Refugee From the USFL Blitz Just Wants to Play for People

Randy Jostes, 6-4, 270-pound defensive tackle from the University of Missouri, is a two-year veteran of the United States Football League now trying to catch on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jostes, who last played for the Chicago Blitz in 1984, told Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel: “I can sum up two years in the USFL in one word--obscurity. I felt like a monk. In Chicago, I began talking to myself because nobody else knew I was there.”

He said it would be a thrill to return to Soldier Field Sept. 8 when the Bucs play the Chicago Bears and see 60,000-or-so people in the stands.

“With the Blitz, the longest lines we ever saw were of people wanting their money back,” he said. “In a home game you knew you had a good hit when you could hear the echo.”

What if he doesn’t catch on with the Bucs. Will his football career end?

“Heck no,” he said. “If I don’t make it here, I’ll start my own league.”

LaVell Edwards, coach of BYU’s national championship football team, told Al Burleson of the Huntsville (Ala.) Times that it’s nice to finally get some respect.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve either led the nation in passing or scoring six or seven times, but it was a well-kept secret,” he said. “The image the rest of the country had of us is that we had good quarterbacks and played two-hand touch below the belt.”

Add Forgettable Quotes: Wrote Tim Sullivan of the Cincinnati Enquirer after the first three weeks of the season: “After a week of deliberation and several hours of lineup scribbling, I have come to the appalling conclusion that the Reds might be a better team with their manager in the dugout.”

Now that Pedro Guererro shares the record of 15 homers in June with Roger Maris, Babe Ruth and Bob Johnson, the Dodgers can only hope he winds up the season with a comparable number.

Maris hit 61 in 1961, the all-time record, and Ruth had 49 in 1930, tops in the league. Johnson, of the Philadelphia A’s, had a career-high 34 in 1934.

Said North Carolina State Coach Jim Valvano at a roast of Villanova basketball Coach Rollie Massimino: “He’s so cheap. All week we were in Italy for a clinic he kept saying what a great hotel we were in. Then on the last day, he complained because the towels were so thick, he couldn’t close his suitcase.”

At the same roast, Valvano took this shot from Philadelphia 76er General Manager Pat Williams: “At North Carolina State they had a big scandal--three of their players were found in the library.”

From Marty Noble of Newsday: “National League umpires Bruce Froemming and John Kibler were dining at a ribs restaurant in Cincinnati recently when another patron recognized Froemming and began to ridicule him about his chunky physique. Froemming challenged his taunter to a foot race. He won the race, $100 and the admiration of Kibler. ‘It was amazing,’ Kibler said, ‘considering it came after 2 1/2 pounds of ribs and 36 beers.’ ”

Said Baltimore Manager Earl Weaver after a comeback win: “We’ve climbed out of more coffins than Bela Lugosi.”

Quotebook

Kurt Bevacqua of the San Diego Padres, on a country-Western record he cut for charity: “It’s not going to make the first 100 on anybody’s chart, but I am proud of the fact that I stayed on key.”