OK, Children, You Ugly Ones Can Be Heard but Not Seen

Muhammad Ali’s face is puffy, his step slow and his speech slightly slurred, but he still is the center of attention wherever he goes. Alan Goldstein of the Baltimore Sun was there when Ali visited the city to promote ethnic unity in fighting crime and drug problems.

Business leaders from several ethnic groups were there, but Goldstein reported that Ali spent most of his time posing for photographs with children.

“They can all have their picture with me, but they can’t be ugly,” Ali said. “I’m still pretty.”

Add Ali: Could Riddick Bowe beat Ali in his prime? a man asked.

A smile crossed Ali’s lips. “You must be joking,” he said.

Trivia time: How many NFL coaches have won the Super Bowl as a player, assistant coach and head coach?

Cold, cold, cold: The Rams lost to the Green Bay Packers, 28-13, Sunday in Green Bay, Wis., when the temperature was 8 degrees and the windchill factor a minus-15.

That was a warm day compared with the 1967 NFL title game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Packers in Green Bay. The temperature was 13 degrees below zero with a windchill factor of minus-40. Green Bay won, 21-17.

Backhanded compliment: Miami Heat Coach Kevin Loughery, commenting on the New York Knicks’ defense:

“The Knicks are an excellent defensive team. I love the way they play defense. They foul on every play, and the officials can only call so many. I love that. I say it as a compliment.”

Older is better: “When the big guy wants to skate, he can skate,” Toronto Coach Pat Burns said after watching Mike Krushelnyski score twice during the Maple Leafs’ 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators. “The older the violin, the sweeter the tune.”

Being cautious: DePaul drew top-ranked Duke as its opponent in the opening round of the Maui Invitational basketball tournament Monday. Coach Joey Meyer’s reaction to meeting the two-time defending national champions:

“I won’t show my kids any tape of Duke because I don’t want them to be scared. We took a vote, it was 6-5, and we are going to play.” His kids also lost, 89-73.

Miracle man: Injury-plagued Brigham Young, down to its last quarterback and with a walk-on as his backup, might need a miracle to beat Kansas in the Aloha Bowl.

But who better than sophomore Tom Young, the great-great-great grandson of BYU’s Mormon pioneer namesake, to make Friday’s game a happy one for Cougar fans?

Young, younger brother of former BYU quarterback Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers, will be starting for the first time in his collegiate career.

Changing times: Former Clipper Doc Rivers has apparently reconciled himself to playing a backup role for the Knicks, based on his comments to Ailene Voisin of the Atlanta Journal: “Egowise, a few years ago I couldn’t deal with not starting. But when you get a chance to win, and you’ve matured, you look at things a little differently.”

Not always tops: In the NBA, only four No. 1 draft choices have been voted rookie of the year: Derrick Coleman, David Robinson, Ralph Sampson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Trivia answer: Two, Mike Ditka of the Chicago Bears and Tom Flores of the Seattle Seahawks. Ditka played for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1972 Super Bowl, was an assistant with Dallas in the ’78 game, then coached the Bears in the ’86 game. Flores was a reserve quarterback with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1970, an assistant with the Oakland Raiders in the ’77 game and coach of the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders in 1981 and ’84.

Quotebook: Eddie Hill, 56, after going a quarter-mile in 4.80 seconds--the fastest in drag racing history: “If more people knew how good that felt, they’d be selling their homes and buying one of these (top-fuel dragster) cars.”