Locked-Out Players Are Really Lost Without It

The 103-day NHL lockout of 1994-95 was instructional on a couple of levels. It was possible, novel really, to spend a holiday in the same city as family and friends and not have to go to a game that same day for the first time in years.

And speaking of holidays, how could you top eating a hot dog in Quebec City on Thanksgiving Day? Saying, “Please pass the mustard” doesn’t sound quite right when people are passing the stuffing and gravy south of the border.

The other byproduct was discovering that there were actually decent television shows out there ... with no sports connection. It seems to be happening again during this lockout. Jim Jackson, the Philadelphia Flyers’ play-by-play announcer on TV, is changing his viewing habits after having not watched any series the last nine seasons.

“I wouldn’t know ‘Friends’ from ‘Seinfeld’ from ‘NYPD Blue,’ ” he told Bill Fleischman of the Philadelphia Daily News. “I might have seen a couple in syndication. I happened to see the first episode of ‘Lost’ and I was hooked.”

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Lost and found: Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning is a fan of “Lost” as well. He linked the show and hockey players.

“It’s about people stranded on an island,” he told the Tampa Tribune’s Martin Fennelly. “Kind of like us. Nobody in sight.”

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Trivia time: How many seasons has Jerry Rice caught 50 or more passes?

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Minnow power: There aren’t many times in international soccer when Andorra and Liechtenstein win. In fact, both countries made history in World Cup soccer qualifying this week.

Liechtenstein, ranked 151st, won its first World Cup qualifier, defeating Luxembourg, 4-0. And 147th-ranked Andorra won its first qualifying match, beating Macedonia, 1-0.

The fallout was quick. Macedonia’s coach offered to step down from his position, calling the result “shameful.”

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Footy II: A violent act was excused in Romania when the reason came to light.

A fan tossed his television set out a window, barely missing two of his neighbors, who were on the balcony below, when Romania lost to the Czech Republic in World Cup qualifying.

“At first I was shocked at my neighbor -- he could have killed us,” Radu Demergiu said. “But when he told me he had been watching the football, I completely understood.”

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Long shot: The early training-camp reviews are positive for the New York Knicks’ Trevor Ariza, a second-round choice, 43rd overall, from UCLA.

“If his name were Arizovic, he would have been a first-round pick,” Knick scout Kevin Wilson told Newsday.

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Trivia answer: 17 seasons.

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And finally: Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 Wimbledon champion, spoke at the Delta Tour of Champions, a senior tennis event in Eindhoven, Netherlands, of his 18-month-old daughter, Amber Maria:

“She doesn’t sleep. At night she seems to turn into a vampire. She wakes up every night five or 10 times, asking for things, singing and calling out. If she only wakes up five times in a night, it’s like I’ve won the lottery.”