That Would Make Him Czar of the Teletubbies

TNT commentator Steve Kerr delivered two commencement speeches at his alma mater, Arizona, before flying to Los Angeles on Saturday for Game 6 of the playoff series between the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs.

He worked the game with Marv Albert and Mike Fratello, whom Albert calls “the Czar.”

Before the game, Albert told Kerr, “The Czar can relate to your day. Earlier this week he delivered an emotional speech to the Jamboree preschool in downtown Cleveland.”

Trivia time: Why is Fratello known as “the Czar?”

Temper, temper: Spur Coach Gregg Popovich can get pretty animated when complaining about officiating. Then there is Floyd Irons, coach of the St. Louis SkyHawks of the U.S. Basketball League. During a recent game against Cedar Rapids, Irons pulled his team off the floor in the second quarter and went home. His team was losing, 38-21, at the time.

Cedar Rapids Coach Dave Joeger told the Cedar Rapids Gazette: “Apparently they feel like the officiating is unfair here.”

Other side of track: Philadelphia sports fans, many of them horse racing novices, have gone wild over Smarty Jones.

Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer offered this insight to novices:

“Most racetrack patrons do not wear large hats and sip mint juleps.... Real railbirds smell like cigars, dress like track-pickers, complain constantly and, despite what they might claim, lose regularly.”

What about Gagne? Bob Costas, co-host of NBC’s Preakness coverage, does not profess to be a horse racing expert. Baseball is more up his alley.

So when he was asked to give his pick before Saturday’s race, he said: “I’ve been talking to some of the wise guys. They tell me this is a good day for a closer. Therefore I am picking Imperialism or Mariano Rivera, one of the other?”

Tough profession: Former jockey Donna Barton Brothers, who was part of the NBC crew working the Preakness, detailed her list of injuries during an 11 1/2-year career.

“Six concussions, five broken bones, two nose operations, broken collar bone, a couple of broken ribs, cracked a few vertebrae,” she said. “And that’s a short list of injuries compared to most jockeys in the jocks’ room.”

Looking back: On this day in 1979, Dave Kingman of the Chicago Cubs hit three home runs in a 23-22, 10-inning Cub victory over Philadelphia at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, Tom Lasorda was not there that day, so no one could ask him what he thought of Kingman’s performance.

Trivia answer: Albert used to call Fratello “the Czar of the telestrator.” The nickname has since been shortened.

And finally: There are better ways to make money than own a sports franchise. So why do it?

Avenger owner Casey Wasserman told Worth magazine: “You can do all the right things very thoughtfully and still go 0-16. But [sports] is where you get the rush you don’t get selling doughnuts.”

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