Close but No Cigar? Not for Fan of Jordan

Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Michael Jordan was easily the most popular celebrity at the recent Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational golf outing at a suburban country club.

“[A] woman was thrilled to get close enough to take a picture of Jordan’s Carolina blue-and-white Tar Heels golf bag.

“Then, there was a man who noticed when Jordan was finishing a huge cigar late in his round.

“ ‘Hey, M.J. can I have your cigar butt?’ ”

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Trivia time: Who holds the NBA finals record for minutes played in a game?

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Walton’s victory: Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune writes that NBC broadcaster Bill Walton is “glib, sardonic, controversial and contentious,” adding, “but it’s really less what Bill Walton says than the fact he’s able to say it at all.

”. . . [He] had such a severe speech impediment he barely could speak until he was almost in his 30s.

“ ‘Learning how to speak and communicate is easily the greatest accomplishment in my life,’ says Walton.”

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Ho-hum, rapping L.A.: Rick Bonnel of the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, trying to sell UCLA’s Baron Davis on playing for the Hornets--and certainly not the Clippers:

* “In Charlotte, $200,000 buys a nice middle-class house. In L.A., $200,000 buys a nice, middle-class doghouse.

* “In Charlotte, when a slow-moving, white Ford Bronco draws a crowd, it’s a parade. In L.A., it’s a police chase.

* “In Charlotte, that smoky aroma is pit-cooked barbecue. In Los Angeles, it’s the first warning of an ozone crisis.”

Yeah, Rick, but it’s still Charlotte!

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Ugly sport? Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, on what he calls the “ugly NBA” at the turn of the century:

“The brute knocked the ballet out of the game. Scoring fell off and whistles and fouls kidnapped the gracefulness.

“The snapshot of the sport became two guys leaning into each other under the basket, going nowhere, grunting and pawing like two grizzly bears with a honey pot between them, or two tired heavyweights clinching in a ring.”

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FYI: Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics holds the NBA finals record for rebounds in a game with 40. He did it twice, against St. Louis in 1960 and the Lakers in 1962, an overtime game.

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Trivia answer: Kevin Johnson of Phoenix, 62 minutes against Chicago in a three-overtime game on June 13, 1993.

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And finally: San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich, telling Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune of his experience of staying in New York:

“The people were really nice. I wore a Spurs shirt, so I was recognizable. They said stuff like, ‘You have no chance,’ good stuff. They were fun. I had a good time. I didn’t run into anybody too crazy.”

Lincicome: “What’s this? A warm and fuzzy New York, a city so nice they had to name it twice? Where’s a thug when you really need one? Larry Johnson to the rescue.”