharman, seven. Maybe someone should inform Shaquille O’Neal that Sharman is now a paid consultant for the Lakers.

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And finally: The Sacramento Kings’ Jason Williams in the San Francisco Examiner, referring to his golf-playing teammates: “They’re nuts for playing that ridiculous game. The only way I’d play golf is if you hit the ball, ran to it, then raced to see who could get the ball in the hole first.”