QUICK KICKS

* AFTER 31 YEARS, THE ICE IS FINALLY MELTING: When Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins tied George Halas with his 324th victory last Sunday, linebacker Bryan Cox dumped a bucket of water on Shula’s head.

“Who in the hell did that?” Shula cried.

“Me, Coach,” shouted Cox.

“I love you Brian,” Shula said.

In the locker room later, Shula awarded game balls to Cox and quarterback Scott Mitchell. But Cox grabbed the balls and handed them back to Shula.

“Only one person should get a game ball, Coach, and that’s you,” Cox said.

Shula wept.

* GEORGE HALAS AND . . . PAUL McDONALD: As Shula tries to become football’s all-time winningest coach Sunday in New York against the Jets, an oddity will occur.

It will be the first time in more than nine years that two left-handed quarterbacks will face one another.

For at least one person in Southern California, the duel between the Jets’ Boomer Esiason and the Dolphins’ Mitchell will bring back memories.

The last time two lefties squared off, Esiason led the Cincinnati Bengals to a 12-9 victory over Paul McDonald and the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 21, 1984.

“It’s incredible that it’s been that long,” said McDonald, former USC quarterback who sells health products in Newport Beach.

McDonald said this proves how youth-league coaches are still fearful of letting a left-hander run their team.

“Coaches at that level are all used to doing things right-handed, and can’t handle teaching a left-handed quarterback,” McDonald said. “They tell the kid to line up at wide receiver.”

* MAYBE SHE HAD RANDALL CUNNINGHAM IN A FANTASY LEAGUE: Michael Lenick, 63, jumped into the shower during a break in the televised game between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles last week. A huge mistake.

When he returned to the den of his Sewall’s Point, Fla., home, his wife, Marlene, had turned the channel to the news.

Michael, perhaps knowing that Emmitt Smith was about to break a 62-yard run, turned back to the game.

His wife, announcing that she’d had enough of football, went to the bedroom, picked up a .38-caliber handgun, returned to the den, and shot him twice.

One bullet grazed Lenick’s abdomen and the other penetrated his left shoulder blade and exited through his neck. He was hospitalized in good condition. She was charged with aggravated battery.

“We’ve had all kinds of calls here in support of the woman,” said Louis Savini, 62, the town’s police chief. “Sometimes society makes me so damn mad, I want to go out and grab a gun myself.”