A Sharp Editor Told Him to Stay the Course

Tom Cushman of the San Diego Union-Tribune retired this week but not before filing a farewell column.

“My first assignment was to do a feature on a young golfer in the 1959 U.S. Amateur that was being staged on the Broadmoor East course,” he recalls. “Catching up to my subject on one of the Broadmoor’s deceptive mountainside greens, I watched him roll a short putt 20 feet past the hole and off the surface.

“Returning to the clubhouse, I phoned the editor and asked, ‘Why do a feature on this guy? He can’t even play.’

“Wise beyond his years, the editor said, ‘When he finishes, interview him and do the story.’

“It would be the first of many I’d write about Jack Nicklaus, then 18 years old. And he won the tournament.”

Trivia time: The Washington Capitals’ Jaromir Jagr scored his 500th goal Tuesday in a game in which he also had a hat trick. Name the five other NHL players who have reached the 500-goal milestone in this manner.

Blowing smoke: Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those displeased by the uncharacteristically pleasant weather at the outset of the AT&T; Pebble Beach Open.

“The world’s greatest bad-weather tournament is ruined before it starts by brilliant sunshine and truly wimpy breezes,” Ostler wrote. “I briefly was encouraged Wednesday when I saw some ominous dark clouds, but it turned out to be from John Daly smoking.”

James gang: It seems everyone has something to say about the controversy swirling around high-school sensation LeBron James, who landed in hot water recently for accepting free clothing, jeopardizing his amateur status. In a guest column for the San Francisco Examiner, hall-of-famer Rick Barry added his two cents’ worth:

“If he was truly focused on staying eligible for high school basketball, then it was his responsibility to avoid situations that could compromise his status in this regard. If, however, his sights are now so firmly set on the NBA and the big money he will soon have in his pocket, then by all means get what you can from whomever you can.”

End of the line? Has Steve Mariucci landed a dream job as new coach of the Detroit Lions, or has he been banished?

Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press thinks the latter is the case.

“This is all you need to know,” Albom writes. “No Detroit head coach in recent memory has ever gone on to be a head coach anywhere else. Not one! That’s astounding.

“Not Rick Forzano. Not Tommy Hudspeth. Not Monte Clark. Not Darryl Rogers. Not Wayne Fontes. Not Bobby Ross. Not Gary Moeller. And not likely anytime soon, Marty Mornhinweg.

“Now that’s a tradition.”

Trivia answer: Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jean Beliveau, Brett Hull and Mario Lemieux.

And finally: After being edged by Bode Miller, 25, in the combined event of the Alpine skiing World Championships Thursday at St. Moritz, Switzerland, Norway’s Lasse Kjus, 32, was feeling over the hill.

“I’m getting old, my beard is going gray and I’m losing my memory,” he jokingly bemoaned. “It’s time I paddled away to a desert island and relaxed.”

-- Pete Thomas