Timing’s everything for NBA hopefuls

‘Tis the season for undergraduate college basketball players to declare their eligibility for the NBA draft.

Some get it right, and some get it wrong.

Jason King of Yahoo! Sports polled some NBA scouts and found one who believes USC’s DeMar DeRozan made the right decision by coming out early.

“His stock is all over the place,” the scout said. “He was pretty quiet until the Pac-10 tournament, and then he exploded onto the scene. There is definitely some potential there -- athletic, good body, good kid. He finally showed the potential that everyone thought he had. For him it was a good choice. I can’t see him falling out of the top 20.”

Then there are those who get it wrong. One scout, discussing Syracuse junior guard Eric Devendorf, said: “I have no idea why he came out. I have no thoughts on Eric Devendorf. He’s not someone we even discuss.”

Trivia time

What are the six ways a batter can reach first base without hitting the baseball?

House Steinbrenner built

The new Yankee Stadium opened its doors to regular-season baseball Thursday. Bob Costas of the MLB Network was more than impressed.

“No expense was spared, every inch of it is majestic, it’s stately and it’s a tribute to the team’s history,” he said. “There aren’t any bad seats. Even the bleacher seats are closer and the seats are angled toward the diamond in a way that they weren’t at the old park. This is just a beautiful place to watch a game.”

Costas added, “If you like baseball history, other than Cooperstown, I can’t think of a better place to be.”

You had to be there

Winning changes most things in sports, as the Chicago Blackhawks have found, with the team generating significant gains in ticket revenue and sponsorship this season.

“People are tuning in,” Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz told the Bloomberg News. “There’s something going on. There’s this groundswell out there. In tough economic times, it can be done.”

However, national TV ratings remain a problem. According to the website Puck the Media, Sunday’s game between the Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings on NBC drew one of the lowest ratings ever for an NHL telecast on network TV: 0.6 with a 2 share.

Wrote Steve Lepore: “The game was beaten by taped poker highlights, taped monster truck coverage, and everything else on a busy sports weekend.”

Devilish transaction

Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press accused the Pittsburgh Penguins of bad timing when they made a roster move on Good Friday.

“It’s the day the Pens chose to announce they were calling up Satan for the playoffs,” he wrote.

Trivia answer

Hit by pitch, walk, intentional walk, catcher interference, third strike not caught cleanly, pinch runner.

(Question and answer provided by reader Alan Trock of Valencia.)

And finally

Bill Foley of the Montana Standard, on Ryan Leaf: “People in Great Falls will tell you he’s a Pullman, Wash., native. People in Pullman say he’s from Great Falls.”

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