Morning Briefing : Fans Discover That 84,059 Is Really a Crowd

Those who got to Stanford Stadium at least two hours before the Super Bowl enjoyed a colorful pregame show. Those who didn’t were rewarded with beer-soaked coats and shoving matches in the crowded aisles.

One woman from Miami made her way to her seat with 16 ounces of beer running down her full-length mink. Her husband and the man who accidentally spilled the beer got involved in a shouting match before being separated by the shuffling masses.

At least one fan said if he had known what he was in for, he wouldn’t have put up with it.

“I had a hell of time getting in,” Les Stone of Las Vegas said. “It’s a real zoo out there. I paid $250 for my ticket. If I had known what it was like, I would have kept the money in my pocket and watched it from my hotel.”

Crowded restrooms posed a serious problem. So serious, in fact, that some people were forced to call audibles. It wasn’t pretty.

Outside the stadium, a couple of enterprising students dressed in 49er and Dolphin uniforms, imitating Joe Montana and Dan Marino, offered to pose for “Pictures With The Stars” for $5 each.

Another student involved in the enterprise said they had sold 150 pictures with still an hour remaining before kickoff.

Ricky Pierce, who went from the Clippers to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Terry Cummings-Marques Johnson deal, says of Milwaukee Coach Don Nelson: “He sees everything and he expects you to do everything. He emphasizes defense and movement and doing everything right. Playing for the Clippers, you could get away with a lot of things.”

Dave Zinkoff, public address announcer for the Philadelphia 76ers, was honored last week for his 50 years at the mike.

He started as a student at Temple where he said, “I did basketball, gymnastics, football, baseball . . . if there were more than three people, I’d get up and announce.”

Some of his favorite calls in Philly have been “Dipper Dunk” for Wilt Chamberlain, “Gola Goal” for Tom Gola, “Pair for Share” for Charley Share, “Two for Shue” for Gene Shue, “Kerr-plunk” for Johnny Kerr, and “Malone Alone” for Moses Malone.

Guard Tony Duckett, captain of the Lafayette basketball team, was asked his first thought when he heard that Bill van Breda Kolff had been named as the new head coach.

Duckett: “I remembered he was the guy who benched Wilt Chamberlain.”

From Chicago State basketball Coach Bob Hallberg, whose team has twice as many road games as home games: “I think the only person who has liked our schedule so far is my son. He gets the car whenever I’m out of town. He had a great December.”

Says Vancouver Canucks Coach Harry Neale, whose players have complained about his workouts: “I know my players don’t like my practices, but that’s OK because I don’t like their games.”

Louisiana Tech, long a power in women’s basketball, has suffered the embarrassment of being ranked second in the state behind Northeast Louisiana.

Leon Barmore, co-coach of the Lady Techsters, told USA Today: “We used to be head and shoulders above about 90% of the teams in the country. Now we’re about armpit level.”

Quotebook

Pittsburgh basketball Coach Roy Chipman, on the inventive shots of freshman Demetreus Gore, the team’s leading scorer: “Sometimes we have to remind Demetreus that you don’t get any extra points for degree of difficulty.”