Prospects Weren’t Very Good

Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden was talking about the perils of recruiting, and he recalled a flight to visit a prospect when the plane ran into a storm.

“As we bounced along,” Bowden said, “I leaned over and asked the pilot how he was doing. He said he had bad news and good news. The bad news was that we were lost. The good news was that we were making good time.”

From Notre Dame football Coach Lou Holtz, on why he prefers competence to experience: “I don’t want the kamikaze pilot who flew 54 different missions. I want somebody who can get it right the first time.”

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: A Dallas station has hired George Allen as a television analyst on Cowboy exhibition games this season.

“It’s a new era,” Cowboy President Tex Schramm said. “I don’t know anybody who knows anymore about the Cowboys than Allen. He does his homework.”

Schramm called it something else when Allen coached the Rams and Redskins-- spying .

It-had-to-happen Dept.: When Joe Morgan was named manager of the Boston Red Sox, the Montreal Journal ran a picture of Joe Morgan, the former major league second baseman.

Trivia Time: When Joe Morgan, playing then for San Francisco Giants, hit the home run that knocked the Dodgers out of the 1982 division title, who was the pitcher? (Answer below.)

In the Greater Hartford Open, Lee Trevino and Gary McCord are 10 shots off the pace at 210, but they have something at stake today. It’s network prestige. Trevino is an analyst for NBC, McCord for CBS.

Wait a Minute: ABC analyst Dave Marr, on uphill putts: “You want to be aggressive, but you don’t want to leave yourself with a tough downhill putt coming back.” In other words, you’d better make it.

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: When the fire department answered a call at the USA Track and Field Championships in Tampa last month, it wasn’t because the stands were on fire. Before a heat in the steeplechase, a runner noted that something was missing at the water jump, namely water. A fire truck was summoned, and the problem was solved.

Seattle Mariners outfielder Mickey Brantley was a substitute teacher at Catskill High School in New York when Mike Tyson was a student there.

Brantley told the Philadelphia Daily News: “The problem Mike had then was he lacked physical coordination as far as basketball or baseball (went). He wasn’t very good. He had to find his own interest. He was searching, like many high school kids are. He was a strong kid and his interest turned out to be boxing.”

Trivia Answer: Terry Forster.

Add Forster: He was traded after the season to the Atlanta Braves and said, “After I signed with the Braves, I got a lot of nice Christmas cards from people in Los Angeles. Nice cards. They said things like, ‘If we see you in L.A. again, we’ll shoot you.’ ”

Quotebook

Sportscaster Jack Brickhouse, on Hall of Fame outfielder Enos Slaughter: “There was never any question about Slaughter’s courage. He proved it by getting married five times.”