Wilt Shows He Can Slam on the Bulls

Wilt Chamberlain, who played on a Philadelphia 76er team that won 68 games and a Laker team that won a record 69, isn’t overly impressed with the Chicago Bulls, who are on pace to win 70 or more games this season.

In an interview with Stan Hochman of the Philadelphia Daily News, Chamberlain said of the Bulls: “Who’s gonna guard me? Who? Luc Longley? I’ve got a bad hip and a bad knee and I could still go out and score plenty.

“The best team I ever saw was that 1967 Sixers team. There were 10 teams in the league then, and we were going against Boston, the defending champs, 10 or 12 times a year.

“Now two-thirds of the teams are [bad]. You beat the [bad] teams and automatically you’re close to 60 wins. Win half your games against the good teams and you’ve got 70.”

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Add Wilt: “[Michael] Jordan is a little older and he walks all the time, but they allow it. He’s not going to come through, dunking the ball, running up against Luke Jackson [former 76er]. He’s going to get slammed to the floor.”

Aw, Wilt, don’t be reticent. Give us your opinion on something.

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Trivia time: Who holds the Los Angeles Open record for the lowest 18-hole score?

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Burp: Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune on the parade of sports figures coming out of retirement, such as Magic Johnson, Ryne Sandberg and Monica Seles:

“The standard was pretty much set by [Sugar Ray] Leonard, who came back more times than bad oysters.”

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Wonderful world: Philadelphia Flyer center Bob Corkum, who was recently acquired from the Mighty Ducks, on his Anaheim experience:

“The second day we were there we had a parade [at Disneyland]. We weren’t sure if we were in a movie or playing hockey.”

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Exhausting hobby: David Letterman, a longtime Indy car fan, has become a minor partner in Bobby Rahal’s auto racing team.

Said Letterman: “I’m thrilled with the team. They promised me my own air wrench.”

Letterman joins actor Paul Newman and former NFL stars Walter Payton and Joe Montana as celebrity part-owners of Indy car teams.

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FYI: The oldest arena in the country is Mathews Arena in Boston, which was built in 1909 and has a seating capacity of 6,500. It’s the basketball home for the Northeastern Huskies.

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Trivia answer: George Archer, with a 61 at Rancho Park in 1983.

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Quotebook: Al Attles, former NBA player and coach, on his perspective of the slam dunk in the 1960s: “If you dunked on someone, you expected to end up on your butt later in the game.”