They Reached New Heights of Stupidity

Todd Phipers writing in the Denver Post: “This week’s Reggie Harding Award goes to the two thieves who stole the golf clubs of 7-6 Maverick center Shawn Bradley and were busted when they tried to fence them--to Bradley’s brother-in-law.

“For those unfamiliar with the person for whom this award was named [for a former NBA] player who donned a stocking mask and tried to rob a neighborhood liquor store.

“When the sympathetic owner said, ‘Aw, Reggie, get out of here,’ Harding replied, ‘It ain’t me, man.’ ”

Trivia time: Which team holds the NBA playoff record for most turnovers in a game?

Who’s on first? Albert Belle isn’t talking to the Chicago media, so Tribune columnist Bob Verdi asked White Sox Manager Terry Bevington for his opinion on Belle’s self-imposed silence.

“I can’t make him talk,” Bevington said of Belle. “I mean, he talks to me, and I talk to him, but we’ve never talked about him not talking to you. Now, how Mr. [White Sox owner Jerry] Reinsdorf feels about that, I have no idea, because I haven’t talked to him.”

Miami gouge: The cheap seats at Miami Arena, which went for $20 in Games 1 and 2 of the Heat’s best-of-seven series against the New York Knicks, jumped to $50 for Game 5, which is scheduled for tonight. The $90 seats are now $130.

Team management defended the price hike, saying the games were still affordable to fans. Apparently so to some, as the game is sold out.

Graveyard stats: Before Monday night’s Laker-Utah Jazz game, television announcer Chick Hearn commented on Elden Campbell’s performance in Saturday’s game at the Forum:

“He had one rebound. That’s one more than a dead man would get.”

Campbell got nine rebounds in Monday night’s loss to the Jazz. However, he made only one of 13 shots, sustaining, perhaps, the dead man theme.

Stimulating attendance: Phil Collier of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Detroit Tigers are so desperate to increase attendance that fans catching home run balls in the Coca-Cola Fans Stands at Tiger Stadium will receive season tickets for the remainder of 1997.

“With their pitching,” Collier writes, “the Tigers may wind up with capacity crowds by August.”

Fleeting fame: Montreal’s Henry Rodriguez, who was taken out of last Wednesday’s 19-3 rout of San Francisco after hitting a grand slam in the fifth inning but before the Expos scored 13 runs in the sixth:

“I don’t think they’re going to remember me now.”

Trivia answer: The Chicago Bulls, with 36 against Portland on April 17, 1977.

And finally: In an interview with Playboy, Dennis Rodman said: “You can put me up there with Jim Morrison . . . Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.”

Said Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Sun-Times: “Where is that? In the ground?”