Trendy Sweatbands High, Many

Basketball players from high school to the NBA have begun wearing sweatbands up around the elbow, some even as high as the biceps, in the latest bit of haute couture to accompany baggy shorts, untucked shirts and varying degrees of sock length.

Some moved the bands up from the wrists because Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls did it.

"Jordan wore one up on his arm," said Mississippi State's Dontae Jones, who sports black bands below each elbow. "I just took it a step further and put two on.

"I just like fashion. I wear the high socks, T-shirt under my jersey. . . . It's kind of trendy."

Alabama's Roy Rogers claims he was the first to wear two armbands. He wears terry-cloth whites around both biceps.

"My freshman year, I used to wear two of them on my wrists to prevent the sweat from getting on my hands," said Rogers, now a senior. "I moved them up my arms for style."

According to sports fashion lore, Jordan also started the baggy-shorts phenomenon, a look adopted and popularized by Michigan's Fab Five.

Eternal Dodger

Tom Lasorda, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was the speaker recently at the Stadium Managers Association meeting in Tucson, Ariz. He told them he plans to continue working for the Dodgers even after he's dead.

"I told my wife, Jo, to make sure the Dodger schedule is posted on my gravestone every season, so that maybe someone comes by, sees it, and decides to go see a game."

Staying power

From the San Francisco Examiner:

"In 1977, when Tom Lasorda became the Dodger manager, Norm Sherry was manager of the Angels, Jerry West was coach of the Lakers, Chuck Knox coached the Rams and Bob Pulford the Kings.

"Since then, the Angels have changed managers 11 times, the Lakers have changed coaches eight times, the Rams four times and the Kings 14 times."

Looking back

On this date in 1983, Yakima's Phil Mahre won the Alpine World Cup championship for the third straight year, becoming only the third person ever to win three consecutive titles.

He said it

-- Former pitcher Whitey Ford, asked if he ever was nervous as a Yankee: "Only when I had to ride the subway."

Compiled by Chuck Ashmun, Seattle Times