Bo’s Status Is Matter of Great Debate

In a recent Sports Illustrated article, Steve Wulf saluted Bo Jackson by writing: “Don’t let anyone tell you any different. Bo Jackson is/was the greatest athlete America has ever produced.”

Without disparaging Bo’s considerable talent, the “greatest” accolade is questionable.

How about Jim Thorpe, the famed running back for the Carlisle Indians, who played professional football and baseball and won the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympic Games, only to have his gold medals revoked because he had previously played semipro baseball?

Moreover, has there ever been a better all-around athlete than Jackie Robinson, who was outstanding in four sports--football, basketball, baseball and track and field--at UCLA in the late 1930s and early ‘40s? He went on to become a Hall of Fame second baseman with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Trivia time: What is the smallest crowd to watch an NCAA basketball championship game?

Nosey kids: Outfielder Mike Devereaux of the Baltimore Orioles was talking to a kindergarten class in Wyoming during the off-season.

“I gave my speech and then I asked the kids if they had any questions,” he told the Baltimore Sun. “So this one kid raises his hand and asks, ‘Why is your nose so big?’ And the kid next to him says, ‘Yeah, that’s a good question.’ ”

Irish lore: Frank Carideo, Notre Dame’s All-American quarterback in 1929-30, who died Tuesday, was a nemesis to USC during his college career.

He scored a touchdown when the Irish upset the Trojans, 27-0, in 1930 at the Coliseum. The previous year his extra point was the difference in a 13-12 victory over USC at Soldier Field in Chicago before 112,912.

Real Blue Devil: Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post wrote that Duke’s 6-foot-11, 235-pound center, Christian Laettner, is no “choirboy.”

His teammate, Kenny Blakeney concurred, saying: “Everybody’s first impression of him is a big, slow, white guy. Right. Go ahead, keep thinking that.

“ ‘Late’ is crazy, man. On my first visit to Duke, I went to his apartment to introduce myself. He didn’t say a word, just walked up and punched me. We were going at it in his apartment and we hadn’t spoken a word yet.”

Yogi’s world: This baseball conversation reportedly took place:

Tom Seaver: “Hey Yogi, what time is it? Yogi Berra: “You mean now?”

Look again: Arkansas basketball Coach Nolan Richardson might have been carried away a bit with this description of Memphis State’s Anfernee Hardaway:

“If you took Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, and rolled them all together, that’s the way I see Hardaway.”

Said Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post: “Nolan, here’s cab fare, go to an ophthalmologist.”

Trivia answer: Only 5,500 watched Oregon beat Ohio State, 46-33, in 1939 at Patten Gymnasium on the Northwestern campus in Evanston, Ill.

Quotebook: Lee Trevino, who was once struck by lightning, explaining why he holds his one-iron over his head when there’s a storm on the golf course: “Because even the good Lord has trouble hitting a one-iron.”