First Mission for Navy Just May Be Impossible

Because of mounting injuries to upperclassmen, Navy football Coach Elliott Uzelac said he will be using more freshmen Saturday against Notre Dame.

He didn’t seem concerned.

“These young players don’t worry about Notre Dame,” he said. “They don’t worry about anything. They just want to play football.”

Check with them Saturday night.

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: It’s a love affair now, but it wasn’t always so between Bert Blyleven and Minnesota baseball fans.

After getting booed in a game during his first term with the Twins in 1970-76, he told reporters what the fans could do, and spelled it out in X-rated language.

“They’ve always been . . . “ he said. “I’m not afraid to say it. They’re a bunch of farmers in this town.”

How-times-have-changed Dept.: From Locke High School graduate Ozzie Smith, on the winning ways of the St. Louis Cardinals: “This isn’t a new way to win. I grew up watching the Dodgers play ball like this. They won with good defense and pitching. The bottom line is scoring more runs than the opposition.”

Trivia Time: Who is the only man to play in the last World Series games of both the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants? (Answer below.)

How fast can a human being run? According to Track & Field News, Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis both were clocked at 26.95 m.p.h. during the fastest segments of their 100-meter race in the World Championships at Rome.

The magazine added: “You can figure that in his 9.83, Johnson went through the fabled 40-yard point in 4.37, which means that the typically eager football scout probably would have hand-timed him in 4.1 or 4.0.”

From Mick Elliott of the Tampa Tribune, touting Florida running back Emmitt Smith for the Heisman Trophy, even though he’s a freshman: “The award says to the outstanding college football player of the United States. There is no qualifier. If another running back gets it, I think it’ll insult the award.”

Says Chicago Bears running back Neal Anderson, formerly of Florida: “I think Emmitt deserves it at this point. People haven’t done the things he’s done and they’re being mentioned for it. It’s not only hype that wins it, it’s how much you produce.”

From Tyrell Biggs, discounting the chances of Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks against Mike Tyson: “Tyson will walk right through Holmes, and he’s going to hurt him. Spinks is not big enough.”

Relationships between the Yankees and the city of New York are deteriorating in a dispute over parking at the stadium, and somebody asked Billy Martin how long he thought the club would stay in the city.

Martin begged off.

“I don’t even know long I’m going to be here,” he said.

Trivia Answer: Dale Mitchell. He pinch-hit for Cleveland against the Giants Oct. 2, 1954, the day New York completed a sweep, and for Brooklyn Oct. 10, 1956, the day the New York Yankees won Game 7.

Quotebook

Magic Johnson of the Lakers, on the difficulty of playing against 5-foot 3-inch Tyrone Bogues of the Washington Bullets: “He’s like a fly that gets in your face when you’re trying to sleep. Every time you think you’ve slapped him away, he comes buzzing right back.”