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Bitterness on talk radio, axing loyal aides, blackballing an agent: Where will it all end?

Never thought I'd see the day you could listen to Tucson radio and hear image-conscious Lute Olson and his estranged wife, Christine, firing bitter salvos at one another.

Never thought it possible that Olson would betray two loyal assistants, Jim Rosborough and Kevin O'Neill, and force them into administrative positions.

Who's next to be canned from the Olson basketball family, 1997 Final Four MVP Miles Simon? I'm not predicting Simon's exit, but at this stage, in this crazy soap opera, it's almost inevitable.

As part of Olson's dialogue on Friday's KRQQ-FM interview, the coach said, "I think people should treat other people the way they want to be treated'' and, later, "I leave other people feeling good about themselves.''

And yet a few hours later, on ESPN.com, Olson was quoted on ex-Wildcat Jerryd Bayless' decision to hire an agent: "I don't think it was very intelligent on Jerryd's part'' and added that he would essentially blackball Bayless' agent, Jeff Schwartz.

"We'll make sure that agent doesn't represent any of our players in the future as long as I'm here,'' Olson said.

Meanwhile, Rome burns. You can't make this stuff up.

NCAA TOURNAMENT

Upgrades around McKale put UA in hosting mood

McKale Center has been the site of 53 NCAA men's basketball tournament games, the eighth highest total of any arena. But the UA's spot in the rotation has diminished; Arizona has been a first- and second-round host just twice (2000, 2005) this decade. Before that, the UA served as a host in 1974, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1997.

Wildcat athletic director Jim Livengood said his school will again enter the bidding process now that the Richard Jefferson basketball practice facility is near completion.

"That new facility gives us great potential as a media center,'' said Livengood. "It gives us much more space for all of the people involved in staging that type of event.''

Western sites for the next two years have already been chosen. In 2009, Portland, Boise and Glendale will be used. In 2010, it's San Jose, Spokane and Salt Lake City.

UA MEN'S GOLF

Wildcats have hit a shank, may miss NCAAs this year

Two-time NCAA championship golf coach Rick LaRose takes his Arizona Wildcats men's team to the Pac-10 championships at Cal this week. Here's the hook: The UA's 21-year streak of NCAA tournament appearances is in serious jeopardy.

That's as unexpected as the UA softball program's fall to mediocrity.

Arizona is ranked an uncharacteristic 56th in the national men's golf poll and doesn't have a player ranked in the Top 100. At the beginning of the year, LaRose said, "one of these guys has to step up and start being an all-star.'' Well, it didn't happen.

That "all-star'' could have been Rincon High grad Michael Thompson, who, upon returning from his Masters appearance a week ago, breezed to the SEC championship by four strokes. He shot 65 the final day to help Alabama win the league title. LaRose was caught short on scholarship money when Thompson transferred from Tulane to Alabama two years ago, although Thompson was curious about playing in another geographical region to test his game against more windy conditions and on non-desert courses with more trees.

Thompson last week accepted an invitation to the USA's eight-man Palmer Cup team to Scotland, a Ryder Cup-type competition for amateurs.

SHORT STUFF

Ex-Sahuaro linebacker now tackling bobsled competition

One of Tucson's leading high school football players of the 1990s, former Sahuaro linebacker Jon McGee, who initially enrolled at USC and later transferred to Oklahoma and then Arizona, has emerged as one of America's leading bobsledders. McGee has returned from the final American Cup competition in Lake Placid, N.Y., where he completed the year ranked No. 3 of all American bobsled drivers and 34th in the World Cup standings. McGee will return to Lake Placid for October's U.S. Olympic Team trials. … Tucsonan Penny Taylor is off to Rome this week as the USA's Chef de Mission for the 2009 FINA World Championship swimming meet. Taylor is a logistics/organizational marvel who is in her 16th season in that capacity for USA Swimming. She is to be honored at the USA Olympic trials on June 29 in Omaha, Neb., for her role on the 1948 American Olympic swimming team in London. … Tucson golfer Sara Brown won her third tournament of the collegiate season last week, leading Michigan State to the Lady Buckeye title. The Salpointe Catholic grad shot rounds of 70-73-73 to win by two strokes. … Funeral services for popular UA athletic administrator and former UA football lineman Clarence "Stub'' Ashcraft will be held today at 2 p.m., at Rincon Congregational Church, 122 N. Craycroft Road. Ashcraft died April 18. He was 89.

