Still Great After All These Years

Wayne Gretzky will turn 36 on Super Bowl Sunday, and he’s still “the Great One” as far as New York Ranger captain Mark Messier is concerned. Messier, commenting on his teammate:

“Wayne’s skating is better than people realize. He has the skill and the skating ability to stay open. He can turn on a dime. If you overplay him, he goes right by you. He can see everything on the ice.”

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Trivia time: Who is the only player to have scored 12,000 points and never played in an NBA All-Star game?

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Getting ready: To prepare New England Patriot fans for a trip to the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the Boston Herald printed a recipe for jambalaya.

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So there: Mike Richter, left off the NHL Eastern Conference all-star squad, made 33 saves in the New York Rangers’ 3-0 victory over New Jersey on Sunday night. New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, who was selected to the all-star team, gave up all three goals and was benched in the third period.

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He should know: Greg Norman, commenting on playing golf under pressure: “It isn’t about great shots. It’s about the quality of your bad shots.”

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Info blackout: Can you imagine watching a baseball game at Dodger Stadium with no information on the scoreboard--no players’ numbers, no score by innings? Or a Laker game with no score on the scoreboard?

The American Motorcyclist Assn. apparently doesn’t believe in divulging such information. At the Coliseum Supercross last Saturday night, the 37,000 spectators were never informed of heat or race results--except for the winner’s name after the event ended.

The Coliseum scoreboard was used instead for plugging sponsors.

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Nice win, Bill: When Joe Sakic, most valuable player on the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, visited the White House, he told President Clinton, “We both had a great year.”

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Family matter: Reggie White never played for the Dallas Cowboys, so it always irritated him when his son Jeremy rooted for them when White was playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. Now that Reggie is with the Green Bay Packers, Jeremy’s tune has changed.

“He’s not a Cowboys fan anymore,” White announced at a news conference. Jeremy, 10, added, “No way! I’m not anymore.”

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Expensive diet: During the 1996 National Hot Rod Assn. season, Shelly Anderson’s top-fuel dragster consumed about 1,800 gallons of nitro-methane and used up 42 tires and 1,900 spark plugs.

Shelly, who lives in Ontario, traveled 40,000 highway miles and spent 90 nights in hotels.

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Trivia answer: Eddie Johnson, who played eight seasons with Kansas City, Sacramento and Phoenix.

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And finally: That protective face shield Natrone Means wears may make him look like Darth Vader, but the Jacksonville Jaguar running back says the main reason he likes it is because the dark tint prevents defensive players from seeing his eyes.

Then there’s his other reason: “It keeps tacklers from jabbing fingers in my eyes.”