He Came to Praise ‘Em--and to Bury ‘Em, Too

The dust has not yet settled in the Adrian Dantley-Mark Aguirre trade, and probably won’t as long as columnists have Aguirre to write about.

Newsday’s Jerry Sullivan, for instance, found a way to both praise Aguirre and the Detroit Pistons and bury them at same time.

“Say what you want about Aguirre,� wrote Sullivan. “He is moody and taciturn, a whimpering paradox, but he also is one of the best scorers in the game. When he puts his mind to it--and certainly he will do that in the short term--there isn’t a more effective small forward in the game.�

And a little later: “The Pistons are the league’s acknowledged Bad Boys, and Aguirre might find comfort in the company of rogues--as just another loathed and reviled athlete on a team filled with them.�

And finally: “Now the world has yet another reason to detest the Pistons. But the league also has further reason to fear them.�

Do you get the feeling Sullivan is a Knick fan?

Trivia time: The Dodgers have not finished in last place since 1903, a National League record. Who holds the American League record?

Add Aguirre: Peter May of the Hartford Courant recalls that when Aguirre left DePaul in 1981, he was interviewed by Rick Sund, an executive with the Dallas Mavericks.

Wrote May: “The first question Sund asked Aguirre was why everyone in Chicago thought he was a jerk.

“The second was why he was hated by all his teammates.�

Tough interview.

How difficult is it to get a ticket to see the state’s leading prep scorer, Tracy Murray of Glendora High School, tonight in the Southern Section 4-AA championship game at UC Irvine?

“I called the CIF today and they told us the event is sold out, they don’t have tickets for us,� said Villanova assistant Tom Massimino, who plans to attend the game with his father, Coach Rollie Massimino. “I called (Glendora Coach) Mike LeDuc and he said he doesn’t know how, but he thinks he can get us in. We’re flying all the way out there, we better get in.�

Dean Crowley, Southern Section associate commissioner, said that 6,000 tickets have been distributed for tonight’s doubleheader in the Bren Center, which has a capacity of 5,200.

Any tickets the schools turn back in to the Southern Section will go on sale at 4:30 p.m. today at the Bren Center.

He said what? If Kentucky Coach Eddie Sutton is constructing his defense as he constructs his sentences, it’s no wonder the Wildcats are having their worst basketball season in 85 years.

After Kentucky dropped yet another game recently, Sutton was asked if he expected to hear from the National Invitation Tournament. He answered with a triple negative.

“I can’t imagine the NIT not inviting a club without a .500 record,� Sutton said.

You figure it out.

The flying carpet blues: Adrian Dantley, described by the Washington Post’s Tony Kornheiser as “the greatest player in the history of the NBA to be treated like a rug at a swap meet,� is looking to prolong his career.

The way to do so, Dantley contends, is for his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, to buy back the private jet, Roundball One, they sold to his old team, the Detroit Pistons.

“There’s no question that it can put years on a guy’s career,� Dantley told the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. “I thought I could play 20 years. Now, I’m looking at only 17 without the plane.�

How time flies.

Trivia answer: The Boston Red Sox. The last time they wound up in the cellar was 56 years ago.

Quotebook

CBS tennis analyst Mary Carillo, commenting on West Germany’s Steffi Graf: “There’s a difference between strength and power. (Gabriela) Sabatini can lift a couch. Steffi can throw the couch across the room. That’s the difference.