Timely Idea: Clocking Only Game Action

With the 1991 NFL season a little less than 30 weeks away, it’s not too early to whet pro football appetites with a statistic from Jim Grove of the Orlando Sentinel.

He took it upon himself to time each play of Super Bowl XXV, from snap to whistle.

According to Grove’s stopwatch, the New York Giants had the ball for eight minutes two seconds of action, the Buffalo Bills for 6:02.

And reflective of their ball-control tactics, the Giants’ 4:01 of action in the second half was nearly a minute and a half more than the Bills’ total.

Trivia time: Between 1964-65 and 1979-80, the NBA’s most valuable player award was won by centers. Who broke that string in 1980-81?

Take a poll: The Philadelphia Inquirer recently interviewed Wilt Chamberlain, who commented on the current state of the NBA:

“It reminds me of when I used to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. It was very exciting. It was a great show. But sometimes I wonder if people went to see the basketball or the show.

“Just like now, do people go to watch Michael Jordan or do they go to watch the show?”

His own division: In a column on Sugar Ray Leonard’s loss to Terry Norris Saturday night, Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post wrote:

“Thanks to retirements and judicious scheduling, Leonard has actually fought only 10 times in the last 11 years. Unlike Hearns, Leonard didn’t exhaust himself through incessant, punishing hours in the gym. Unlike Duran, Leonard didn’t balloon in weight. Leonard went long stretches of time between fights merely running and playing tennis; in effect, he’s the first Yuppie boxing champion.”

Safety tip: Jack McCloskey, general manager of the Detroit Pistons, recently remarked that it was a “dark day” when the NBA selected Philadelphia guard Hersey Hawkins instead of Piston guard Dennis Rodman to replace injured Larry Bird on the East All-Star team.

All-Star Charles Barkley, Hawkins’ teammate, responded: “Hersey (Hawkins) had the most votes of the (guards) who weren’t picked. The West has a lot of guards, and Hersey deserved to make the team. That’s my professional answer. My unprofessional answer is, I don’t want to hear that bull . . . If it’s a dark day, turn your damn lights on.”

He launched it: The current California League Newsletter notes that the Class-A league’s first game, between the Anaheim Aces and Santa Barbara Saints, was played nearly 50 years ago, on April 18, 1941.

The teams opened the season a day ahead of the rest of the league, so the first of two home runs by John Scolinos, now a veteran baseball coach at Cal Poly Pomona, was the California League’s first home run and its first run batted in.

Add California League: The other six teams played in Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Riverside, San Bernardino and Stockton. Fresno finished first, but Santa Barbara won the playoff. And by that time, Riverside and San Bernardino had dropped out because of poor attendance.

The newsletter also points out: “As an indication of how things have changed, except for the first 18 days and last 20 days of the season, when each team could carry 20 active players, the player limit was 14, exclusive of a playing manager, which all teams had. And the salary limit was $1,650 a month--not per player, but for all 14!”

Trivia answer: Philadelphia forward Julius Erving.

Quotebook: Dick Motta, coach of the Sacramento Kings, after coaching his record-breaking 1,652nd NBA game: “Someone will be dumb enough to break this record someday.”