The Give-and-Go Catches Them Off Guard

When he’s home in Chicago, Michael Jordan travels everywhere by limousine.

“Even to McDonald’s,” his driver, George Koehler, told Terry Pluto of the Akron Beacon Journal. “Michael’s favorite is a quarter pounder with cheese, large fries and an orange drink.

“We sometimes play a little game,” he said. “I’ll place the order, then I’ll pay for it at the window. When the girl brings the food, Michael will take it.

“Inevitably, she’ll yell, ‘My God, that’s Michael Jordan.’ Then people will rush to the window and we’ll drive off. It’s almost like one of those ‘Who is that Masked Man?’ stories.”

What’s the matter with Fernando? Sports Illustrated, addressing the question, quotes a National League manager as saying: “He used to pitch off his fastball. Now he pitches off his screwball.”

With the draft coming up next week, Baseball America recalled that 20 years ago the Dodgers had what has been called the greatest draft.

The selections included Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, Doyle Alexander, Bill Buckner, Bobby Valentine, Geoff Zahn, Joe Ferguson and Tom Paciorek.

Alexander and Buckner are still active as players, Valentine is managing and Lopes and Ferguson are serving as coaches.

Trivia Time: What was the Playoff Bowl? (Answer to follow.)

From Utah Jazz Coach Frank Layden: “The difference between me and other coaches is that basketball is about fourth on my list of priorities. I like my family better than basketball. I like baseball better than basketball. I swear, if somebody offered me a job in baseball, I’d take it tomorrow.

“Maybe I could take a job with the (Baltimore) Orioles. It looks like they could use a comedian.”

Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka, advising reporters he would not comment on anything negative, said: “We are doing everything this year positive.”

Jim McMahon, advised of the statement, said, “It’s early.”

Wallace Matthews of Newsday reports that Mike Tyson, according to several witnesses, was knocked down by Oliver (The Atomic Bull) McCall in a workout last week.

Apparently, Tyson was off-balance and went down from a right to the chest. Said assistant manager Steve Lott: “Mike took it just like a karate master. He just went with the punch and rolled over on his back. I thought I was watching Bruce Lee.”

Would-you-believe-it dept.: Now that K.C. Jones has announced his retirement, the senior coach in the National Basketball Assn. Atlantic Division next year will be Rick Pitino of New York. He will be starting his second season.

From former umpire Ron Luciano, calling Dick Williams his toughest adversary: “Dick never laid a hand on you but could kill you verbally. I missed a call at second once, and the fans started booing. He came out, put his arm around me and said, ‘Ronnie, hear that? They’re not booing the call. They’re booing your whole career.’ ”

Trivia Answer: It was a postseason game between the second-place teams of the National Football League Eastern and Western conferences. It was played from 1961 to 1970 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. In the last game, the Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys, 31-0.

Quotebook

Baltimore Orioles Manager Frank Robinson, asked about the performance of Bob Welch in the Oakland Athletics’ 8-1 victory Wednesday: “You can’t honestly judge any pitcher against us.”