This Incentive Couldn’t Stop Flow of Tears

Walter Payton, who rarely showed emotion during his 13-year career with the Chicago Bears, was certain he would not shed a tear last Saturday while being inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame at Canton, Ohio.

Gene Upshaw, Payton’s friend and a Hall of Famer himself, knew otherwise. He bet his Super Bowl ring that the former Bear running back would cry.

“Walter likes keeping his emotions all bottled up, but I told him he’s going to cry like a baby,” Upshaw said. “When he gets to the part where he talks about his mother and father, he’ll break down like he never has before. I’m sure of it.”

Upshaw kept his ring.

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Trivia time: Which pro sports commissioner earns the most money and what is his salary?

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Girls will be girls: The Garfield High football team has never had a girl on its roster in the 68-year history of the school. That’s about to change, however, as three girls are trying out as linemen for the Bulldogs’ junior varsity team.

Said hopeful Ana Karina Guerrero: “I don’t like playing with girls, because they get hurt easily and I like to hit people. My dad thought I might hurt someone because I play so rough.”

Assistant coach Frank Galvan said one noticeable change is that the boys can no longer run around the locker room in their underwear. Galvan said they’ve also been told to curb their abusive language.

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What’s on that pitch? Pitcher John Burkett of the San Francisco Giants, who leads the National League with 16 victories, threw so well in a recent game against the Philadelphia Phillies that catcher Darren Daulton suggested that the ball moved as though it had a substance on it.

Responded Burkett: “I’m not cheating, I’ll tell you that. They don’t know I’m the most honest guy on the face of the earth. I don’t tell a lie.”

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Life on a new court: Digger Phelps, who resigned as Notre Dame’s basketball coach in 1991 after 20 seasons, is dedicating his time these days to helping build decent housing in the inner city. He said years of recruiting in poor neighborhoods made him feel that he had to do something about the problem.

Asked whether he would be interested in a return to coaching, Phelps replied: “Get me Rick Pitino’s deal, the one he turned down for $20 million, and I’ll come back. You never say never.”

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Unfit as a fiddle: Shawn Bradley, who recently signed an eight-year contract worth $44.2 million with the Philadelphia 76ers, is a bit out of shape after spending the last two years in Australia on a Mormon mission.

The 7-foot-6 center weighs only 244 pounds and has a heart rate of 80, more than 20 points above the average for a professional athlete.

Said 76er trainer Mike Abdenour: “He’s very, very rough around the edges. But we’re going to sandblast him to the point we have a diamond to show off, kind of like the two on my championship rings from the Detroit Pistons.”

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His biggest fan: Reggie Jackson, inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame last Sunday, is an avid collector of baseball cards. Jackson’s favorite is the one of himself from 1969, now worth $800. Cards from the 1970 season go for $225. Baseballs signed by Jackson go for an average of $55.

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Trivia answer: NBA Commissioner David Stern makes $3 million a year.

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Quotebook: Matt Millen, who won Super Bowls with the Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins, on Steve Young’s $26-million contract with the 49ers: “There’s not a single human being worth that kind of money. But it’s there. It’s being paid. What do you do? Turn it down?”