How to Remain Intelligently Uninformed

Christine Brennan of the Washington Post reports from Barcelona that the Spanish Olympic organizing committee is somewhat disorganized. She recounted this exchange in the Main Press Center:

Official to reporter: “Do you have the information packet?”

Reporter: “No.”

Official: “That’s because there is no information packet.”

Trivia time: What is the most extra points kicked in a high school game?

Believe it or don’t: The Raiders finished 23rd in offense, 21st in defense, scored only one point more than their opponents and still finished the regular season 9-7 and in the playoffs.

Catch this: Johnny Bench had a 16-0 record as a high school pitcher in Oklahoma.

School guys: First-round NFL draftees Kevin Smith of the Dallas Cowboys and Quentin Coryatt of the Indianapolis Colts, whose contracts total $12 million, will return to Texas A&M; during the off-season to get their degrees.

Want to try 11?: Frank Zarnowski, an American who has kept decathlon records for more than 20 years, calls the event “10 chances to screw up.”

Big numbers: When New York Met pitcher David Cone threw 166 pitches during a 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants last week, a couple of his teammates were impressed, not to mention scared for his safety.

Said Dwight Gooden: “Watching that made me want to ice my arm.”

Said Bret Saberhagen: “If I even thought about throwing that number of pitches, my arm would fall off.”

Just drive, baby: Raider owner Al Davis uses two Cadillacs for riding around in Los Angeles. One is black, the other silver.

Cover up: Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Olympics Preview edition marks the 82nd time an athlete from UCLA has made the publication’s cover.

No hint: Kansas City Royal rookie Hipolito Pichardo, who barely missed pitching a perfect game against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night, was 9-21 in the minor leagues before the Royals brought him up.

Ratings game: The quarterback rating of the Rams’ Jim Everett has gone from 89.2 to 90.6 to 79.3 to 68.9 over the last four years.

Nap time: Neil Hohlfield of the Houston Chronicle says baseball announcer Sean McDonough of CBS is boring. “Listening to him is like drinking warm milk in front of a fire. ZZZZZzzzzz.”

Trivia answer: Twenty-four, set by Nelson Stuit of Muskegon, Mich., against Hastings, Mich., on Sept. 28, 1912, during a 216-0 Muskegon victory. Stuit converted 24 of 30 attempts.

Quotebook: From former major leaguer Bill Robinson, now managing double-A Shreveport in the Giant farm system, on the lack of black managers in the majors: “Don’t you think there’s racism in any business? Well, baseball’s a business.”