Jimmy Says Call Jerry Wealthy, but Please Don’t Call Him Al

In an interview with Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News, former Cowboy Coach Jimmy Johnson said Dallas owner Jerry Jones thinks about money day and night.

“He doesn’t care about the game of football or football players,” Johnson said. “He loves money. . . . Al Davis loves to talk football for hours, to analyze the game. That’s the person I guess Jerry wants to be, but he’ll never be like Al.”

*

Add Johnson: On taking a $2-million buyout from Jones: “If you recall what I said, it was that Jerry Jones at that time was a better friend to me then he had ever been.

“And with a $2-million check in my pocket, he was.”

*

Trivia time: Who holds the record for most points in an NBA finals game?

*

Welcome home: Johnette Howard of the Washington Post recalling the passion of soccer fans:

“Italian dictator Benito Mussolini once sent a cable to the 1938 World Cup team saying, ‘Win or die!’

“Twenty-six years later, the disappointing 1966 Italian team returned home in the dead of night to find angry fans waiting at the airport to hurl rotten fruit. One sign read: ‘Italy Vomits on You!’ ”

*

A dog’s life: Pat C Rendezvous, who set a world greyhound record by winning her 33rd consecutive race on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Fla., is a celebrity.

She has her own souvenir T-shirt--autographed with a big black paw print--and a trading card.

*

No thanks: Bernie Miklasz in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on reports that St. Louis would get a franchise in the Canadian Football League:

“I’m sorry, but when did this town become a Winnipeg wanna-be?”

*

League of his own: How good is Ken Griffey Jr., who is dissatisfied with the Seattle Mariners’ losing seasons?

“He’s the best player in the game,” Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson said. “I don’t think you can offer enough to get that guy. He might take our whole team.”

*

Cold shoulder: Jackie MacMullan of the Boston Globe writes that Orlando Magic guard Scott Skiles is angry about reports that he will be traded to the Dallas Mavericks.

“Skiles was so angry about being shipped to the worst franchise in basketball that he vowed to flunk the physical,” MacMullan wrote. “It would have been easy, too. Skiles has a bad shoulder that he can pop out almost at will.”

*

Fountain of youth: From the Good Doctor in Inside Sports magazine:

Q: Of all the reasons to live in Arizona, which will appeal to Buddy Ryan the most?

A: The fact he’s one of the youngest people there.

*

FYI: The American League’s designated-hitter rule went into effect on April 6, 1973. In its first application, Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees was walked by Luis Tiant of the Boston Red Sox with the bases full.

*

Trivia answer: Elgin Baylor of the Lakers, with 61 against Boston on April 14, 1962.

*

Quotebook: Minnesota catcher Matt Walbeck after Pat Mahomes had lost to Detroit on May 29: “Pat lacked tactile dexterity.”