fanfare 8/4/02

Briefly

Basketball

Longtime Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn has probably called his last game, his neurologist said Saturday after performing surgery for brain hemorrhaging.

"If he has a full recovery in terms of his motor functions he will very likely have speech difficulty, so I will foresee that he will have a difficulty to be announcing," the neurologist, Dr. Asher Taban said.

Hearn was taken to the hospital from his San Fernando Home around 8 p.m. Friday after neighbors saw him fall in his backyard and called 911.

Horse racing

Chip Chip Hooray took the lead in the stretch and held off a late charge by Like A Prayer to win the $1 million Hambletonian at the Meadowlands Racetrack on Saturday.

The win gave Hall of Fame trainer Chuck Sylvester his fourth win in trotting's top race for 3-year-olds.

This Hambletonian also will be remembered for an early break that injured 3-5 favorite Andover Hall and took him out of contention. Nearly half of the win pool was bet on last year's 2-year-old trotting champion.

Andover Hall cut his left hind leg in the race and pulled up short of the finish.

Verbatim

Jon Heyman of Newsday on Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ed Wade's trade of All-Star third baseman Scott Rolen to the St. Louis Cardinals for infielder Placido Polanco and pitchers Bud Smith and Mike Timlin.

"If Rolen's value sunk to this level, well then, that's Wade's fault. Wade should have traded Rolen long ago, before everyone figured out that the situation in Philly with Rolen, the fans, Manager Larry Bowa and big-mouth front-office man Dallas Green had grown from untenable to unlivable.

"Instead, Wade clutched tight to Rolen like his last shares of WorldCom stock, finally cashing in at nine cents. Don't spend it all in one place, Eddie."

-- From wire reports