Bowden Gets Into Fast Lane

Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden spent 21 days in Europe this summer, vacationing and doing clinics for the military.

He told Hubert Mizell of the St. Petersburg Times: “I didn’t want to get blown away on the autobahn in Germany, where there’s no speed limit and people go 100-and-up, so I rented a BMW. Finally got a car as good as Deion’s.”

That’s Deion Sanders. He’s Florida State’s All-American cornerback.

Add Sanders: He had this to say after being forced to take a course in basic algebra to be eligible: “I don’t know why I have to know that x over y equals 2. I don’t need it to count my money.”

From well-traveled Steve DeBerg, who is slated to start at quarterback Sunday for the Kansas City Chiefs: “The No. 1 reason the Chiefs signed me was that the next quarterback here is going to be another Joe Namath coming out of college. It’s almost guaranteed.”

DeBerg was replaced at San Francisco by Joe Montana, at Denver by John Elway and at Tampa Bay by Vinny Testaverde.

Trivia Time: What five men played for teams that won Olympic Games, NCAA and NBA titles? (Answer below.)

Is it true what they say in all those Cleveland jokes? Tom Verducci of Newsday, noting that Indian Manager Doc Edwards will return to his Great Valley, N.Y., home after the season, said the club hasn’t had a manager who made his home in the Cleveland area since Roger Peckinpaugh in 1941.

Add Cleveland: Wrote Randy Galloway of the Dallas Morning News after Len Barker pitched a perfect game for the Indians in 1981: “How could it have been a perfect game? It was in Cleveland.”

Add Indians: From designated hitter Ron Kittle, wondering if he’s part of a trend: “When I played for the Yankees last year, I lived right next door to Phil Simms. This year, I’m living in the same building as Bernie Kosar.”

Last year, Simms and the New York Giants finished last in their division after winning the Super Bowl. This year, Kosar, of the Cleveland Browns, went out with an elbow injury that could sideline him for five more weeks.

From Bill Glauber’s notes on the Seoul Olympics in the Baltimore Sun: “The city’s four potent fragrances: carbon monoxide, sewage, fish and kimchi.”

Kimchi is a spicy Korean dish consisting of pickled cabbage, peppers, garlic, etc.

Trivia Answer: Clyde Lovellette, Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner.

Quotebook

New York Jets guard Dan Alexander, on receiving one of the game balls awarded to the entire offensive line after the win over Cleveland: “I never got a game ball in 12 years. This is my first and probably my last. I’ll probably lie about it. I’ll go and tell everybody it was my game ball and nobody else got one. I’ll go out in the street, throw it around and scrape it up. Then I can tell people this is the ball they actually used in the game.”