Making Waves About Lakers Is Not Right

After the Lakers were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals, it didn’t take long for some of the nation’s sportswriters to editorially kick them again.

C.W. Nevius of the San Francisco Chronicle gleefully wrote:

“Geez, it was great. I haven’t enjoyed an outcome so much since Pepperdine knocked UCLA out of the NCAA tournament, and I’m guessing I am not alone.

“Anyone who has an ounce of basketball purist in his or her bloodstream had to love this comeuppance for the over-hyped Lakers.”

C.W., UCLA has played Pepperdine twice in the NCAA tournament and won both games, in 1976 and 1979.

Perhaps, you had your Ps mixed up, meaning Princeton in 1996.

*

More Laker bashing: Bob Keisser of the Long Beach Press-Telegram on Shaquille O’Neal’s teams being swept out of the playoffs in five of six tries: “Shaq has seen more brooms than Mickey Mouse in Fantasia.”

And this from Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post: “The way Shaq’s teams run out of air, we ought to be grateful they don’t play their home games in the Goodyear blimp.”

*

Trivia time: Which pitcher holds the American League record for wins?

*

No small feat: Former Auburn quarterback Dameyune Craig had 611 yards passing Saturday for the Scottish Claymores in an NFL Europe game.

His yardage surpassed Norm Van Brocklin’s NFL record of 554 yards set Sept. 28, 1951, with the Los Angeles Rams.

Craig, 6 feet 1, is considered small by NFL standards. He was a practice-squad player last season with the Carolina Panthers, who used him at defensive back and wide receiver. “If they still want to try me at another position, I can’t stop them,” he said.

*

Believe it or . . .: Frank Luksa in the Dallas Morning News: “I can think of at least three authors who would not touch the Chris Antley-Charismatic story. Hans Christian Andersen was one. He wrote fairy tales.

“Oliver Stone is another. He films fairy tales. Tom Clancy is the third. He writes fiction.”

*

Good advice: From the New York Times news service, here are some tips from obviously older Little League coaches:

* Do not draft any kid who has a father, mother, grandparents or lives with any adults who might come to watch him play.

* Only dirty kids with torn shoes and old gloves have any talent.

*

FYI: Rex Chapman of the Phoenix Suns holds the NBA playoff record for three-point field goals in a game with nine against Seattle on April 25, 1997.

*

Trivia answer: Walter Johnson, 416, with the Washington Senators from 1907-1927.

*

And finally: Atlanta Brave and Hawk owner Ted Turner concedes he has thought about running for president, but says one reason he won’t is because his wife, Jane Fonda, won’t let him.

“I thought about it a number of times,” Turner said Monday at the University of Montana. “But my wife, who was married to a politician before, said she would leave me.”

Fonda was married to Tom Hayden, who is now a state senator in California.