What’s In A Name?

Now this is coaching. The basketball staff at Northwestern University has persuaded senior guard Dion Lee to return to his given first name, Kenneth.

“Kenneth didn’t like Kenneth because he thought it was too much of a blue-collar name,” said coach Ricky Byrdsong. “But that’s what we needed. Kenneth was the person we needed to emerge and not this Romeo he believed he was.”

Now, if Byrdsong could only convince Lee’s teammates to change their names to Spike, Rocco, Vinnie and Dutch.

Look for the union label, continued Solidarity’s great, as far as it goes - and it doesn’t seem to be going far in baseball. Recently, Boston fireballer Roger Clemens ripped Houston’s Greg Swindell for saying he’s leaning toward crossing the picket line because of financial pressures.

“He’s not the only player that’s in financial trouble or has gone through a family or two or has kids from other marriages,” said Clemens. “But if anyone should know the system and how it’s benefited someone, it should be (Swindell) because he hasn’t done a whole lot in this game. He’s pulling in a nice paycheck for himself for not ever winning 20 games or doing what you have to do for being in the top threshold of majorleague pitchers.”

On the other hand, there’s journeyman pitcher Dana Ridenour, who has signed with the Cubs and said he wouldn’t hesitate to be a replacement player. For the last three winters, Ridenour has worked as a waiter.

“Did you see what Gregg Jefferies said in the paper, that life will be a nightmare for replacement players?” Ridenour said. “On top of my job as a waiter, I worked for UPS during the Christmas push, loading boxes from 3 in the morning until 9. I don’t think playing ball in Wrigley Field would be too much of a nightmare.”

Would you buy a used car from this man?

Did you? Robb “Blue Line” Stauber, the checkthrowing goalie, was the only Los Angeles Kings player who took a regular-playing non-hockey job during the labor dispute, spending a month working for a Toyota dealer.

“Most of the cars I sold, I gave them a (hockey) stick,” he said. “That’s the only way I could get them to buy it.”

Explain yourself

Utah State coach Larry Eustachy had cleared the bench in a recent rout, except for freshman Drake Munson. Fans chanted for Munson to enter the game until Eustachy took the public address microphone and told them that, as a redshirt, Munson couldn’t play.

Next game, the fans should start chanting, “Why not zone?” and see what Larry has to say.

The last word …

“Newt Gingrich’s mother told me that the Steelers defense is a bitch.”

- NBC’s Greg Gumbel