The Best Defense Is a Sense of Humor

The San Antonio Spurs, according to ESPN the Magazine, are not the dull, boring guys they have been portrayed as.

Earlier this season, Manu Ginobili found his boxer briefs had been frozen as “cold as a daiquiri,� the magazine reported, and left hanging in his locker.

The culprit, Ginobili learned, was Sean Marks, then a reserve with the team.

“I don’t know what I did to Sean that day, but I’m sure it was something,� Ginobili told the magazine.

“I have been known, when Sean falls asleep next to me on the plane, to poke him and ask, ‘Are you awake?’ �

*

Trivia time: On Dec. 10, 1971, the Angels acquired Nolan Ryan and three other players in a trade with the New York Mets. Whom did the Angels send to the Mets?

*

Battling slogans: Randy Hill of Foxsports.com, commenting on the NBA finalists, notes that San Antonio’s rallying cry could be “Remember the Alamo,� and Detroit could counter with: “Your mileage may vary.�

*

Thank goodness: Hill also notes that, with Miami eliminated, headline writers were cheated out of slapping “Spuricane� on a San Antonio victory over the Heat.

*

Cruel but true: Reggie Miller, in a taped interview on Bob Costas’ HBO show Friday night, was asked by Costas: “Did it affect your relationship with your sister when at the beginning of your UCLA career people would be chanting, ‘Cheryl! Cheryl!’ and saying you’re the second-best player in your family?�

Said Miller: “Well, they weren’t lying.�

*

A banter year: At a recent Southern California Sports Broadcasters’ luncheon, Avenger owner Casey Wasserman asked Bob Miller, “Bob, how many years have you been the Kings’ announcer?�

Miller said 32.

Said Clipper announcer Ralph Lawler: “Last year doesn’t count, Bob.�

Said Miller: “I’m counting it. I was ready.�

*

Oddity: After the Angels’ Darin Erstad had collided with Atlanta Brave catcher Johnny Estrada earlier this week, reader Frank Jacobs of Burbank noticed that if you remove an “a� from Estrada, you’ll have an anagram for Erstad.

*

Anything is possible: An online sports book, sportsinteraction.com, has set odds at 110-1 that tonight’s $44.95 pay-per-view fight between Mike Tyson and 6-foot-5, 271-pound Kevin McBride ends in a disqualification.

*

Looking back: On this day in 1990, Ryan, 43, pitched the sixth of his seven no-hitters as the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland A’s, 5-0.

Ryan became the first to pitch no-hitters for three teams and the oldest to throw one.

*

Trivia answer: Jim Fregosi.

*

And finally: Says KFWB’s Bret Lewis, “No truth to the rumor that former San Francisco 49er public relations director Kirk Reynolds has been hired to produce Paris Hilton’s wedding video.�

*

Larry Stewart can be reached at [email protected].