In General, This Fight Gets Even More Rank

The marketing strategy for the Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns fight in Las Vegas is simple: Promoter Bob Arum has billed it as “The War.”

Arum came up with the concept for the announcement ceremony, then left the execution to Washington PR man Charlie Brotman. After having the press corps serenaded with a selection of military marches, Brotman came onstage wearing a mock military uniform and a silver helmet that looked like a soup tureen.

“Welcome to the war zone,” Brotman said as a District of Columbia National Guard unit presented the colors. “It’s official. It is a war.”

Brotman then welcomed a man “who is no stranger to war--that’s exactly why we invited him,” and introduced former Marine Corps commandant, Gen. P.X. Kelly.

As Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post wrote, the promotion, which also involved U.S. Senators Harry Reid and Richard Bryan from Nevada, crossed the line of tacky-but-tolerable.

“Boxing has used the metaphor of war before,” Kornheiser wrote. “The Gerry Cooney-Michael Spinks ‘War at the Shore,’ for example. But it was never stretched out as tastelessly or shamefully as this.

“Boxing isn’t war. By participating in this dog-and-pony show, Kelly, however well-intentioned, trivialized his soldierly profession; Bryan and Reid, who may be accustomed to such excessiveness in Las Vegas, appeared foolish, carrying a bad joke too far.”

Trivia Time: How did the Philadelphia 76ers end the National Basketball Assn.’s longest single-season losing streak at 20?

It all began when Australian golfer Robert Edmond drove his tee shot into a water hazard.

From there, Edmond put his name in the record book Friday by taking 19 strokes to complete the par-5 first hole in the second round of the Australian Tournament Players’ Championship.

Edmond, who perhaps understandably was not available for comment after shooting a 90 for a 36-hole total of 171, missed the cut on the Sydney course by 13 strokes. He was also 23 shots behind leader David De Long of the United States.

Edmond’s saga was filled with lowlights:

After a second shot into the water, he took off his right shoe and sock to blast the ball out. He gave up after two tries and decided to take a drop. That move gave him eight strokes, and then the ball rolled into the shoe, incurring a two-stroke penalty.

He reached the green on his 15th attempt, but the ball rolled back to the fringe. Obviously in no mood to consider the rules, he marked the ball even though it wasn’t on the green, and that was worth another two-stroke penalty.

It was that sort of day.

Trivia answer: On a goaltending call against Milwaukee center Dick Cunningham with six seconds left. That gave the 76ers a 106-104 victory over the Bucks, one of only nine Philadelphia wins during the 1972-73 season.

Quotebook

Former Utah Jazz coach Frank Layden, ending a television interview with ESPN’s Roy Firestone: “Thank you for having me back as a has-been.”