Is There Anyone Out There Who Doesn’t Want Montana?

Chris Mortensen, writing in the Sporting News, had a tip for Coach Marty Schottenheimer of the Kansas City Chiefs after Kansas City’s playoff loss to San Diego:

“Got a name for you, Marty.

“Joe Montana.

“Yeah, say goodby to Dave Krieg. It wasn’t his fault, but Kansas City isn’t going to the Super Bowl with Krieg.

“No doubt, everyone is going to say Montana would be a good match with Minnesota. Dennis Green is a Bill Walsh disciple, and after the Vikings’ 24-7 playoff loss to Washington, it’s clear that neither Sean Salisbury nor Rich Gannon will be their quarterback in 1993.

“The Chiefs are primed to revamp their offense. If they could trade for Montana--who has a year remaining on his contract--and ask him to name an offensive coordinator (how about Los Angeles Raider quarterback coach Mike White?), then it’s possible for the transition to be made. Throw in a pass-catching tight end, and wind ‘em up.”

Additionally on the quarterback beat, Mortensen writes:

“It’s possible that the first two picks of the NFL draft will be quarterbacks, Washington State’s Drew Bledsoe and Notre Dame’s Rick Mirer.

“Miami’s Gino Torretta? He is rated no better than a fifth-round pick.”

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More Most: Boston Celtic forward Kevin McHale recalled a play-by-play report by Johnny Most years back that prompted a phone call from McHale’s mother.

Most, longtime Celtic radio announcer, died Sunday.

Said Most, seeing McHale knocked to the floor: “They’re killing him! He’s on the floor! He’s writhing in pain!”

After the game, in the locker room, McHale was paged. Seems his mother was on the line, anxious about a condition report on her son.

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Trivia time: What famous North American sports trophy was built by a jeweler 100 years ago, at a cost of $50?

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A real man: San Francisco 49er tight end Brent Jones on teammate and fullback Tom Rathman:

“The classic Tom is blocking for a sweep, going full speed and taking a guy’s legs out. Then he’ll sneak out of the backfield, and catch that pass.

“Lower his head and run over a couple of defensive backs, hit the ground, and come up with mud on facemask, blood on his hands and face. And he’s too tough to wipe it off.”

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Add 49ers: Jack Welz of Healdsburg, Calif., wrote this letter to the San Francisco Chronicle sports department:

“Coach George Seifert’s decision to start Steve Young at quarterback for the playoffs, over a healthy Joe Montana, suggests coaches should be included in NFL random drug testing.”

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Ring room: Alabama Coach Gene Stallings, when asked where he will wear his national championship ring, since he already has a 1978 Super Bowl ring, earned as an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys:

“I’m going to put it right here,” he said, pointing to the Super Bowl ring. “I’m going to put the Super Bowl ring to bed.”

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For what it’s worth: On Jan. 7, 1920, the Los Angeles Times published a column by writer Harry A. Williams, who had just interviewed New York Yankee Manager Miller Huggins.

Wrote Williams: “Huggins regrets some of the tenderness under the more modern regime. In reality, this is the ‘soft age’ of baseball. Players today are petted and pampered, Huggins believes, in a way unknown to the old-timers.”

Footnote: Huggins was in Los Angeles to inform Babe Ruth, here on a golfing vacation, that he had just been sold by the Boston Red Sox to the Yankees.

Ruth’s Red Sox salary at the time: $10,000. The Yankees doubled it.

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Trivia answer: Hockey’s Stanley Cup.

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Quotebook: Fred Allen, describing W.C. Fields’ tennis game: “Fields loved tennis. Had a court in his back yard. He’d play for hours, a racket in one hand, a martini in the other. Sometimes, he’d serve the olive.”