Piece by Piece, Boston Garden Could Be Yours

Here are some items that will be available in today’s memorabilia auction at the now obsolete, 68-year-old Boston Garden--with estimated minimum sale price:

Single balcony seat signed by Larry Bird--$300.

“Spider” Edwards autographed dry mop, used to sop sweat off the basketball court during timeouts--$100.

Red Auerbach’s cigar, “3/4 smoked by Red,” the catalog promises--$100.

And, of course, Auerbach’s seat, complete with direct phone line to the Celtic bench and an outside line to order Chinese food--only $1,000.

Trivia time: Which school holds the NCAA Division I-A record for most fumbles in a season?

Good advice: When a young boy recently begged Baltimore’s Rafael Palmeiro for an autograph during batting practice, Palmeiro asked the boy why he wanted autographs.

The boy replied: “Because they’re worth a lot of money.”

Said Palmeiro: “What you need to do is get a good education so you can get a good job and not have to worry about selling autographs for a living.”

Same old song: Unbeaten California will play Oregon State on Saturday and Cal Coach Steve Mariucci, doing his Lou Holtz imitation, assessed the 0-3 Beavers, who have lost 13 consecutive games dating to 1995:

“Probably the best 0-3 team in the world. That’s a very misleading record.”

Considering that Oregon State has been outscored, 123-41, a 0-3 record seems to fit.

Looking back: On this day in 1975, Nolan Cromwell of Kansas rushed for 294 yards--an NCAA record for a quarterback--in a 20-0 victory over Oregon State. Cromwell later played defensive back for the Rams.

Silent sprinter: Ben Johnson did not compete in the Atlantic Olympics, but he did make it into “Atlanta Boogie,” a movie scheduled to open in Japan in November.

The Canadian sprinter, who tested positive for steroids in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, reportedly was paid $10,000 for his cameo, in which he has no speaking part.

Trivia answer: Cal State Fullerton, with 73 in 1992, losing 41, also a record.

And finally: Arizona State football Coach Bruce Snyder was asked by USA Today to name the most intimidating site for a visiting team. He identified Louisiana State’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.

“I went down with USC [as an assistant in the ‘70s]. When we walked in--and this is on a Friday, this is not even the day of the game--they have this chain-link fence and they line up there for the visiting team, and they shake that fence and chant ‘Tiger Bait! Tiger Bait!’ ”

Snyder has a sharp memory for someone who wasn’t there. He was a USC assistant coach in 1974-75 and the Trojans played at Louisiana State only once, in 1979, when he was the head coach at Utah State.