THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240667
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Absent friends: The sparse spectator turnout at spring training camps is much more revealing than the owners' surveys indicating people will watch replacement baseball. Management's strategy appears to be unraveling.
Straw man: Accepting Darryl Strawberry's word on the drinking and drug habits of other players is like asking Mike Tyson to write the foreword to Miss Manners' next book.
Acid test: Because the ACC is so respected as a basketball conference, No. 2 UCLA must soundly defeat bottom-feeder Duke on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion to convince people that it is a legitimate contender for the NCAA title.
Lateral move: Will home-and-home series against new Atlantic 10 partners Duquesne, Xavier, Dayton and LaSalle really give Virginia Tech basketball the boost it needs? Doubtful.
Teflon man: The Detroit Tigers, a team representing one of the last bastions of union solidarity, won't dare prevent Sparky Anderson from returning as manager unless they want to invite a replay of the fan uprising that took place upon the firing of longtime radio voice Ernie Harwell.
Factoid: Roy Jones Jr. recently was named the world's best fighter, pound for pound, by 25 of the 50 American boxing writers who took part in a poll. Sweetpea Whitaker received 23 votes.
Hucksterism for $200: Now that ``Jeopardy!'' and ``Wheel of Fortune'' have been named the ``official game shows' of the 1996 Summer Games, maybe somebody should ask Merv Griffin to light the Olympic flame.
In passing: The Orlando Magic are a little too pleased with themselves to win the NBA title this year.
Chairman of the boards: The burden of being Bobby Knight is knowing that, 10 years later, more people remember your chair-throwing tantrum than anything your Indiana teams have accomplished.
Tough girl: New U.S. figure skating champion Nicole Bobek is Tonya Harding without the Gillooly.
His aim is true: Cory Alexander may be overrated as a basketball player - mainly by Cory Alexander - but he deserves credit for being on schedule to graduate from Virginia in four years.
One out of two: I can visualize North Carolina's Rasheed Wallace in the NBA next season, but teammate Jerry Stackhouse needs another year of college experience.
Connections: Virginia basketball coach Jeff Jones has put together a fine team, but so has another former U.Va. assistant, Wake Forest's Dave Odom.
Knockdown pitch: Marvin Miller, former baseball players' union director, serves up some chin music to replacement players: ``Let's face it, these are people who are weak. They just want to be in the limelight for another day or two. They're not people to be admired.'' Or watched.
People's choice: Those who think Glenn Robinson has caught Grant Hill in the race for NBA rookie-of-the-year don't understand the importance of the intangibles Hill brings to the game.
Idle thought: If Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras don't care about the Davis Cup, they're no different than the rest of America. by CNB