A Reality Check on Rose’s Past Remarks

Boxing promoter Bob Arum once admitted to boxing writers that “yesterday, I was lying. Today, I’m telling the truth.”

Isn’t that what Pete Rose has done? Only he was lying for 14 years.

“When Pete Rose says he is now telling the truth,” writes Dave Kindred in the Sporting News, “all we can be sure of is that he has something for sale, perhaps ... a smarmy book with the woe-is-me title, ‘My Prison Without Bars.’ ”

Trivia time: How did Willie Mays get to be called the Say Hey Kid?

Liars’ club: Reader Joe Gutierrez of Cambria sees similarities involving Rose and Elecia Battle, the Cleveland woman who filed a false report that she had lost a lottery ticket worth $162 million, then later admitted that she had lied.

If she had followed Rose’s lead, Gutierrez says, she would have said something like, “OK, let’s put it this way: I lied about the lottery ticket. Am I supposed to act all sorry? I’m not geared like that. I lied, let’s move on.”

Battle faces a possible penalty of 30 days to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine when she is sentenced Feb. 19.

More similarities: What Battle actually said was, “I’m not a bad person, I’m really not. Everyone has a past.”

Recently Tonya Harding, saying she wanted to be a regular person, was quoted as saying, “I may have a bone or two in my closet, but so does everyone else.”

Sage advice: TNT’s Charles Barkley, on Kobe Bryant’s wanting to test the free-agent market, offered this: “First of all, he’s a superstar, he’s winning championships and he says he wants to try something different. It’s going to be different if he’s not playing with Shaq.... He’d better sign with the Lakers and play with a player like Shaq for the rest of his career [or] he’ll be like Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady and Kevin Garnett -- good players on bad teams.”

Tugging your leg: Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times found an item about Tug McGraw in the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call, quoting former New York Met teammate Dave Schneck:

“I was in the outfield and he was walking out of the bullpen. He was grumping, ‘I don’t have a thing today. Nothing.’ I asked him, ‘Then why are you going in?’ He said, ‘The hitters don’t know that.’ ”

Name game: The Carolina Panthers, who play the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC championship game Sunday, don’t have many stars.

“Ask a friend to name the most famous Panther in history,” writes Mike Downey in the Chicago Tribune, “and the answer you’ll probably get is either ‘Huey Newton’ or ‘that Pink one.’ ”

Trivia answer: When Mays would forget someone’s name, he’d often say, “Uh, say hey.”

And finally: Gary Peterson of the Contra Costa Times suggests Rick Neuheisel as the next coach of the Oakland Raiders.

“Infamous, marginally overrated and slightly desperate, he is the perfect candidate,” Peterson writes.

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.