After All, They Play in Hawaii

Joe Montana, recalling his first appearance in the Pro Bowl, told the San Francisco Chronicle that his coach was John McKay, who got right to the point at the first team meeting in Honolulu.

According to Montana, McKay said: “Men, our goal this week is to be on the beach by 11:30, and I’m just here to play golf, so get to know your assistant coaches.”

We’ve had the Fearsome Foursome, the Purple People Eaters and the Steel Curtain, so what should we call the Buffalo Bill defense, top-ranked in the AFC?

That’s what the Buffalo News asked in a contest, and the winner was the Blizzard Defense.

If that doesn’t grab you, here are some that missed: The Bill Collectors, the Big Chill, the Cold Front, the Ice Crushers, the Snow Belters, the Smother Brothers and the Buffalo Stampede.

Trivia Time: What do Laker Coach Pat Riley and ESPN basketball analyst Larry Conley have in common? (Answer below.)

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: Illinois forward Marcus Liberty, the nation’s most coveted prep player a couple of years ago in Chicago, told the Washington Post that UCLA made a late bid to recruit him, but he was unimpressed.

Liberty: “I told Walt Hazzard that he just couldn’t shoot in at the last minute and get me.”

Joe Collier, 56, fired as defensive coordinator by the Denver Broncos, on the possibility that it could be his last coaching job: “If it is, I won’t have any problem with that. I’ve been telling people all week I’m going to go back to school, get into journalism school and become a sportswriter. I’ve got all the cliches down pat.”

From Doug Williams, denying that the Washington Redskins were undone by complacency: “We were hungry. We just didn’t eat.”

Phil Berger of the New York Times, hinting that Bill Cayton, Mike Tyson’s manager, is getting the business from Don King, quotes a source as saying: “The agreement as it stands for the Frank Bruno fight is a Don King-styled agreement. In the past, Bill Cayton made sure that expenses deducted from the gross were approved in advance, preventing King from expensing Tyson to the maximum.

“The way the deal is now, King could expense attorneys, and accountants, and even the $10,000 Muhammad Ali gets every time Ali shows up for a fight of Tyson’s.”

Andy Van Slyke of the Pittsburgh Pirates, on his brief career as a third baseman: “Let’s say I was in intensive care. Then they upgraded me to serious, then to stable. Then they released me from the hospital and sent me to the outfield.”

Houston Astros owner John McMullen told the Sporting News that Nolan Ryan rejected the Angels and went to the Texas Rangers because of the high state taxes in California.

Ryan said he went to the Rangers because he wanted to stay in Texas, but McMullen said: “It was the difference in taxes. It was a totally business decision.”

Trivia Answer: They were teammates on the University of Kentucky basketball team that lost to Texas El Paso, then known as Texas Western, in the 1965-66 NCAA final.

Quotebook

Wendell Tyler, told that Roger Craig had broken his single-season rushing record with the San Francisco 49ers: “I’m happy for him. Ask him if he can get me two playoff tickets.”