– TV timeout: Dan Hampton may not be with the Bears, but he`s off to camp this week in New York to prepare for football. Hampton reportedly has gotten the word from NBC that the network wants him to be an analyst for ”five to seven” regular-season NFL games. First, he reports to several days of skull sessions in the Big Apple with other announcers.
– Show time: A few hours at the National Sporting Goods Association`s World Expo `91 are better than watching television. Some sights and sounds from Tuesday: The Blackhawks` Doug Wilson and Steve Larmer stayed an hour longer than scheduled to accommodate autograph seekers. Wilson even had a golf date later in the day with former Chicago teammate Denis Savard. . . . You figure I: The Dallas Cowgirls were on hand to promote apparel from a line called
”Cherokee-An American Tradition.” You figure II: Ex-Bear Mike Pyle was on hand to endorse a portable golf green designed to improve putting. . . . Bo Jackson brought members of Chicago`s ”Off The Street Club” to participate in a Cramer press conference to talk about his affiliation with its bio-med products. . . . Playing a demonstration game of Double Shot, where you throw small basketballs one-handed from about five feet, Scottie Pippen managed only a tie against a comer. While Pippen threw up brick after brick, an onlooker shouted: ”It`s a good thing you didn`t shoot like that against the Lakers.” Pippen`s excuse: ”I didn`t know the rules.” . . . The lines to get autographs from Karl Malone, who introduced his new Catapult shoe for LA Gear, and Roger Clemens stretched for nearly 50 yards. . . . Robin Ventura described White Sox togetherness to a crowd thusly: ”Everybody`s around the same age, but we all still learn from the older guys like Carlton Fisk, Charlie Hough and Tim Raines-and even Ozzie Guillen. Ozzie`s sort of medium young.”
– Life of Riley: New Knicks coach Pat Riley jetted in late Monday night to address Tuesday morning`s NSGA breakfast in McCormick Place. ”Greg Anthony told me when I left to make sure I motivate all those licensees and dealers to pay him lots of money for endorsements,” Riley said of his precocious new rookie from UNLV. In fact, the coach spent considerable time referring to the No. 1 draft choice and drawing parallels with Magic Johnson`s rookie season with the Lakers. ”Magic is the reason the Lakers were the team of the `80s,” he said. ”Anthony has the same kind of attitude.” (Memo to Mike Ditka:
Better get a copyright on that ”Are you ignorant or apathetic” joke you love to tell about Jim McMahon during your speeches. Riley applied it to one of his players, too.)
– AWOL: Little City officials are doing a quiet burn over Bill Cartwright`s no-show earlier this week at a youth basketball clinic planned for their Palatine facility. Posters were printed, about 300 kids were eagerly awaiting, and a rep said there had been a firm commitment from the Bulls` center. But no Bill-much to the additional frustration of several TV crews on hand. Ex-NBA players Harvey Catchings and Lloyd Walton salvaged the program. In a follow-up call, Cartwright, in California, is said to have told Little City officials he was busy negotiating with another NBA team. Earlier this summer, Bill also told friends he wasn`t returning to Chicago until he had a firm offer from the Bulls.
– Comeback: Maybe the most poignant comments made by ex-major leaguer Dave Dravecky, who has done several interviews this week about the amputation of his pitching arm and shoulder because of cancer, have been about his relationship with his son. Said Dravecky: ”I can tell you that I`ve practiced hard throwing with my right hand. I`ve been able to throw him batting practice, and every now and then I get an inkling to try and throw a fastball by him. I did one time and knocked one of the panels off the fence.”
– Cherry picking: Mike Keenan has a big fan in Don Cherry, outspoken Canadian TV commentator and former NHL coach. Says Cherry: ”When people ask me how the game should be played, I tell them just take a look at a tape of Chicago. The Hawks` credo is simple. If it moves, hit it. Even a guy like Michel Goulet, one of the greatest floaters of all time in Quebec, has turned into a banger in Chicago. Well, at least a semi-banger.” . . . By the way, little was said about terms of Goulet`s new Hawk contract announced this week. One good source has it at $2.9 million for four years, which includes an option season. Apparently Chicago matched a St. Louis offer. Not bad for a ”semi-banger.”
– Scribbling: Whether this city gets World Cup games or not in `94, the actual Cup is on display this week in Chicago. Among stops will be Douglas Park
(Wednesday) and Daley Plaza (Thursday). . . . Loyola AD Chuck Schwarz hosts the Ramblers` annual golf outing that benefits the school`s sports programs Friday at Hickory Hills GC.
– And finally: The Bears apparently are music to the ears of Bryan Orr, president of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. In a fundraiser for the organization, Orr shelled out $275 to spend a day at camp in Platteville. That`s more money than was bid on a jersey autographed by Dan Hampton.
