No Soup for Frank After This Comment

Coaches can get a little absorbed in their own worlds.

The Denver Post’s Adam Schefter reports that the New Jersey Nets’ Lawrence Frank was once on a flight with his wife watching a TV show that he thought was funny.

So Frank asked his wife, “What is this?”

She said, “Are you serious? It’s ‘Seinfeld.’ ”

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Known in some circles: Frank, asked by Schefter how often he gets stopped and asked for an autograph, said: “Does that include family members?”

Also from Frank, on why he got cut from his high school basketball team: “There just isn’t a lot of room for 4-foot-8 screeners. But I was good at in-bounding the ball.”

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Trivia time: What pitcher began his major league career in 1942 and had a 23-7 record in 1953 and a 23-7 record in 1963?

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No mental Giant: Jesse Palmer, New York Giant backup quarterback and star of the ABC reality show “The Bachelor,” made the Southeastern Conference academic honor roll when he played at Florida. But he didn’t appear very smart on the first show when he admitted he mixed up a Karen and a Katie and picked the wrong girl to advance to the next round.

Mike Thomas of the Orlando Sentinel says former Gator coach Steve Spurrier wouldn’t have been surprised by the gaffe. Wrote Thomas: “In 1999, he gave this reason for having to rotate Jesse with quarterback Doug Johnson: ‘We could give them two plays at a time. I’d give them three if they could remember three.’ ”

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Trouble at the day job: Ernie Accorsi, general manager of the Giants, was a recent guest on the NFL Network and was asked about Palmer’s appearing on “The Bachelor.”

“The New York Times said the front office was amused,” Accorsi said. “I would not say I was amused at all. I would look much more favorably upon a player who has been studying tape the past 15 weeks.”

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Geniuses at work: TNT’s Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley can give it to each other pretty good. When Kevin Garnett was the topic of conversation on a recent show, Johnson said to Barkley: “Your careers mimic each other, because neither of you ever went to a class in college.”

Retorted Barkley: “You went to the University of Georgia. At least I know how many points you get for a three-point field goal.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1969, Jerry West scored 53 points to lead the Lakers to a 120-118 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The Lakers lost Game 7, 108-106, at the Forum when a shot by Don Nelson in the closing seconds hit the back of the rim, bounced up in the air and dropped through the net.

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Trivia answer: Warren Spahn, who died Nov. 24. He would have turned 83 today.

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And finally: A Times story on Harvard grad Paul DePodesta, the Dodgers’ new general manager, reminded reader Dave Macaray of this classic Sparky Anderson quote: “I only have a high school education, and I had to cheat to get that.”

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