At This Rate, Klever Will Never Wind Up as the Tight End

Tight end Rocky Klever of the New York Jets watched Sunday’s replacement game against the Dallas Cowboys in a restaurant with quarterbacks Ken O’Brien and Pat Ryan.

“We were going to chug a beer every time Mark got a sack,” Klever said, referring to Mark Gastineau. “But after the first quarter, we got kind of thirsty.

“Then we said we would chug a beer every time he got a tackle. By halftime, we were really thirsty.

“Finally, we said we’d chug a beer every time Mark lined up.”

Kansas Coach Bob Valsente, on Saturday’s game against Nebraska, a 47-point favorite: “I’d rather face the NFL scab teams than Nebraska.”

Oklahoma State Coach Pat Jones, asked about the Colorado backfield that features Sal Aunese and Eric Bieniemy, told the Denver Post: “Half their names I can’t pronounce. They sound like a disease you get from chickens.”

Trivia Time: What are the first names of Whitey Herzog, Whitey Ford and Whitey Lockman? (Answer below.)

For What It’s Worth: Detroit’s Doyle Alexander has been a pitching marvel in September and October, but the magic hasn’t carried over to championship series.

He was 0-1 with Baltimore in 1973 and 0-1 with Toronto in 1985, with an overall earned-run average of 7.71.

Add Alexander: He’s played for so many teams, he says he’s never had time to form any allegiances. Says Tim Kurkjian of the Baltimore Sun: “He refers to Detroit in the third person, as in ‘I think Detroit will win.’ ”

Paul Molitor will be remembered for his 39-game hitting streak, but a more remarkable achievement this year might have been his 114 runs scored, the most in the American League.

Molitor did it in only 118 games. Over 162 games, that would figure to 157 runs. Nobody has scored that many since 1936, when Lou Gehrig had 167. The record is 177, by Babe Ruth.

The most valuable player in the American League? Says Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly: “Alan Trammell’s done very well and he plays a skill position. But what has George Bell done? Knocked in 130 runs, hit 40-something homers? Geez.”

35 Years Ago Today: On Oct. 7, 1952, Billy Martin’s knee-high running catch with the bases loaded in the seventh inning snuffed a Dodger rally and the New York Yankees went on to win in the seventh game of the World Series, 4-2.

Bob Kuzava had a 3-and-2 count on Jackie Robinson and got him to hit a pop-up to the right side of the mound. First baseman Joe Collins lost sight of the ball, Kuzava just watched the ball and Martin came dashing in to make the catch.

Trivia Answer: Dorrel Herzog, Edward Ford and Carroll Lockman.

Quotebook

CBS analyst Ken Stabler, after Detroit Lions quarterback Todd Hons had missed a wide open receiver in the end zone Sunday: “That’ll get you back to selling cars in a hurry.”