Cheap Seats

Roadblock to the officials

Former UConn player Jamelle Elliott stood as the final line of defense between UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma and the officials at the recent UConn-Rutgers game.

When Bob Trammell called a touch foul on Stacy Hansmeyer with 5 minutes, 24 seconds left in the first half, Auriemma became enraged. A technical soon followed, and Auriemma attempted to go onto the court and confront the officials. He didn’t get far.

After the game, Auriemma smiled wryly as he recalled the sequence of coaches trying to stop him: “Chris Dailey, I can handle. She’s a skinny wimp. Tonya (Cardoza), she’s a little more athletic, and she’s quicker. I thought I had her beat. But then I ran into Jamelle. And that was it. I wasn’t going any farther.”

Shaq should give Wilt therapy

Shaquille O’Neal’s problems with free throws have been well-documented.

Wilt Chamberlain had the same problem. He tried to solve it by going to a psychiatrist.

“After six months the psychiatrist could shoot 10 for 10, but I was still screwed up,” Chamberlain said.

Bartender! Give me a dunk

Virginia senior Raleigh Harbour was studying business and tending bar at the Biltmore Grill when he decided to try out for Pete Gillen’s basketball team.

“I didn’t think I had a chance in the world, but I didn’t have anything to lose,” Harbour said. “I thought it would be a fun thing to do.”

Gillen, in his first season at Virginia, has seven scholarship players and needed bodies for practice if nothing else. Harbour was a 6-foot-8 body.

“He’s not really an ACC-caliber player at all, but he does try to mix it up,” Gillen said.

Gillen says his substitution pattern depends on “if our bartender is on call and unavailable.”

Harbour actually once missed practice because he had to tend bar. He appeared in 10 of the Cavaliers’ first 20 games, starting one. He had three points, five rebounds and 11 fouls in 41 minutes.

“I think it’s hilarious,” Harbour said. “The image of being the basketball-playing bartender is not a bad image to have. I’d be just another walk-on otherwise.”

Olympic bribery: What’s new?

Bill Conlin in the Philadelphia Daily News: “The ancient Olympics were ended by a Roman emperor named Theodosius I, due to a shortage of virgins or bribes, in 384 BC (Bring Cash). History is vague.”

Olympic bribery: Why all the fuss?

From the Vent column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “What’s the problem with Olympic bribery? It was consensual, no one had sex, and no one lied to the grand jury.”

The last word …

“The Knicks were absolutely right to bring in Latrell Sprewell because everybody deserves a 22nd chance.”

- Sportswriter Mitch Lawrence in the New York Daily News