Cloak, Black Hat Not in Reinsdorf’s Clothes Closet

Acting baseball Commissioner Bud Selig told the Chicago Sun-Times’ Dave van Dyck:

“Jerry Reinsdorf [the Chicago White Sox owner who signed Albert Belle for $11 million a year for five years] is not a villain. He’s been painted as a villain by people who don’t understand baseball economics, don’t understand baseball politics and don’t understand all the issues involved.

“I think this business of painting him as a villain or him having undue influence on me is, again, just sheer fiction.”

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Add Selig: “When [Houston Astro owner] Drayton McLane announces that in the four years he’s owned the team he’s lost over $90 million, it’s real. When the Seattle club announces they’ve lost over $70 million the last few years, it’s real. Even with a full year in ’96 [after the strike of 1994-95], most of the clubs were in the red and many of them deep in the red.”

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Trivia time: What makes Denver Nugget Coach Dick Motta so unusual?

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Admiration society: The New York Islanders have nothing but admiration for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ top line of Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis and Jaromir Jagr after having lost to them twice in one week.

“When you have Superman, Batman and Robin, you’re going to get a few [goals],” Islander forward Travis Green said.

Said Coach Mike Milbury, “That line makes checking as useful as an Edsel.”

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Upstaged: When guard Penny Hardaway returned to the Orlando Magic lineup after a long absence, his alter ego, “Li’l Penny,” was nowhere in sight. Too bad, because official Bob Delany brought out “Li’l Bob” when he came on the court, a doll dressed in a referee’s outfit.

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Tit for tat: Cleveland Cavalier Coach Mike Fratello has an answer for those critics who claim he over-coaches and that his slow-down tactics are hurting the NBA.

“Look, we have writers who overwrite and broadcasters who talk too much,” Fratello said.

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None too soon: Someone apparently convinced Kansas City soccer officials that “Wiz” wasn’t too appropriate a nickname. The Major League Soccer team is now known as the Wizards.

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A lot of feeling: Dr. Dot Richardson, the Olympic women’s softball heroine, attends a lot of sports clinics. At each one, she insists that everyone touch her gold medal.

“The best thing about winning an Olympic gold medal is not the medal,” she said. “It’s being able to share it with the rest of the world. And for all those players that never got the opportunity, we were there for them.”

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Trivia answer: Motta did not play basketball in high school, college or the NBA.

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And finally: Jenny and Tony Hannibal moved to Charlotte about eight years ago from London, where they rooted for the Tottenham Hotspurs soccer club. Now they’re Carolina Panther fans.

“The good thing about being a fan over here is that you can sit next to someone who is rooting for the other team without having to worry about getting shot or stabbed,” Tony said.