Better Turned Out to Be Worse

Before the Aloha Bowl, Alabama Coach Ray Perkins kept saying: “Southern Cal is a lot better that its 6-5 record would indicate.”

Wrote John Pruett of the Huntsville (Ala.) Times after the Crimson Tide had beaten the Trojans, 24-3: “The truth is, Southern Cal might not have been as good as its 6-5 record indicated. It was obvious almost from the opening kickoff that Southern Cal did not deserve to be on the same field with Alabama this particular season.”

Al Bell, the Alabama receiver from Crenshaw High School, told Pruett he was surprised how easily the Trojans fell.

“They have a lot more talent than a 6-5 team, but they can’t seem to put it together,” Bell said. “They’re not as aggressive as the USC teams I’m used to watching. They play like individuals more than a team.”

Trivia Time: The last time the Rams played for the NFC championship on a frozen field was at Minnesota in 1976. The Vikings opened the scoring on a 90-yard run by Bobby Bryant after a blocked field goal and won the game, 24-13. Who attempted the field goal? (Answer below.)

At a press conference before the Cotton Bowl, a Texas writer asked Auburn’s Bo Jackson if it was true that he would bypass the NFL so he could play for the Texas Rangers.

Said Jackson: “Who are the Texas Rangers?”

For What It’s Worth: Jerry Burns, new coach of the Minnesota Vikings, made his head coaching debut in 1961 at the University of Iowa, succeeding Forest Evashevski.

The Hawkeyes were picked to win the national championship after losing only to 1960 national champion Minnesota the year before, but they went only 5-4. That was Burns’ only winning season. He was fired after going 1-9 in 1965.

Twenty years later, he gets another chance.

Here’s a letter to The Sporting News from Steve Pachter of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: “My vote for the worst trade at the winter baseball meetings was the Seattle Mariners dealing solid left-hander Ed Vande Berg to the Los Angeles Dodgers for washed-up catcher Steve Yeager. I guess Seattle took Yeager because Manny Mota wasn’t available.”

Scotty Stirling, new general manager of the New York Knicks, is a former general manager of the Oakland Raiders and was one of the baby-sitters during the NFL-AFL signing wars.

He told Steve Jacobson of Newsday how he hid Florida State receiver Fred Biletnikoff before the Gator Bowl game with Oklahoma.

“Actually, I had signed him three weeks before but couldn’t announce it,” Stirling said. “The Lions drafted him in the NFL.

“They had his mother and father. We had--however you want to put this--his girlfriend. We kept moving him all night so the Lions couldn’t find him. We moved him five times. He caught 10 passes the next day, four of them for touchdowns.”

The New England Patriots haven’t won at the Orange Bowl in 18 years, but after playoff wins against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands and the Raiders at the Coliseum, guard Ron Wooten says, “We’ve won at the toughest places. Miami is the last castle we have to storm.”

Said running back Craig James: “Destiny is on our side. Or if he isn’t, he’s standing awfully close.”

Trivia Answer: Tom Dempsey.

Quotebook

Jerry Burns, asked at a press conference what his first priority will be as the new head coach of the Minnesota Vikings: “To get this press conference over.”