It’s Taken 51 Years, but Kings Are Primed

Will history repeat itself 51 years later? Bill Calhoun certainly hopes so.

Calhoun, a forward on the Rochester (N.Y.) Royals’ NBA championship team in 1951, sees similarities between his former team and the current Sacramento Kings, the Royals’ franchise three cities removed.

One of the similarities is a rivalry with the Lakers.

The Minneapolis Lakers won five NBA titles in six years starting in 1949, with only the Royals interrupting the run, and they featured a dominating center, George Mikan, who was the Shaquille O’Neal of his era.

Calhoun helped the Royals defeat Minneapolis in a best-of-five series, three games to one, and advance to the NBA finals, where they edged the New York Knickerbockers in the deciding seventh game, 79-75, to win the franchise’s first and only title.

Calhoun, 74, of Reno, sees a similar path this season for the Kings, who honor the Royals by hanging their championship banner in Arco Arena.

“I laugh about the Kings’ team this year, they are so much like us,” he said. “I think they are going to beat the Lakers in the playoffs this year. We did it one year. I think they can, too.”

We’ll see. The Kings and Lakers meet for the third time this season Sunday at Sacramento.

Trivia time: Who holds the all-time record for points in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament?

Treasure trove: Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas donated more than 200 awards and other memorabilia to the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, the official museum of the Baltimore Orioles and Colts. The items included his 1967 NFL most-valuable-player award, his single-bar helmet and an autographed football commemorating his last touchdown pass with the Baltimore Colts.

“One of the main reasons this stuff is here is because I didn’t have a place to put it,” Unitas joked.

Crowded field: It’s no April Fool’s joke. The Oakland A’s play their home opener the night of April 1--the same night Paul McCartney opens his U.S. concert tour next door at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

So are they expecting a traffic nightmare?

Not if everyone takes BART, says A’s spokesman Jim Bloom.

Playing through: Who says golf is a leisurely game?

Christopher Cain, the head pro at the Penn State Golf Courses in State College, Pa., will try to break a Guinness world record next month by playing 500 holes in 12 hours for charity. The 12-hour record is 476 holes, set by Brennan Robertson in 2000.

Trivia answer: Christian Laettner of Duke, 407, in four seasons from 1989-92.

And finally: Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle says a few media members were watching the Houston Astros take infield practice last week when Manager Jimy Williams suggested they consider changing their seats:

“‘We’re fine,’ they told him. ‘What could happen?’

“With that, Williams took one hand, reached into his mouth and came out with a partial plate of dentures that left him looking like a jack-o’-lantern who had just lost a head-on collision with a rhinoceros.”

After the shock wore off, there was laughter all around.