If One Game Has You Down, You Might as Well Play Two

Since he wasn’t drafted until the sixth round, there must have been some question whether USC football-baseball star Rodney Peete could throw the long ball as well as he could hit it.

Sandy Alderson, vice president of baseball operations for the Oakland Athletics, said he thinks major league teams would still leave the light on in the dugout if Peete decided to play baseball. Maybe Peete could play both sports, Alderson said.

Is this another Bo Jackson story?

“Could be, but we’re talking about different levels of magnitude,” Alderson said.

Translation: Bo is better. In any event, the A’s drafted Peete, but their rights to sign him have run out and Peete will go back into the draft pool in June.

“We could consider re-drafting him,” Alderson said. “We felt real strongly he’d be an outstanding prospect.”

Re-Peete: Peete skipped baseball at USC this spring to show the National Football League scouts he was serious about football. Peete, who hit .340 with 12 home runs for the Trojans in 1988, said after the Detroit Lions had drafted him that he isn’t thinking about baseball right now.

No, and he probably wasn’t thinking about being chosen the 141st player in the NFL draft, either.

Trivia Quiz: What is green, never needs mowing and is celebrating its 25th birthday?

Beat the Heat: In its first year of existence, it was easy. The Miami Heat was truly lukewarm.

How bad was the Heat? Well, the team finished at 15-67 in the first season of the National Basketball Assn. franchise, which meant Miami fell only two victories shy of the Clippers’ record in the franchise’s 17th year, when they were 17-65 in 1987-88.

Said Miami guard Rory Sparrow: “It’s been very frustrating to lose like we have. You like to walk away with the girl every now and then. You don’t just want to dance with her.”

So that was the problem. They thought they were supposed to be dancing .

How does Round Mound sound? Maureen Barkley has her own pet name for her 6-foot-6, 263-pound, Philadelphia 76ers husband, Charles.

Love Buttercup.

Wonder if Rick Mahorn knows that.

Blockhead: He’s at the head of the class right now, but one of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s records that may go first is his total of 3,189 blocked shots. Mark Eaton, who out-blocked Abdul-Jabbar, 315-85, this season, is only 798 behind Abdul-Jabbar after averaging 3.84 blocks a game.

If Eaton maintains his average, he will pass Abdul-Jabbar early in the 1991-92 season, which is probably about the same time Kareem will have to take his Rolls in for service.

Trivia Answer: AstroTurf.

Want to play 21? Wide receiver Andre Rison of Michigan State was not real happy about being bypassed by 21 teams before Indianapolis drafted him with the 22nd pick in the first round. The voice of Rison: “I just can’t wait to play against the teams who passed me by. I hope I get a chance to play every last one of them.”

Quotebook: Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti, refusing to answer a series of differently worded questions from reporters about Pete Rose: “I’ve seen more interesting moves recently than Air Jordan.”