When the Draft Comes, He’ll Be in Driver’s Seat

In a questionnaire he filled out for the school’s sports information office a few years ago, California quarterback Troy Taylor listed among his future goals and ambitions a desire to buy a white Lamborghini Countach.

As an undergraduate, Taylor drives “a ’69 VW bug that I basically push more than I drive,” he said.

Expected to be among the first quarterbacks taken next spring in the National Football League draft, he is willing to settle for something less than his dream car.

“Any car that starts would be nice,” he said.

Snake in the grass: After being bitten by a snake, Coach Jerry Glanville of the Houston Oilers had to sign a waiver before a doctor would allow him to be on the sidelines before a game.

Glanville said the doctor told him, “I really don’t care if you die, I just don’t want to lose my license.”

The human microwave: Guard Vinnie Johnson of the Detroit Pistons, nicknamed the Microwave because he heats up quickly off the bench, is cashing in on his nickname.

Johnson has agreed to endorse Campbell’s Microwave Soups.

“I guess they want me to add some heat to their product,” Johnson said.

Trivia time: One player has been a teammate of both Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Who is he? (Hint: He is not currently in the NBA.)

Earthquake relief: Sarunas Marciulionis, the Lithuanian basketball star who plays for the Golden State Warriors, drove to the collapsed section of Interstate 880 in Oakland after last month’s earthquake and volunteered to help pull victims out of the wreckage.

Still wearing his Warrior warm-up suit, Marciulionis arrived with Donn Nelson, whose father coaches the Warriors.

“Somebody must do this,” Marciulionis said. “I thought I might get hurt, yes, but the most important thing was helping. I could put myself in those people’s place.”

Marciulionis and Nelson left after 45 minutes because they didn’t want to get in the way.

“He surprised me, he really did,” Nelson said. “Here is someone from a foreign land who’s been in this country such a short time and he’s so willing to help in a situation like that. He has a good heart--I knew that. Still, I wonder how any of us might have reacted to such a disaster in his country.”

Back in the USSR: After winning the women’s division of the Los Angeles Marathon last March, Zoya Ivanova of the Soviet Union was awarded a Mercedes-Benz.

It finally arrived about two months ago in her hometown of Alma Ata in southeast Russia, making her one of the few Russians to own one of the luxury cars.

“It’s the only one in the whole city,” she said. “I don’t drive it too much, but it’s a beautiful car. Even my daughter likes it.”

Killer food cart: Richard Dent of the Chicago Bears might think twice before he ventures into the team cafeteria again.

Dent reinjured his thigh when he got hit by a food cart at the team’s training complex.

“The kids serving the food ran into me with the food cart,” he said.

And you thought it was dangerous on the field.

Department of redundancy: Coach Lou Holtz of Notre Dame has a furrowed brow before every game, saying his Irish will be lucky to win.

Holtz may have gone too far this week, worrying about woeful Navy, which plays at South Bend, Ind., this weekend.

“All I know is we play Navy this week and nothing else matters,” Holtz said. “We don’t even think about SMU, Penn State or Miami (the last three games of the season). The most important thing right now is we prepare and play well against Navy and beat Navy.”

Note: Notre Dame played perhaps its worst game of the season and defeated Navy, 22-7, last year.

Trivia answer: Andre Turner.

Quotebook: Syracuse Coach Dick MacPherson, on how his up-and-down team should play the rest of the season: ‘One foot in the grave and one foot on the banana peel is how we got to play the rest of the year.”