It’s Enough to Make One Man See White

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle says he has a new favorite team after a group of Native American students at Northern Colorado named their intramural basketball squad the Fightin’ Whites as a satiric response to nearby Eaton High’s nickname, the Fightin’ Reds:

“[But] the Fighting Whities might have screwed their chances of winning the upcoming school tournament.

“How are they going to win if they can’t jump?

“They’ll have compensate by going back to white-guy fundamentals, like crisp chest passes, well-executed backdoor picks, and locker-room psych-up music by Journey.”

More Ostler: “Stereotypes are wrong for two reasons:

“One, they don’t hold true. I’m a white guy from the ‘burbs, but when I played basketball, I had plenty of inner-city street game. I threw all kinds of passes behind my back and between my legs, though never intentionally.

“Two, stereotypes divide, and these days we’re supposed to be about uniting.”

Trivia question: Who holds the record for most points in a NCAA men’s tournament game?

Right to fight: Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post says he grudgingly supports the Washington D.C. Boxing and Wrestling Commission’s decision to grant Mike Tyson a license to hold a possible heavyweight championship fight in the nation’s capital:

“After a decade of lousy fighting and hard living, Tyson can now pocket his portion of a multimillion-dollar payday. Giving Tyson a license is like inviting the Vice-capades to play a two-week gig in your town. Even Las Vegas won’t tolerate Tyson, and his entourage, though it means giving up a payday. How rotten do you have to be to get banned from the Strip?

“Nevertheless, Washington did the right thing. Because doing what’s right only counts when it goes down hard and tastes lousy.”

Still the man: The Atlanta Braves made some highly publicized moves to bolster their lineup in the off-season, acquiring Gary Sheffield and Vinny Castilla, but the most important addition may be at the top of the batting order.

Rafael Furcal, the 2000 National League rookie of the year, is back in the leadoff spot after sitting out nearly half of last season because of a shoulder injury.

“He’s the most valuable guy on our club,” Chipper Jones said. “When he’s on base, we score runs. You can’t imagine the amount of havoc he creates.”

Signing off: A Wake Forest basketball fan who held up a poster reading, “Duck: It’s what’s for dinner,” was probably eating crow after Oregon pulled out a 92-87 victory in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday in Sacramento.

Trivia answer: Austin Carr of Notre Dame, 61, against Ohio in 1970.

And finally: Win or lose, England soccer Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has been cast as a hero in his hometown of Torsby, Sweden.

A statue of Eriksson was unveiled Monday in Torsby, but he says he won’t be able to see it until after the World Cup this summer. England plays Sweden in an opener June 2 in the so-called “Group of Death” that also includes Argentina and Nigeria.

“It will be fun to see what I look like,” Eriksson said.