It Sounded Good--Before Game

In Monday night’s National Collegiate Athletic Assn. final, Oklahoma used one substitute who played a total of seven minutes. Kansas used 5 substitutes who played 49 minutes.

Said Oklahoma Coach Billy Tubbs before the game: “If people want to see a second or third string, they should go to a high school game.

“We have respect and compassion, but when the game starts it’s war and we don’t take prisoners. We don’t beat people, we crush them.”

For What It’s Worth: In the final regular-season wire-service polls, Kansas was not among the Top 20. In the Associated Press poll, the Jayhawks were rated 33rd.

How bad is it for America’s Team? Says the Pittsburgh Press: “The always-upbeat Dallas Cowboys Weekly, in an exhaustive analysis of the club’s 7-8 finish this past season, could find little to be cheery about other than the slender satisfaction that the Cowboys were 4-0 vs. teams with ‘New’ in the team title.”

Trivia Time: What is the given name of the manager of the Angels? (Answer below.)

Would-you-believe-it dept.: According to the “1988 Elias Baseball Analyst,” from April 1985 through the end of the 1987 season, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jesse Barfield had 59 assists, 25 more than Manute Bol of the Washington Bullets.”

Add Elias: It noted that the Baltimore Orioles’ Tom Niedenfuer, in relief last year, held the first nine batters to a batting average of .260. After that, it went up to .400.

Jack Clark in 1985? He was the 12th batter.

Wait a Minute: Said University of Pittsburgh running back Craig (Ironhead) Heyward after being delared eligible for the National Football League draft: “I’m just hoping to go in the first round. People are talking first round--or even higher.”

11 Years Ago Today: On April 6, 1977, the Seattle Mariners played the first game in the franchise’s history, losing to the Angels, 7-0, at the Kingdome. Frank Tanana pitched a nine-hit shutout, and Joe Rudi homered, doubled and batted in four runs for the Angels. Don Baylor also doubled home a run.

Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals, admitting the players turned their backs on Bo Jackson last year after he announced he would play football, told Bob Nightengale of the Kansas City Star:

“I apologized for what I did, the way I treated him and acted toward him. And I’m man enough to come out and say it. Nobody else has to say anything, but I’m speaking not only for myself, but for my teammates, the front office, the owners, the fans, everyone.

“We betrayed him. At a time he needed us the most, we abandoned him. We didn’t care how he played or care what happened to him. Instead, we blamed him for all our problems. He didn’t need that abuse, especially from his teammates.”

Take-your-choice dept.: Said Boston Red Sox reliever Lee Smith of the pitch the Detroit Tigers’ Alan Trammell hit for the game-winning homer Monday: “I thought it was a good pitch, down low where I wanted it.”

Said Red Sox Manager John McNamara: “He just got the ball up to Trammell.”

Trivia Answer: Octavio Rivas (Cookie) Rojas.

Quotebook

Oriole coach Frank Robinson, former manager of the Cleveland Indians: “In Cleveland, pennant fever usually ends up being just a 48-hour virus.”