Majerus Had Recovery Plan: Life Is a Beach

Rick Majerus, Utah basketball coach, wasn’t taking any chances after his heart bypass surgery last year.

The 5-foot-9, 270-pound Majerus recently told Skip Myslenski of the Chicago Tribune about his rehabilitation process:

“I went to Santa Monica to run. I wanted to go to a rich city where they have 911 and rich doctors with good equipment. I wasn’t going to where they just let you lie in the street if you have a heart attack.”

Add Majerus: Asked about the Utes’ 6-foot-10 Paul Afeaki, the coach told Myslenski: “He’s the best Tongan player in captivity. I asked him what religion he was. He said in Tonga he was a Catholic, but in Utah he was a Mormon.”

Majerus added that his own weight continues to pose a problem. He said: “I still like the sauces. Man, if I could find players like I can find sauces, I’d be the national champion.”

Irreparable damage: Jim Calhoun, Connecticut basketball coach, recently taped a 30-second television spot.

In it, Calhoun bounces a basketball three times. After each bounce, he names a setback that a child can overcome--a skinned knee, a bad report card, a schoolyard insult.

He bounces the ball a fourth time, and it shatters like glass.

Says Calhoun: “But one thing they can’t bounce back from is constant physical or emotional abuse from someone they love.”

Trivia time: Name the only University of Georgia basketball player to have his jersey number retired.

Argument without teeth: Videotape of a recent cruiserweight bout between Wali Muhammed and James Salerno clearly showed that Muhammed had bitten his opponent.

But Muhammed denied it, explaining: “I’m a vegetarian.”

Unseated: On this day in 1985, five minutes into Indiana’s 72-63 loss to Purdue, Hoosier Coach Bob Knight was ejected after drawing his second technical foul.

After two personal fouls were called on his team, Knight drew his first technical for yelling an obscenity.

Knight drew his second technical for throwing a chair across the court.

Night-night, Darby: At least one member of the Buffalo Bills has a way of submerging his sorrow after his team’s loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV.

Linebacker Ray Bentley writes children’s books about a character named Darby--Bentley’s team nickname. The books, illustrated by former Buffalo teammate Mike Hamby, include: “Shopping with Darby” and “Naptime for Darby.”

Kevin Lamb of the Chicago Sun-Times asked how the project got started.

Credit for the original idea goes to Bentley’s wife, Jodi. When he was injured in 1987, she suggested he stop driving her crazy around the house and write a book.

But Bentley took it from there. He told Lamb: “If you’ve been hit in the head as many times as I have over the years, you come up with wacky ideas.”

Trivia answer: Dominique Wilkins, whose No. 21 was retired before the Bulldogs’ Feb. 8 game against Louisiana State.

Quotebook: Toronto Maple Leaf Coach Tom Watt, after a recent loss: “If it would have been raining soup, we’d have had forks.”