If the Shoes Fit, Former Bill George Saimes Wore Them

Any resemblance between the Buffalo Bills who face the Miami Dolphins in today’s AFC divisional playoff game and the gritty bunch that jump-started the franchise at rickety old War Memorial Stadium in the 1960s is purely imaginary.

Longtime Bill-watcher Joe Capone came across an item in “The Buffalo Bills Official Trivia Book,” by Scott Pitoniak, in which Buffalo trainer Ed Abramoski describes former Bill All-AFL safety George Saimes.

Said Abramoski: “(Saimes) had 18 different pairs of football shoes, so he could make sure he had the right traction, depending on what field we were playing on. He changed them several times a game, so we always had to make sure they were lined up and ready to go by the bench.”

Add Saimes: Abramoski continued: “He also did a lot of experimenting off the field. He used to mix motor oil with his shampoo because he had read where it would help stop hair loss.”

Trivia time: Three of Notre Dame’s seven Heisman Trophy winners also played basketball for the Irish. Can you name them?

Which eight?: Relying on “Sacramento sources,” Jeff Chapman of the Oakland Tribune recently reconstructed a locker room tirade by Coach Dick Motta, after the Kings’ 35-point loss to the Seattle SuperSonics:

“You guys come in the locker room, you’ve been whipped good and guys are giggling. If I lost by 35 at home, I couldn’t even look at my teammates or my coach. You’re lucky I don’t own this team because I’d waive eight of your butts right now. You’d have to sue to collect your money. I’d drag the litigation out forever. You might collect it in 50 years, but by then you’d be too old to enjoy it.”

Five times 11, right?: Wednesday, the NCAA Presidents Commission announced that football scholarships at Division I-A schools would be reduced from 95 to 85 by 1995.

Oklahoma Coach Gary Gibbs was not pleased. He said: “I would certainly rather not have this imposed upon me. I can’t imagine that the quality of our game will not be hurt.

“Very few (Division I-A coaches) usually have the full 95, anyway. Because of injuries or whatever, you might have 85 now. But if you cut 10 from the overall limit, that means you would have 75 or less, and if you have a 20-man freshman class, that means if you don’t use freshmen, you’ll have a 55-man squad.”

Return specialists: Sugar Ray Leonard took time out from preparations for his WBC junior-middleweight title bout against Terry Norris to hang out with linebacker Lawrence Taylor and running back Ottis Anderson Wednesday at the New York Giants’ practice facility.

Anderson, who recently became the NFL’s eighth 10,000-yard career rusher, compared himself with Leonard, telling the Associated Press: “We’re alike because people always put us down. They say we have nothing left and we show them otherwise. They back us up against the wall, and we come out swinging.”

Trivia answer: Quarterback Johnny Lujack, the 1947 Heisman winner, was a starter at guard as a freshman on Notre Dame’s 1943-44 basketball team. (He also played in two games as a junior in 1946-47.) Halfback Johnny Lattner (1953) was a reserve guard on the 1951-52 basketball team. And quarterback Paul Hornung (1956) was a reserve guard on the 1954-55 basketball team.

Quotebook: Physical therapist Pat Croce, who helped convert Philadelphia 76er forward Charles Barkley from “the Round Mound of Rebound” to a trim 250 pounds with 12% body fat, on what it takes to get a pro athlete to commit to a fitness program: “When a knee goes down or a shoulder begins to ache, they listen. When the kitchen burns down, they buy the fire extinguisher.”