Gym Rat Mullin Met His Match

He was known as the ultimate gym rat when he was growing up in New York, but Chris Mullin admits he met his match in the 1984 Olympic basketball trials. His name was Michael Jordan.

“At the trials in Indiana, we were working out three times a day,” Mullin said. “After a while, guys would come to the evening workout and sit there until the coaches showed up. Not Michael.

“He’d be out there doing 360-degree jams. And I’d sit there thinking, ‘I’ve got to guard this man for two hours and I can’t move.’ ”

Said the Philadelphia 76ers’ Charles Barkley, when asked to comment on the fact that Moses Malone of the Washington Bullets is the highest-salaried employee in the nation’s capital at $2.1 million per annum: “He’s the best rebounder in the Washington area, ain’t he?”

Add Barkley: Said the Boston Celtics’ Kevin McHale: “Charles talks a lot, but I like it, to be truthful. He adds a lot of verbal warfare to our rivalry. We’re all a little down in that category since Cedric Maxwell left. He was kind of our verbal captain.”

Trivia Time: What did linebacker Bob Matheson of the Miami Dolphins and defensive back Doug Plank of the Chicago Bears have in common? (Answer below.)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Keith Browner, on Bear quarterback Doug Flutie: “I don’t think he’s ready yet. He’s kind of short to be back there. If they give him time to throw, he’ll be all right. But I don’t see him taking them to the Super Bowl.”

Add Flutie: If he did take the Bears to the Super Bowl, and they met the Cleveland Browns, he and Bernie Kosar would be matched for the first time since their dramatic duel in the 1984 Boston College-Miami game.

In that one, Flutie completed 36 of 46 passes for 472 yards and 3 touchdowns, including the 48-yard Hail Mary pass to Gerard Phelan that gave Boston College a 47-45 win. Kosar completed 25 of 38 passes for 447 yards and 2 touchdowns.

From Wallace Matthews of Newsday: “Ray Leonard was quoted in another newspaper as saying he ‘knocked out’ the sparring partner who inflicted a two-stitch cut over Leonard’s right eye last week. Not so, says an eyewitness. ‘As soon as Leonard got cut,’ reports the witness, ‘he asked his corner, “Am I cut?” When they said yes, he immediately stopped, had the gloves cut off and went upstairs to a dressing room for about 20 minutes.’

“The cut barely was noticeable the next night at Madison Square Garden, where Leonard was doing color commentary on HBO’s telecast of the Bonecrusher Smith-Tim Witherspoon title fight.”

Trivia Answer: Both had defenses named for their jersey numbers. The Dolphins had the 53 defense, the Bears the 46 defense.

Quotebook

Weeb Ewbank, former New York Jets coach, asked how he felt when Joe Namath guaranteed a win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III: “Frankly, I could have shot him.”