Ho-hum. How else do you describe a month which steals away hockey and refuses to offer up baseball in return? At least if the weather was nice we could work off some of that winter waistline outside. Anyone for wiffle ball--

Meanwhile, in the enthralling world of professional basketball, the Detroit Pistons recently dropped a game to Philadelphia--their 22nd loss in 23 outings. Nobody realized it, however, so coach Richie Adubato's job is safe.

Monday morning's sun brought on faint hopes that Alex Nahigian's Crimson baseball team would finally be able to practice outside. Accordingly, I ambled down around two to watch the batsmen in action on the turf, but by that time the sky was dark and gloomy and the ping of horsehide-on-aluminium echoed out of Briggs cage. Damn.

Nahigian made the trip worthwhile, however, by offering up some interesting tidbits. He's high on a bunch of freshman, including some pitchers who supposedly can't miss. One yardling who looks like he's won a job is shortstop Brad Bauer. The kid appears to have amazing range, but like Nahigian says "you can't really tell until you get outside."

The way the forecast sounds, the Crimson probably won't grace the grand old sod of Soldiers Field until after their spring trip to Florida. And that means after they face Penn next Friday) and Columbia--a twinbill the following day) in Eastern League contests next week. That's not how Nahigian would have liked it, but that's March for you.

Luckily, Strat-o-Matic baseball is a year-round sport and the 1979 cards are in. Soldiers Field may be cold and wet, but there's nothing but warmth inside when I watch Jim Palmer twirl a four-hitter for my San Francisco Seals, winning 4-1 and improving my record to three of four. Keep it quiet, but I think the Seals have the horses to cop it all.

Two more days and I'm off to my hometown of Stamford, Conn, for a week. That may not sound like much, but Stamford is a mere 20 minutes (door to door) from the sporting shrine called Bridgeport the Jai Alai fronton. I've been getting the programs mailed to me since the start of the winter season, and I've noticed my old friend Lopitegui is near the top of the singles list. My key bet is always the 1-2-4 quiniella box unless someone like Lopitegui or Goyo is in number five. Then, it's 2-3-5, or 2-5-8.

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For those of you who didn't get all the answers to yesterday's photo-quiz, here they are: the two hockey goalies are John Hynes and Wade Lau, the diver is Pam Stone, the basketball player is Calvin Dixon, the trackster is Kristin Linsley and the swimmer is Ted Chappell. All those who were notified as winners will receive their prizes in the mail.