Fact: The Ex-Oriole rotation (Pete Harnisch, Curt Schilling, Dennis Martinez, Mike Morgan, Rick Sutcliffe) has combined for a 6-21 record and two stays on the disabled list.
Opinion: It would be interesting to see if America stayed inside in the middle of June to watch the Pacers and Jazz in the NBA Finals.
Fact: (from the CFL transaction wire): Slotback Rob Crifo was traded from the Rough Riders to the Roughriders. (Ottawa to Saskatchewan.) He said, "In my heart, I'll always be a Rough Rider." OK, not really.
Opinion: Best tennis name in years: Anna Smashnova, of Israel.
Fact: The Orioles are eight games ahead of last year's pace.
Opinion: After the Bulls' Scottie Pippen pulled himself out of one game against the Knicks in the final seconds, then lost another with a last-second foul, what else was there to say except this: The guy just doesn't know when to quit.
Fact: The Orioles have won only five games against teams with winning records. (Two against the Royals, one against the Yankees, Red Sox and Indians.)
Opinion: Those baseball wild-card races are really heating up!
Fact: The Timberwolves moved to the Big Easy despite selling 97 percent of their tickets in five years in Minnesota.
Opinion: The saddest story I have ever heard is the one about the guy who joined a Rotisserie league to make new friends.
Fact: The winner of the sad-sack AL West would not be the first team to make the postseason with a losing record. In the strike-warped '81 season, the Royals went 50-53 and lost an AL West playoff to Oakland.
Opinion: Todd Frohwirth (11.17 ERA with the Red Sox) would fit right into the Orioles' bullpen.
Fact: "This guy's awful!" screamed Haray Caray on TV after Cubs pitcher Jose Guzman gave up a three-run homer to Dodgers pitcher Kevin Gross. (P.S.: Cubs won, 6-3.)
Opinion: Strodes Creek in the Belmont.
Fact: Fernando Valenzuela has a 7-2 record for Jalisco of the Mexican League.
Opinion: Charlie Whittingham was taking a cheap shot when he said he wasn't impressed by the Preakness. Run your best horse next time, big man.
Fact: Bora Milutinovic, Yugoslavian-born coach of the U.S. World Cup team, about his players: " . . . No one will think about sex during the World Cup."
Opinion: Spoiled superstars are tennis' biggest problem, but oversized rackets, and the uninteresting smash-ball tennis they produce, are a major factor in the sport's decline.
Fact (Bora II): Milutinovic is conversant in all sorts of languages, but barely in English. Asked recently whether he should be optimistic or pessimistic going into the World Cup, he held up a glass and shrugged, "How many water you have?"
Opinion: Rockets over Knicks in six.
Fact (Bora III): On the building interest in World Cup: "It's changed 360 percent."
Opinion: Phil Jackson was the NBA's best coach this season.
Fact: The Sacramento Kings are changing their team colors. (I would tell you the new ones, except you didn't know the old ones.)
Opinion: No one should be surprised by any scandal in any college athletic program anywhere. They all have skeletons.
Fact: The NBA Mavericks are actively seeking Roy Tarpley, the Steve Howe of basketball.
Opinion: I didn't really mind World Cup organizers asking for my permission to let them look at my FBI file. I just wanted to see it, too.
Fact: Richard Nixon is the only president to attend the Kentucky Derby while in office.
Opinion: Something is very wrong in the NBA when Magic Johnson decides not to coach because he hates the players.
Fact: Randy Johnson has allowed five home runs in five years to left-handed batters.
Opinion: The New York Rangers are finally going to get it done this year. Go all the way. Take the whole puck. Whatever.
Fact: Sparky Anderson on the Blue Jays: "Don't worry about them. Pat [Gillick] will think of something."
Opinion: Syracuse over Princeton in the NCAA lacrosse final Monday.
Fact: Jose Canseco is very close to a 40-homer, 40-steal pace.
Opinion: Looks like George Mitchell is too smart to become the next baseball commissioner.
Fact: The Padres and A's are the two worst teams in the majors, but Oakland's $36 million payroll is three times as big as San Diego's.
Opinion: It isn't that the ball is juiced. It's that the pitching is lousy.
Fact: The NHL playoffs started 41 days ago. The finals will start any day now. Promise.
Opinion: Marge Schott is the one who is juiced.
Fact: There are 13 screws and two metal plates in the ankle with which jockey Julie Krone is riding.
Opinion: It's interesting that World Cup officials are so concerned about security when most of the United States thinks their event is a ski race.