Edgar Jones Has a Way of Letting People Know When He Isn’t Kidding

Edgar Jones of the Cleveland Cavaliers was quoted in this space Tuesday as having said an unkind thing about the San Diego Chicken, but he says he was just kidding.

“Actually, I don’t think he’s all that bad,” Jones told Jeff Lenihan of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I generally get along with mascots.

“I hit one only once and that was in New Jersey. He came up and said something smart when things weren’t going well, so I decked him. No one was mad because New Jersey is my home. And to be honest, I don’t cold-cock mascots very often.”

From Peter Gammons of the Boston Globe: “When Joaquin Andujar built his new house in San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, he had it painted Cardinal red. After being traded, he is having it repainted blue. The Oakland colors are green and gold.”

Trivia Time: What do pole vaulter Billy Olson, boxer Randall (Tex) Cobb and running back Wilbert Montgomery have in common? (Answer below.)

From the Denver Post, noting that Bulgarian native Georgi Glouchkov of the Phoenix Suns has learned two more words in English, Big Mac. : “A Phoenix writer recently took him to McDonald’s where Glouchkov proceeded to down five Big Macs, two large orders of fries and two chocolate malts, prompting the writer to wonder how one burps in Bulgarian.”

Said Calvin Griffith, former owner of the Minnesota Twins when asked by the Orlando Sentinel if he might have done anything differently in his 52 years in baseball: “Maybe I might have signed a left-handed pitcher from the University of Havana who begged us to give him a chance with the Washington organization. But he threw like me. Not very hard.

“I wish we had, though. History would be a lot different.”

The left-hander was Fidel Castro.

A lot of letter writers have complained about Mike Ditka’s spitting during the Super Bowl, but at least he was chewing gum.

Says The Sporting News: “Super groundskeeper George Toma of Kansas City had the assignment of getting the Superdome turf ready for the game. That would appear to be an easy job, but Toma said the turf was so dirty from tobacco stains it had to be shampooed six times.

“The heaviest stains were on the sideline roamed by former New Orleans Coach Bum Phillips.”

Race driver Richard Petty, on why it’s so tough to know when to retire: “You always want to quit on top, but, when you’re on top, you don’t want to quit.”

For What It’s Worth: Gene Stallings, new coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, is the second product of Paris (Tex.) High School to become an NFL head coach. The other is Raymond Berry of the New England Patriots.

Both were coached at Paris by Berry’s father, Raymond Berry Sr.

Note: Tom Landry has five former assistants who are head coaches in the NFL. In addition to Berry and Stallings, they are Mike Ditka of the Chicago Bears, Dan Reeves of the Denver Broncos and John Mackovic of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Trivia Answer: All three went to Abilene Christian. Cobb was a linebacker in football.

Quotebook

Notre Dame football Coach Lou Holtz, on time of possession: “The only important thing about the time of possession is who gets to keep the ball after the game is over.”