Moe

Would it be possible to find out the names of the Phi Betta Kappas who make out the American League schedule? They really must have stayed up nights to put an American team (the Angels) in Canada (Toronto) on July 4--one of the biggest U.S. holidays. May I respectfully suggest that they hire Larry, Curly and Moe next year; they have already done much worse. TOM PRIOR Encino

There were no wisecracks Sunday from Denver Nugget Coach Doug Moe, who usually finds something sarcastic or funny to say about his team no matter the outcome. This time, it seemed that Moe had lost the game and his sense of humor.

--When South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan was succeeded last week by Roh Tae Woo, there was probably no one in the country happier than Park Yong Shik, once a popular television actor. In fact, he doffed his toupee--as a fitting gesture of his unbounded delight. Park, 44, had been forced to wear the hairpiece because he resembled the balding 57-year-old Chun. In 1981, at the start of Chun's reign, Park was banned from appearing on state-run television, although nobody told him why.

What have they been saying in the NFL for the last 25 years? Here are some selected quotes from "The NFL Since 1960," published by NFL Properties: --Former Dallas Cowboy fullback Walt Garrison, asked if Coach Tom Landry ever smiled: "I don't know. I only played there nine years." --New England Patriot defensive end Richard Bishop, asked if opposing players ever talked to him during a game: "Yeah. As a matter of fact, Larry Little of Miami once asked, 'Who are you, anyway?'

Three perennial losers settled some scores Thursday night, scores that had roots not only on the basketball court but on the playground and in the clothes closet as well. For Nugget forward Jay Vincent, it started all the way back in grade school in East Lansing, Mich., where he would have been a local legend except for one Magic mite named Johnson.

The powerful narcotic popped up on the cultural grid around the turn of the millennium. A Texas producer-remixer named DJ Screw paid homage to its woozy, heavy-lidded high by dramatically slowing down beats and vocals to replicate the drug's sleepwalker euphoria. Among Southern rappers, the chemical mixture - called "sizzurp" on the street - soon became as ubiquitous as gold jewelry. This wasn't some exotic new hallucinogen. In fact, it was usually mixed with fruit soda and sipped from oversized plastic foam cups.

This is a gambling tale about a casino boss who took a seat at history's card table and bet the house on a royal flush of an invention. He watched it change the course of California gaming and sweep the world -- then he walked away in anonymity as the revolution he created left him behind. Pai gow poker is the game. It is steeped in Asian superstitions, and even Hong Kong high rollers think it originated in China.

If an auto repair shop says it charges $70 an hour for labor, and the job takes one hour, how much is the labor bill? David Verdiner thought the answer should be $70 when he had his car fixed at a Pep Boys -- Manny, Moe & Jack Inc. garage in Los Angeles two years ago. The store had signs stating that its hourly labor rate was $70. But instead, Verdiner claims, he was billed $112 for the labor, even though the job took only 40 minutes. Verdiner paid his bill.