NBA or Daytona -- Battle of the ‘Bigs’

Of the two marquee events held Sunday, the NBA All-Star game and the Daytona 500, which is bigger? That question was posed to Kenny Smith and Benny Parsons the other day.

Said Smith, a TNT commentator and former NBA player: “The NBA All-Star game is an entertainment event. It’s a lifetime memory.”

Said Parsons, an NBC and TNT commentator and former NASCAR driver: “The Daytona 500 has 43 of the top drivers in the country, trained to drive at speeds in excess of 180 mph. Now that’s intense!”

Said Smith: “I know one thing: If a NASCAR driver ever got on the court with me, he wouldn’t be able to keep up. That would be like me driving a bus in a NASCAR race.”

Said Parsons: “I think we can agree on that.”

Trivia time: In 1990, Smith finished second in the NBA All-Star dunk contest at Miami. Who won it that year?

An unplayable truth: Years ago, Ted Williams told Golf Digest about a debate he had with Sam Snead. The topic: Which sport is more difficult, baseball or golf?

Williams said he told Snead: “Golf just can’t be as tough as hitting a baseball. I’m up at bat with 50,000 people screaming at me while some pitcher is throwing me sliders and knuckleballs from all different angles and maybe a fastball at my head.”

Williams conceded that Snead got the last word by saying: “When we hit a foul ball, we’ve got to go out and play it.”

Another point of view: Former Dodger Steve Sax, once asked about golf, said: “You can’t call it a sport. You don’t run, you don’t jump, you don’t shoot, you don’t pass. All you have to do is buy some clothes that don’t match.”

More golf humor: During the All-Star three-point shooting contest on TNT on Saturday, Charles Barkley said of Ray Allen’s shooting style: “He’s got the most effortless jump shot in the NBA. His shot is like my golf swing -- no wasted motion.”

Said Reggie Miller to Barkley, his TNT colleague: “Has anyone seen you golf?”

Said Barkley: “Not the people at home.”

A weight problem: Barkley, on the Memphis Grizzlies’ rather slight Hakim Warrick, a rookie from Syracuse: “I’ve got to call Jim Boeheim. They’ve got to get a weight room up there.”

Some win, some lose: “Big upset at the dog show,” said CBS’ David Letterman last week. “A bull terrier named Rufus won and Wayne Gretzky’s wife lost a half-million dollars.”

Looking back: On this day in 1998, Tara Lipinski, 15, became the youngest Olympic figure skating champion in history when she defeated Michelle Kwan at Nagano, Japan.

Lipinski was two months younger than Sonja Henie was when she won in 1928 at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Trivia answer: Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks.

And finally: “Dick Cheney’s shooting is so bad,” NBC’s Jay Leno said the other night, “he was asked to join the Lakers.”

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