Retirement Should Be a Vacation for Miller

Ralph Miller, 70, former Oregon State basketball coach, doesn’t have any second thoughts about retirement.

Miller said: “I like the life style. There are a lot of things that I used to have to do that I don’t have to. My time is my own and I do what I want to do. That appeals to me.”

Miller said he wants to play golf but hasn’t had the time. But he should find some during the vacation trips given to him in final visits to opposing arenas last season.

A Caribbean cruise comes first. Trips to Tempe, Ariz.; Coeur d’Alene, Ida., and San Diego will come later.

“I called my own shot on when to stop (coaching),” he said. “I was totally satisfied. . . . I think it’s been an easy adjustment, as easy as you could expect.”

Trivia time: What NFL coach has a degree in zoology?

Getting a grip: The Philadelphia 76ers’ Charles Barkley, after the team issued luggage to the players but stipulated that it must be returned upon leaving the club, said: “I don’t know about anybody else, but if I was waived, I’d have a party and burn it.”

It’s all relative: The Golden State Warriors’ Mitch Richmond, chatting with teammate Sarunas Marciulionis, the first Soviet player in the NBA, described his visit to Yugoslavia with an all-star team. Marciulionis recalled: “He said was terrible life. I said, ‘You never been in Lithuania.’ ”

Call of the wild: Al (Bubba) Baker of the Cleveland Browns, who says he has a ranch in Colorado where he raises goats and bison, on precautions he took after a moose sauntered through his family’s garden: “The first chance I got I put a fence around our property. I have a little girl (Brittani Bo). She likes to crawl around the living room, butting heads with our dog. A moose is scared of man, but I don’t want her butting heads with a moose.”

Sod story: George Toma, groundskeeper at Royals Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City--nicknamed “Sultan of Sod”--on synthetic surfaces: “Sure, artificial turf is maintenance-free--as long as you don’t maintain it. If you don’t give a damn about it, fine, just lay it out and the salesman will sell you another one in five years.”

Trivia answer: George Seifert of the San Francisco 49ers.

Quotebook: Defensive tackle Dan Hampton of the Chicago Bears, on his 10th knee surgery: “I don’t want to confuse anybody with all these scars. I’ve got color-coded stitches so the autopsy will be a lot easier for everybody.”