Merchant Thought His Time Had Come

Once when Jim Lampley and George Foreman were at odds, Foreman made his peace by giving Lampley a vintage watch.

After Foreman announced last week that he is leaving HBO at the end of the year, Larry Merchant recalled that he was upset with Foreman after September’s Shane Mosley-Oscar De La Hoya fight. Foreman said to Merchant on the air, “You don’t know boxing, you just watch boxing.”

Foreman felt bad afterward and told Merchant he would have something for him the next weekend, when they’d be working a fight in Uncasville, Conn.

“I thought, ‘Here comes my watch,’ even though I didn’t need a watch,” Merchant said. “But instead he handed me a note of apology.”

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Trivia time: What is the NBA record for most free throws taken in a game without making one?

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Attention getter: Philadelphia Eagle and former UCLA wide receiver Freddie Mitchell was assured of being shown on Fox’s pregame show Sunday by wearing a Bruin jersey. Why? Because it was a Troy Aikman jersey and Aikman was announcing the Eagles’ game against Dallas for Fox, which never misses a chance for self-promotion.

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Lucky to be in L.A.: Besides having to put up with blizzards, it’s also no fun living in New York these days if you’re an NFL fan.

Reader John David, a former Southern Californian living in Brooklyn, e-mailed Sunday to say, “On the best weekend of pro football, we get stuck with the Redskins at Giants followed by the Jets at Buffalo.”

Both the Giants and Jets lost.

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Hard for anyone to believe: In a year-end special, “Thrill of Victory,” that aired Sunday on ABC, one of the best stories of the year, Ben Curtis’ winning the British Open, was featured.

“Once I got to four or five under [on the final day], I asked myself, ‘What’s going on here?’ ” Curtis said.

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Wish granted: Philadelphia Flyer goalie Jeff Hackett made 38 saves in a 1-1 tie at Boston on Saturday night.

“He has been complaining he has only gotten 18, 19 shots, so we fixed him this time,” Flyer Coach Ken Hitchcock said.

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Looking back: On this day in 1971, the Lakers got 63 points from Elgin Baylor and defeated the Philadelphia Warriors, 151-147, in triple overtime despite 78 points and 43 rebounds by the Warriors’ Wilt Chamberlain.

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Great duo: Hot Rod Hundley once said: “My biggest thrill came the night Elgin Baylor and I combined for 73 points at Madison Square Garden. Elgin had 71 of them.”

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Trivia answer: 0 for 11 by Shaquille O’Neal in a 103-95 Laker loss to Seattle on this day in 2000. The previous record was 0 for 10 by Chamberlain in a game for the Warriors against Detroit in 1960.

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And finally: For a Budweiser-sponsored survey, participants were asked to choose their sports “fantasy designated driver.” Serena Williams got 30% of the votes, Annika Sorenstam 16%, Derek Jeter 15%, Yao Ming 10% and Michael Vick 8%.

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.