THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406040359
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
DATELINE: 940604 LENGTH: Medium
Perfect strangers: Marge and Deion may not produce great theater, but situation comedies have been written around less.
{REST} Yabba dabba doo: Actor John Goodman makes a better Fred Flintstone than he did a Babe Ruth, but that's not saying a lot.
Net results: Pro tennis, in need of a feel-good story, has one in Mary Pierce.
Playing hurt: Something to think about next time you limp off the softball field complaining of a blister on your big toe: Jockey Julie Krone rides with 13 screws and two metals plates in one ankle.
Big brother is watching: Before issuing media credentials, World Cup organizers asked to see the FBI files on all media personnel. Is this 1994 or a page out of ``1984''?
Sightseeing: The internal squabble threatening the Brazilian World Cup effort has to do with which players will be sitting by the windows on the team's charter flights. I don't make these up.
In passing: Dwight Gooden's greatest value to the New York Mets is as trade bait.
Brother act: Good health doesn't always run in families. Cal Ripken Jr. has never been on the disabled list since joining the Orioles in 1981. Brother Billy Ripken, a major leaguer since 1987, has been on the list nine times.
Cinema as commercial: The fictionalized Mike Tyson movie HBO plans to release just before Tyson is released from prison next spring is an obvious promo for the former heavyweight champion's anticipated return to the cable-TV ring. When Tyson gets out of jail, it'll take three rings to handle the media circus.
The growth factor: Dodgers announcer Vin Scully, on the unshaven look of several Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates: ``Some of these guys look like they arrived on a raft.''
Blast from the past: Wild Bill Hagy, the famous denizen of Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, on Oriole Park at Camden Yards: ``I liked our old ballpark better. People would ask if the beer is cold. Today, they say: `Is the Chardonnay chilled yet?' ''
Growing expectations: With a group of returning veterans and a highly rated recruiting class, Jeff Jones' Virginia basketball team should be preseason No. 2 in the ACC behind North Carolina.
The other half: U.Va. has signed this year's No. 1 prep girl basketball player, Monick Foote, a 6-foot-1 do-everything talent from Wilmington, Del.
Who's the boss? Mike Krzyzewski stayed at Duke, but not before rattling a few cages in the university's ivory tower. Which may have been the whole point of the exercise.
Bullish on postseason: Michael Jordan admits that he missed playing for the Bulls in the playoffs. ``If (coach) Phil Jackson would have come up with any solution where I could get through the regular season without being literally exhausted, I probably would have tried it a fourth time,'' Jordan said.
TV timeout: Naturally, television ratings for the NBA playoffs are down this year compared with last. With Michael missing, yard work becomes more attractive.
Charisma gap: If you've been watching the NBA playoffs, you must realize how important it is to the league that Charles Barkley return for another season.
More is less: In the postseason, NBA scoring is down, but the games take even longer to play. I must have been out of the room when somebody decided that what the world really needs is a 3 1/2-hour basketball game.
Fit for a bumper sticker: Former college hoop star Cheryl Miller called her brother, Indiana guard Reggie Miller, before Game 4 of the Knicks-Pacers series and told him he was being too polite on the court. ``Sometimes, you know, you've got to be an ass,'' she said. Sounds like, you know, the modern athlete's credo. by CNB