James’ Bark Is Worse Than the Huskies’ Bite

On the eve of the game against Oregon State, in which his team was favored by 37 points, Washington Coach Don James said: “It would be nice to just go out and beat up on somebody.”

In the wake of Oregon State’s 21-20 win Saturday, one wonders who feels worse, James or the fellow at Sports Illustrated who picked the Huskies to win the national championship.

Said Iowa Coach Hayden Fry on the eve of Saturday’s game against Michigan: “It’s one game, nothing more, nothing less.”

Said Fry after Iowa’s 12-10 win: “I’m going to vote for us for No. 1 tomorrow.”

Trivia Time: What do the coaches of the first-place teams in the NFC Central, AFC Central and AFC East have in common? (Answer below.)

Says St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog, denying he’s bitter over being fired as manager of the Kansas City Royals in 1979: “When you don’t own the club or die on the job, eventually you’re going to get fired. I don’t worry about it.”

However, he still frets about Bob Short firing him as manager of the Texas Rangers in 1973.

“What bothers me about that is that he told me on a Saturday I was the best manager he ever had,” Herzog said. “He even offered me the general manager’s job. Then he fired me the next Friday and said he made a mistake hiring me.”

From Kansas City reliever Dan Quisenberry, who said he hasn’t measured up to his 1984 season: “When things got bad, I took out my frustrations on our opponents’ bats.”

For What It’s Worth: In the deciding game of the 1962 National League playoffs with the San Francisco Giants, Dodger Manager Walter Alston ordered pitcher Stan Williams to walk Ed Bailey with first base open and the score tied, 4-4, in the ninth inning.

The next batter, Jim Davenport, walked on five pitches to put the Giants ahead, 5-4. San Francisco added another run and won, 6-4.

From the sports results in the Oct. 12 issue of The Times of London under the heading of baseball: “National League Championship Series: Los Angeles Joggers 8, St. Louis Cardinals 2.”

13 Years Ago Today: On Oct. 20, 1972, Pete Rose homered on the first pitch from Catfish Hunter, and Cincinnati went to win the fifth game of the World Series against Oakland, 5-4, on Rose’s run-scoring single in the ninth inning. The A’s went on to win the Series in seven games.

Said American University Athletic Director Bob Frailey after the school was ordered to forfeit one week’s basketball practice by the NCAA because an assistant coach played in a pickup game before the official start of practice: “The NCAA is confronted with the bubonic plague and it spends time treating head colds.”

Trivia Answer: Mike Ditka (Chicago), Marty Schottenheimer (Cleveland) and Joe Walton (N.Y. Jets) are all products of the University of Pittsburgh.

Quotebook

Bubba Paris, 300-pound tackle of the San Francisco 49ers, on his many diets: “I’ve lost enough weight at different times to put together an entire Little League team.”