He’s Not a Quarterback Since Team Put Quarter in the Rack

Former USC quarterback Sean Salisbury might be the first pro football player to be cut because of a quote in a newspaper.

Salisbury led the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to the 1988 Grey Cup championship, and then, in 16 games this season, passed for 26 touchdowns, including six in one game, and nearly 4,100 yards. But he was cut with one week left in the Canadian Football League’s regular season.

The Blue Bombers, it seems, were upset about a quote that appeared in the Times Oct. 25. It was included in a story that said Salisbury, who was in the midst of the contract dispute with the team, could become the biggest sports star in Winnipeg if he would commit to a long-term contract.

Salisbury was quoted: “That I would love to stay in Winnipeg is . . . a little far-fetched. I tell the people that in the media here so they’ll get off my back. But I’d love to stay?”

Salisbury was benched in the second quarter of the next game and was cut the next day.

“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” said Salisbury, who is living in Denver. “There was nothing wrong with the article, and I knew they (Blue Bomber executives) would probably see it. The whole thing turned into a debacle. It was a nightmare. I thought I’d never wake up.”

Now, however, Salisbury has found a silver lining. “It turned out to be a blessing,” he said. “Now I’m a free agent and can get an early start shopping my services to the NFL. There’s already been some interest.”

Trivia time: On Jan. 2, 1961, who passed for three touchdowns and kicked a field goal and the extra points to give the Houston Oilers a 24-16 victory over the then-Los Angeles Chargers in the first American Football League championship game?

Out of the kitchen: Jerry Reynolds, promoted to the front office of the Sacramento Kings, says he finally realized he was too thin-skinned to be an NBA coach.

Reynolds told the Sacramento Bee Saturday that he was listening to a sports talk show while driving home after a game when a fan called to criticize the coach for misusing his timeouts.

“He was saying I had called a dumb timeout,” Reynolds said. “He didn’t even know that the timeout in question was a mandatory one. The refs called it, not me.

“I thought to myself, ‘Why, you dumb s.o.b.! And that’s the kind of thing I have to get used to?’ I knew I’d never get used to that.

“Some coaches can take it, but they’re wired different than me. They’re hard-shelled. The bad doesn’t affect them like it does me. That’s the kind of guy we’re looking for to replace me.”

Waxing successful: John Randall, 39, a mail handler at the U.S. Postal Service’s main station in Portland, had a winning 14-game ticket in Oregon’s NFL lottery last week--his second in seven weeks.

“People call me ‘Hot Candle’ Randall,” he said, “and when I’m hot, I’m really hot.”

Randall was one of three who won $15,165.80 last week. His other winner was worth $12,560.

His secret?

“I can read between the lines on the statistics, and I’ve followed certain players since they were in college,” Randall said. “I know which ones are winners and which ones are losers.”

Randall said he is eager to play Oregon’s NBA lottery beginning this week. “The ball in basketball is round,” he said, “and the game should have a little more consistency than football.”

Perfectly clear: Pete Arbogast, the KNX radio announcer for Saturday’s USC-Northern Arizona basketball game, on Trojan reserve Josh Oppenheimer:

“He’s from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. There’s a Notre Dame High School in Riverside. That’s why you’ve got the different pronunciations.”

Trivia answer: George Blanda.

Quotebook: Pete Gillen, on being basketball coach at Xavier University in Cincinnati: “I’m just a caraway seed in the bakery of life.”