In This Event, Maybe This Time No News Will Be Good News

Burt Flickinger, chairman of next summer’s World University Games in Buffalo, N.Y., says the event will be the biggest thing to hit the Upstate New York city since the Pan American Exposition in 1901.

David Germain of the Associated Press comments, “Keep in mind that President McKinley was assassinated at the Pan American Expo.”

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Excuses, excuses: Big Ten Commissioner James Delany, on the sorry state of Big Ten football: “We can’t say we have the best football, but we do have good football players. We haven’t won a national championship in a long time, and we’ve been dominated by the Pac-10 (in the Rose Bowl), but I think we’re just going through a cycle.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the NFL record for kickoff-return yardage in one game?

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The name, please: Even though Bill Cosby smoothed the way for Ron Dickerson to take over as Temple’s football coach, Dickerson set him straight on one thing: his name.

Temple President Peter Liacouras told of Cosby’s conversation with Dickerson.

“He said, ‘Ronnie, if in four years you haven’t taught your quarterbacks how to pass, if you haven’t recruited, we could be on another plane, looking for another coach. What do you think about that, Ronnie?’ ”

Liacouras said Dickerson responded, “It’s Ron, not Ronnie.”

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A wise man: Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield had words of wisdom for students at the DeLaSalle Education Center in Kansas City.

“You work hard and you take care of yourself because your body is a temple,” he said.

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Think about it: If Nolan Ryan drank a glass of milk every day for the next 674 months, he would live to be 100.

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Sign of the times: A semi-trailer bearing the legend, “Arnold Palmer Enterprises, Tournament Division,” was seen being pulled along the freeway by a Penske tractor.

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Backup’s backup: When Joe Montana returned to the San Francisco 49er practice field last week to play the role of opposing quarterback, it meant less work for third-stringer Bill Musgrave. Steve Bono, the second-string quarterback, told San Francisco Chronicle columnist Tom FitzGerald: “Billy may be the only guy ever to be bounced from the scout squad by Joe Montana.”

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Presidential: President-elect Clinton insists he wants to be one of us and in an interview on “The NFL Today,” he sounded as if he is when he said, “It bothers me, when I see the prices of football or baseball or basketball games put out of the range of ordinary people.”

You tell ‘em, Bill.

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Grim humor: The first Ottawa Senators jokes are starting to make the rounds. One of them: The difference between the Senators and a cigarette machine is that the machine has Players.

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Who’s who? It may take a while for the public to recognize Riddick Bowe as the heavyweight boxing champion. When he returned to his native Brooklyn for a visit, a couple of city workers noticed his entourage and hundreds of fans following him.

“Who’s that?” one asked. “Patrick Ewing?”

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Matter of attitude: For most basketball coaches, winning and losing is what the game’s all about. For Noreen Degnen’s team at the New York Institute for Special Education, that’s strictly secondary.

Degnen’s team, made up of youngsters 9-12 who are emotionally disturbed, learning disabled or both, plays in a Catholic Youth Organization league against non-handicapped youngsters.

“We stress attitude,” Degnen said. “No negative attitudes. If they work hard and have a good time, that’s my goal.”

They lost their first game by nine points.

“That was great,” Degnen said. “Last year we lost to the same team by 35.”

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Parity? In their first nine games, the Seattle Seahawks scored as many points as the 49ers scored in one game against Atlanta.

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Trivia answer: Wally Triplett of Detroit, 294 yards, against the Rams in 1950.

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Quotebook: Bud Geracie in the San Jose Mercury News: “Jennifer Capriati playing the (Virginia) Slims is an oxymoron in the making.”