Different Ways of Looking at Magic’s Entry Into Coaching

Columnist Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe is skeptical about Magic Johnson’s return to the Lakers as coach:

“It’s difficult to escape the feeling that we’re seeing something akin to Babe Ruth closing out his professional career as a wrestling referee.

“We’re seeing Joe Louis glad-handing high rollers at a casino. We’re seeing Frank Sinatra forgetting lyrics, then collapsing on stage in the middle of ‘My Way.’

“Magic naturally doesn’t see it that way.”

Comment: Why should he?

*

Trivia time: Can you name the only Pacific 10 school that has never reached the Final Four?

*

Incentive: Corliss Williamson, the Arkansas Razorbacks’ 6-foot-7, 245-pound forward, pumps up his teammates by punching them in the chest before games.

“It’s his way of showing he’ll be there for the team,” teammate Davor Rimac told the Sporting News. “And maybe if we don’t give 100%, he hits harder. I don’t want to find out.”

*

Exit entrance: Art Aragon, on a fight where he had to lose too much weight to make the required weight:

“That night I became the first fighter in history to be carried into the ring.”

*

Priorities: Volleyball star Bob Samuelson, on why the U.S. team went through an 18-38 season:

“I don’t think, in a middle of a game, we should be worried about getting a bulkhead seat on the way home.”

*

New goal? Duffy Mahoney, USA Track and Field’s athletic manager, on Michael Jordan’s next sporting endeavor:

“Why not Olympic high jumping? He can do 7 feet right now, why not 7-6 with a little practice?”

*

Time consuming: Asked what it is like to play against Gheorghe Muresan, the Washington Bullets’ 7-foot-7 Romanian center, Robert Pack, former USC standout, now with the Denver Nuggets, said:

“Getting around him on a pick is like going around the block.”

*

Easy sell: Buzzie Bavasi, former San Diego Padre president, on the Dodgers’ great attendance:

“Heck, in Los Angeles 20,000 people would show up at the park accidentally, just to see what the lights were about.”

*

Can he swim? UCLA shotputter Joe Bailey has the distinction of being the world’s largest registered lifeguard.

Bailey, who stands 6 feet 4, weighed 295 pounds while working at Seal Beach last summer.

*

Minor detail: Florida Marlin pitcher Chris Hammond, with a 35-31 career record, on the difference between him and Atlanta’s Tom Glavine, who has a 95-66 record:

“I guess he’s getting the breaks, and I’m not.”

*

Trivia answer: Arizona State.

*

Quotebook: Former Villanova basketball coach Jack Kraft on losing a key player who fouled out in the waning minutes of a close game: “That was the nail that broke the coffin’s back.”