If Nothing Else, They’ll Look as If They’re a Tough Team

Kansas State football, among the worst that has played at the Division I level, is retooling the best way it can, for now. It’s redesigning the football logo that appears on the players’ helmets.

Coach Bill Snyder, taking over a program that has won two games in the last three years, has decided that the snarling Willie the Wildcat insignia looked “a little bit like a kitten,” according to Manhattan artist Tom Brookwalter. So he has replaced it with a stark, stylized profile, the Wildcat’s mouth open as if to attack.

Say what you will about Snyder, at least he’s starting at the top.

Annals of Advertising, Part II: Deion Sanders, first-round choice of the Atlanta Falcons, plans to have a line of fashions bearing his nickname--Prime Time--available by July. The line of leather jackets, sweat suits and headbands will be distinguished by a lightning bolt, apparently referring to another of Sanders’ nicknames--Lightning Man.

Because Sanders has yet to prove himself in the National Football League, and because opposing players are glad to pounce on such arrogance, the Lightning Man may experience additional natural phenomena this fall. He is likely to hear thunder and see stars.

Switch-pitcher: What do you say when your pitcher, who happens to be ambidextrous, decides to switch throwing arms in the middle of an inning? It happened at Alabama State University when Ricky King figured he would be better off right-handed against a Samford batter.

Said the public-address announcer: “Ricky King is now making an equipment change.”

Trivia time: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Lakers was born on the same day--April 16, 1947--as what basketball first?

But tractor-pull ratings were up: Perhaps there’s hope for our civilization, after all. Early returns show that fewer than 1% of the potential pay-per-view audience tuned in to watch Robbie Knievel’s motorcycle jump over the Caesars Palace fountain.

The Real Prime Time: Kevin Mitchell made TV sportscasts everywhere with his barehanded grab of a foul fly ball last week. The San Francisco Giant left fielder had overrun Ozzie Smith’s ball slightly and was not in a position to use his glove. So, with his back to the plate, he just snagged it with his bare hand.

Said an appreciative teammate, catcher Terry Kennedy: “He should have just ripped the cover off with his teeth and thrown it to the crowd.”

Fifty years ago today: Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees did not play against the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium, thus ending his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played. Gehrig never played in another game.

Perspective: Nolan Ryan long ago eclipsed Walter Johnson’s strikeout total, a record that used to be regarded as a baseball standard, much as Babe Ruth’s home run record was. But do you have any idea how much distance he put between himself and Johnson?

Dave Anderson of the New York Times did some figuring and discovered that Ryan’s 4,824 strikeouts (and counting) compare to Johnson’s 3,508 this way. Relative to the other milestone, Ruth’s 714 home runs, Ryan would have 980. When Ruth’s record was broken by Henry Aaron, it was by a mere 41.

Department of Fair Comment: Does Al McGuire live in the past a bit? Well, when his three-year contract as a college basketball commentator was announced, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post wrote, “It’s worth close to $500,000 per year, or roughly $100,000 for every current player he’s heard of.”

Trivia answer: The first game of the first National Basketball Assn. championship series.

Quotebook: Catcher Bob Brenly of the Toronto Blue Jays on Canada: “They use Monopoly money. Milk comes in a bag. It’s a very bizarre place.”