That Would Be Giving the Angels Some Credit

Shaun Powell of Newsday on the Angels’ trade of Mo Vaughn to the New York Mets:

“Say this about the Vaughn trade: It spread happiness from coast to coast. One side couldn’t wait to reel him in and the other couldn’t wait to shove him out.

“This must be somewhat disturbing from a Mets’ standpoint. On any trade, you want the other team to feel a sense of regret, not relief, over losing a player.

“Did Anaheim trade Vaughn to the Mets or dump him on them? There’s a difference and, obviously, it’ll take months before we find out who’ll laugh last.�

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Trivia time: UCLA’s Bill Walton holds the record for points scored in a men’s NCAA title game, 44 against Memphis State in 1973. Whose record did he break?

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Longshot at best: John McGrath in the Tacoma News Tribune, speculating on George Karl’s leaving the Milwaukee Bucks to coach at the University of Washington.

“Would Karl, who’d have to take an 80% pay cut for a college job, be willing to walk away from the bucks he’s earning with the Bucks in Milwaukee?

“This is just a hunch, but I’d be surprised if the possibility of returning to the Northwest--where he worked for seven variously enjoyable, intensely eventful seasons--didn’t at least intrigue the ex-Sonics’ coach.�

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Teaching politeness: Reader Edith Kelly wrote the San Francisco Chronicle that she attended an exhibition game in Arizona and saw Giant pitcher Jay Witasick refuse to sign a boy’s program until the lad said, “Please.�

Said Witasick: “You just have to ask right,� adding that if he had ever asked his mother for breakfast the way the boy asked for the autograph, “I would have ended up wearing it instead of eating it.�

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Should be called off: Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis are scheduled to fight June 8 at the Pyramid in Memphis, assuming Tyson stays out of the slammer that long. What should the fight be called?

“Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal offers, ‘the Rumble on the River ... the Bloody on the Muddy ... the Battle on the Bluff.’ To us, it smells like a ‘Pyramid Scam.’�

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You can’t miss him: Mark Bradley in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Some big events are too cool for their own good. The Final Four is not. The Final Four is, in a word ‘fun.’ Ask the man who claims to have more fun than anyone else.

“‘I guarantee you, everywhere I go this week, people will be yelling, “Awesome baby!�’ Dick Vitale says. ‘And if they don’t recognize me, I’ll put a sign on my back, “My name is Dickie V--please ask me for my autograph.�’�

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That’s Miltie: Milton Berle, who died Wednesday at 93, once said at a Howard Cosell roast: “Why are we honoring this man? Have we run out of human beings?�

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Trivia answer: Walton broke Bruin Gail Goodrich’s record of 42 points scored in the 1965 championship game against Michigan.

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And finally: Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News commenting that baseball needs an incentive system for players:

* “For declining to spit any direction while in full view of a TV camera, a dental hygienist or a janitor--$75.�

“But for anyone who chews and agrees to swallow--$30,000.�

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Mal Florence