Nuts to you, and caramel too...Hull and Oates sing the blues...'The Racing Times' bites the dust

Chock Full O'Nuts
The Isiah bar, which went on sale last week at stores in the Detroit area. The recipe for the chocolate-covered, caramel-filled confection was dreamed up by Piston guard Isiah Thomas. "I like it," Thomas says. "I made it to suit me." The wrapper bears the slogan STAY IN SCHOOL! Funny, didn't Thomas turn pro after his sophomore year at Indiana?

Broken Up
Hull and Oates, the mellifluous duo that amplified the success of the St. Louis Blues for more than two years. Last week the Blues traded Adam Oates, a center who had become embroiled in a bitter contract dispute, to the Boston Bruins for center Craig Janney and defenseman Stephane Quintal. Oates had assisted on 29 of winger Brett Hull's league-leading 54 goals this season. "I play the game for fun, and this sure took a lot of the fun right out of it," Hull said after the trade was announced.

Grazed
The skull of Chicago Bears offensive tackle Stan Thomas, who was shot while driving away from the Emerald City Bar in San Diego's Pacific Beach district early Sunday morning. The gunman, riding in another car, fired five shots, one of which nicked Thomas above the right eye. Neither of the two passengers in Thomas's vehicle was injured. Thomas underwent surgery to repair what doctors called a skull depression. "The prognosis is good," said a hospital spokesman. "There's no indication he's going to have any trouble playing football."

Rebuffed
By Monica Seles, a challenge from Jimmy Connors to play a $2 million, winner-takes-all tennis match. "Maybe on my own terms," she said, "when I have time to get ready." At 39, the No. 46-ranked Connors is 21 years older than Seles, the top women's player. Talk of the event, first proposed last year by a promoter, ignited memories of the Battle of the Sexes, the highly publicized 1973 match in which Billie Jean King, then 29, beat 55-year-old Bobby Riggs.

Hired
Hall of Fame tackle Joe Greene, as defensive line coach of the Miami Dolphins. Greene played for the Pittsburgh Steelers throughout his 13-year career (1969-81) and had been the Steelers' defensive line coach for the past live seasons. He aspired to succeed Chuck Noll as Pittsburgh's coach, but after Noll resigned in December, the Steelers bypassed Greene in favor of Bill Cowher. "Pittsburgh's loss is Miami's gain," Greene said last week.

Humanely Destroyed
The Racing Times, the colorful horse racing newspaper launched last April by flamboyant publisher Robert Maxwell to "smash the monopoly" enjoyed by the Daily Racing Form. The Times failed to dent the circulation of the Form but succeeded in forcing it to become more aggressive in its reporting. The Times lost its footing in the financial mud after Maxwell's death in November and staggered along until it was put down last Friday. The remains, primarily computer equipment and software, were purchased by the Form for an estimated $2 million.

PHOTO

Thomas is sweet on his new candy bar.