Carpeting in the Weight Room May Not Be the Answer, but . . .

In no way suggesting a correlation between their 0-10 record and their purse strings, the Cincinnati Bengals have long been one of pro football’s stingiest franchises, a legacy established by Paul Brown, the team’s late owner.

In 1988, Brown took Cincinnati Post columnist Paul Daugherty on a tour of the team’s antiquated practice facility, Spinney Field, after a $1-million refurbishing had been completed.

Brown, however, wasn’t impressed.

“I don’t know why we need all this carpeting,” he told Daugherty, who recounted the story in the Sporting News. “And why do we need TV? We’re here to work. . . . New carpet never won a football game!”

Add Bengals: Daugherty describes Spinney Field as “Bates Motel with a weight room.” The writer says you enter the compound at your own risk.

“The milky white stuff oozing from pores in the ancient viaduct that hovers over the team’s practice field has never been analyzed. Probably, it is no more lethal than the air, which has such a tang, it is listed in the local ‘Dining Out’ guide.”

Sounds like a free agent’s paradise.

Close call: The world without former Chicago Bull star Michael Jordan? Consider the concept: No last-second shot to give Dean Smith his first NCAA championship at North Carolina. No Air Jordans, dunks, scoring titles.

Worse, no championship rings for Bull bench warmer Will Perdue.

In his book, “Rare Air,” Jordan recalls the time, when he was 12, that it almost came to an end.

“We had just won the state baseball championship and we were celebrating,” Jordan writes. “Everybody was hopping in the pool. I put myself on one of those beach balls and just kind of rode the water. Anyway, one kid did a cannonball. He jumped in and knocked the beach ball out from under me. I just kept going down. I went down once, twice, and the third time one of my teammates grabbed my hand and put me on the side of the pool. I wouldn’t have made it otherwise.”

Add Jordan: In the book, written before Jordan announced his retirement, the star alludes to his leaving the game.

Jordan writes: “I’ll be gone. I’m not going to walk out with people saying, ‘It’s just as well. He couldn’t play anymore anyway.’ I know there will be pressure on me to stay. But that will be my opportunity to tell people why I played the game. It’s never been for money and it’s never been for cheers. If you don’t believe me, then just watch. And take a good look because one minute I’ll be there and the next minute I’ll be gone.”

Trivia time: What player holds the record for most points scored in a college basketball game?

Survey says: Eight NFL quarterbacks squared off last week on a game show, “Family Feud,” with the proceeds going to a cystic fibrosis foundation. Boomer Esiason, one of the participants, has a son suffering from the disease.

No one has ever confused “Family Feud” with brain surgery, but still . . .

Asked to supply a nickname for a short person, quarterback Steve Beuerlein of the Phoenix Cardinals slapped the buzzer, gave an incredulous look and blurted out “Shorty!”

Good answer.

Later, Detroit quarterback Andre Ware was asked to name something you need to go water skiing.

“Skis,” Ware said.

Next year: “Celebrity Quarterback Jeopardy!”

Trivia answer: Bevo Francis of Ohio’s Rio Grande College, who scored 113 points against Michigan’s Hillsdale in 1954.

Quotebook: Denver Nugget Coach Dan Issel, after his team escaped with a 97-95 victory over the Clippers: “They say the sign of a good team is when you can win and not play your best. So we must be a great team.”