Parting Shot at USC, Opening Shot at USC

Bill Walsh, in announcing his decision to return to Stanford as the football coach, couldn’t resist a knock at a Pacific 10 Conference rival.

“At my best, teaching is what I do,” Walsh said, “and this, college football, has redeeming value . . . unless it’s USC.”

Walsh may still carry the wounds of his two meetings with USC while coaching Stanford in 1977 and ’78. His team lost to the Trojans, 49-0, in ’77 and, 13-7, the next year.

It was after the second defeat that he also seemed to smugly imply that there may be nothing redeeming about USC except football, telling reporters: “Well, gentlemen, you can’t put grade-point averages on the scoreboard.”

Impressive Edge: Jeremy Edge, a member of the junior varsity basketball team at Apollo High School in Owensboro, Ky., may have set a record for most points in the shortest span--seven in one second--during a game against Hancock County.

There was one second left in the first half when Edge was fouled driving to the basket, and Hancock County drew a technical foul for protesting a foul call.

Edge made all four free throws, then received and shot the ensuing inbound pass in one motion, connecting on a three-pointer. Given Edge’s seven, his team had a final edge of 55-49.

Trivia time: The Angels announced that Nolan Ryan will join Bobby Grich, Rod Carew, Jim Fregosi and Don Baylor in the club’s Hall of Fame. What is the one other thing the five have in common?

Bull marker: Like Wall Street, the collectible market remains strong in the face of recession.

A dirty, pinstriped jersey worn by Mickey Mantle with the New York Yankees sold for $111,100; a uniform worn by Babe Ruth sold for $82,500 and a Roger Maris Yankee jersey sold for $66,000 at a New York auction this week.

Richard Russek, who bought the Mantle jersey on behalf of Gray Flannel Collectibles of Great Neck, N.Y., spoke as if it were a Renoir.

“It’s absolutely the finest specimen of a Mantle jersey we’ve ever seen,” he said. “We would have spent a lot more for it. We would have gone to $150,000 if it was necessary.”

Foot fault: Andre Agassi is working with Houston track Coach Tom Tellez in an attempt to improve his speed.

“Mechanics are mechanics, regardless of the sport,” said Tellez, who also works with sprinters Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell. “We’re running to different points on the court and trying to get there fast and relaxed. Andre is a lot like Carl and Leroy in that he really wants to be the best.”

Help!Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway, forced out of last Sunday’s AFC title game because of a bruised thigh, already is looking ahead to next season. Looking ahead, that is, only if the Broncos improve their pass protection. “If we don’t get the offensive line going better than we did this year, there’s no question it’s going to be a very long year for me,” Elway said.

Like father like. . . : Ivan Stewart, a dominant driver in off-road competition, will be competing against his son, Brian, in tonight’s Mickey Thompson Gran Prix at Anaheim Stadium. “I’ve told him everything he needs to know,” the senior Stewart said of his son. “Not everything I know, just everything he needs to know.”

Trivia answer: None was a product of the Angels’ farm system.

Quotebook: Roger Staubach, the former Dallas Cowboy quarterback and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, in a speech at the Academy: “Life, it’s a series of mortar attacks. The key is how you handle them.”