Flames Were Put Out by Kings, but He Was Burnt to a Crisp

Terry Crisp, fired this week as coach of the Calgary Flames less than a year after the Flames won the Stanley Cup, saw it coming and didn’t like what he saw.

“I consider myself a damn good coach,” Crisp told reporters last month after the heavily favored Flames were eliminated from the playoffs by the Kings. “And I’ll be a damn better coach because of what I’ve suffered through in this city.

“I never said Terry Crisp was the be-all, end-all. But I’ve got two President’s Trophies, a Stanley Cup and a .690 winning percentage. Anybody else in the league done that? Look, I don’t want this to sound like bravado. But look at my record. It’s there. It’s a fact.

“When we won the Cup, I never heard anyone say, ‘Crisp is a great coach.’ Now when we lose, I take all the heat. I guess I don’t win Cups. I just lose them.”

Trivia time: Who was the last black jockey to ride a winner in the Kentucky Derby?

For what it’s worth: In its annual sports salary survey, Sport magazine lists its “bargains and busts,” which includes these items:

--Bargain: Luc Robitaille, left wing, Los Angeles Kings, $210,000. A three-time first-team all-star who is consistently among the league’s top 15 scorers.

--Bust: Dave Taylor, right wing, Los Angeles Kings, $950,000. Veteran 60-point scorer still living off Triple Crown Line days.

Glowing review: Coach Dick MacPherson of Syracuse, whose football team will play USC on Aug. 31 in the Kickoff game at East Rutherford, N.J., plans to bring the Orangemen to New York two days before the game for sightseeing.

“We’re going . . . to see Jerome (Robbins’) play, ‘(Jerome Robbins’) Broadway,’ ” MacPherson said. “I’ve seen it, and if I can stay awake, so will they.”

Wait a minute: Eric Davis of the Cincinnati Reds told Sport magazine: “Leadership to me is overrated. A guy can be a leader and not have success. You didn’t hear about Kirk Gibson being a leader in Detroit, where there was a great cast of players around him. But he comes to the Dodgers, a weaker team, and they win, and all of a sudden he’s a leader. This is ludicrous.”

Ten years ago: On May 11, 1980, Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz of Poland set a world record in the pole vault, clearing 18 feet 9 1/4 inches in a meet at Milan, Italy.

The record is up to 19-10 1/2, held by Sergei Bubka of the Soviet Union.

Teen idol: Martina Navratilova, asked about Jennifer Capriati, 14, told free-lance writer Paul Levine in Rome: “Jennifer hits the ball harder than anybody I’ve played from both sides, which is amazing at that age. She’s nailing the return and I’m going back saying, ‘I can’t hit it that hard.’ I could, but it may hit the cheap seats. The fact that she can hit it that hard and make the shot is amazing. She’s just a phenom.”

Trivia answer: Jimmy Winkfield, aboard Alan-A-Dale in 1902.

Quotebook: Fred Cooper, promoter of the Los Angeles Football Classic, which will match Southern University against Howard on Sept. 2 at the Coliseum: “I’ll guarantee you one thing: We’ll outdraw the Raiders.”