As Usual, Shaq Wears Down His Opponents

In the 1996-97 season, when Shaquille O’Neal was included on the NBA’s top-50 team, former Boston Celtic great Bob Cousy was incredulous.

At the time, O’Neal was 24 and had had three all-star seasons at Orlando.

Does Cousy have any reservations now?

“None whatsoever,” Cousy told the Bloomberg News Service. “Shaq has developed into a dominant center like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.”

Willis Reed, the New York Knick center from the 1970s, is another hall of famer who has changed his tune.

“Today, every team Shaq plays has a 7-foot center,” says Reed. “He’s in the top five ever to play the center position, for sure.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the major league career record for singles?

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Muffed deal: The New York Post’s Tom Keegan, writing about the Mets’ recent woes and lack of chemistry: “How has not trading for Gary Sheffield worked for the Mets’ chemistry so far?”

And more: “The good news is that at this rate, the way the Mets are losing and doing it without the slightest bit of flair, the city won’t have to foot the bill for a new ballpark.”

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Lean on her: Chamique Holdsclaw averaged 17.5 points a game for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics last season and made the All-Star game. She also gained 20 pounds and many were disappointed in her game.

She recently reported to training camp lean and fit, 18 pounds under her 2000 playing weight, saying she’d called her grandmother in the off-season and been given a lecture.

One excerpt: “I hope you’re working hard because I don’t want to see you with that butt during the season.”

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Expensive squabble: Michael Holley of the Boston Globe writes that the domestic fracas last week that resulted in Patriot receiver Terry Glenn being jailed could cost the athlete $11.5 million.

Glenn was charged with assault, battery and intimidating a witness, Holley reported, and Kimberly Combs, the mother of his son, was involved.

Holley said a source told him Glenn could be forced to return the $11.5-million bonus he received when he signed his last contract. However, Glenn’s agent, Jim Gould, said the conduct clauses in the player’s contract would not be triggered if he’s convicted.

Holley: “Glenn has a Pro Bowler’s talent and a blues singer’s life.”

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Rough crowd: Hooliganism has come to chess. The Minneapolis Public Library has temporarily banned chess at the library, because of unruly spectators.

“It wasn’t the players, but some of the people watching,” library spokeswoman Kristi Gibson said.

“It was boisterous language, not anything destructive. But this is a library, so boisterous language is not appropriate.”

Countered chess fan Moncena Rowley: “When the library had problems with people accessing online porn, they didn’t get rid of the computers. They established procedures to solve the problem.”

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Trivia answer: Pete Rose, 3,215. Ty Cobb is next, with 3,052.

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And finally: The Chicago Sun-Times’ Jay Mariotti, on Cub fans who don’t regard Sammy Sosa the way they do Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks:

“Somehow, Sosa’s detractors think he isn’t so valuable because the Cubs lose with him. It’s birdbrain logic, a loser’s mentality.”