King Fans Won’t Be Cowed by Jackson

The Sacramento Bee last week polled readers about Phil Jackson possibly coaching the Kings. Readers were asked to pick one of four prewritten answers. The results:

* “I’d jump up and down with joy because the Kings’ future looks bright again.” 30% (139 votes)

* “I’d have mixed feelings because I don’t like the guy personally, but he just might help the team.” 21% (99 votes)

* “I would be opposed to the move because Rick Adelman deserves to keep his job.” 13% (62 votes)

* “I would get nauseous at the mere thought of that pretentious jerk whistling down the Kings’ sideline.” 28% (133 votes)

An additional 8% responded but did not choose among the four selections.

Were it a vote, looks as if it’d be too close to call.

*

Trivia time: What do Hakeem Olajuwon, Larry Bird, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain have in common, besides being Hall of Famers?

*

Keep this quiet: Mark Skorlich, 41, of Santa Monica bid $9,050 for the privilege of getting one at-bat and playing in the outfield for half an inning next Saturday for an independent minor league baseball team, the River City Rascals, who play in suburban St. Louis.

Let’s hope Frank McCourt and his anything-for-a-buck marketing department don’t get wind of this.

*

Looks can be deceiving: In the remake of “The Longest Yard,” opening May 27, Chris Rock’s character says, “I was so bad in sports, they used to pick me after the white guys.”

Apparently, in real life Rock is no athlete either.

On a conference call with sportswriters, he said, “It’s always fun to be around a white park knowing you’re going to get picked to play basketball. The looks on the white guys’ faces when you can’t play basketball is priceless. It’s like you’re the Loch Ness Monster. ‘We’ve heard you existed, but we never thought we’d see you.’ ”

*

Net worth: Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, 87, recently won the 85-and-over division title at a tennis competition in Newport Beach. Kerkorian regularly plays tennis at the Beverly Hills Country Club.

*

Looking back: On this day in 1993, Prairie Bayou, ridden by Mike Smith, rebounded from a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby to become the first gelding to win the Preakness in 79 years.

*

Trivia answer: They played on teams that lost in the NCAA championship game. Kansas (Chamberlain) lost to North Carolina in 1957, Seattle (Baylor) to Kentucky in ‘58, West Virginia (West) to California in ‘59, Indiana State (Bird) to Michigan State in ‘79, and Houston (Olajuwon) to North Carolina State in ’83 and Georgetown in ’84.

*

And finally: Randy Hill of Foxsports.com on the NBA’s most valuable player: “Steve Nash is a [relatively] short white guy from Canada with hair that -- if seen on Gilligan’s Island -- would have motivated the Professor to invent a swell, mango-based conditioner and coconut-powered clippers.”

*

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