THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 14, 1994 TAG: 9410140675
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Midnight nonsense: Shut-ins and hoop junkies with cable TV and a fast hand on the remote can catch Friday's ``Midnight Madness'' basketball practices from North Carolina, Maryland, Cincinnati, Florida and St. John's. Imagine using that much satellite time to present what are basically giggle-and-shoot sessions. And they say the shopping channels are silly.
Idle thought: Under the circumstances, I guess Michael Jordan is Mr. October.
Milestone: Joe DiMaggio turns 80 next month.
Says here: Canadians miss hockey more than Americans miss baseball.
Boob tube: Add Lawrence Taylor to the list of football-players-turned-TV-analysts who have nothing to say and say it badly.
Waking up the echoes: Call them the Colts or whatever you want, but you don't need a Gallup Poll to measure the success of Baltimore's CFL franchise. In seven games at Memorial Stadium, the Fill-in-the-Blanks are averaging 37,000 paid.
Waiting his turn: A year after North Carolina senior Pat Sullivan was redshirted because the Tar Heels basketball team was overloaded with talent, Duke senior sub Eric Meek has asked to sit out the coming season. Are we seeing the start of a trend?
Court time: The basketball magazines that pick Virginia to finish in the top 15 are counting on the Cavaliers to shoot better than last season, when their 38.7 field goal percentage was the lowest for an ACC team since 1962.
Off form: Miami's victory over Florida State adds to the body of evidence that suggests Bobby Bowden's teams tighten up in the biggest games.
Quick hit: Though it's been said before in one way or another, it bears repeating - ``Coaches say there's a lot of pressure,'' ESPN's Beano Cook contends. ``They make $400,000, $500,000 a year. If they don't want pressure, work at Wendy's.''
Bob-ing along: After an 0-4 start in 1992, Bobby Ross' San Diego Chargers have gone 24-9.
Dirty dealing: Rollie Massimino is no sweetheart, but what's happening to him in Las Vegas is an act of pure vengeance on the part of Jerry Tarkanian supporters. Vegas doesn't want a college team; it wants an NBA franchise.
Tribute: Frank McGuire, who died this week, rescued Bobby Cremins from a job as a bellhop in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, and got him into coaching. ``He always told me,'' Cremins says, `Great players make great coaches.' '' So true. And so often forgotten.
The silver screen: Spike Lee wants to make a movie about Jackie Robinson, with Denzel Washington in the lead. I'd have thought that, by now, Spike would be working on the Pat Riley story.
Just a kid: Who can argue with 14-year-old tennis genius Martina Hingis when she says her 6-2, 6-1 victory over Helena Sukova was ``the best match of my career''? It was only her third match on the pro tour.
The price is right: Curtis Strange, who has sat out the last three British Opens, flew to windy, cold St. Andrews last week to play in something called the Dunhill Cup. Could the free first-class plane ticket, guaranteed check and free luxury hotel room have been a factor? What do you think?
Post-mortem: Critics who blast Philadelphia Eagles coach Rich Kotite for running Charlie Garner 28 times Sunday night forget that it is just as important for the Eagles to get by the lowly Redskins as it is for Philly to topple the champion Cowboys this Sunday. by CNB