COMMENTS & CURIOSITIES:Game of the palm, anyone?

First, some housekeeping. Last week I mentioned Frankie Laine — big-deal singer in the ‘40s and ‘50s. My little joke about Frankie Laine and his big hit “Muleskinner” was very clever, but as a number of you pointed out — most notably Bob Jameson, a good friend and former presiding judge of Orange County Superior Court — it was also mistaken, misstated, misrepresented and otherwise boneheaded.

Laine’s big hit was “Mule Train,” not “Muleskinner,” which was actually “Muleskinner Blues” by Jimmie Rodgers. What a maroon. Sorry. At least I got the mule part right.

Be that as it may, it was a big week in the land of Newport-Mesa. First, there was the Fourth of July, which happens every year about this time and is always fun — although in some cases too much fun. Newport Beach police arrested 118 people for exceeding the fun limit Wednesday night, including 64 for being drunk in public, which is why I make every effort to be drunk in private. Things weren’t quite as wild and wooly in Costa Mesa, with 36 citations issued for various lapses in judgment.

Incredibly, while writing up one man for illegal fireworks, Costa Mesa police discovered he had three outstanding warrants. When you’re on the lam trying to duck three warrants, I’m not sure setting up shop in the middle of the street with a bottle rocket the size of a cruise missile is a good idea.

The other big bang this week was the christening of the brand new, very fancy tennis stadium in the parking lot of the Newport Beach Country Club that will be the home court of the Newport Beach Breakers World TeamTennis squad. Anna Kournikova was the big draw for Friday’s night’s opener, to be followed by Pete Sampras on July 10 and Maria Sharapova on July 25 who, in addition to being a great player, has one of the best shrieks I’ve ever heard on the court or anywhere else.

The Breakers are now managed by Hoag Memorial Hospital Foundation, which will also use the net proceeds to support Hoag’s research activities. Could there be a better cause? I don’t see how. After an impressive record of success and outstanding management of the Toshiba Classic golf tournament, the foundation decided to try something with a softer ball and less grass. I predict they will be every bit as successful with tennis as they’ve been with golf.

Do you know where the name “tennis” comes from? This is interesting, assuming there’s not much going on in your life.

The modern game of tennis can be traced to 16th-century France, where it was called “jeu de paumme” which means, “Are you the palm?” No it doesn’t. I made that up. It means “game of the palm,” which doesn’t make a lot more sense. For a few hundred years, tennis was strictly for royalty and was in fact called “royal tennis,” later given a Spanish spin as “real tennis,” as in royal, not real.

But here’s the even more interesting part, as if any of this has been interesting so far. The earliest version of tennis was played indoors in an enclosed court, much like a racquetball or squash court. It wasn’t until the 19th century that anything we would recognize as tennis came along.

The All England Croquet Club was founded in 1869, but in 1875 they decided to give the new game of “lawn tennis” a whirl. They changed their name to something totally different — the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club — and opened a tennis center in a London suburb called Wimbledon.

And that, pretty much, is everything you need to know about tennis, fireworks, Maria Sharapova and being drunk in public, not necessarily in that order. I gotta go.