He Won’t Save the Clippings on This Story

Eric Smith, a high school kicker from Dallas who mowed an opposing team’s field so he could have a better kicking surface, was suspended for one game.

Smith was required to sit out South Grand Prairie’s game against Euless Trinity on Friday because of his unusual pregame ritual the previous weekend against Weatherford.

“We felt like it was the thing to do,” Coach David Thompson said. “It was one of those things that was funny, but then it was not funny. We wanted to encourage him not to do it again.”

Smith decided to mow a section of Weatherford’s field after noticing on game films that the grass was higher than he preferred.

Trivia time: Who holds the NCAA record for most yards passing in a game?

Growing tall: San Francisco 49er quarterback Steve Young, who has led his team to a 5-1 record in the absence of injured Joe Montana, said he is growing into the job.

“It’s happening later in my career than it did for Joe, but he had to grow into it, too,” Young told Pro Football Weekly. “It’s amazing--once you grow comfortable with it, it just feeds on itself. You feel this positive synergism. And you feel like it’s what you have been looking for all along.”

Preference: New York Knick Coach Pat Riley, on platooning in the NBA:

“What is best? Is it a fatigued star, or is it a fresh sub? In a big game, I would rather have a little bit of a fatigued star.”

Scary: From Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle: “He has a small smile, a gunslinger’s smile, an executioner’s smile that says: ‘You’re already dead--I’m thinking about dinner.’ ”

Rambo? No, a description of Dennis Eckersley of the Oakland A’s.

Now they know: John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, on Kansas City Chief quarterback Dave Krieg:

“Krieg had to leave Seattle to show a lot of people how much he meant to the Seahawks. With Krieg in the lineup, the Seahawks were always respectable, even when they were not very good. Now that Krieg is gone, Seattle is awful.”

Kansas City is 4-2, Seattle 1-5.

Anyone for soccer?From Rob Gloster of the Associated Press: “It seemed appropriate that World Cup officials spent one day last week checking out the home of the New England Patriots, whose offensive output has resembled that of a soccer team this season.”

Colorful?The New Jersey Devils of the NHL have new colors. The uniforms are red, black and white, as opposed to the old green, red, black and white.

“The players look less like Christmas trees now,” writes Jeff Williams of Newsday.

Looking back: During the baseball draft in 1966, the New York Mets, who had the top pick, selected a high school catcher, Steve Chilcott. They passed up the highly touted Arizona State slugger, Reggie Jackson.

Jackson, selected by the Kansas City Athletics, became a star for the A’s and other teams, including the Yankees.

Chilcott spent six years in the minor leagues and never played in the majors.

Trivia answer: David Klingler of Houston, with 716 yards against Arizona State in 1990.

Quotebook: Shaun Powell of the Miami Herald: “With (Stanley) Roberts and (John) Williams anchoring the roster, the Clippers are over the calorie cap.”