This Is College Sports’ Chance for a Big Fix

Pittsburgh Press columnist Gene Collier recently offered “two workably radical proposals” for the rapidly changing landscape of college sports in the 1990s:

“The first is a football conference for the habitually hapless, a place they could go to pick up actual victories against each other. Thus Kansas State, Kent, Cincinnati, Columbia, Northwestern, Navy, New Mexico State, Rutgers, Vanderbilt and Texas El Paso would break from their respective affiliations and form the Big Easy.

“The second is an all-sports conference for schools with dubious histories of NCAA compliance, a place they could go and cheat like heck without anybody much caring. Thus Oklahoma, Clemson, Florida, Southern Methodist, Texas A&M;, Kentucky, Maryland, Illinois, North Carolina State and Houston would break free and form a new conference, the Big Lie.”

Trivia time: Who was professional football’s first soccer-style kicker?

They play as one: The NCAA News recently reported that Calvin College of Grand Rapids, Mich., lists the following players on its women’s basketball team: Christine Lise, Christine Male, Christine Keen, Christen Veltman, Kristiana Riemersma and Kristin DeJong.

The assistant coach of the Lady Knights is Kristina Speidel.

And some 102: In the recent World Cup tournament, Torsten Giedeon of Germany shot a round of 65 that included 11 birdies, four pars and three bogeys, one of which he made when he missed a five-inch putt.

Said Giedeon: “Everything was in that round--some 82, some 72, some 62.”

Life at 25: In 1966-67, when the Chicago Bulls played their first season, ticket prices ranged from $2 to $4, Guy Rodgers was the team’s highest-paid player at $30,000, the team grossed $400,000 in gate receipts and Michael Jordan was 3 years old.

Today, Jordan makes $2.45 million a year, ticket prices range from $14 to $200 and the Bulls’ gross gate receipts are more than $400,000 a night.

Jeff Rude of the Chicago Sun-Times recently wrote about the Bulls’ early years:

“Back then, the joke was that someone had broken into the ticket office and returned four season tickets. How much are tickets? How much do you have? What time does the game start? What time can you get here? “

Add Bulls: In the team’s first year, local sportswriters wouldn’t cover Bulls’ road games, so Coach Johnny Kerr had to call in scores.

Said Kerr: “I’d call in, and some guy would say, ‘Who?’

“I’d say, the Bulls. This is Johnny Kerr, you know, the coach of the Bulls. ‘Oh?’

“I’d say Bob Boozer led us in scoring, then have to spell it out. B-o-o-z-e-r. It would take forever. You’d be worried you’d go over three minutes and hear, ‘Your time is up,’ and have to put in more coins.”

Trivia answer: Buffalo’s Pete Gogolak, in 1964.

Quotebook: Cleveland Brown running back Leroy Hoard, who was hospitalized after being hit by Houston’s 5-foot-7, 144-pound Gerald McNeil, on his teammates’ reaction: “The smallest man in the NFL hit me, and they let me know it.”