MORE SHORT STUFF

For busy coach Zinter, 'Time just flies by'

While awaiting his first season as a minor-league (the Rookie League Missoula Osprey) hitting coach, ex-Arizona Wildcats All-America catcher and first-round draft pick Alan Zinter has been coaching both for the Sidewinders and in the Diamondbacks' extended spring training camp at the Kino Sports Complex. Not that Zinter is kicking back much. He typically arrives at the complex at 6 a.m., and after a morning of workouts, video analysis and three-time-a-week games against Rockies and White Sox minor-leaguers, rarely leaves the ballpark before midafternoon. "The time just flies by,'' said Zinter. "I love it.'' … I watched UA baseball coach Andy Lopez's son, junior second baseman David Lopez, play second base for the top-ranked Sabino Sabercats last week. Lopez, a left-handed batter, had two hits in the Kino Region championship victory over Sahuaro. He's terrific at turning the double play. "I wish all parents were like Andy,'' said Sabino coach Rod Allen. "He's supportive but he doesn't attempt to interfere.'' … Catcher Amanda Duran, a two-time JC All-American while at Pima College, which included the 2006 national title team, won't play softball again this year. Duran suffered a broken hand April 9 while starting for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. She was second on the NU team with 20 RBIs and eight doubles when injured.

MORE SHORT STUFF

IR sophomore quarterback invited to Longhorns' camp

Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Duane Akina has kept an eye on the Tucson football scene since leaving the UA staff in 2001. He has invited Ironwood Ridge High School sophomore quarterback Tyler D'Amore to the Longhorns' summer camp, which will instantly put D'Amore on the recruiting radar of every college football team in the country even though he has yet to QB a varsity game for coach Gary Minor. D'Amore comes from good athletic stock; his brother, ex-Mountain View standout Doug D'Amore, was a productive shooting guard at Idaho State and played basketball for the EuroLeague's Randers Cimbrio pro team of Denmark this season. … Former UA baseball player and assistant coach Bill Kinneberg, now the head coach at Utah, has successfully recruited ex-Salpointe outfielder Kevin Hussey for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Hussey, hitting .351 for coach Todd Inglehart's powerhouse at Cochise College, accepted the Utah offer last week. Hussey has hit 16 doubles in the ACCAC season. … Three former Tucson prep baseball pitchers who have reached the major leagues are attempting to get back to the big leagues. Tucson High's Chris Saenz, who was briefly with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2004, signed last week with the Northern League's Schaumburg (Ill.) Flyers. Sabino's Jamie Vermilyea, who pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays last year, has recovered from an arm injury and last week was activated by the Class AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Ex-CDO and Cleveland Indians left-hander Jason Stanford was released by the Washington Nationals Class AAA system on Monday but on Friday signed with the Class AAA Buffalo Bisons, a Cleveland affiliate.

MY TWO CENTS

In '81, a colorful Tucsonan negotiated Long's contract

The St. Louis Rams used the second overall selection of Saturday's NFL draft to select Virginia defensive lineman Chris Long. Contract talks for Long, via his powerful agent Tom Condon, are apt to include about $30 million in guaranteed money.

You might pardon Long's father, Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long, if he gets a chuckle of the whole exercise.

When Howie Long came out of Villanova in the spring of 1981, he met Tucson radio personality and advertising executive Bernie Perlin at the Blue-Gray All-Star Game. Perlin was intimidated by nobody. He hustled. He talked a good game.

Somehow, with almost no background in contract negotiations, Perlin persuaded Long to let him be his agent and represent him. When Oakland drafted him in the second round in the spring of '81, Perlin negotiated Long's first NFL contract.

Three years later, at Super Bowl XVIII in Tampa, I asked Long about Perlin, with whom he had parted company.

"I'd like to get my hands on that guy,'' Long said without trace of a smile. "I probably had the worst contract ever for a second-round draft pick.''

A good man who hosted a sports talk show in Tucson long before they became part of Americana's daily chatter, Perlin made his mark in advertising, not contract negotiations. The native of Brooklyn, N.Y., died here of a heart attack in 1993 at 68. He was an unforgettable character, and not only to Howie Long.