DATE: Friday, November 21, 1997             TAG: 9711210974

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

                                            LENGTH:   58 lines

WILL GA. STATE SIT STILL FOR LEFTY'S BRAND OF BASKETBALL?

It's a start: For it's first home basketball game under Lefty Driesell, Georgia State drew twice as many people as it usually does. Unfortunately, that amounted to only 1,381.

Bird feed: Sunday's game between the New York Giants and Landover Redskins would be easier to hype if you ignored the uncomfortable little fact that both NFC East title contenders have already lost at home to the Baltimore Ravens.

Go figure: At a school that once featured NFL pass-catching star Herman Moore, you wouldn't think that senior Germane Crowell would become the first Virginia player to have five 100-yard games receiving in a season.

Idle thought: You realize, of course, that a real baseball commissioner, not to be confused with Bud Selig, could stop Wayne Huizenga from tearing apart the Florida Marlins.

Sign of the times: When more than 100 baseball players change teams in one day, fan loyalty is a potential casualty.

Sour notes: It's bad enough that NBA field-goal percentages and scoring are down once again, but look who's shooting below 40 percent: Michael Jordan, Grant Hill, Sean Elliott and Allan Houston.

For what it's worth: To my eyes, an ice hockey game looks like one continuous turnover.

Money matters: Just when you thought you'd heard it all, the Arizona Diamondbacks point to the character issue to justify paying marginal shortstop Jay Bell $34 million over five years. By those standards, Babe Ruth wouldn't have earned a dime.

Dean's secret weapon: The only serious weakness basketball coach Bill Guthridge faces at North Carolina is not having a righthand man as good as he was.

Less is more: When baseball's general managers suggest that first-round playoff series be expanded to best-of-seven, they are flirting with November World Series games. A solution: Cut back the regular season to 154 games.

Numbers game: ``Michael'' leads the NFL's list for favorite first name; there are 54 of them. Most popular last names are Smith and Williams. There are 28 of each. But speaking of names, what the National Fieldgoal League could use most is a Montana, another Payton and Riggins, maybe a couple more Rices.

Hockey fever: The other night, 6,896 turned out in Greensboro, N.C., to watch the Hurricanes play an NHL hockey game against the Canadiens. Do you think Greensboro is saving its money for major league baseball tickets? Right.

A breakthrough: Thanks to its upset of South Carolina in last season's NCAA tournament, Coppin State becomes the first traditionally black school to appear on network television for a regular season basketball game. On Dec. 13, Fang Mitchell's Eagles play at Arizona.

Off the beaten path: Listening to some local radio stations, I hear Portsmouth being referred to as ``P-town.'' Obnoxious is what that is.

In passing: You are deep into middle-age if you remember when home-run hitters drove Cadillacs.

Numbers game: When William and Mary shoots 28.8 percent from the field and just 31.6 from the free-throw line in a loss at Virginia, it's time the talk in Williamsburg changed back to SAT scores.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu