And Still No NFL Team in the Colosseum

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle after seeing the movie, “Gladiator”:

“I was sorry to see they cut the scenes where Al Davis, owner of the Gladiators, sues the city of Rome for a trillion drachma because there are four empty seats in the arena.

“We forget how primitive civilization was back then. . . . In the crowd scenes, I didn’t see any of those foam ‘We’re No. 1’ fingers. And the gladiators didn’t wear Nike sandals.”

*

Trivia time: Joe DiMaggio holds the major league record for the longest hitting steak at 56 games in 1941. Who is second?

*

Prediction: Danny Ainge, former coach of the Phoenix Suns, on successor Scott Skiles:

“I honestly believe they’ll be talking about [him] the same way they do about Pat Riley, Phil Jackson and Larry Brown now. Scott was born to coach.”

*

Mileage award? Bryan Lewis, the NHL’s supervisor of officials, estimates that referees Dan Marouelli and Rob Shic, each skated 14.2 miles in Philadelphia’s recent five-overtime victory over Pittsburgh.

*

Mighty Mouse: San Francisco’s Barry Bonds, on Atlanta Brave pitcher Greg Maddux in ESPN The Magazine: “[He] puts me in awe. He’s the best finesse pitcher I’ve ever seen. He’s a technician with pinpoint accuracy.

” . . . Maddux is like that little mouse that goes in the hole, out the hole. And you’ve got this cat with no patience who keeps running his head into the wall.”

*

He’s impressed: Boston pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, on Red Sox right-hander Pedro Martinez:

“I know I won’t see anyone like him again in my lifetime. . . . I just hope people who watch him know how special it is. It’s something that comes along once every 20 or 25 years--someone who puts the whole package together. I’d like to have that feeling for one inning--to be able to do what he does with a baseball.”

*

About face: Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star, on Olden Polynice of the Utah Jazz:

“He shoots 31% from the free-throw line. Thirty-one percent, man. First thing the coaches should do is face him in the right direction.”

*

More Polynice: On his reputation: “I kept hearing that I was a cancer, and I know I am a Scorpio.”

*

Trivia answer: Willie Keeler (1897) and Pete Rose (1978), 44 games.

*

And finally: The Million Mom March is planned Sunday in Washington, and comedy writer Alan Ray told the San Francisco Chronicle, “There’s only one other event that could have drawn this many mothers--a Shawn Kemp paternity trial.”