Maybe They Can’t Find a Slipper for Bambi

Mike Downey of the Chicago Tribune is trying to figure out who will be the Cinderella team in this year’s NCAA tournament.

“I wonder who’ll make it this March, while UCLA sits this one out. Louisiana Lutheran? Fargo Baptist? Eastern South Dakota A&M;? Nokia A, T&T;?

“Well, that’s the fun part, as everybody loves to say. Waiting for this year’s ‘Cinderella.’

“[I am really, really sick of Cinderella, by the way. I don’t mean the fairy tale Cinderella. I mean the term Cinderella. Every year, some basketball team is said to be this year’s Cinderella. Couldn’t somebody be this year’s Snow White? Or Bambi, maybe? Couldn’t ESPN refer to Duke’s first-round opponent as this year’s Little Mermaid?]”

Trivia time: Who holds the Pauley Pavilion scoring record?

Catching on: Yao Ming, the Chinese center of the Houston Rockets, has kept his sense of humor despite constant media attention. Asked his favorite English words, the 7-foot-5 rookie said, “Last question.”

War of words: Some New Mexico State alumni are lobbying for a change to words in the school fight song, which include the following verse: “And when we win this game we’ll buy a keg of booze and drink it to the Aggies ‘til we wobble in our shoes.”

The student body and younger alumni mostly are united against any change.

No love lost: Bret Engemann, a senior quarterback last season at Brigham Young, had a workout last week for Oakland Raider assistant Jim Harbaugh when Cougar defensive end C.J. Ah You approached the two and proceeded to deck Engemann.

Apparently, Engemann dated a woman Ah You also was dating.

Ah You was led off the field by Coach Gary Crowton, who plans to discipline the player.

Different agendas: After Jake Plummer chose the Denver Broncos over the Chicago Bears, Don Pierson of the Chicago Tribune said, “In Denver, the Broncos are convinced they are one quarterback from a Super Bowl. In Chicago, the Bears are one quarterback from having 11 men in a huddle.”

Eager kid: John Salley of Fox Sports Net says Michael Irvin’s 16 siblings turned him into a Pro Bowl receiver: “Every time his mother threw a biscuit, he would be the first one with his arms open.”

Consistent Cardinal: Stanford has finished first or second in the Pacific 10 in basketball seven consecutive seasons, something only one other school has done since the league abolished the two-division format in 1955: UCLA from 1960 through 1979.

Looking back: On this day in 1966, John Longden rode George Royal to victory in the San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita in the last race of the jockey’s 40-year career. He retired with a then-record number of victories, 6,032. Longden died Feb. 14 of this year.

Trivia answer: Lew Alcindor, 61 points against Washington State in 1967.

And finally: Bill Scheft of Sports Illustrated, on the 33 non-roster players in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ camp: “The breakdown: 18 pitchers, seven position players and eight guys to shag caps thrown by Lou Piniella.”

-- Mal Florence