Riley Always Knew How to Pack His Bags

The problem with Pat Riley and the Miami Heat is they can’t win on the road.

This week, that is. Even with the two losses to start this current Western swing, caused as much by injuries and difficult competition as any aversion to airports and hotel rooms, the Heat will arrive at the Forum on Friday night with more road victories than any other NBA team.

I’m not surprised. Even as a reserve guard for the 1971-72 Lakers, whose record of 16 consecutive road victories was threatened when the Heat recently won 14 in a row, Riley was resourceful away from home.

For instance: If he desired at the last minute to dine in one of a city’s better restaurants, he would call and reserve a table for two in the name of a superstar teammate, Jerry West or Wilt Chamberlain. No matter how crowded, restaurants invariably guaranteed a table would be available.

When Riley arrived at the restaurant, usually with another anonymous sub, he would apologize on behalf of the unfortunately detained West or Chamberlain and take the table. Wily Riley.

*

Buyer beware: Prospective bidders for the Dodgers should be aware they are entering a partnership with major league baseball owners who still think marketing is about going to the grocery store. They hired a promotional whiz, Gene Murphy, who promptly reached a 10-year agreement with Nike. The owners rejected it. . . .

Murphy had an easier assignment in one of his previous jobs, restoring Kool-Aid’s image after Jonestown. . . .

Speculation is that Bud Selig eventually will accept a five-year contract as baseball’s full-time commissioner, an occurrence Peter O’Malley would not endorse. He says the owners need to look outside the game, as they did when they elected Peter Ueberroth and Bart Giamatti. . . .

Jim Mora and Bobby Beathard would be a good team for the San Diego Chargers. It’s often forgotten that Mora had success as coach of the New Orleans Saints before the death of Hall of Fame general manager Jim Finks. . . .

Gentlemen, the 4-year-old thoroughbred already touted by some as the horse of the year for 1997, has been nominated for Sunday’s $200,000 San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita. But it’s more likely he’ll start his year Feb. 2 in the $300,000 San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita. . . .

Without Gentlemen in the field, Alphabet Soup will be favored in the San Pasqual. The 6-year-old roan sent Cigar into retirement with a loss in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. . . .

“He’s like a bicycle,” jockey Chris McCarron says of Alphabet Soup. “He doesn’t give you everything until you pedal hard.” . . .

Brought in to ease Miguel Angel Gonzalez’s step up in weight class for the Jan. 18 World Boxing Assn. super-lightweight title fight in Las Vegas against Oscar De La Hoya was famous Kronk Gym trainer Emmanuel Steward, who’s also working with Lennox Lewis. . . .

Of 307 NCAA Division I basketball teams, UC Irvine is 299th in the Sagarin computer ratings for USA Today. Mercer is 307th. . . .

Looking fitter than she has in years, Mary Slaney, 38, headlines the women’s end of the Steve Scott Festival of Miles Sunday in Santee, Calif. . . .

St. Louis’ Grant Fuhr gives credit for his return to the NHL’s goalkeeping elite to his personal trainer, Bob Kersee. . . .

Advertisers fear television ratings for the Super Bowl could drop by as much as 10% if the game matches Carolina and Jacksonville. In that case, I guess the $1.2-million fee for a 30-second commercial won’t seem like such a bargain.

*

The best basketball coach in the Pacific 10 brings her team to Los Angeles this weekend.

Tara VanDerveer’s No. 3 Stanford Cardinal (14-1), featuring guard Kate Starbird, plays UCLA on Friday night at Pauley Pavilion and USC on Sunday afternoon at the Lyon Center.

No other coach in the country can match VanDerveer’s record in the ‘90s. Not only has she coached the Cardinal to the Final Four four times and won twice, she took a leave of absence last season and coached the U.S. women’s Dream Team to a 60-0 record and the Olympic gold medal.

If coaches could be drafted, she’d be No. 1 in both new women’s professional leagues, the ABL and the WNBA.

“She’s really trying to downplay her professional prospects to concentrate on this season, but I know she’s talked to some owners in the WNBA,” says VanDerveer’s assistant, Amy Tucker, who coached the Cardinal to the Final Four last season. “For a lot of coaches, coaching in college isn’t the glass ceiling any more.”

*

While despairing at the cruel fate that allows baseball to lose Peter O’Malley and keep Marge Schott, I was thinking: Tiger Woods should put in a bid for the Dodgers, Tim Duncan will look good in Celtic green, Shaq could post up Babyface any day of the week.