Bullough Back in NFL, Work ‘Ethnic’ and All

Hank Bullough is back in the National Football League as an assistant coach with the Green Bay Packers, and that’s good news if you like malapropisms.

At Buffalo, Bullough was establishing himself as the Yogi Berra of the NFL before the Bills fired him as head coach in 1986. Sample quotes:

--”We’ll have a good work ethnic.”

--”He did it on the spare of the moment.”

--”He’s making improvement throwing the ball where he’s throwing the ball.”

--”We keep beating ourselves, but we’re getting better at it.”

--”It took the sails right out of our wind.”

Add Bullough: Of Bill owner Ralph Wilson, he said: “I’m not a yes guy. He knows that when I hired him.”

Asked to rate the 1985 college running backs, he said: “Well, you’ve got that Jackson kid at Auburn and that Bonaparte kid at Navy.”

Trivia Time: What put a damper on the Soviet Union’s overall medal victory in the 1984 Winter Olympics? (Answer below.)

Add 1984: Asked about the biathlon, which combines skiing and shooting, U.S. biathlete Don Nielsen said: “Skiing and shooting is a marriage made in hell. It’s a physical contradiction of impossible proportions. It’s like turning from a rabbit to a rock and back again.”

When teammate Martin Hagen finished 53rd in the 20-kilometer biathlon, Nielsen said: “His gyroscope went afoul on one of the downhills, and he went on an unscheduled tour of the shrubbery. There is talk of having to file an environmental impact statement on him before the next race.”

If Michigan makes it to the Rose Bowl in the next four years, it’s hard to say how they’ll do, but don’t bet against them in the pregame beef bowl at Lawry’s.

Among the linemen headed for Ann Arbor are Joe Cocozzo, 300, Mechanicville, N.Y.; John Woodlock, 294, Massillon, Ohio; Doug Skeene, 290, McAllen, Tex.; Bill Schaffer, 280, Youngstown, Ohio, and Rob Doherty, 270, Sterling Heights, Mich.

Would-you-believe-it dept.: A Japanese newsman, interviewing newly married Mike Tyson, said: “Nothing personal, but which part of your new wife do you like most.”

Surprisingly, Tyson gave him an answer.

“I love all of her,” he said, “but she has a special set of legs that are just awesome. That’s an American term. In your language, it means fabulous.”

From Wallace Matthews of Newsday: “Talk about boxing egomaniacs: George Foreman became a father for the sixth time this week. And what did he name his new son? The same as he named the previous five: George.”

Said publicist Irving Rudd: “He’s building his own dynasty, just like Genghis Khan.”

Trivia Answer: The death of Soviet leader Yuri Andropov.

Quotebook

Hall of Famer Willie Stargell, told once that former Pittsburgh Pirates’ teammate Dave Parker called Stargell his idol: “That’s pretty good, considering that Dave’s previous idol was himself.”