Then Again, Perhaps Snead Felt His Questions Were Too Nosy

Frank Fallon, veteran Baylor University football broadcaster, recalling his first radio interview, with Sam Snead after Snead had won the 1948 Texas Open:

“When I found out Snead was coming, I quickly wrote two or three questions down on a napkin,” Fallon said. “When he walked in, the first thing he did was pick up the napkin and blow his nose in it.”

Trivia time: What combination holds the Raider record for the longest pass play?

Rubbing it in: Rick Telander in Sports Illustrated: “Did you hear about the new Dallas Cowboys welcome mat? They’re rubberized Buffalo team photos.”

Looney tunes: C.W. Nevius of the San Francisco Chronicle on Fox network television coverage of NFL games:

“Someone has to restrain Terry Bradshaw, who is turning into a cackling sitcom loosely based on himself. Enthusiasm is wonderful, but he’s turned the corner and is en route to scary silly.”

Hands off: New York Knick Coach Pat Riley on the new NBA rule of no hand checking:

“You’re watching a three-hour game go by with 150 free throws. It’ll be like watching baseball.”

Said Denver’s Dikembe Mutombo: “It used to be a hands game; now we can’t use our hands. Next we’ll have to use our feet. We might as well be playing soccer.”

Bah, humbug: Mary Kay Cabot in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on the Browns’ defense: “(It) is becoming Grinch-ier as the season progresses.”

Is that better than Scroog-ier?

Meat Department: TNT’s Gary Bender, in his new book “Call of the Game,” notes there is an “old adage that management views (announcers) as a ‘piece of meat,’ ” although he adds “not all members of management think that way.”

Said Turner executive producer Don McGuire: “Around here, we call Gary ‘Ground Round.’ ”

Options: Despite stalled contract negotiations with top draft choice Glenn Robinson, John Steinmiller, vice president of the Milwaukee Bucks, said:

“There’s a greater chance of Madonna starting at point guard opening night than of a trade (of Robinson).”

The diplomat: Lee Shappell in the Arizona Republic on the Charlotte Hornets’ Larry Johnson, inactive because of a stress fracture in his left foot:

“He played on the U.S. team in the World Championships, where his greatest skill seemed to be being a jerk.

“ ‘You don’t send diplomats,’ “Johnson said. “ ‘We weren’t campaigning. They should have sent the President if they wanted us to smile and shake hands.’ ”

Looking back: On this day in 1975, Carlton Fisk hit a home run in the 12th inning to give the Boston Red Sox a 7-6 victory over Cincinnati, forcing a seventh game in the World Series, which the Reds won.

Trivia answer: Jim Plunkett to Cliff Branch, 99 yards, on Oct. 2, 1983 against Washington.

Quotebook: Mitch (Wild Thing) Williams, former Philadelphia Phillie pitcher: “It takes a certain mentality to watch me pitch. (Manager) Jim Fregosi just gave me the ball and walked down the (dugout) tunnel and smoked.”