It’s Odd Place to Run Into This Problem

There was an ironic twist to Garfield High School’s missed opportunity to compete in the California boys’ state cross-country championships Nov. 24 because of a scoring error in the City Section meet a week earlier.

And KCET-TV coincidentally underscored it Monday night by showing “Stand and Deliver.”

The 1988 film tells the story of teacher Jaime Escalante, who raises the skill level and self-esteem of his Garfield High students by training them so well that they pass an advanced placement test.

In calculus.

Trivia time: Who was the last Heisman Trophy-winning junior to return for his senior year?

Fairly bristling: To get the Christmas shopping season started, Oakland Athletic Manager Tony La Russa took his family to a fur store in Walnut Creek, Calif., Saturday.

Not to buy, but to protest.

La Russa, his wife, Elaine, and their 8-year-old daughter, Devon, were among those who demonstrated against killing animals for their pelts.

Said La Russa: “They’re being killed for nothing more than to make a buck and look glamorous.”

Add La Russa: Wayne Meyers, the proprietor of the fur store, called the A’s manager a hypocrite.

Said Meyers: “He has made a fortune off leather baseballs, leather gloves and hot dogs.”

Hey, let’s leave Rickey Henderson out of this.

In the air: Monday night at Boston Garden, they honored Johnny Most, the Celtics’ radio play-by-play man from 1953-54 through last season.

At halftime of the Boston-Seattle game, Most received the equivalent of a championship banner or a retired jersey: One of his microphones was hoisted to the rafters.

Que sera, sera Department: From Steve Jacobson of Newsday:

“Now, how is it that Lisa Olson can go about her professional career without being the unwitting diversion to whatever story she covers? Good luck, lady.”

And:

“Just think, what will happen to the NCAA suspension if UNLV repeats as NCAA basketball champion? Will the suspension be postponed another year to permit UNLV to three-peat?”

Game over: Did anyone really think that former Laker Coach Pat Riley, now working as a commentator with NBC-TV, would walk away quietly from the day-to-day tension of life in the NBA?

Asked recently whether he misses his role at courtside, Riley said:

“I did go to a Knicks game when I was in New York and I was sitting on the floor. I couldn’t take it. I was ready to jump in the air, throw my fist in the air and call the play.

“Then I thought, ‘Aw, the hell with it,’ and I left.”

Now it can be told: Michigan quarterback Elvis Grbac, nearsighted in one eye and farsighted in the other, has contact lenses that correct the problem.

But Curt Brown of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune recently reported that Grbac was not wearing them when he threw three touchdown passes in the Wolverines’ 35-18 victory over Minnesota.

Aces, mate: Sandy Armour was nowhere near the top of the leader board after Sunday’s final round of the Australian Open in Sydney.

But the grandson of the great Tommy Armour did have a moment to celebrate--and a prize to celebrate it with.

For his seven-iron tee shot on the par-three second hole, which hit the top of the flag stick and dropped into the cup, a tournament sponsor presented Armour with 52 cases of beer.

Trivia answer: Billy Sims of Oklahoma, who won the award in 1978.

Quotebook: Virginia Tech quarterback Will Furrer, recalling that he learned two days after he had enrolled that the school had been put on probation by the NCAA: “I kind of wish I had been informed about that.”