Maybe He Had a Super Bowl Premonition

A robbery suspect who skipped a hearing in Indianapolis last week when he was given air fare and tickets to the Super Bowl ended up not going to the game.

Nathaniel Brown said he flew home from Los Angeles before kickoff on Sunday, even though he had a judge’s permission to stay and watch the game at the Rose Bowl.

“I was going to be right there enjoying the game,” he said. “But then all this publicity happened and I figured I’d better come home.”

Brown, free on $11,000 bond after being charged in a May holdup of a furniture store, was scheduled to go on trial Monday, but Marion Superior Court Judge Gary R. Miller postponed the trial. Miller also said that because Brown has friends with the resources to fly him to the Super Bowl, he might not be eligible for the free services of a public defender.

Trivia time: How many teams from the American Football League have won Super Bowl games?

Didn’t do homework: Fullback Nicky Sualua of Santa Ana Mater Dei High told Times staffer Mike Reilley that he committed to Ohio State because he was “looking forward to the challenge of playing in the Big Eight.”

Not dirty enough: Randy Cross, former All-Pro guard for the San Francisco 49ers, on never being chosen for the All-Madden team during a 12-year career: “I was tainted early in my career by the ‘finesse’ label. I never got dirty enough. You have to weigh 300 pounds and roll in the mud to get John’s attention.”

Dogging it: Coach Paul Westphal of the Phoenix Suns says the addition of Charles Barkley is the reason the Suns have the best record in the NBA.

“Before we got Charles, the other teams in the league respected us,” Westphal said. “Now, they know the big dogs are in town when we come in.”

For what it’s worth: Ken Rosenthal of the Baltimore Sun reports that Cal Ripken Jr., who has played in 1,735 consecutive games for the Baltimore Orioles, has played all but 128 of 15,787 innings, leaving early in only 44 games.

Could have been worse: Alan Greenberg of the Hartford Courant suggested that Ken Norton Jr. of the Dallas Cowboys made a potentially critical error when he knocked Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly out of the Super Bowl with 6:52 to play in the second quarter.

“Didn’t Norton get the word Kelly was the Cowboys’ secret weapon?” Greenberg wrote. “With a record-tying four interceptions in the Super Bowl last year and two interceptions and a killer fumble already to his discredit in the first 18 minutes of this one, there’s no telling how deeply the Master of Disaster could have buried the Bills had his knee allowed him to play the second half.”

Trivia answer: Four--the Raiders, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins.

Quotebook: Bob Uecker, on fans in Philadelphia: “The highlight of my baseball career came in Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium when I saw a fan fall out of the upper deck. When he got up and walked away, the crowd booed.”