Uncle Rick Quite a Show All by Himself

Hal Bock of the Associated Press isn’t surprised that Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino has changed his mind about leaving the national champion Wildcats and is considering an offer to become coach and general manager of the New Jersey Nets.

“Blessed with choirboy good looks, Pitino is like Auntie Mame, able to charm the husk right off the corn,” Bock writes. “He convinces people that he is sincere when he says he would never consider this job or that.

“And at some level, he probably means it too.”

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Trivia time: What is the oldest UCLA men’s outdoor track and field record in events that are currently held?

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Non-lofty approach: John Daly is using a new club at the Kemper Open this week: a zero-iron that has no loft. He said the first time he used it he didn’t make solid contact, the ball going only 267 yards.

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A little different: NBA Commissioner David Stern on Dennis Rodman: “It is not lost on anyone that on the basketball court Michael [Jordan] is the best basketball player on the planet and a pleasure to behold.

“But off the court, Dennis is more varied in his approach to life and he gets more attention because of it.”

Varied? Now there’s a euphemism.

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Rodman clone? The New York Yankees purchased pitcher Katsuhiro Maeda from the Seibu Lions of the Japanese League. He reportedly has orange-dyed hair.

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Soccer boom? A poll of 500 fans was conducted last week by VR Sports, an Irvine firm that develops and publishes sports gaming software, and it found that 65% believe soccer “will soon surpass baseball in popularity in the U.S.”

The poll, by the way, was conducted at three Major League Soccer games, so maybe the findings were slightly slanted.

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Tough double: Dwight Gooden of the New York Yankees failed in his bid to pitch consecutive no-hitters as so many others before him. So Johnny Vander Meer’s 58-year-old record still stands alone.

“Records aren’t set forever,” Vander Meer, 82, told the New York Post. “I don’t think anyone will ever break this one, but I have no objection to someone tying it.”

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Add Vander Meer: He’s not sympathetic to Gooden’s drug problems, saying:

“When I was playing you wouldn’t be back in the game if you did that stuff. I played in the Depression, when everybody was dedicated to the game or else they were out pumping gas.”

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It’s not too late: Chicago Cub first baseman Mark Grace after an 18-1 loss to Atlanta: “It’s one of those nights you wished you had listened to your parents and went to medical school.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1965, Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston a minute into the first round in the rematch at Lewiston, Maine, for Ali’s heavyweight title.

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Trivia answer: James McAlister, 27 feet 1/2 inch in the long jump in 1973.

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And finally: In the Football Writers Assn. of America preseason college poll, UCLA and Toledo were tied for 41st. Isn’t that redundant?