Scorecard

NOW YOU KNOW

Sportscaster Keith Olbermann, who does a program called My Side on UPI's radio network, is fascinated by the number of times athletes fall back on the verbal crutch "you know." Several months ago, when he heard Mark Aguirre of DePaul and the U.S. Olympic basketball team come up with a record nine "you knows" in only 18 seconds, Olbermann wondered if anyone could ever surpass Aguirre's average of .500 "you knows" per second. Accordingly, he set up The Official You Know Sanctioning Board and began playing taped interviews of possible challengers to Aguirre on his program. There is now a new champion, Mike Easier of the Pirates, who let drop an incredible 16 "you knows" in just 29 seconds, good for a .551 mark.

Easler's mouth outdid George Brett's bat when he answered the question, "The Braves have beaten you two straight, Mike...you guys in a slump?" Said Easier, "I think, you know (1), the guys are, you know (2), we're playing hard, you know (3), we're playing, you know (4), we're going out there giving everything we've got—I know I am, and I know the other guys are, you know (5). It's just sometimes, you know (6), you get guys that's hot like Matthews, he's swinging the bat real good this series, you know (7), and these guys been throwing good ball games. You get a guy like Niekro, I mean, you know (8), they can pitch, you know (9), and these guys come against us, you know(10), they just love to knock off a pennant contender like us, you know (11), and, you know (12), they're just loosey-goosey, you know (13), they just go out there and just, you know (14), just try to just bury us, you know (15), but the thing is, we're playing our type of baseball, you know (16), and the breaks been going their way."

THE GAME OF THE NAME
Tom ( Hollywood) Henderson, the former Cowboys linebacker currently with the 49ers, missed some 25 days of practice during the exhibition season because of assorted minor injuries. His teammates now have a new nickname for him: Holiday Henderson.

HURDLING TOWARD A SHOWDOWN

With 54 straight finals victories and the nine fastest times in history to his credit, Edwin Moses has dominated the 400-meter hurdles as few, if any, trackmen have any event. But Moses soon may be getting a challenge from Renaldo Nehemiah, the preeminent 110-meter hurdler. Nehemiah has run the four fastest times ever in the 110, including the world record of 13 flat, and he says his only remaining objective is to smash the 13-second barrier. In the meantime, he expects to take up the 400. "I'm a hurdler and there is another hurdle event out there—the 400," Nehemiah says. "I don't know how Moses feels, but there's no one giving him much of a challenge and there's no one giving me much of a challenge. I think it would be interesting for both of us if we got together."

The 110 is a sprint over 42-inch hurdles, while the 400 is a grueling test of stamina over 36-inch hurdles. Nevertheless, some athletes have done well at both (Mike Shine, the silver medalist behind Moses in the 400 in the 1976 Olympics, was a finalist in the U.S. Trials in the 110 the same year), and Nehemiah is an uncommonly versatile athlete. A onetime high school quarterback, he is skilled at tennis and basketball and he astonished his Maryland track teammates by bowling a 235 game the first time he tried that sport. At the 1979 Penn Relays he ran an anchor leg in the 4 x 200 and the 4 x 400 relays in 19.4 and 44.3 respectively, both extraordinary times. His former college coach, Frank Costello, said last year, "The first time he steps on the track he'll run 48 in the intermediates." Moses' world record is 47.13.

Informed of Nehemiah's plans, Moses told SI's John Papanek, "Tell him to come on in. Doesn't make a bit of difference to me. There are a lot of people challenging him in his event. He's just one step ahead most of the time and he does lose races. By the time I finish competing, it will be the year 2000 before anybody beats my time."

STARS IN HIS EYES

More than 8,000 memorabiliaphiles jammed the grand ballroom of the Marriott Hotel near the Los Angeles International Airport over the Labor Day weekend for the First Annual National Sports Collectors Convention. Promoted by three avid collectors—Gavin Riley, Mike Berkus and Steve Brunner—the convention attracted some 150 exhibitors who paid $50 each for a six-foot-by-30-inch table on which to display their wares. Old Yankee yearbooks sold for upwards of $30, double the price of any other team's; a 1952 Illustrated Football Annual went for $20; and a 1952 Topps bubble-gum card of Mickey Mantle fetched $675 at auction the first day. Dealer Fred Lynch, who sells uniforms of players of note, was asking $500 for a Carl Yastrzemski shirt, $100 for a Lakers' jersey that had been worn by Cazzie Russell and $250 for an entire Golden State uniform, including warmup jacket, that once belonged to Rick Barry.