It’S Vital To Vitale

In the first game of the rest of their basketball lives, the Indiana Hoosiers shot a dreadful 12 for 30 from the free-throw line against Pepperdine, then followed that with 18 for 31 against South Alabama.

Not only did they win both games, but they were fortunate enough to throw up all those bricks with Bob Knight absent.

It’s not as if Indiana is alone in this foul-shooting morass. Free throws remain a mystery of monumental proportions to some high-profile stars such as Shaquille O’Neal, the NBA’s reigning MVP.

No one is more confounded by all of this than Dick Vitale, who amuses himself by shooting free throws - and making most of them - before broadcasting games for ESPN.

Now, Vitale admits he doesn’t have the distractions a game does. But …

“I’m 61, I’m bald and I’ve got one eye,” Vitale told Hal Bock of the Associated Press. “If I can make them …”

And just to prove he can, Vitale has routinely run strings of 20 straight from the foul line.

The current state of affairs may well have been caused by Vitale’s employer, who shows game highlights morning, noon and night. But the next time they show somebody nailing a crucial free throw likely will be the first.

Understandably, the highlights concentrate instead on the acrobatics.

“Kids want to emulate that,” Vitale said. “They see guys flying to the goals, the slashes, the jams. They don’t work on fundamentals.”

Especially elephants

Writing about Red Grange’s entry into professional football 75 years ago, Don Pierson of the Chicago Tribune retold an incident in the White House:

“When Illinois Sen. William Brown McKinley introduced Grange and George Halas to President Calvin Coolidge as `Mr. Red Grange and Mr. George Halas with the Chicago Bears,’ Coolidge replied, `Glad to meet you young gentlemen. I have always admired animal acts.”’

Of course

Winner of the three-quarter midget nationals in Columbus, Ohio, was Chris Manifold.

Best promotion is himself

Under Michael Jordan, president of basketball operations, the Washington Wizards are struggling at the gate.

“If (Jordan) would stand in the lobby and sign autographs,” says Tony Kornheiser of The Washington Post, “he’d be the reason to come. Maybe they could put him in a glass booth, and he could tell fortunes like Madame Zelda.”

The last word …

“I am thankful we have so little of real concern to worry about that Dennis Miller in the Monday booth passes as controversy.”

- Greg Cote of the Miami Herald.