Here’s a Guy Hoping for a Real Net Profit

A man placed a $336 bet on himself this week to win next year’s men’s singles title at Wimbledon. If he wins, he will collect $4.5 million.

Ian Moo-Young, a 44-year-old film animator, placed the bet at the William Hill bookmaking establishment at London’s Queens Club.

Moo-Young, a Jamaican-born Chinese, has competed in one tennis tournament. It was the All-Jamaican Open Veterans Championship.

He was eliminated in the first round.

From Steve Marcus of Newsday: “Why would the California Angels offer 41-year-old free agent Nolan Ryan $1.5 million for 1 year? Owner Gene Autry must be more than out of his saddle.”

Just Asking: Did announcer Tom Kelly set some kind of record Saturday?

After calling the USC-Notre Dame football game, which drew 93,829 at the Coliseum, he crossed the street to call the USC-Howard basketball game, which drew 875 at the Sports Arena.

Has there ever been a bigger comedown?

Trivia Time: Of Knute Rockne’s 13 teams at Notre Dame, what set apart the 1928 team, which won for the Gipper against Army? (Answer below.)

From Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News: “If Larry Brown didn’t know people were cheating for him at Kansas, then he was naive. If he did know, he was a cheat.

“It doesn’t matter if the sum was $500 or $5,000.

“The bottom line is that he ran a dishonest program, and if he ever comes back to college basketball, his new team ought to start with a year’s probation.”

Add Brown: When he left the New Jersey Nets to take the job at Kansas, National Basketball Assn. scout Marty Blake was getting a laugh with this one: “Did you hear the latest? Larry left for Kansas but encountered such bad weather that the plane had to be detoured to Chicago. So he took the DePaul job instead.”

Now-it-can-be-told Department: Lou (the Toe) Groza recalls this exchange with Coach Paul Brown when he was with the Cleveland Browns:

Brown: How do you feel?

Groza: I can’t kick.

Brown: You’re telling me.

From Alan Goldstein of the Baltimore Sun: “NBA general managers were polled before the season to choose the likely rookie of the year. Surprisingly, Golden State guard Mitch Richmond won easily over ballyhooed Clipper forward Danny Manning.”

Coach Jerry Reynolds of the Sacramento Kings, who comes from the same Indiana town as Larry Bird, said: “It’s 0-2 for guys from French Lick this year. But Larry knows he’ll get over his foot surgery. I don’t know what will cure me, except maybe a lobotomy.”

After Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs said that he and his players’ mettle would be tested from now on, he was asked if there was a time limit on the test.

“Yeah,” he said. “When Jack Kent Cooke says, ‘Hey, change Joe Gibbs.’ That’s the time limit for me.”

Trivia Answer: It was Rockne’s worst team, finishing 5-4. After beating Army, it lost to Carnegie Tech and USC. It was Rockne’s only loss to USC in 5 meetings.

Quotebook

Doug Williams, asked if he would mind playing behind Mark Rypien at quarterback for the Washington Redskins: “Would I mind being a backup? What else am I supposed to do? Take up drop-kicking?”