If Trend Continues, Hot Item in West May Read ‘Go ULCA!’

Three school T-shirts that were supposed to be sold at concession stands at the NCAA East Regional at Baltimore Arena were quickly yanked.

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons shirt had Deacons spelled D-e-c-o-n-s. The St. Louis Billikens shirt had Billikens spelled B-i-l-l-i-k-i-n-s. And the Drexel shirt was spelled D-r-e-x-a-l.

“I’d love to sell one, but my boss won’t let me,” said Mark Garlick, a vendor employed by the Arena.

Asked to spell his own name, Garlick replied, “Like the spice, g-a-r-l-i-c-k.”

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Trivia time: Which two head coaches won the first 11 NCAA tournament games they coached?

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Anything he wants: Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal Constitution writes that the Chicago Bulls were so eager to get Michael Jordan back that he could have demanded such perks as:

--”The Bulls will retain F. Lee Bailey to argue Jordan’s fouls.

--”There has been too much attention paid to Jordan’s gambling away from the court. The answer: a blackjack table in the training room.”

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The Cosell file: Dave Kindred in the Sporting News: “Friday, the hurricane of verbosity who was Howard Cosell has a birthday, his 77th. We should pause to remember him, an American original.

“Sportswriter Jim Murray on Cosell: ‘He has the vocabulary of an Oxford don and the delivery of a Dead End kid.’ Filmmaker Woody Allen: ‘Howard in person is just the way he is on television. When you have dinner with him, he broadcasts the meal.’ ”

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Rotten luck: From Jay Leno: “I hate to be the one to break it to you, but another disaster has hit L.A. Looks like the Rams are staying.”

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Dream on: Richard Harris, basketball coach at the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in Glen Cove, N.Y., whose team hasn’t won a game in seven years:

“I’m looking for a 6-foot-7 guy with great SAT’s and a messiah complex.”

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One small step: Baltimore Oriole Manager Phil Regan after managing his minor leaguers to an 18-0 victory over the University of Tampa: “We’re going to Omaha!”

Omaha is the site of the College World Series.

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Appropriate: Glen (All) Day was fined $1,000 and received a one-stroke penalty for slow play at the recent Honda Classic in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

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The can man: To kill time during the baseball strike, Turk Wendell, Chicago Cub relief pitcher, collects aluminum cans from grocery stores. He gets up at 4:30 a.m., and takes them to a recycling plant.

“I don’t like to sleep, period,” he said. “But until I started working, I found myself sleeping until 2 or 3 in the afternoon.”

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Trivia answer: Phil Woolpert of San Francisco from 1955 to 1957, and Ed Jucker of Cincinnati from 1961 to 1963.

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Quotebook: Asked how big an impact Michael Jordan would have on the game on his return to the NBA, Herb Williams of the New York Knicks said: “Take a sledgehammer and hit the TV. See if that will make an impact.”