What’s the One About Old Dogs and New Tricks?

Dale Brown has retired as basketball coach at Louisiana State, but he isn’t idle. He is a man of varied interests and projects.

For example, USA Today reported that Brown plans to visit British Columbia in search of Big Foot. And in the next year he plans to join a foundation in search of Noah’s ark in Turkey.

Brown has already climbed the Matterhorn, visited Mother Teresa and became a self-appointed goodwill ambassador to a variety of nations.

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Trivia time: Which team holds the NBA record for the highest shooting percentage in a playoff game?

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Come again? In a recent conference call, someone from an Indiana radio station asked Indy car driver Paul Tracy: “As a professional athlete, I know when you guys drive around a track there are a lot of G-forces pulling. Have you ever suffered from taco-neck syndrome?”

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Style conscious: Montreal Expo first baseman David Segui on his off-season conditioning program: “Every winter I go home and lift weights and lift and lift and lift. But that’s just to look better in my uniform, not to hit more homers.”

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Stay at home: Orlando Magic guard Nick Anderson will be a free agent July 1, but he said he plans to return to the team next season, adding, “My name is not Shaquille O’Neal.”

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More NBA news: “In this era of free agency, the coach may be the one stable commodity on a team’s roster,” says Todd Musburger, the Chicago attorney who represented Bull Coach Phil Jackson during his 1996 contract negotiations, in a story on the Bloomberg news service. “Players change teams all the time. The coach, however, remains the same.”

Hmm. Wonder what P.J. Carlesimo, M.L. Carr and Rick Adelman might have to say about that.

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Cool corner: St. Louis Cardinal first baseman-outfielder John Mabry after making his major league debut at third base in the ninth inning recently against Colorado: “It looked like I played there all my life. Of course, they didn’t hit any balls to me, either.”

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Room to grow: Stanford women’s volleyball Coach Don Shaw when asked if it would boost attendance if incoming freshman Chelsea Clinton were to join the team: “It would increase our attendance with just the Secret Service alone.”

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Next stop? ESPN’s Dick Schaap on Dennis Rodman: “I can’t wait to see him play in the WNBA.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1958, Stan Musial became the eighth member of baseball’s 3,000-hit club with a pinch-double off Moe Drabowski in a 5-3 St. Louis Cardinal victory at Chicago.

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Trivia answer: The Boston Celtics, 67% against New York Knicks on April 28, 1990.

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And finally: Golfweek reports that Bo Redman, husband and caddie for LPGA player Susie Redman, dumped his wife’s bag in the middle of the ninth fairway after a disagreement during the first round of a recent tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla.

A friend came out of the gallery and carried the bag the rest of the round.