Sooners’ Tubbs Turns Into Billy the Talking . . .

After Oklahoma beat Missouri in the Big Eight tournament Friday, Missouri Coach Norm Stewart did not shake hands with Oklahoma Coach Billy Tubbs.

Earlier this season, Stewart called Tubbs a jackass. Tubbs responded by calling Stewart Francis the Talking Horse.

Correcting himself Friday, Tubbs said: “I got Mr. Ed, the talking TV horse, mixed up with Francis the Talking Mule from the movies. I meant to say mule because a mule is not a thoroughbred. A jackass is a thoroughbred, but a mule is a cross, I think, between a jackass and a horse. I think a mule is worse than a jackass.”

Got that?

Good-news, bad-news dept.: Wallace Matthews of Newsday, on middleweight challenger John (The Beast) Mugabi, who faces Marvelous Marvin Hagler Monday night: “Mugabi has become master of the one-liner. Unfortunately, he has only one line.”

The line: “I will knock him out.”

Add Matthews: Unimpressed with the challenger’s workouts, he wrote: “It is apparent that Mugabi’s silent-killer image is being cultivated to mask his ring deficiencies as well as his difficulties with English. Despite his obvious power, he has looked slow and one-dimensional. His punches loop so wide that Hagler may have time to visit his corner for a drink of water before they arrive. What happens upon their arrival will decide if Mugabi is truly a beast--or a bust.”

Add Fight: A sign on the wall at Johnny Tocco’s Ringside Gym in Las Vegas, where Hagler has trained for the bout:

“On Feb. 18, the Nevada State Athletic Commission will meet at City Hall. Subject: Brain scams.”

Trivia Time: Twenty years ago, the Dodgers had an all-switch-hitting infield. Who were they? (Answer below.)

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: Buddy Ryan, new head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was interviewed last year for the Indianapolis Colts job.

“I believe I could have had it, but I didn’t think I could get along with the owner,” Ryan said. “I didn’t feel Robert Irsay and I were a match made in heaven, if you know what I mean.”

Minnesota Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven, asked if he could remember his first start as a 19-year-old rookie in 1970, said there was no way he could forget it.

It was against the Washington Senators at RFK Stadium, and the first batter, Lee Maye, hit a home run.

“That didn’t bother me,” Blyleven told Bob Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel. “But their third batter was Frank Howard. As Maye circled the bases, I saw Howard stepping out of the dugout and thought, ‘How far is that big guy going to hit it?’ ”

Blyleven survived, and the Twins won, 2-1.

Add Fowler: Writing about Calvin Griffith, he recalled that the former Twin owner had few peers in the malapropism department. A couple of Griffith specials:

On how he would pick a manager to replace Billy Martin: “I can’t tell you exactly what I intend to do, but I can tell you one thing, it won’t be anything rational.”

On how he decided to give Roy Smalley and Butch Wynegar long-term contracts: “I sat down and I mean I did a lot of soul-searching. I talked to myself like a Dutch oven.”

Trivia Answer: Wes Parker, 1b; Jim Lefebvre, 2b; Jim Gilliam, 3b; Maury Wills, ss.

Quotebook

Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks, after a run-in with Bulgarian native Georgi Glouchkov of the Phoenix Suns: “That Bulgarian dude came over, and I couldn’t understand a word. He was talking a mile a minute. And besides, I don’t even talk German.”