Youngster Had Little Desire to Be Like Mike
It can now be revealed that kids don’t pay that close attention to manufacturers’ names and logos.
Case in point: The parents of 9-year-old Kalindi Dinoffer took her shopping for tennis clothing and were wondering why the youngster kept rejecting Nike garb, even though one of the outfits appeared to be the right fit and right look.
Eventually, her parents asked why she wouldn’t pick the outfit.
“It’s for boys, it’s got a boy’s name on it,” Kalindi said.
Mystery solved. She thought it was Mike, not Nike.
Trivia time: Which team was the non-Big East entry in the 1985 Final Four?
Odd couple: Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News on the phrase-in-the-news, “student-athlete”:
“Always confusing to me has been the proper punctuation mark between the word ‘student’ and ‘athlete.’ Should it be a hyphen, or should it be a slash? It probably should be handcuffs, or at least a twist tie.
“This forced and affected designation for college jocks does not combine naturally. This is the strangest bonding of mismatched notions since ‘tasty’ and ‘tofu.’ ”
Counterpoint: There are real students out there among the athletes, and Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune caught up with Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor, who proudly holds a 3.73 grade-point average and a seemingly permanent place on the dean’s list.
“For once, a kid who puts the straight A’s in NCAA,” Fennelly wrote of the finance major.
One helping, please: Charles Barkley, on Shaquille O’Neal’s dietary habits: “No. 1, he has to stop eating. I’ll tell him the same thing I told Oliver Miller: He has to learn two words: ‘I’m full!’ ”
Red card: Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times noticed that a Brazilian soccer team, Guarani, included a reserve forward named Creedence Clearwater Couto.
“What, was this guy born on a bayou with a bad moon rising?” Perry asked. “ ... Just be thankful his parents weren’t huge fans of Meatloaf or Badfinger.”
It could have been worse. What if they were followers of Toto or Toad the Wet Sprocket?
Late show: Laura Vecsey of the Baltimore Sun noticed that Maryland Coach Gary Williams had some fun at the expense of Rick Barnes when Barnes and his Texas Longhorns arrived late for practice in San Antonio on Thursday.
“Rick was an assistant with me at Ohio State. I can see he hasn’t changed. He was always a little late back then,” Williams said.
“You can tell him that, too. He’s the reason I have to hurry here because he got lost coming from Austin, Texas. We come all the way from Washington, D.C., and no problems.”
Trivia answer: Memphis State. The three Big East teams were Villanova, Georgetown and St. John’s. Villanova beat Memphis State, 52-45, in the semifinals.
And finally: Jody Berry of Beverly Hills, a Hollywood entertainer and former pro heavyweight boxer currently battling cancer, was recently asked by a friend when he was going to be able to get up again.
Berry replied, “When they start counting to 10.”
