For This NFL Player, Culture Runs from Poetry to Pacino

Don’t accuse O.J. McDuffie, Miami Dolphin rookie wide receiver, of not having a variety of tastes. In the Dolphin media guide, McDuffie lists his favorite book as Homer’s “The Iliad” and his favorite movie as “Scarface.”

*

Trivia time: The story of Dan (Rudy) Ruettiger, a former Notre Dame walk-on football player, is playing in America’s movie theaters. What former Irish walk-on is playing in the NFL?

*

Nothing personal: After the Phoenix Suns had defeated Buckler of Bologna for the title in the McDonald’s Open in Munich, Sun star Charles Barkley was asked which Italian players impressed him the most.

Answered Barkley: “No. 5, No. 11, No. 14.”

*

Add Barkley: He was named the tournament’s most valuable player--or, as David Casstevens of the Arizona Republic noted, “der beste Spieler.”

*

Last add Barkley: At the postgame news conference, Barkley and Sun Coach Paul Westphal were seated next to the MVP trophy--a regulation-size golden basketball.

Joked Westphal: “I’ve seen a lot of MVP trophies that had the name engraved on them by the time the game was over, but I’ve never seen anybody complete an entire bust of the most valuable player that quickly.”

*

Gee, dad . . . : Denver Bronco kicker Jason Elam, a licensed pilot, neglected to inform his parents when he began taking flying lessons.

“I was outside one day, and a plane flew over,” the player’s father, Ralph Elam, told Joseph Sanchez of the Denver Post. “A friend looked up and said, ‘You know, that’s probably Jason up there.’ I said, ‘Run that by me again.’ ”

*

Time on his hands: Joe Falls of the Detroit News wonders, “What do the people in the SkyDome hotel look at during the winter?”

*

Heated argument: Houston Oiler linebacker Lamar Lathon screamed and cursed at Dan Patrick, a Houston radio personality, in the dressing room after the Oilers’ victory at New England. Apparently upset over something Patrick had said on the air, Lathon went so far as to say, “I’m going to come over there and burn your radio station down.”

According to Terry Blount of the Houston Chronicle, Patrick laughed the incident off until later that night--when the fire alarm went off at his hotel.

Said Patrick: “I thought maybe Lamar missed the charter.”

*

Trivia answer: San Diego kicker John Carney.

*

Quotebook: Spike Dykes, Texas Tech football coach, asked if he would be calling the plays during the school’s first junior varsity game in nine years: “It may be me, but it depends on the final score.”