All That Is Left Is to Schedule the Parade

Peter Vecsey of the New York Post has virtually conceded a third consecutive NBA championship to the Lakers:

“Shame on Mitch Kupchak! Working on consecutive championships and flaunting Shaq & Kobe, the games’ two greatest players, the Laker executive paralyzed the league’s attempt at parity for yet another season by adding free agent Mitch Richmond and Lindsay Hunter [for Greg Foster] despite being capped out.

“That’s great, just what L.A. needed, two more exquisite long-range marksmen. As if Robert Horry, Rick Fox and Derek Fisher [when healthy] weren’t enough to take the pressure off Shaq when doubled or tripled.”

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Trivia time: Who was the first UCLA player among the top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting?

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Quick descent: Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post, commenting on the 0-4 Redskins:

“It’s disheartening that the Redskins are terrible. It’s amazing that the Redskins got this terrible this quickly.

“On the eve of the 2000 season, just 14 months ago, folks actually thought the Redskins would go to the Super Bowl.... Many people [not all of them idiots] said the Redskins had collected the best talent in the NFL.... Much of the talent has dispersed. What’s left has apparently rusted.

“Next Monday’s game against Dallas is a comedian’s dream. Hello, Dennis Miller.”

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More Redskins: Defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson to the Washington Times on the team’s 0-4 start:

‘What’s so frustrating is that [a lot of us] have been together for a while now. It’s like training for the Olympics for four years and then finishing in last place. Heck, you could not have trained at all and finished in last place.”

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It doesn’t figure: Rick Morrissey in the Chicago Tribune: ‘Today’s baseball numbers are funny numbers. When Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in 1927, George Sisler finished second in the majors with 19. [Sammy] Sosa was second to [Barry] Bonds this season with 64.

“Yet we’re starting to hear Bonds mentioned in the same breath as the Babe. That’s almost as ludicrous as ESPN choosing Michael Jordan over Ruth as the athlete of the 20th century.”

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How about tiddlywinks? From comedy writer Earl Hochman: ‘With the IOC committee giving formal recognition to the International Federation of Tug o’ War as an Olympic sport at the 2004 Summer Games, don’t be surprised if at future Games we witness such events as leapfrog and hopscotch.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1978, the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium, 4-3, to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series.

However, the Yankees won the next four games, becoming the first team to win a six-game series after losing the first two.

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Trivia answer: Tailback Kenny Washington, sixth, in 1939, the year Nile Kinnick of Iowa won the award.

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And finally: San Francisco Giant first baseman Andres Galarraga, on Bonds: “Even years ago, he always said that if the pitchers throw him something around the plate, he could hit 60 [home runs].

“It sounded like he was cocky. But I said to myself back then that he’s a guy who could do it.... He’s got such a sweet swing, the best swing of all time.”