In This Case, the Punishment Would Fit Crime

Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune has this suggestion on how to handle the latest Dennis Rodman violation:

“The punishment should fit the crime. Rodman sits on the floor with his legs spread and the cameraman he kicked in Minneapolis sits across from him, takes aim and, wham, straight leg into Rodman’s crotch.

“In fact, as I think about it, this should be the standard Rodman punishment for whatever he does next, and there will be more. There is always more.”

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Add Rodman: Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press on Rodman playing a villain in his new movie, “Double Team”: “That’s like hiring Elizabeth Taylor to play a divorcee.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the record for the longest run from scrimmage in the Super Bowl?

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Full circle: Dick Vermeil, the new St. Louis Ram head coach, also worked for the franchise in Los Angeles. He was an assistant coach in 1969, then again from 1971 through 1973.

He was on the same staff with Rich Brooks in 1971, the coach he replaced in St. Louis.

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Handy guy: Peter Vecsey of the New York Post on a former San Antonio Spur and Chicago Bull bench-warmer: “In hopes of returning to the league, Jack Haley is taking an extra 5,000 high-fives a day.”

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Cheeseheads won’t do: Computer fraud consultants are warning companies in New England and Wisconsin to avoid using Super Bowl-related passwords that would make it easy for hackers to break into their computer systems.

While conducting a computer security audit for a large client in Chicago, consultant Ron Hale said he was able to break into more than 40 files by using “Bulls” as a password.

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Mr. Double Fault? Australian tennis player Pat Rafter gets a lot of attention from female fans, so he uses aliases to book into hotels when he plays in his homeland.

At the Australian Open, he booked himself into a hotel under the modest name of “Mr. Ace.”

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Bombs away: Michael Jordan, updating his opinion of the United Center, which he says lacks the intimacy of Chicago Stadium, the Bulls’ home until 1994: “I still want to blow it up.”

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Danger zone: St. Joseph’s (Pa.) basketball Coach Phil Martelli on his team’s shooting: “Have you ever been to one of our shoot-arounds? I have to give out helmets if people are watching.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1988, Mike Tyson knocked out Larry Holmes in the fourth round at Atlantic City to retain his world heavyweight title.

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Trivia answer: Marcus Allen of the Los Angeles Raiders, 74 yards against the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII in 1984.

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And finally: Jayson Williams of the New Jersey Nets after teammate Yinka Dare got the first assist of his three-year career: “I think it will be three years before you see that eclipse again.” Actually, Dare added his second assist four days later.