McGrady Wants to See Quality Air Time

Brian Schmitz in the Orlando Sentinel: “Michael Jordan has accepted the idea of waving goodbye as a bench warmer from his final NBA All-Star game, even if a certain admirer in Orlando has not.

“Tracy McGrady wants Michael’s kids to see their father in his last All-Star game as a starter. To make that happen, McGrady will offer to step aside for Jordan.

“ ‘For what Michael Jordan has done for this league and this game, I’ll do anything,’ McGrady said. ‘It’s his last All-Star game. I don’t have a problem with that. I’ll get in the game. I’d love to see it.’ ”

Allen Iverson made the same offer to Jordan, who turned them down.

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Trivia time: Who holds the record for steals in an NBA All-Star game?

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Tired scenario: Bill Simmons of ESPN the Magazine worries whether Sylvester Stallone, who just signed up to film “Rocky VI,” has any punch lines left in his tank.

“What could possibly be the premise?” Simmons wrote. “Rocky fights someone who keeps taunting him at bingo games?”

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Fan speaks out: Dismayed by his team’s 5-0 loss to the Rangers last week, New York Islander season-ticket holder Larry Weinberger took out a full-page ad in Newsday to scold the Islanders: “We, your loyal fans, showed up! We braved freezing weather and came out looking for a great game. We came out to support you. Where was the energy, the excitement, the electricity, the intensity? Come on now.... We deserve a better effort.”

The ad cost $28,000.

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Try again: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ mighty defense doesn’t have a catchy nickname, like Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain or Minnesota’s Purple People Eaters, so Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel suggests this one in honor of coordinator Monte Kiffin: “The Full Monte.”

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Limited choices: On his ESPN radio show, Tony Kornheiser was told 65,000 fans showed up for the Buccaneers’ party in Tampa and said, “Well, it’s either there or the Waffle House.”

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Rodent control: Woody Paige of the Denver Post is no fan of Brian Griese: “I’d rather have Galileo’s daughter than Bob Griese’s son playing quarterback for the Broncos.

“As he has proved for four years, [Griese] couldn’t play a live Mouseketeer or a dead rat in Oakland.”

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Put down: John Vander Wal signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers, prompting Keith Olbermann of ABC radio to ask, “Aren’t all contracts with the Milwaukee Brewers minor league contracts?”

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Wah, wah: Brett Hull, on how the NHL has changed in his 15 years: “We used to be called hard-working players. Now we’re overpaid crybabies.”

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Trivia answer: Rick Barry, eight in 1975.

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And finally: The day after the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, Tampa Fire Chief Pete Botto got a tattoo of the Lombardi Trophy. He already had tattoos of the Buccaneers’ original logo and the present one, he told the Tampa Tribune.

“You got to be a little crazy to be a firefighter,” he said.