"Lazzari's Sports Roundup" -- 01-29-05

How 'bout running back Jonathan Stewart of Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington? The young man rushed for over 2,300 yards and 32 TD's this past season--and now holds the state career rushing record of 7,755 yards. I bet the University of Miami is now after him to play football; then again, maybe not: Stewart also happens to be a good student academically..........TRIVIA QUESTION #1: True or False: Neither Ken Griffey Jr. nor Ken Griffey Sr. has ever had 200 hits in a season. Answer to follow..........Lazzari's "Lopsided Score of the Week": In a recent boys mismatch here in Connecticut, the Hillhouse High boys basketball team defeated Lyman Hall 106-46--with Hillhouse's Chaz McCarter (60 points) easily outscoring the entire Lyman Hall TEAM. If I'm the losing coach, I inject a little comforting humor into the equation after the game and offer this to my players: "Hey, guys--if McCarter had scored "only" 40 points, we STILL would have lost by 40. Let's simply chalk up this loss to "all that Chaz."..........And in a Connecticut girls game last week, Coventry High defeated Cheney Tech 47-8. However, I'm now wondering if the Cheney coach is a TRUE optimist and took pride in the losing team's consistency that evening--they scored two points in each quarter..........This week in sports history, January 31, 1970: LSU's "Pistol" Pete Maravich scores 53 points during his team's 109-86 victory over Mississippi--making him the NCAA's all-time leading scorer. The "Pistol" finished the game with a career total of 2,987 points and had broken former Cincinnati star Oscar Robertson's career mark of 2,973 earlier in the evening. Amazingly, Maravich would break this record with 13 games still remaining in the final season of his legendary college career..........Answer to trivia question #1: TRUE; Ken Sr.'s highest total was 189 in 1976 with Cincinnati; "Junior's" highest hit total has been 185--while playing with Seattle in 1997..........I'm not sure what former tennis pro Gabriella Sabatini has been up to lately, but I'll go out on a limb and say that she STILL looks good..........Happy birthday wishes go out to baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks--who blows out 74 candles on January 31st. Banks played his entire 19-year career (1953-1971) with the Cubs--hitting 512 home runs along the way. "Mr. Cub" was elected to Cooperstown in 1977..........Did you know that, during the 1949 season, outfielder Ed Sanicki of the Phillies had a total of three hits--ALL of them home runs? The three round-trippers would be the only home runs hit in the New Jersey native's entire short-lived, big-league career..........I DO know what former figure skater Peggy Fleming has been up to lately (skating commentary), and SHE still looks good, too..........If you tailgated at every Patriots home game this season at Gillette Stadium, you paid a total of over $300 JUST FOR PARKING. For those kinda prices, shouldn't you at least get a gas grill and a rack of ribs EVERY time you approach the stadium entrance?..........Is there ANY difference between the voice of ESPN's Suzy Kolber and the sound of fingernails on a blackboard? I swear I still hear her screaming voice vibrating in my head from a sideline report she did about FIVE weeks ago..........I don't know about you, but I can spend an ENTIRE afternoon just watching Duke's J.J. Redick shoot free throws..........Memphis basketball player Sean Banks has been declared ineligible for the rest of the NCAA season due to "poor grades." Let's put it this way: it's awfully difficult, as a player, to flunk courses while playing at a basketball school like Memphis; it's not a question of hitting the books. All I can surmise is that Banks never even BOUGHT the course books in the first place..........TRIVIA QUESTION #2: What former Oakland Raider played in Super Bowls in three different decades? Answer to follow..........We hear SO much about Shaquille O'Neal's heroics/numbers when his team wins, right? However, he seldom takes a hit when his team loses; e.g., last week's Miami loss vs. Indiana. The Heat lost 106-100--in overtime--while O'Neal missed NINE free throws. I'm sorry, folks, but a loss like that is ALL on Shaq..........Question: Will Mike Piazza's upcoming marriage to "Baywatch" babe Alicia Rickter last longer than a typical N.Y. Mets homestand?..........Former South Carolina tight end Brian Brownlee has been arrested after confessing to taking video equipment and laptop computers--worth more than $10,500--from the school's stadium facilities. I can just hear his defense lawyer now: "Your Honor, Mr. Brownlee ‘borrowed’ the video equipment ONLY to view game films and ‘borrowed’ the laptops ONLY to research ways to contribute financially to the university."..........Answer to trivia question #2: GENE UPSHAW--the Hall of Fame offensive guard who was a member of Raider Super Bowl teams in 1968, 1977, and 1981..........If the aforementioned Mike Piazza catches more than 120 games this coming season for the Mets, then Michael Jackson will succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as the next governor of California..........Finally, condolences go out to the family of Antwoine Key--the Eastern Connecticut State University basketball guard who collapsed on the court and later died after a game vs. Worcester State College last week. A Boston native, Key was averaging 7.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game this season before this unforeseeable tragedy occurred. The entire sports staff of the Valley Times extends its prayers and support to his loved ones during this extremely difficult time. Rest in peace, Antwoine.

Bob Lazzari

Reprinted by permission of the Valley Times.