He Followed His Orders, but Plan Failed

On opening day of the 1933 NFL season, Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall instructed Coach William (Lone Star) Dietz to kick off if the Redskins won the coin toss.

When Marshall arrived at his seat, he looked down at the field and saw his team lined up to receive. He immediately picked up his phone to the bench and demanded to know why Dietz had disobeyed his order.

Said Dietz: “We did kick off, Mr. Marshall. But they ran it back for a touchdown.”

Trivia time: In 1946, the Rams’ first season in Los Angeles, what was the outcome of their opening game?

Cobb and Carew, they’re not: Stealing home never was easy. Chicago police proved it again when they caught two men, 19 and 21, trying to steal home plate from Comiskey Park shortly after 1 a.m. Friday.

Said Sharon Gaynor, one of the arresting officers: “They’re not career criminals, just kids who basically decided that they wanted the plate . . . so they’d have some part of the White Sox park for their unborn grandchildren.”

The park opened in 1910 and will close on Sept. 30.

Short pitch: Greg Norman advocates their use. Jack Nicklaus says he wears them when he plays at home.

And Tom Kite recently told Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun-Times: “It certainly would be cooler. I don’t see anything wrong with seeing a guy’s legs. You see it in basketball. You see it in track. I don’t think that our legs are any more offensive than the guys’ in those sports.”

Still, the PGA Tour and PGA of America forbid the wearing of shorts in major tournaments.

News you can use: From Associated Press: “The distance from the pitcher’s mound to the plate is 60 feet 6 inches, but he is much closer when he releases the ball.”

Move over, Pete Axthelm: The folks at NFL headquarters aren’t going to like this one bit. It’s nearly as disruptive as predicting games against the point spread.

No less an authority than Regis Philbin announced Friday on his daytime television show that the Detroit Lions are his first choice for the underdog team most likely to make it to the Super Bowl.

Then again, maybe viewers would be better off this year with the pick Philbin made last summer for Super Bowl XXIV, the Houston Oilers. Got that? Try the Oilers in XXV, the Lions in XXVI.

Blue-chip genes: Anthony Dorsett Jr., a senior backup wide receiver at Richardson (Tex.) Pierce High School, has played very little football.

That doesn’t matter to USC, West Virginia and Pittsburgh, all of whom have contacted the 6-foot, 165-pound wide receiver, whose father, Tony, won the 1976 Heisman Trophy at Pitt, then went on to become the NFL’s No. 2 all-time rusher.

Said Pierce Coach Mike Jennings of the recruiters’ attention to Dorsett Jr.: “I don’t know what they are basing it on, really. He’s a good little athlete, he’s working very hard, and we are very proud he’s on the team. But he’s pretty shy on experience.”

Trivia answer: The Rams lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 25-14, at the Coliseum.

Quotebook: Oakland Athletics outfielder Darren Lewis, on being called up from triple-A Tacoma to replace Dave Henderson in late August: “I wake up every morning and almost can’t believe where I am. All I’ve got to do is look at the feather pillows. Most hotel pillows are flat.”