He Might Trade Red for Green

Arvidas Sabonis, the 7-foot 2-inch Soviet basketball star drafted on the first round by the Portland Trail Blazers, reportedly will be available to play in the NBA after the 1988 Olympics.

The Denver Post quotes Sabonis as saying: “Of course I’m interested in the NBA. Who doesn’t want to play as a professional? Basketball in America is great. That’s where it was born.”

What about the differences in life styles?

“You’re talking about the money, right?” Sabonis said.

Right.

“I like it,” he said.

Larry Bird, asked his favorite NBA players, told The Sporting News: “Magic Johnson, because he is a step ahead of everyone else in the game. Charles Barkley is probably second. He mouths off all the time, but as far as basketball ability and coming to play every night, he is awfully good. He really is. Dennis Johnson is the best player I’ve ever played with. He knows more about the game than 98% of the players in the league.”

Trivia Time: What do Kevin Butler of the Chicago Bears, Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks and Mikael Pernfors of the Swedish Davis Cup team have in common? (Answer below.)

For What It’s Worth: The last time the Chicago Bears met the Washington Redskins in the playoffs, in a 1984 NFC divisional game, their quarterback was Steve Fuller. He completed 9 of 15 passes for 211 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 75-yarder to Willie Gault, as the Bears won, 23-19.

From Ken Denlinger of the Washington Post, picking the New York Giants to beat the Chicago Bears for the NFC title: “I think Doug Flutie at the moment is the one of the luckiest human beings on the planet. He was not particularly good in the U.S. Football League. He’s not much yet in the NFL. But he’ll play in the NFC championship game. And lose, to the more experienced quarterback, Phil Simms, and the only defense as good as Chicago’s.”

Add Bears: Says linebacker Mike Singletary: “I feel even better about this team than I did about last year’s at this stage. This year, everybody was ready for us. We were a soap opera team, no doubt about it. Everything was going wrong for us at one time or another.

“But we overcame that. Anytime you can overcome things, it can do nothing but bring you together. So I feel good about this team going into the playoffs.”

Shep Messing, goalie for the New York Express of the Major Indoor Soccer League, is a graduate of Harvard. His teammates include Kevin Maher, a graduate of Yale, and Amr Aly and Kazbek Tambi, both graduates of Columbia.

Says Messing: “If we go into overtime, we’ll challenge our opponents to a debate.”

Said Philadelphia Eagle Coach Buddy Ryan when asked if he contemplated any changes in the off-season: “Anytime you have a season like this, there’s a possibility there are going to be coaching changes, player changes and sportswriter changes.”

How good is Vinny Testaverde? Says Atlanta Falcon tackle Bill Fralic: “I’d trade the whole front office for him. I’ll stick my neck out and take over as team president.”

Trivia Answer: All three went to the University of Georgia.

Quotebook

Penn State linebacker Shane Conlan, who hopes to be drafted by the Raiders, asked what he’s brought to the Penn State program: “A lot of penalties, I guess.”