Tunch Can Lunch in the Open Now

He can smile now that Pittsburgh is in the playoffs, but the Steelers’ two-time All-Pro tackle, Tunch Ilkin, said it was tough after season-opening losses to Cleveland, 51-0, and Cincinnati, 41-10.

“When I went banking, I went to the drive-through window,” Ilkin said. “When I went to McDonald’s, I went to the drive-through window. When my wife and I went out to eat, I asked for a table in the back. The waiter thought I was being romantic, but I just didn’t want anybody to recognize me.”

Ilkin says he asked his wife, Sharon, not to call him by his given name in public.

“I said you can call me, ‘Honey’ or ‘Sweetie,’ but just don’t call me Tunch. I didn’t even want to see my neighbors. You just don’t want to have to explain yourself.”

The Steelers (9-7) won five of their last six games and will play today at Houston (9-7) in the AFC wild-card game.

“It’s a lot more fun playing football now,” Ilkin said.

Trivia time: Which coach has the longest tenure in the NHL?

Future is now: The New York Giants’ Lawrence Taylor, on Alabama linebacker Keith McCants, a junior who many believe will turn pro and be the first player selected in the NFL draft: “My decade is over, and the 1990 team is coming out now. This guy is probably going to be the new man of the 1990s. I think I took it over from Jack Lambert, and this guy is going to take it over from me.

“I don’t have the speed like I used to have. The quickness isn’t like it was. You wake up one day and you’re sitting on your helmet, and all of a sudden you have some 23-year-old guy going against you and kicking your butt.”

Overexposure: Rod Thorn, NBA vice president of operations, on the number of fights this season: “What’s happened is that the proliferation of televised games has heightened the NBA’s ‘bad-boy’ image. We don’t have nearly as many fights as hockey, but you get that perception because the television sportscasts feature the fights in their nightly clips.”

Going for a slam: Whitey Herzog, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, on the club’s spring-training invitation to reliever Dan Quisenberry: “If he wants to go down and play bridge for six weeks, he’s welcome. He’s upgraded our social standing. We’ve got two tables of bridge going now.”

Green near the green: It’s always been possible to bet on nearly anything in England, but one had to visit a betting parlor. Next year, however, betting will be available at six golf courses during European PGA Tour events in the United Kingdom.

Trivia answer: Bryan Murray, coach of the Washington Capitals since November 1981.

Quotebook: The Edmonton Oilers’ Esa Tikkanen, on the Soviet Khimik team, which is in first place in the Soviet Union: “If that’s their best, Soviet hockey is in trouble.”