For Him, Early Going Is Simply Maddening

The beginning of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is only a day away, and everyone is excited. Well, maybe not everyone. Wrote Greg Cote in the Miami Herald:

“Me? I wish TiVo worked on real life. I’d fast-forward through the NCAA tournament’s ponderous preliminaries and pick up live action with the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four or perhaps even Transcendent Two.

“The elimination of Northern Iowa, Alabama Birmingham and Montana would be done in a painless flurry. The Penn Quakers and Niagara Purple Eagles would be vaporized in a technological instant.

“As for the Delaware State Hornets’ chances against Duke? I’ll dress like Cinderella for a day if Delaware State wins. OK, yes. I sometimes do that, just for fun. But that’s not the point.”

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Trivia time: What three active coaches have won more than one NCAA men’s basketball championship?

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Hardly skating through life: Tonya Harding was all set last week to take on Daisy D at Bums Beach, a Fort Lauderdale nightclub. First it was a boxing match, then a wrestling match.

“We’re out to give South Florida fight fans a classy night out,” promoter Damon Feldman promised. But then problems started arising. First, it was learned Daisy D is a transvestite.

“Daisy D never told me she was a he,” Feldman said. “Well, it’s close enough. Tonya doesn’t mind too much.”

Apparently, she did mind. Harding pulled out of match, claiming it wasn’t sanctioned. But Feldman, who declined to offer refunds, blamed Harding, saying, “It’s 100% her fault.”

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Same old story: There’s little question that Paul Hackett, when he was USC’s football coach, wasn’t as popular with the players as is his successor, Pete Carroll. And apparently he wasn’t real popular with players when he was the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets.

Former Jet running back Lamont Jordan, who recently signed with Oakland, had this to say on Sirius Satellite Radio Tuesday about his relationship with Hackett, who was replaced by the Jets after last season:

“I can definitely say I have a great relationship with Herman Edwards and my running backs coach [Bishop Harris]. As far as coach Hackett is concerned, I really can’t define the type of relationship with him that I had other than the fact that he was the offensive coordinator and I was the backup running back.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1961, Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion of the Montreal Canadiens became the second player to score 50 goals in a season in a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Maurice “the Rocket” Richard had been the first, in 1945.

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Trivia answer: Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Texas Tech’s Bob Knight, three each, and Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun, two.

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And finally: If Niagara is eliminated from the NCAA tournament Thursday by Oklahoma, reader Mark J. Featherstone of Windsor Hills wonders, “Will sports headlines across the country read, ‘Niagara Falls’?”

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