If It’s Good Enough for Oprah, It’s Good Enough for the Pros

Are professional athletes overpaid? Or are their salaries justified by the entertainment they provide?

Bill Tanton of the Baltimore Evening Sun writes that a Forbes magazine article on the salaries commanded by top entertainers has convinced Johns Hopkins University Athletic Director Bob Scott that pro athletes are not overpaid. The Forbes article noted that talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey will earn $30 million this year.

Tanton quotes Scott: “That’s the one that really put it in perspective for me. I think of Oprah as a good old girl . . . who left Baltimore and made it big. I’m happy for her. She seems like a heck of a nice person.

“But I would have thought Oprah was good for maybe $5 million a year. Not only is she making $30 million this year; the article says she’ll earn $55 million for 1988 and 1989 combined.

“That shows you how much money is out there for people in the entertainment business today. And that’s what big-time, professional athletes are: entertainers. Make no mistake about it.”

Trivia time: Excluding the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, what was the only team that failed to make the National Basketball Assn. playoffs in the 1980s?

Screwdrivers all around: The Orange Bowl quest of the second-ranked Colorado Buffaloes benefited at least two parts of the Boulder, Colo., economy last weekend. Most supermarkets sold all of their oranges Friday; Saturday, it was the liquor stores’ turn before a 27-21 victory third-ranked Nebraska.

“It was crazy in here between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m.,” said Al Machado, assistant manager of Liquor Mart. “I noticed people literally running in here, getting what they wanted and running to the check stand. And then it was like a morgue just after kickoff.”

Healthy fear: From Marty Noble of Newsday: “A source familiar with the Chicago White Sox swears George Steinbrenner considered dealing Don Mattingly to the Sox this summer as a second step in his summer dismantling of the New York Yankees. According to the source, Steinbrenner and his friend, Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, discussed a deal in which Mattingly would move to the Sox for Bobby Thigpen, Carlos Martinez, Ivan Calderon and several younger players. The discussions took place while Steinbrenner and the Yankees were in Chicago shortly after the All-Star break and about a month after the Rickey Henderson deal. The source said Steinbrenner’s eventual reluctance to make the deal was expressed this way: ‘If I thought I could get away with it in New York, I’d do it.’ ”

The Fitchburg State watch: The Falcons, fully recovered from the emotional letdown that followed their first victory in 37 games, defeated Worcester State, 10-3. They now are 2-7.

Trivia answer: The Clippers.

Thanks for nothing: As the Ram-Minnesota Viking game headed into overtime Sunday, a CBS graphic noted that the team that won the overtime coin toss triumphed a whopping 51% of the time. Still sounds like a heads-or-tails proposition.

Quotebook: CBS’ John Madden during a close-up of Viking Coach Jerry Burns on the sideline in the final minutes of regulation play: “Jerry Burns looks like he came out of the dryer.”