Generally Speaking, Walker Gets One Vote

Eric Dickerson called it a minor league record, but if he had played for the New Jersey Generals this year, could he have produced better numbers than Herschel Walker?

Jerry Holmes, for one, doubts it. He’s a New Jersey defensive back who put in four years with the New York Jets. He told William C. Rhoden of the New York Times:

“A team like the Rams can throw the ball a little better than we can. That takes the pressure off a running back because the defense has more to worry about. In this league, every team we play is throwing 8- and 10-man fronts up against Herschel on almost every play. Put Dickerson up against that and see if he gets 2,300 yards.”

Holmes says Dickerson runs with more flash and dash than Walker but isn’t necessarily more effective.

“A back like Freeman McNeil may have more shake-and-bake moves,” said Holmes, referring to a former teammate. “Coming through the line, Freeman may read defenses a little better than Herschel, and he may be able to set you up for a move a little better.

“Also, a guy like Mike Rozier is shiftier. But from my vantage point, Herschel is more dangerous than either one. He’s so big that he can run over you and he’s so fast that he can just leave you. I think it’s the not knowing which one he’s going to do, but knowing he can do either one, that makes him so dangerous.”

Add Walker: His college coach, Vince Dooley, thinks Walker still regrets not returning for his senior season at Georgia. At the time he had rushed for 5,259 yards, just 823 yards short of Tony Dorsett’s NCAA career record.

“He could have set records that never would have been broken,” Dooley said. “He would have been the all-time college back. He could have gotten Dorsett’s record by the fourth game.

“I really don’t think he wanted to turn pro. Right there at the end I think he wanted to get out. He enjoyed trying to find out what he was worth, got too far in it and couldn’t get out. I told him to go forward and make the best of it.”

Apparently he did. According to the N.Y. Times, Walker makes $1.25 million a year. He also has a 10-year, $1.8 million deal with Adidas and a $100,000-a-year deal for five years with Franklin Sports Industries.

Bob Howsam, who retired this year as general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, told Irv Moss of the Denver Post: “I would say as far as a manager goes, Pete Rose is even better than I thought he’d be. Next to Casey Stengel, he’s probably the finest communicator with the media I’ve seen. Sparky Anderson was good, too.”

Add Howsam: Asked what player impressed him the most, he said: “If I had to put my life on the line and have one pitcher pitch a game for me, win it all or lose it all, it would have to be Bob Gibson.”

Rollie Massimino has come a long way. He told Steve Jacobson of Newsday that before he came to Villanova he took a job as an assistant coach at Penn because he thought it would advance his career.

“I took a cut in pay from $20,000 to $13,000,” he said. “At the time, I had a wife, five kids and a beat-up car.”

Of his career at Villanova, he said: “When I came here I had to show identification in order to cash my checks. Now they’re naming spaghetti dishes after me.”

Quotebook

Norm Cash, former American League batting champion at Detroit, denying he called Baltimore a bush league town: “What I said was Baltimore is a very exciting town. For excitement before a game I went down the street and watched a hub cap rust.”