He Just Underestimated the Power of the Press

When defensive back Raymond Clayborn left the New England Patriots to join the Cleveland Browns, he said, “I’m going to miss all my friends in the media in Boston.”

Wonder if that includes Will McDonough of the Boston Globe and CBS Sports?

In 1981, Clayborn and McDonough had a confrontation in the locker room after a game. When Clayborn threatened to do McDonough physical harm, McDonough hauled off and slugged him.

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: It turns out that Alexander Volkov of the Atlanta Hawks had a system when he won the team pool on the NCAA Final Four. He picked all the schools he faced two years ago on a tour with the Soviet Union’s national team.

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: The nerdy professor who explains how Michael Jordan overcomes gravity in that shoe commercial is not an actor but the real thing. He’s Lt. Col. Douglas Kirkpatrick, head of astronautics at the Air Force Academy.

According to USA Today, Kirkpatrick was flawless in his delivery, except on one take. He said Michael Jackson, instead of Michael Jordan.

Trivia time: What do CBS announcer Jim Nantz and golfer Fred Couples have in common?

No copies: From Mike Littwin of the Baltimore Sun, hailing Jim Murray for his Pulitzer Prize: “I was once a young writer on the Los Angeles Times, and like all young writers on The Times, I wanted to be Jim Murray. I tried. You don’t know how hard I tried. Finally, an old hand came to me and said, ‘Son, there’s only one Jim Murray. Try to be somebody else.’ ”

Red-faced: From Red Auerbach, conceding that the Boston Celtics made a mistake when they drafted Michael Smith in the first round: “We would have taken Vlade Divac. But we didn’t know he could play.”

Divac, with his fierce beard, looks like a grizzled veteran, but he’s only 22. Smith will be 25 next month.

A survivor: Houston Astro reliever Larry Andersen earns almost $1 million a year, but he figures he has paid his dues. At 19, he pitched at Reno, where his record was 4-14 with a 6.53 earned-run average.

“That was the year I was the player-clubhouse man,” he told the Houston Chronicle. “Our clubhouse guy quit, and I took the job for an extra $10 a week. It helped me make the payment on the trailer I was living in. It was 8-by-30 and went for $62.50 a month.”

Fashion note: The Missouri Valley conference has switched from striped shirts to gray shirts for its officials. Says official Jim Bain: “We are no longer referred to as the zebras. Now, we’re the bedspreads.”

Tall research: From Eric Montross, the highly recruited 7-footer from Indianapolis who obviously did his homework before choosing North Carolina: “Ten of the 17 big men recruited by North Carolina in the last 20 years were first-round draft choices in the NBA.”

Trivia answer: They were golf teammates at the University of Houston.

Quotebook: Cincinnati Red first baseman Todd Benzinger, talking about Manager Lou Piniella on Cincinnati radio station WLW: “Lou has three rules for us--be on time, play heads up, and, uh, I forgot the third.”