In Bay Area, Some Still Long for the Raiders

Raider-mania still exists in Oakland, reports Glenn Dickey of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“The team has been gone for 12 years, but there are still thousands of people in the East Bay who buy Raider sweatshirts, uniform shirts and autographed footballs, or who have Raider bumper stickers.

“They even follow the team on radio and TV--some even fly to Los Angeles for games--and there’s no doubt that if the team did return (no chance), games would sell out almost instantly.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the UCLA record for yards gained rushing in a game?

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Let’s wait a bit: ESPN football analyst Lee Corso said that Florida State’s Charlie Ward is the best college quarterback since Navy’s Roger Staubach in 1963.

Could be. However, he may be overlooking John Elway, Joe Montana, Steve Young and Troy Aikman, among others.

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Thankless job: Derrick Lassic, who filled in for Emmitt Smith while the Cowboy running back held out, indicated he was in a no-win situation.

“If I did something good, they said Emmitt would have done better,” Lassic said. “If I messed up, they said Emmitt never messed up.”

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Hooked: Columnist Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News became poetic on Cowboy owner Jerry Jones:

“Both he and Emmitt won the day,

“Quoth the owner after contract deal,

“As rainbow trout might also say,

“As he leaves the stream in a creel.”

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Homesick: Quarterback Tim Gutierrez, who came off the bench to lead San Diego State to a 38-31 victory over Air Force on Saturday, minimized his accomplishment.

“I’m just a lonely guy from Oxnard,” Gutierrez told the San Diego-Union Tribune.

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Creative signs: The San Diego Padres have what is believed to be the first all-Ivy League battery, with Columbia’s Frank Seminara throwing to Dartmouth’s Brad Ausmus. It creates some interesting possibilities.

“Like our signs for pitches,” Ausmus said. “It’s fingers times pi squared plus half the distance of the bases.”

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Crazy professor: When Paul Westhead was hired as George Mason’s basketball coach, he was asked by a school official, “What are some of the things you need to be successful?”

Westhead replied, “Six parachutes,” according to Skip Myslenski of the Chicago Tribune.

Westhead reasons that open parachutes strapped to a player’s back in training add weight and provide resistance and demand perfect form in running.

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Call of the wild: From the Washington Redskin media guide: Linebacker John Brantley likes to hunt alligators and wild boars with the aid of his pit bulls.

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Trivia answer: Theotis Brown, with 274 yards against Oregon in 1978.

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Quotebook: Golfer Payne Stewart on European Ryder Cup opponent Joakim Haeggman: “I wouldn’t know him if he came up and bit me.”