Gone Fishing Takes on Whole New Meaning

Bud Withers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, writing on some of the trials and tribulations of playing on the road in college basketball:

“Utah Coach Rick Majerus recalls his naivete as an assistant to Al McGuire at Marquette when they played at Madison Square Garden a quarter-century ago.

“ ‘Coach, why’d they do that?’ Majerus asked McGuire, when somebody tossed a dead fish on the court as Marquette closed out an unimpressive victory.

“Muttered McGuire, ‘We didn’t cover the spread.’ ”

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Trivia time: How many schools competed in the first men’s NCAA basketball tournament in 1939 and what was the result?

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What was the tip? Sergei Fedorov took his Detroit Red Wing teammates out to dinner to celebrate his $38-million contract. The tab at Morton’s of Chicago in Phoenix was $10,000.

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Anatomy confusion: Jorge L. Ortiz in the San Francisco Examiner: “[Cleveland] Cavs’ box scores in the last three weeks have listed Henry James as out of action because of ‘hemorrhoid surgery.’ Ouch.

“ ‘It’s no different than it saying ‘Achilles’ surgery,’ said James, who apparently doesn’t know his heel from his . . . well, never mind.”

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Car envy: Colorado Rocky outfielder Larry Walker, the National League’s most valuable player last season, says he should have been named the Canadian Press athlete of the year, not Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve.

“They have been playing major league baseball for 128 years,” Walker said. “In that time, there has never been a Canadian who was considered the outstanding player in his league. It finally happens and I get beat for my country’s athlete of the year by a machine.”

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Right league for Spree: Jerry Magee in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “Had he been in the NFL rather than the NBA, Latrell Sprewell would not have been able to appeal.

“Any disciplinary measures taken by Commissioner Paul Tagliabue are final. In hockey, the same thing. Only in baseball and basketball can a player who has been disciplined appeal.”

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Work ethic: Golden State Warrior Coach P.J. Carlesimo said the transition to coaching has been easier for Larry Bird than other players because of the type of player he was.

“He was a superstar, but he was a blue-collar superstar,” Carlesimo said. “He didn’t have a superstar’s mentality in terms of work.”

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Trivia answer: Eight. Oregon had to play only three games to win the championship, defeating Ohio State, 46-33.

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And finally: Randy Galloway of the Dallas Morning News, writing on Maverick General Manager/Coach Don Nelson’s interest in acquiring Sprewell.

“No, Nellie, no. Not germ warfare. Not Latrell ‘The Strangler’ Sprewell.

“For raising local ire, this Nelson idea will be about as well received as dumping Anthrax in the water system.”