Every writer worth his salt has his own way of putting George Foreman’s feat of winning the world heavyweight boxing championship at age 45 into perspective. This is how Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post saw it:

“Folks gushed when Jack Nicklaus won the Masters at 46. And it was a tremendous achievement because he did it over four days, and not only did he have to beat all the other golfers, he also had to beat his own jitters. But to the best of my knowledge--please correct me if I’m wrong--nobody was hitting golf balls at Nicklaus; Jack didn’t have to take a three-wood right in the mouth.

“Foreman wasn’t only giving away 20 years to Michael Moorer, he had Moorer in front of him, punching him in the head! You didn’t see George Foreman walking around a 20-foot putt to read the slope of the green, and then waiting for quiet.

“We have seen great athletes who have done great things at advanced ages. But this is unique. So don’t give me any blah-blah-blah about George Blanda or Nolan Ryan or Robert Parish or Willie Shoemaker.”


*

Trivia time: How many players have twice been runner-up for the Heisman Trophy?

*

What’s money? When Coach Butch Beard of the New Jersey Nets ordered a dress code for his players on trips, he announced that anyone who did not conform would be fined.


Derrick Coleman showed up for the first charter flight garbed in sweats rather than the required sport coat, went to Beard with his checkbook and said, “Why don’t I get it over with up front and write you a blank check to cover the whole season?”

*

Anyone for art? Tonya Harding is looking to touch up her image, not at an ice rink but at an art gallery.

A show featuring three silk-screened photo images of the figure skater opened in Portland with prices ranging from $5,000 to $30,000.


“It kind of brings out a little heart and soul in each picture of me that you don’t get on TV,” she said after arriving at the gallery in a stretch limousine.

*

No surprise: Dan Marino has been orchestrating last-minute comebacks for the Miami Dolphins for so long that Sunday’s 22-21 victory over the Indianapolis Colts with four seconds remaining was almost expected.

“After you do it a number of times, you believe you can do it,” Marino said after his 28th final-quarter comeback victory.


*

That bad? Michael Arace, in the Hartford Courant:

“If you missed the Michael Jordan retirement ceremony on TNT last week, you missed a lot of stilted, scripted commentary from Dean Smith, Sinbad, David Stern, Spike Lee, Kelsey Grammer, George Wendt, Craig T. Nelson, Woody Harrelson, Bob Knight and a litany of other celebrities. Those who did see the show summed it up in this manner: “Sinbad?”

*


Ultimate insult: Maurice Thompson, in a letter to USA Today Baseball Weekly, writes: “To even suggest that anyone would go to a replacement game is foolish. It would be like watching a whole league of Cubs.”

*

Trivia answer: Two, Glenn Davis, to Ohio State’s Les Horvath in 1944 and Army teammate Doc Blanchard in 1945, before getting it in 1946, and Charlie Justice of North Carolina, who never won it, in 1948 to Doak Walker of Southern Methodist and 1949 to Leon Hart of Notre Dame.

*


Quotebook: New York Knick guard John Starks, on the NBA’s new anti-taunting rule: “I’m not worried about taunting rules because I don’t taunt to nobody.”