Referee’s Answer Hit Too Close to Home for Syracuse

Lou Eisenstein, a former NBA referee, was working a Syracuse game many years ago and making one call after another that visiting Syracuse didn’t like.

During a timeout, Syracuse center John Kerr decided to quiz Eisenstein.

“Who wrote the Iliad and Odyssey,” Kerr asked.

“Homer,” Eisenstein said proudly.

“You said it; I didn’t,” Kerr replied.

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FYI: Those old Syracuse Nationals are now the Philadelphia 76ers.

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Trivia time: Other than UCLA and USC, which Pacific 10 schools have reached the NCAA men’s Final Four?

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Ugh! Gary Kingston’s grisly lead in the the Vancouver Sun: “Hold the obituaries. Don’t be pulling any organs yet. There are signs of life in the Vancouver Grizzlies.

“Seemingly about as ready as [British Columbia provincial premier] Glen Clark’s political career for a coroner’s toe tag, the Grizzlies got up off the death bed with a vengeance Tuesday night at [Seattle’s] Key Arena.”

The Grizzlies lost to the SuperSonics by only two points, foiling any morticians.

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Just like Popeye: Miami of Ohio basketball star Wally Szczerbiak “used to love Dave Kingman,” his father, former George Washington University star Walt Szczerbiak, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Wally hated spinach,” Walt said, “but when we told him Dave Kingman ate spinach, he ate it by the can.”

Kingman is the former Chicago Cub slugger who was once the subject of Tom Lasorda’s famous profanity-laced monologue when asked to evaluate Kingman’s performance after three home runs and eight RBIs against the Dodgers.

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He flunked spelling: From the Morning Line column in the Dallas Morning News: “Derek Anderson of the Cleveland Cavaliers added a tattoo during the off-season, playing off the nickname, ‘The Lawyer,’ given to him by teammates.

“He altered it a little--a dangerous mistake, considering Anderson didn’t know the correct spelling when he sat down in front of the tattoo artist.

“Consequently, his arm proclaims him to be ‘The Prosecuter,’ rather than the prosecutor.”

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Brief relationship: Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe: “John Calipari [fired Monday as coach of the New Jersey Nets] no doubt someday will tell folks that he made Stephon Marbury the player he is today. Coach Cal, after all, did coach Marbury for one whole game.”

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Problem area: From comedy writer Earl Hochman: “If baseball umpires are unhappy with the new strike zone, wait until they have to enforce the new zone with Albert Belle after calling him out on strikes.”

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Trivia answer: Arizona, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington and Washington State. Arizona in 1997; California in 1959, Stanford in 1942 and Oregon in 1939 won NCAA championships.

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And finally: Nick Canepa in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “The NFL hasn’t had enough. It has a hollow leg. Pour L.A. one more, barkeep.

“It appears as though Los Angeles, football’s Mecca, is about to get yet another crack at an NFL franchise. What shall we call them? The L.A. Apathetics? The L.A. Maybes? The L.A. Perhapses? The L.A. Made For TVs? The L.A. Raiders?”