Hextall Puts This Record on Ice

Philadelphia is down, 3-1, as the Stanley Cup finals return to Edmonton, and Flyer goalie Ron Hextall was asked about his team’s chances.

“It’s an uphill battle, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “Our backs are to the wall. It’s going to be tough, we know that. But we are going to take it one game at a time.”

With that, Hextall set a Stanley Cup record for cliches that might never be broken.

Would-you-believe-it dept.: When Shane Mack was called up by the San Diego Padres, the former UCLA All-American immediately became the answer to a trivia question. He becomes the first major league player born with the name Mack. The other Macks all had changed their names.

They are Connie and Earle Mack, both born McGillicuddy; Joe Mack (Maciarz); Ray Mack (Mlckovsky) and Reddy Mack (McNamara).

Trivia Time: When Don Larsen pitched his perfect game in the 1956 World Series, who was the losing pitcher? Hint: Thirteen days earlier he had pitched a no-hitter of his own. (Answer in column two.)

Anyone notice that the Indy 500 and the World 600 both had the same scenarios Sunday, except the roles were reversed?

At Indy, Al Unser Sr. was first and son Al Unser Jr. fourth. At Charlotte, N.C., Kyle Petty was first and father Richard Petty fourth.

11 Years Ago Today: On May 26, 1976, Joe Niekro of Houston outdueled Phil Niekro of Atlanta as the Astros beat the Braves, 4-3. Joe helped his own cause with a home run, tying the score at 2-2 in the seventh inning. It remains the only home run of his career.

After hearing an announcer say: “Houston’s big 7-foot center Akeem Olajuwon . . . “, Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal wrote, “Ever hear of a little 7-foot center?”

From Ron Bergman of the Oakland Tribune: “People in Seattle wonder whether former Sonic Coach Bill Russell has changed now that he has been named the new head man of the Sacramento Kings.

“Russell was on the golf course a lot of the time when Seattle ownership wanted to talk to him, and he also was in the habit of foregoing the team bus to ride in private limos or rented cars from airports to hotels on road trips.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: As he prepares Mike Tyson for Saturday’s bout against Pinklon Thomas, trainer Kevin Rooney is finally admitting that Tyson fought a bad fight against Bonecrusher Smith.

Rooney: “Mike blamed Bonecrusher and said Bonecrusher didn’t want to fight. He’s right, but my reaction was he made a lot of mistakes. He should have been rough and pushed Smith off. And used his jab more. He also has a habit when he comes inside of throwing one punch and stopping.”

From Oklahoma City basketball Coach Abe Lemons, claiming he isn’t envious of Jim Killingsworth, who retired as the coach at Texas Christian: “The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.”

For What It’s Worth: In his first two outings with the Baltimore Orioles, Tom Niedenfuer retired just 4 of 12 batters and one of the last seven. In two innings pitched, he yielded two hits, walked six and had a 9.00 earned-run average.

Trivia Answer: Sal Maglie of Brooklyn. In the last week of the National League season, he beat Philadelphia, 5-0, with a no-hitter.

Quotebook

Tom Jackson, Denver Bronco linebacker, on announcing his retirement after playing a franchise-record 14 seasons: “At the moment, I’m unemployed. If anybody knows of anything out there that pays $300,000 a year . . . “