First NFL First Down There Would Be a First Down Under

The NFL has played exhibition games in Japan, England, Germany, Mexico, Canada and Sweden. What will be the next foreign site? Troy Hunter, a former University of Arizona player, hopes it will be Australia.

More than 5,000 Australians play organized American football. Hunter, 31, holds regular coaching clinics at 25 high schools in Queensland state, and teams are playing competitively.

Already one Queensland player, fullback Nick Rotschied, has won a football scholarship to Arizona Western College.

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Trivia time: What is USC’s largest margin of victory over UCLA in football?

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Talkathon: Former race driver Jackie Stewart was in town the other day and a friend was asked if he had seen him.

“Yeah, I’ve seen him,” the friend said. “I haven’t spoken to him in two weeks, though. . . . I didn’t want to interrupt him.”

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Ahoy: Norm Charlton is on a cruise and could not be reached after he was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Seattle Mariners for Kevin Mitchell.

Said Lou Piniella, the former Cincinnati manager who now manages Seattle: “It seems pretty appropriate that Norm would be at sea on the night that he became a Mariner.”

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Spelling lesson: Ailene Voisin of the Atlanta Journal notes that Shaquille O’Neal’s name was misspelled “O’Neil” on the NBA All-Star ballot. Shaq was miffed, but didn’t prove any better as a speller.

“My name is spelled like Tatum O’Neal,” the Orlando rookie told Voisin, “not Tip O’Neil.” Tip O’Neill uses a double-L.

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Growing up: NHL players, on average, are about an inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than their predecessors 20 years ago. According to an NHL report, players this season average 6 feet and 194 pounds. In the 1972-73 season, they averaged 5-11 and 184.5 pounds.

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Did you know? New York Knick Coach Pat Riley was drafted as a wide receiver by the Dallas Cowboys in the 11th round in 1967.

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Bodine-built: When Geoff Bodine isn’t driving Winston Cup stock cars, he likes to go bobsledding. When the U.S. did poorly in the Winter Olympics using European sleds, Bodine decided to build a sled for the Olympic team to use.

“We need help--serious financial help,” he says. “I’m way over budget on this, and I can’t afford to do more than I have. The bobsled federation is out of money. Nobody wanted to help us until we had an actual bobsled built. Now we have it, and it’s for real.”

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Sound reasoning: Pitcher Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves, profiled in Sports Illustrated for Kids, was discussing playing hockey as a teen-ager with Pittsburgh Penguin goalie Tom Barrasso and New York Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch. Asked why he chose baseball over hockey after being drafted in both sports, Glavine said, “Pitchers don’t get body-checked by rugged defensemen like Brian Leetch.”

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Trivia answer: USC beat UCLA, 76-0, in 1929.

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Quotebook: Donna Horton-White, after holing a 25-foot putt during an LPGA tournament while seven months pregnant: “That putt was so good, I could feel the baby applauding.”