Baseball Fans, Alex Rodriguez Feels Your Pain

Don’t ask Alex Rodriguez to apologize for the $252-million, 10-year contract he signed with the Texas Rangers last week.

He told Dan Patrick of ESPN Radio on Tuesday that he realizes some observers might have a different perspective on his landmark deal than he does, though.

“I remember when Mr. Alderson gave [Jose] Canseco the highest-paid contract in baseball,” he said, referring to former Oakland general manager Sandy Alderson, now an executive in Commissioner Bud Selig’s office.

“I heard the game was going to end then, and the game has never been healthier. The game is growing. Things are obviously doing very well because these guys are paying.

“The only thing I feel bad about is the fans, and I want to make sure they can afford to come to the game. That situation is out of my control.

“I’d agree to a salary cap if the owners would agree to a cap on ticket prices, luxury suites and cable revenue.”

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Trivia time: Sports Illustrated recently gave its first Legacy Award to John Wooden, who was the magazine’s sportsman of the year in 1972.

Two of Wooden’s players have been SI sportsmen of the year. One is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1985). Who is the other?

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Seeking positives: “Media people like to point out that Shawn Kemp is averaging only eight points and four rebounds,” Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News writes. “See, they focus only on the negative. They won’t tell you that Kemp--who plays only 19 minutes a game--is [nearly] leading the league in personal fouls.”

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Fishy job: From comedian Brian Regan: “Pity the poor film editor for fishing shows. This guy has to watch the footage that just wasn’t exciting enough to make it to the final product.”

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Name game: From Tom Fitzgerald of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Our favorite college basketball team is the Texas Christian Horned Frogs. Oh, we haven’t seen them play. We just like the names: Nucleus Smith, Greedy Daniels, Rebel Paulk and Bingo Merriex.”

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Eating contests: In pregame festivities for tonight’s Las Vegas Bowl, Nevada Las Vegas offensive tackle Brian Hart, from Fountain Valley High, ate an apple pie in 44 seconds. Commentator Mike Lamb, who with John Rooney will work the national radio broadcast of the game wasn’t all that impressed.

“For speed and accuracy, I’d have to give it to Hart,” Lamb said. “But the greatest display of bowl eating that I’ve ever witnessed was USC tackle Myron Lapka downing nine two-pound prime ribs at the 1979 Beef Bowl at Lawry’s.”

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Incentive: Bernard “Kip” Lagat of Kenya, who will run the mile in the L.A. Invitational meet Jan. 20 at the Sports Arena, was asked during the Sydney Olympics how his country produces so many good distance runners.

“It’s the road signs,” he said. “Beware of lions.”

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More on running: Emil Zatopek, the four-time Olympic gold medalist who died last month, was considered by many as the greatest distance runner. He was nicknamed “the human locomotive” because of his ungainly running style--arms flaying, head rolling and his tongue hanging out. He made no excuses, though. He once said, “It’s not gymnastics or ice skating, you know.”

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Trivia answer: Rafer Johnson, the 1958 Sports Illustrated sportsman of the year.

Johnson played for Wooden for two seasons, one as a starter, before quitting basketball to concentrate on the decathlon.

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And finally: Jim Lampley, on Playboy.com’s “hottest sports babe” poll of women sportscasters: “The sexiest one to me is Hannah Storm. She has two children, she is seven months pregnant, she’s got a great marriage, and she’s a tremendous sportscaster. I think all that is pretty sexy.”