He Thinks Strike Is More Like a Cousin Scraping His Knee

John Stiegerwald in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, responding to Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser’s comments on the cancellation of the baseball season and the World Series as “the death of a friend or somebody in your family”:

“Orel and everybody else associated with Major League Baseball should know that the average North American, other than those financially affected by the strike, got over the news in less than five minutes.

“Orel’s comments make you think that there’s an outside chance that baseball players and owners take themselves a little too seriously.”

Trivia time: What is the longest NCAA Division I-A college football rivalry?

Get with it: Houston Oiler owner Bud Adams on why the team’s high draft picks--defensive ends Henry Ford and Jeremy Nunley--aren’t playing:

“I don’t think they’re learning enough. Some of these No. 1 draft choices ought to be further along than they are right now. I blame the guys who are coaching them.”

Is there a message there for Jack Pardee and his staff?

Carried away: Phil Jackman, writing in the Baltimore Evening Sun: “The thing about ABC announcer Brent Musburger referring to Washington’s victory over Miami (ending the Hurricanes’ 58-game victory streak in the Orange Bowl) as a ‘monumental upset’ is he knows better.

“This was the Huskies, Brent, not Washington University of St. Louis.”

Prospering: Norm Cohen of Newsday reports that the baseball strike is a boon to NFL trading cards:

“NFL properties already reports a 25% increase in trading-card revenue over last year’s, and the threat of an NHL lockout could pump up sales even higher.”

Just the type: Bill Tammeus of the Kansas City Star writes: “The most interesting thing in the PBS ‘Baseball’ series is what a jerk Ty Cobb was. Probably today he’d be a radio talk-show host.”

Party time: From Jay Leno: “In Haiti, you’ve got people shooting off guns and turning over cars. So even though we won’t have a World series this year, at least we can enjoy the postgame festivities.”

Dazed: Drew Bledsoe, New England Patriot quarterback, on the difference between this year and his rookie season in 1993:

“My head was swimming at this point last year. I didn’t even know who we played the previous week, or what league I was in, and what my name was even.”

Burp: Discontinued bowl games include the Coconut, Corn, Fish, Fruit, Mineral Water, Peanut, Pear, Pineapple, Poi, Poultry, Rice, Shrimp, Spud, Turkey and Yam bowls.

For the record: Washington State, reported to have made its only Rose Bowl appearance in 1931, also played in the 1916 game, held at Tournament Park, defeating Brown, 14-0.

Trivia answer: Minnesota and Wisconsin, with 103 games beginning in 1890.

Quotebook: Houston Oiler linebacker Michael Barrow, on the team’s offense: “It’s not fantasy football where we can just get rid of our offense and draft another one.”