Bruce Top Choice at Columbus

Ohio State football Coach Earle Bruce has been under fire for not winning a national championship in his six seasons, but a poll by the Columbus Citizen-Journal revealed he still is the people’s choice.

Asked who they would like to coach the Buckeyes, 92 of the 300-plus respondents voted for Bruce. Minnesota Coach Lou Holtz was second with 39 votes. Others getting votes, with reader comments:

Former coach Woody Hayes: “Before Woody left, the only problem was buying yard-line markers and cameras and hiring an occasional plastic surgeon.”

Ohio State basketball Coach Eldon Miller: “To give the basketball team a break.”

Notre Dame football Coach Gerry Faust: “To save what’s left of Irish football.”

Vince Lombardi: “He would be a better motivator dead than Earle Bruce is alive.”

It-had-to-happen dept.: The New York Daily News ran an article on how to knit a Lou Carnesecca sweater.

They used to say that Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams were playing in the wrong parks--that DiMaggio would have feasted on the Green Monster in Fenway Park and that Williams would have fattened up on the short porch in Yankee Stadium.

Says DiMaggio, disputing the theory: “The thing is, Williams never had great series in Yankee Stadium. He never pumped a lot of balls out of the park. And I wouldn’t have had any greater home run production in Fenway Park. I was a line drive hitter. I didn’t get the ball high. My line drives rose, but the high fence in Fenway would have kept them from going over.”

Add DiMag: When Pete Rose had his 44-game streak halted, he chided Atlanta pitcher Gene Garber for not giving him anything good to hit.

Says DiMaggio: “What did he expect a ball down the middle?”

DiMaggio then told Hal Bock of the Associated Press how Johnny Babich of the Philadelphia A’s tried to stop him in the 39th game of his 56-game hitting streak.

It seems that Babich walked DiMaggio the first two times and was in the process of doing it a third time when Yankee Manager Joe McCarthy gave DiMaggio the hit sign on 3-and-0.

“This time,” said DiMaggio, “Babich got the fourth pitch not quite as far outside. I reached out and hit one up the middle, right through his legs. Babich went down flat on his back. When he came up, he was ashen.”

Add Forgettable Quotes: Under the headline “Drawing To a Close,” the Orlando Sentinel said: “With a full week’s rest, world champion Anatoly Karpov is expected today to try to finish off the longest chess match in history when he plays against challenger Gary Kasparov in the 35th game.”

The date was Dec. 26, 1984.

Wrote John McGrath of the Denver Post after Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen named John Beake general manager and gave Coach Dan Reeves the added title of vice president: “For any of you at home keeping score on all this, mark your cards thusly: Reeves picks ‘em. Beake signs ‘em. Bowlen pays ‘em. Reeves coaches ‘em. Then everybody holds his breath and prays the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t come into town for the first playoff game.”

Quotebook

Thomas Thompson, negotiator for New Orleans Saints owner John Mecom, on the frustrations of dealing with prospective buyer A.N. Pritzker of Chicago: “It’s like trying to nail jelly to a tree.”