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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Junior League Should Take A Hint From Caddyshack

John Blanchette The Spokesman-R

Life is short. Type fast. Congratulations to the Junior League of Spokane for assembling another promising mix for its 1997 golf exhibition. But with all due respect, the group could fund its various charities for perpetuity if it could somehow book the foursome of Al Czervik, Ty Webb, Judge Smails and Dr. Beeper. Your honor, your honor.

We can’t help but conclude now that at Boston College, the preferred play on running downs is the dive.

You may suggest that Ken Griffey Jr. siphoned off just enough support to keep Alex Rodriguez from being this year’s American League MVP, and I will suggest the reverse. If it isn’t Junior hitting behind him in the lineup, A-Rod’s concession speech would have come in July.

Now that San Francisco mayor Willie Brown has established a precedent for elected officials declaring who should play in civic-funded stadia, we await Jack Geraghty’s decision on the Chiefs’ starter in goal.

Ralph Underhill, the basketball coach at Wright State University, has been suspended with pay for allegedly shoplifting vitamins. No word from the NCAA on whether Flintstones chewables constitute extra benefits.

If it was really his stubbornness which kept the Apple Cup from being played at the shameful hour of 7 p.m. and his smooth talking which still kept it on TV, then Rick Dickson may proceed directly to the Cougar Hall of Fame.

A mere 94 percent of the NBA season remains, but it’s a fair question: Is this the year someone makes a run at ending John Stockton’s reign atop the assists list? Until he had 10 the other night against Sacramento, Stockton wasn’t even in the top 10. And the follow-up question: Would this be the end of the NBA as we know it?

If we are to be stuck with an acting commissioner of baseball, shouldn’t it be someone who can act? Gene Hackman, for instance.

It is impressive to note that Oregon State’s graduation rate for football players is better than 90 percent. Maybe someday, out of all those smart guys, the Beavers can hire one to figure out how to win more than one game a season.

It was a shock to see the Washington Horse Racing Commission give Playfair something besides the shaft, even if it is a cement lifeboat. Good luck to the horsemen, but something tells me the only dual-carding coming off in Spokane will be at bingo.

Jim Harrick is the king of the jaywalkers, and now he has the tire tracks on his suit to prove it. But before he settled for Harrick, UCLA athletic director Peter Dalis tried to rehire Larry Brown - the same Larry Brown who got both UCLA and Kansas put on probation. And the issue is trust? Please.

That at least two players knew enough to bet against their own team at least shows that Boston College isn’t neglecting academics.

The passing of former Washington State athletic director Stan Bates this week allowed Jim Sweeney another opportunity to reminisce. Seems that when Bates hired Sweeney to coach football at Wazzu in 28 years ago, the two wound up at a Chinese restaurant. When the fortune cookies were brought to the table, Sweeney’s said, “Friends will flock to you in time of need.” Said Bates, who was about to show his new coach the upcoming schedule, “You might want to hang on to that.”

OK, I’m willing to pony up another four or five bucks for golf in my town on one condition: that the $250,000 earmarked for course improvements starts with blowing up No. 13 at Qualchan. Or, failing that, the installation of a windmill.

If these college basketball exhibition games are at all meaningful, then next year I want to see a Top 25 that ranks the relative strengths of the Russian Red Army and Brewster Heights Packing.

I’m sure it’s just a rumor that someone wandered into the studios of KTRW looking for directions and was given his own call-in show instead.

Scheduling tip for Washington State: Boston College, November 1997.

Someone told me that Evander Holyfield whipping up on Mike Tyson proves that there is a God. If so, then the presence of Don King means He still has unfinished business.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact John Blanchette by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5509.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review

You can contact John Blanchette by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5509.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review