Passing Grade Before He Even Takes the Test

Montana, Elway, Marino . . . and there is someone who is getting a lot of attention these days as potentially the next great quarterback in the NFL--Jeff George of the Indianapolis Colts.

“The greatest passer I’ve ever been around is Sonny Jurgensen,” said Colt Coach Ted Marchibroda, an assistant at Washington when Jurgensen played with the Redskins. “I think Jeff rivals that. I think his arm rivals any that I’ve seen in the National Football League.”

Said New York Jet General Manager Dick Steinberg: “I don’t know of anybody who has better pure physical tools. He has so much talent it’s scary. Once the Colts get everything in place, he’s going to be recognized as one of the league’s great quarterbacks.”

But before they get the plaque ready for him at Canton, George may have to play a little.The Colts were 1-15 last year.

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Trivia time: Who is the only person to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame twice, as a player and as a coach?

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Perspective: Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer on new Flyer Eric Lindros: “He is the most expensive athlete this city has ever hired. . . . He cost more than Mike Schmidt or Pete Rose or Steve Carlton. More than Julius Erving or Charles Barkley. More than Reggie White or Randall Cunningham.”

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What’s par? John Heim, a football player at Susquehanna College in Pennsylvania, took out a $200,000 loan to build a miniature golf course as part of an independent study course.

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Ouch: From Leonard Koppett of the New York Times after hearing that former President Nixon was picking an all-star baseball team: “Of course, he’ll have to start with the Black Sox.”

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Money talk: According to 1990 financial documents of the Atlanta Falcons printed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rankin Smith, the team’s chairman of the board, made $556,212 and Coach Jerry Glanville made $515,014.

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Money talk II: For what it’s worth, the major league baseball team with the highest payroll in any given year hasn’t been in the playoffs since the Angels won the American League West title in 1982.

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Quick fix: How long were the negotiating sessions for Don Shula to sign a two-year, $3.7-million contract extension to coach the Miami Dolphins? Said Shula: “One took six minutes and one took 12.”

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Home run derby: Before light-hitting shortstop Jeff Blauser of the Atlanta Braves hit three home runs in a game, the only other shortstops who had done it were Ernie Banks, Barry Larkin and Fred Patek.

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Trivia answer: John Wooden was inducted in 1960 as a former player for Purdue, then again in 1972 as coach at UCLA.

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Quotebook: Julio Cesar Chavez, who fights Frankie Mitchell on Aug. 1 at the Las Vegas Hilton, on his relationship with promoter Don King: “It’s like a husband and wife--we fight each other all the time, but there’s no divorce.”