In Ohio, This Is Radioactive Material

A radio station in Columbus, Ohio, plans to carry Michigan football broadcasts, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

Traitors? Try cutthroat competitors.

“We’re acting as a double agent for the Buckeye faithful, a secret spy satellite audio for the many Buckeye fans, allowing unprecedented insight into the enemy’s planning,” said WZNW program director Steve Konrad, who called Michigan’s game “the second-biggest game every week.”

What WZNW appears to be trying is an end run around two local WBNS stations’ rights to the annual Michigan-Ohio State game.

WBNS and the Big Ten office said they will look into the legalities of whether a Michigan broadcast of the Ohio State game infringes on the exclusive rights of WBNS to Ohio State games in the Columbus area.

Trivia time: What year was the shortest strike in baseball history, and how many days did it last?

Old friends: Arizona Coach Lute Olson asked John Wooden to present him at his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame next month, but Wooden has decided the cross-country trip would be too much.

“You know, I’d love to do it. I’m very fond of Lute Olson,” Wooden said. “[Hall of Fame officials] even said they’d send a private plane. I’m just not up to it.”

The friendship between Wooden and Olson goes back many years. Their late wives, Nellie Wooden and Bobbi Olson, were close as well.

“My dear Nellie really liked the coaches who would bring their wives to the convention,” Wooden said.

Olson won’t be in Springfield, Mass., for the Sept. 28 induction himself because of what you might call a prior engagement:

His son, Greg, is getting married in Italy.

“That’s more important to Lute,” Wooden said. “That’s one of the reasons I like him so much.”

Gatorade news: New York Liberty forward Sue Wicks, preparing for the WNBA Finals against the Sparks beginning Thursday, recently recounted her most embarrassing moment during a chat on WNBA.com.

“One time I left Latrell Sprewell a good-luck note in his locker before the playoffs, but I poured all my Gatorade all over his uniform. I ruined his game uniform and they had to change it.... I felt like I committed a crime!”

Hardly--but P.J. Carlesimo might be amused.

Trivia answer: The 1985 strike lasted two days, with no games lost.

Don’t say a word: Bela Karolyi doesn’t want to name any names when he talks about the group of up-and-coming U.S. junior gymnasts that includes Carly Patterson and Hollie Vise.

He remembers how Vanessa Atler of Canyon Country was anointed the next star long before the Sydney Olympics. But Karolyi left her off the team after she struggled at the Olympic trials.

“As you noticed, I did not say a name. I will not say a name. It’s very, very important,” Karolyi said.

“That was a sad experience, and one of the most frustrating experiences of my coaching career was with Vanessa, burning her out so easy and putting so much pressure on her. It came down to the point she lost the self-control to live up to her incredible physical talent she had at that time. I would not like to see that repeated.”