Far and Away, Elway Still Can Hear the Praise

Sunday morning on CBS’ “The NFL Today,” Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder called Denver’s John Elway far and away the best quarterback in the NFL.

“Better than Dan Marino?” Brent Musburger asked.

“Better than anybody,” Snyder said.

Watching the show in his hotel room before taking the team bus to the Coliseum to face the Raiders was Elway himself.

Buddy Martin of the Denver Post asked him if he caught the Snyder segment.

“Yeah, I heard it,” he said.

What did he think?

Elway laughed.

“I stood up and gave him a standing ovation,” he said.

When USC upset UCLA, it didn’t do Washington any favors. The Huskies were all set for the Aloha Bowl, but the Bruins have taken their place, and now Washington is ticketed for the Independence Bowl.

So, instead of Honolulu, the Huskies will be going to Shreveport, La.

Washington Coach Don James said he had “been through” Shreveport “years ago” but doesn’t remember much about the city. He also said he didn’t know much about Washington’s opponent, Tulane.

“I understand they lead with the pass,” he said. “Maybe they’re like Oregon State.”

Wishful thinking?

Trivia Time: What coach announced his resignation at a preseason banquet, saying, “I don’t want to get involved in another losing season,” and then saw the team win the NFL championship? (Answer below.)

From Michael Madden of the Boston Globe: “Folks of good heart and warm cheer used to fear Al Davis and the Raiders as much as they feared the Ayatollah. Now, fathers point to Al Davis to lecture their sons about the fickleness of time and the fading of judgment.

“ ‘That Davis used to know more about football than Jimmy the Greek himself,’ fathers say. ‘Sharp as a tack honed with a file. And now? Well, son, he’s been watching Marc Wilson and Rusty Hilger trying to play quarterback for going on three years now and he hasn’t made a move. Hasn’t done a thing about it. Tsk.’ ”

Nat Gottlieb of the Newark Star Ledger, on New York Knick forward Bill Cartwright: “In a league where height is so essential, it seems almost unjust that Bill Cartwright should be seven feet tall. Better he should be made to donate the extra foot he doesn’t use to a worthy cause like Spud Webb, a guy with heart who would know what to do with the extra inches.”

Ron Higgins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, in a story on the nation’s junior colleges, makes the following awards:

Best name--Dull Knife Memorial College in Lame Deer, Mont.

Best location--The Academy of Aeronautics, in New York’s La Guardia Airport.

Best initials--CCCCC, for Cerro Coso Community College Coyotes in Ridgecrest, Calif.

Best nicknames--Asheville (N.C.) Buncombe Tech Atomics, Eastern Arizona Gila Monsters, Enterprise (Ala.) State Boll Weevils and Imperial Valley (Calif.) Arabs.

Trivia Answer: Buddy Parker of the Detroit Lions in 1957. George Wilson took over as coach, and the Lions won the championship, beating the Cleveland Browns, 59-14, in the title game.

Quotebook

Notre Dame football Coach Lou Holtz, on the importance of time of possession: “The only important thing about the time of possession is who gets to keep the ball after the game is over.”