Sounds Like This Pacer Deserves a Timeout

Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star says it’s time for the Indiana Pacers to rid themselves of the volatile Ron Artest, who has been suspended five times for a total of 12 games this season because of his unruly behavior.

Last week, Artest made an obscene gesture at fans at Cleveland, prompting Kravitz to write: “These histrionics are just dumb, childish and ultimately selfish. Tackling Eric Snow in the backcourt? Flipping off the Miami crowd? Flipping off -- gesturing toward -- the Cleveland fans?

“Even if you’re inclined to be an Artest apologist, how can you defend the fact that he continually puts himself in a position to get another flagrant [foul] and another suspension?

“You can’t.”

Trivia time: New Orleans is host to the NCAA men’s Final Four for the fourth time this weekend. What city has been host to the most Final Fours?

Hockey central: St. Paul, Minn., appears to have swiped the title of Hockeytown from the self-promoters in Detroit. The Xcel Energy Center will host the 2004 NHL All-Star game and four games during the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. It’s the only U.S. rink to play host to games, including two preliminary games, a quarterfinal and a semifinal during the Aug. 30-Sept. 14 tournament.

Bracket help: Next time you need help with your NCAA tournament picks, you might want to consult Christian Waugh. He picked Syracuse to reach the Final Four and Texas was his selection to win it all. Waugh writes an insightful column about Siena for a suburban weekly in Albany, N.Y.

Oh, he’s also 11 years old.

Telling it like it is: Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser on the Washington Wizards and Milwaukee Bucks, who are jockeying for the eighth and final playoff spot in the NBA’s Eastern Conference: “The Wizards are fighting with the Milwaukee Bucks to see which team can stink like month-old carp and still back into the playoffs.”

Swing and a miss: After the Atlanta Braves scored only two runs and were swept in a season-opening three-game series against the Montreal Expos, Atlanta’s Andruw Jones said: “We left our bats in spring training.”

Looking back: On this day in 1987, Sugar Ray Leonard returned after a three-year layoff to upset Marvin Hagler in a 12-round split decision for the middleweight title, becoming boxing’s 10th triple champion.

Trivia answer: Kansas City, Mo., has played host to nine Final Fours, the last in 1964. New York is second with seven, the last in 1950.

And finally: Magic Johnson is fed up with the juvenile antics of the Portland Trail Blazers, who last week suspended Zach Randolph for two games and fined him $100,000 for punching teammate Ruben Patterson during a practice.

“The community of Portland deserves better and I think it all goes back to [General Manager] Bob Whitsitt,” Johnson told TNT. “You cannot bring in 10 former starters on your team because everybody’s going to want minutes. You’ve got to bring in role players to complement your superstars. The community deserves better than this. If I were them I would be saying, ‘Fire Bob Whitsitt’ because he hasn’t been good for them.”