The Slice: Certainly his keen eyes were focused on elite eight

Let’s talk about home court advantage.

“My 2-year-old grandson Miles knows one three-syllable word — basketball,” wrote Denny Bunkers.

When riding in his car seat, the lad always notices basketball hoops. The other evening he saw eight baskets in the neighborhood where his parents live. “Every time he spotted one, he pointed and said ‘basketball.’ ”

Bunkers wonders to what extent the success of GU’s teams has contributed to the proliferation of outdoor baskets.

Or maybe Miles has some magical power and makes them appear by pointing. You know — poof! — “Bewitched” style.

Re: The Slice from 4/28: Thanks to the readers who continue to express concern that I might not be aware of the open container law.

Oh, I know about it. It’s just that I have an outlaw streak. Can’t you tell?

I’ve done 40 in a 35 mph zone. On occasion, I’ve been pretty free and easy about which recyclables go in which bin. I’ve torn tags off upholstered items and scoffed at FBI warnings on DVDs. I once took my sweet time before paying a parking ticket. There was the day I used our fireplace before I realized there was a burning ban. I have rolled past stop signs on my bike at 5:15 a.m. And I have never once sought the expressed written consent of Major League Baseball.

Slice answers: Estellene Shaver, Sue Kassa, Dennis Foster and others reported driving vehicles that lack power steering. A friend in Idaho referred to this as “Armstrong Steering.”

Several readers touted Mexican restaurants that do not, I fear, meet my “hole in the wall” specification.

But Barb Floyd mentioned a couple I have not visited — Mi Pueblo I in Priest River, Idaho, and Mi Pueblo II in Newport, Wash.

I asked her if she is connected to the eateries. “We are customers only,” she said. “Don’t even speak the language.”

Today’s Slice question: On what 1970s sitcom did a character propose a TV show called “Darn That Pope”?