This Player Wastes No Time Making Impact Off the Bench

Pomona was trailing Overland, 7-0, with 36 seconds remaining in a high school state playoff game in Colorado, but Pomona was driving when an Overland defender intercepted a pass on his team’s three-yard line and took off for what appeared to be a certain touchdown.

Steve Bratten, one of Pomona’s star players, couldn’t stand the sight of it. He leaped off the bench and knocked down the runner, Brian Kelly. Officials awarded Overland a touchdown and the game, 14-0.

Perhaps Bratten thought it might help his dad. Jim Bratten, the Pomona coach, is Steve’s father. His comment: “Steve’s so intense. I don’t know what was going through his mind.”

Trivia time: Who was the Alabama player who left the sidelines to tackle Rice’s Dickie Moegle in a similar situation during the 1954 Cotton Bowl?

Positive thinking: Not all the letters sent to Leon Lett these days are in the form of hate mail.

Students at an elementary school in Mesquite, Tex., have penned 886 encouraging letters and sent them to the Dallas lineman, letting him know they have forgiven him for his Thanksgiving Day blunder that cost the Cowboys a victory.

The outside of each card reads: “Dear Mr. Lett, Everybody makes mistakes. . . . That’s why pencils have erasers! We believe in ourselves. . . . We want you to believe in yourself, too!”

No hotbed here: They love their football in the Southeastern Conference, right? Those fans wouldn’t let a little bad weather keep them away from a big game, would they?

Actually, yes. More than 6,000 seats in 83,091-seat Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala., were unsold for the SEC title game Saturday, and the actual crowd was probably closer to 60,000 in heavy rain and swirling winds.

What was that about Dodger fans leaving early?

Look, it’s Mikey: Michael Jordan’s retirement hasn’t pushed him off cereal boxes.

The former Chicago Bull superstar appears for a record 12th time on a limited number of special Wheaties boxes that went on the market this week. Jordan has appeared on Wheaties boxes more than anyone else--nine times by himself and three with other Bull players.

They’re getting bigger: Big man on the J.C. Grid-Wire first-team All-American football team was Mike Rockwood, a 7-foot-1 offensive lineman from Riverside, but the really big guy appeared to be a 7-7 lineman from Bakersfield on the second team. Hank Ives, proprietor of Grid-Wire, says it was a mistake and Heath Baughman is merely 6-7.

Anybody thirsty?What’s best, cans or bottles? Coca-Cola recently commemorated Don Shula by putting his face on 2.4 million Coke cans in Florida. Also on cans are Robin Yount in Wisconsin and Bill Elliott and Vince Dooley in Georgia. But Bear Bryant in Alabama, Pete Rose in Ohio and Eddie Robinson in Louisiana have their mugs on bottles.

Different strokes: In the January issue of Inside Sports, actor Craig T. Nelson tells why he’s hooked on racing cars.

“I was golfing an awful lot in my free time, and I needed something that wasn’t quite so boring,” he said. “In racing you need speed--you don’t get a rush like this anywhere else.”

Trivia answer: Tommy Lewis.

Quotebook: Dallas Cowboy Coach Jimmy Johnson, after two consecutive losses: “Our swagger is not quite as big as it used to be.”