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A hoop trivia quiz;

Who holds the NCAA record for highest season scoring average and single game point mark?

(a)Frank Selvy

(b)Johnny O’Brien

(c)Elgin Baylor

(d)Pete Maravich

(e)None of the above

     If your answer was (e), you’re a real “basketball Jones”. The records belong to the tall fellow posing with Pat Conway, a playmate of mine at the Bykota Senior Center in Towson. The name of the all-but forgotten basketball legend is Bevo Francis, who averaged 48.points a game way back in 1954 and scored 113 against Hillsdale College of Michigan for tiny Rio Grande College, a small Ohio school that boasted only 38 male students.

     And just think how much more mind-boggling these figures would be if the three-point shot was in effect at the time.  Marty Blake, longtime scouting director for the National Basketball Association, put things in perspective. “”Bevo was one of the greatest shooters who ever lived,’’ said Blake. “He could not only shoot, but shoot with range.’’

  Added former Georgetown coach John Thompson, who was never one to heap praise on a non-Hoya, said of Francis on an ESPN Classic retrospective, “He was one of those drum-beat stories.  You sit by a tree, you hear people talking about the great legends of the game, then you hear people talk about Bevo, yeah.’’

  How Conway spent an afternoon reminiscing with Francis is a story in itself.  It starts with Pat’s wife, Carol, who attends an annual family gathering held by her cousin, Robert Murphy, in the Ohio town of Salineville. 

Our Founding Fathers and the framers of the Constitution sure knew their business when they mandated the separation of church and state. For although many of us believe in God and Country, the blending of the two is a volatile and combustible mixture. The latest gasoline on this political fire is the contention that President Obama is a Muslim.

Constitutionally and theoretically speaking, our president’s religious beliefs should be irrelevant. Practically speaking though it does matter, starting with the simple fact—an almost extinct entity in current day partisan politics—that Barack Obama isn’t and never was a member of the Islam faith.

Although this latest charge is a pure fabrication, much like the claim from the Birthers, a lunatic fringe group that contends Obama was not born in this country—regardless of his birth certificate—it is a brilliant political jiu-jitsu tactic.  Much like the no-win question, “Do you still beat your wife?”, by acknowledging the question the accusation gains some semblance of credence. Remember, it was just two years ago that this same motley crew was gleefully pointing their sanctimonious fingers at Obama’s Christian minister, the Reverend Wright. This latest religious conflagration also takes our collective political eye off the real issues we’re facing.

    Now this may take letting your imagination run wild, but our two major sports franchises may have something in common with the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz.

  First, let’s consider the early success of the Birds’ new skipper Buck Showalter, who we feel justified in calling “The Wizard of O’s’’ after posting a 12-8 record and giving the  Texas Rangers fits including a shocking sweep of the Western Division leaders on their home turf.

  Everyone thought Showalter, who had enjoyed past successes as boss of Texas, Arizona and the New York Yankees, would wait until the Orioles had completed their 13^th straight losing campaign and evaluate the team from afar before coming on board. A cautious approach was certainly justified. But the man who says he thrives on major challenges surprised everyone by taking over in late July.

  With one wave of his magic wand, suddenly everything turned positive in Birdland. The youthful starters—Jake Arrieta, Brian Matusz and Brad Bergesen—began to live up to all the hype and were aided by an unexpected surge of offense spearheaded by Luke Scott, Ty Wigginton and a rejuvenated Felix Pie.  To further help matters, the defense began making crucial plays while the bullpen, led by a now healthy and seemingly  unhittable Koji Uehara, helped win several nail-biters.

   But before someone tears away the curtain to reveal Showalter, like the Wizard of Oz, simply pushing all the right buttons, it could be time for a reality check. Next month, save for six games with Detroit, the Orioles’ schedule will be exclusively against the four teams ahead of them in the intimidating Al East-New York, Tampa Bay, Boston and the combative Toronto Blue Jays. Even Darth Vader and Harry Potter would cringe fighting these odds.

This Sunday past, I had the great thrill of sojourning to the City of Brotherly Love and after plunking down $340, I got to witness Paul McCartney do his thing with his current band.  I went with my wife, who had seen the Beatles back in 1966 at the Baltimore Civic Center and who now wanted to reprise the opportunity to witness the genius who was the tour de force of the Fab Four.  I’m talking about the incomparable Sir Paul McCartney.

Before I get into the show, let me digress a moment. I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the fiasco that took place at the PGA and express my opinion on what happened. Since I have declared myself the official golf writer for the Organ with my previous columns about Tiger and Phil and the Majors, I’m your man when it comes to opining about the golf scene. Actually, there was at one time a terrific golf writer on the staff of the Baltimore Sun named John Stewart, who was first-rate. We certainly could use his expertise now.

I was listening to the tournament on XM satellite radio on my way up to Philly when the controversy erupted.  I frequently dial into the PGA Network when I’m in the car and a tournament is being broadcast.  The lead anchor for the broadcast is a former touring pro named John McGuiness, who went ballistic over the ruling. It was total chaos and confusion at first. I was parking my car when the official ruling was announced and the playoff began sans the forlorned Dustin Johnson. I found out who prevailed, The German and not Bubba, when I was headed home after the show somewhere on I-95 around Chester, Pa.

As the mid-term elections draw near, we’ve decided to add a new section to provide assistance in making those all important decisions when the democracy rubber hits the road in the voting booth. Using our creative genius we’ve named it “Political Clips”.

We will post excerpts from interviews, speeches and candid comments – particularly when a politician is attempting to answer a question without really answering it; pontificating on a subject he or she has no clue about; belaboring a point of the incredibly obvious; flip-flopping; hog-washing, blowing smoke or anything else that catches our attention.

Some may view this as blatantly opportunistic, cynical, too demanding of our elected officials and even pushing things a little too far. Well they’d be right. We don’t foresee a shortage of material anytime soon. If we find a few chuckles – great - A few gotchya’s even better. And if we find something that makes us all think – then perfect.

  The University-town of Moscow, Idaho is so cozy that if you blink twice, you’re liable to miss it.  But one place you must visit is the colorful Corner Club saloon on Main Street, which its owner, Herm Goetz, converted in the early Forties from a small chapel with hardwood floors and a beamed ceiling.

  If you believe all the stories, it’s said that a patron once rode his horse into the tavern and ordered a beer for himself and his horse. Another tall tale had a cowboy riding a buffalo in one door and out the other.

  But the real legend surrounding the Corner Club endured for 23 years, dating back to 1962 when Gus Johnson arrived from Boise Junior College to play for the University of Idaho Vandals. Once the locals caught sight of the “Honeycomb’’, a name bestowed on him by his coach, Joe Cipriano, for his sweet play, the small Memorial gym became the place to be for locals in awe of the muscular Johnson’s prodigious  dunks, rebounding skills and suffocating defense. Two hours before a home game, long lines formed outside and filled the arena to the rafters.

   The native of Akron, O. had been lightly-recruited coming out of Central High, where he was a teammate of Nate Thurmond, as were most African Americans during that time period. But keeping him a secret for long proved impossible when he challenged Creighton’s Paul Silas for the national rebounding title by averaging 20.3 rebounds in addition to scoring 19 points a game, mostly of the jaw-dropping variety.