This Town Shows Him an Appreciation

Jim Armstrong writing in the Denver Post: “Larry Walker is coming up on an anniversary. One year ago next week, a national magazine informed the world that Walker was a clubhouse cancer.

“How things have changed. This year this honor has been bestowed upon Gary Sheffield. He may be unpopular in Los Angeles, but Sheffield is the toast of the town in Denver.

“It’s early, of course, but so far he’s the Rockies’ most valuable player.

“ ‘There’s one huge difference between us and the Dodgers,’ Walker said. ‘We don’t have controversy in our clubhouse. We’re a team that sits around and shoots the breeze.’ ”

Larry, how do you know the Dodgers don’t shoot the breeze?

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Trivia time: Name two teams from the same state that played each other in the men’s NCAA championship basketball game.

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Learning experience: In an exhibition game last weekend, the Cincinnati Reds scored their go-ahead run when Pittsburgh Pirate pitching prospect Bobby Bradley threw a wild pitch--on an intentional walk.

“I’d never been asked to throw an intentional walk in my life,” he said. “I didn’t know how to do it. . . . It’s not like something you work on in the bullpen between starts.”

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Slam what? Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, writing before the start of the NCAA tournament on teams to root for:

* “Princeton, a team so old fashioned that if its game gets televised, it will be in black and white. In an era when middle-school kids dunk with impunity, Princeton went the entire season without a dunk!

* “UCLA, because this is Team Schizo, everything you could want in an L.A. team. Could beat Duke in the East Regional, could lose to Monmouth, Coach Steve Lavin could get fired at halftime of the title game.”

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Not like Indiana: Bernie Lincicome in the Rocky Mountain News, on Bob Knight’s next coaching job: “Knight is going where sports have three seasons--football, spring football and pheasant.

“The basketball tradition at Texas Tech is about as long as a rat’s tongue, which might be part of the appeal for Knight.”

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He had the statistics: Ron Rapoport in the Chicago Sun-Times: “I know Albert Belle is a pill, but he really could play baseball. Here are some numbers that impressed ESPN’s Jayson Stark:

“Belle is retiring after nine straight 100-RBI seasons. . . . Also, Belle’s 1,199 RBIs over the last 10 years are the most since the 1930s. The only players to have more RBIs in a 10-year period are Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Mel Ott.”

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Reality factor: Junior guard Courtney Eldridge of North Carolina Greensboro told the San Diego Union-Tribune:

“First, we were really excited because we were going to San Diego. Then we saw who were matched up against.”

It was Stanford, of course, which routed Greensboro, 89-60.

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Looking back: On this day in 1967, UCLA routed Wyoming, 109-60, in a first-round NCAA West Regional game at Corvallis, Ore. The Bruins won the NCAA championship by defeating Dayton, 79-64, at Louisville, Ky.

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Trivia answer: Cincinnati and Ohio State in 1961 and 1962.

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And finally: Bo Schembechler, retired Michigan football coach and athletic director, took exception to comments made by Wolverine Athletic Director Bill Martin, who said he never would hire Bob Knight.

“If I were AD, he’d have been hired yesterday,” Schembechler said. “His qualities far outweigh the negatives. He’d be just what we need, but they’ll never do it.”

Bo and Bob. Now there’s a dynamic duo.