For a Price, Rodman Put on a Jolly Good Show

By Larry Stewart

Jan. 30, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Not much has been heard from Dennis Rodman lately, at least in this country. But he apparently can still draw a crowd in England. Rodman, after appearing on a reality television show in that country, played in a basketball game there Saturday.

Rodman reportedly was paid $44,000 to play for the Brighton Bears of the British Basketball League. He scored four points and had seven rebounds in the Bears’ 91-88 victory over the Guildford Heat. The game drew a capacity crowd of 1,500 fans -- and, according to the Associated Press, 60 journalists.

Trivia time: Wilt Chamberlain never scored 100 points in a college game, but another former Laker once did. Who is that player?

Impressive streak: It might be assumed that the NBA record for most points in two consecutive games is 158, because Chamberlain scored 58 in the game after his 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks at Hershey, Pa., in 1962.

But according to Stats LLC, Chamberlain had 61 points against the expansion Chicago Packers on Feb. 28, 1962, the game before he scored 100. That means Chamberlain scored 219 points in three games, an average of 73.0.

A modern-day Pinocchio: Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle isn’t convinced that Indiana Pacer President Donnie Walsh was very sincere when he said upon Ron Artest’s departure, “We’ll miss him very much.”

Wrote Ostler: “Walsh will undergo surgery to have 14 inches removed from the tip of his nose, as soon as he is done celebrating.”

Exclusive area: Of the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, comedian Argus Hamilton says, “The event can be described as semiprivate. The golf course is public, but you have to be a member to get into the town.”

Inexpensive tastes: Shortly after he agreed to a three-year, $10.5-million contract with the Angels, Chone Figgins was spotted by Sam Adams of the Rocky Mountain News in an elevator at the Beverly Hills Hotel carrying a McDonald’s bag.

Looking back: On this day in 1971, UCLA started its 88-game winning streak with a 74-61 victory over UC Santa Barbara.

Trivia answer: Frank Selvy, a Laker from 1961 to ‘64, scored 100 points as a senior for Furman of Greenville, S.C., on Feb. 13, 1954. Furman beat another South Carolina school, Newberry, 149-85. Fittingly, Furman had picked that game to honor its star, proclaiming it “Frank Selvy Night.” Selvy was the nation’s leading scorer that season, with a 41.7-point average.

And finally: Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times offers this Super Bowl quiz: “The ‘Four Tops’ is:

* “Yet another past-its-prime musical group picked to headline an NFL function in Detroit?

* “What red-faced NFL officials wish Janet Jackson had been wearing two Super Bowls ago?”

The answer, according to Perry, is both of the above.

Larry Stewart can be reached at [email protected].