This Benson Boogie Just a New Mix of Old Song

In the NFL, sometimes the games behind the games are transparent.

Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints, has threatened to move his team to Southern California, San Antonio or Albuquerque. Is it simply a negotiating ploy?

That wouldn’t surprise Superdome official Doug Thornton, who was quoted in the Washington Times as saying, “This is what NFL teams do.”

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Trivia time: Where did quarterback Warren Moon go to college after graduating from Hamilton High in 1974?

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Deciphering Shaq: Did it bother Shaquille O’Neal that Phoenix’s Steve Nash was voted the NBA’s most valuable player by the media? See if you can figure it out from what he told John Thompson in a taped TNT interview:

“At this point in my career, I’m done with trying to achieve individual accolades. They mean nothing. When I was younger, I tried to get it. I tried to get them all.... But that doesn’t mean anything.... Nash had a great year. Now, if it was voted on by some legends or some players, you know, it would concern me. But it’s voted on by earthlings. Earthlings make mistakes.”

The vote here is that Shaq was bothered by the MVP snub.

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Blowing in the wind: A Morning Briefing trivia item last week mentioned that one of the wildest games in major league history that took place 26 years ago this month. The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Chicago Cubs, 23-22, in a game at Wrigley Field that featured 50 hits and 11 homers.

Winds reaching 32 mph were blowing out to left field that day. Dennis Lamp, a 16-year major leaguer from Bellflower, the Cubs’ starting pitcher that day, recalled, “Mike Schmidt hit what looked to me like a popup to short, and the wind carried it out for a home run.”

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Better late than never: John Olerud accomplished something Monday he had never done before -- homering in a minor league game.

Olerud, 36, had spent his entire professional career in the major leagues, beginning with Toronto in 1989. He signed with Boston this month after the New York Yankees had let him go after last season, and homered in his debut with the Pawtucket (R.I.) Red Sox of the triple-A International League.

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Looking back: On this day in 1975, the Golden State Warriors became the third team to sweep the NBA Finals by defeating the Washington Bullets, 96-95. Butch Beard scored the winning point on a free throw with nine seconds remaining.

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Trivia answer: West Los Angeles College. Moon, who transferred to Washington after one season, says he went to the community college because he initially couldn’t find a four-year school that would allow him to play quarterback.

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And finally: Regarding Shaq’s comments that L.A. is a fake place where rich old men date 20-year-old girls, comedian Argus Hamilton noted, “The L.A. Chamber of Commerce asked a judge to slap a gag order on him. There are already too many people living out here.”

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