"Lazzari's Sports Roundup" ---- 10-21-06

Lazzari's "Question of the Week": What's more laughable--an old episode of "All in the Family" or the term "student-athlete" being used when referring to members of the University of Miami football program?..........TRIVIA QUESTION: During one year in the 1970s, a talented NBA backcourt duo averaged a remarkable 51.7 points per game. Can you name these two players and the team they played on? Answer to follow..........I'm not sure who is more immobile--Dallas Cowboys QB Drew Bledsoe or yours truly after I complete two hours of yard work..........Did you know that, in 1988, Boston Red Sox infielder Wade Boggs had an on-base percentage of .480--the highest in the majors in 26 years since Mickey Mantle's .488 in 1962? It surely was a magical year for Boggs--one in which he led the majors in batting average (.366), doubles (45), walks (125), and runs scored (128)..........Here are some brutal #'s for you: Going into this weekend, the Fermi High School (CT) football team has a record of 0-5 and has been outscored by opponents 219-0 (not a misprint). Sure, we feel bad for a team like Fermi. But here's why the clueless CIAC's new 50-point rule (where a coach gets suspended if his team wins by 50 or more points) is a joke: The CIAC still feels that they are "helping" a program like Fermi's with this rule--as if the team's morale would be much, much "worse" had it been outscored, say, 300-0 instead. Yes, the "score management policy" remains a pathetic joke, folks..........If N.Y. Yankees manager Joe Torre is worth $7 million per season, then I figure Tigers skipper Jim Leyland is now worth about $15 million..........This week in sports history, October 22, 1972: Oakland A's catcher Gene Tenace drives in two runs--leading his team to a 3-2, Game 7 victory against the Cincinnati Reds for the World Series title. "Gino" finished the series with a .348 batting average--including four home runs and nine RBI's; his two home runs in Game 1 had led Oakland to an earlier 3-2 victory..........Can you imagine if pop singer Olivia Newton-John married former big league infielder Bill Stein--divorced--then married Champions Tour golfer Chip Beck? Of Mice and Men fans would surely delight in her full name of Olivia Newton-John Stein Beck..........Lazzari's "Lopsided Score of the Week": In a college football game out west last weekend, Whitworth beat up on Lewis & Clark 70-3. I'm just wondering if the entire Whitworth team played against only two guys that day NAMED Lewis and Clark..........Answer to trivia question: GAIL GOODRICH and JERRY WEST of the L.A. Lakers--who averaged 25.9 and 25.8 ppg respectively for Bill Sharman's '71-'72 championship squad..........I am TOTALLY convinced that the N.Y. Knicks offense this season will be even less disciplined than yours truly was while on my last five diets..........Happy birthday wishes go out to former major league pitcher Frank DiPino--who blows out 50 candles on October 22nd. A native of Syracuse, DiPino pitched 12 big league seasons between 1981 and 1993 and appeared in 514 games--all but six of them in relief. He had 56 lifetime saves--20 of them coming in 1983 while pitching in Houston. He also starred for the Cardinals in 1989--compiling an impressive 9-0 record while pitching to a stellar ERA of 2.45. Best wishes, Frank..........Finally, the sports world lost four members of its baseball fraternity recently; condolences go out to the families of Cory Lidle, Johnny Callison, Dick Wagner, and Buck O'Neil. Lidle, the 34-year-old Yankee hurler, died in a well-publicized plane crash into a Manhattan high-rise. Callison was a strong-armed outfielder whose HR won the 1964 All-Star game for the National League; he was 67. Wagner, former president of the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros, died at the age of 78 from injuries sustained in a car crash a few years ago. O'Neil, a former Negro Leagues star/goodwill ambassador, died at 94 in Kansas City; having written at length about Buck before, I'll just close by saying that there were very few nicer individuals than Mr. O'Neil. May these four gentlemen now rest in peace.

Bob Lazzari

Reprinted by permission of the Valley Times.