72 Years Later, Lions Should Arrive on Time

Penn State’s appearance in the Rose Bowl game recalls the Nittany Lions’ first visit to Pasadena, on Jan. 1, 1923, to play USC.

The Penn State team arrived about 45 minutes late for the game, causing anguish for Gloomy Gus Henderson, USC’s coach.

Henderson accused Penn State Coach Hugo Bezdek of deliberately stalling to upset the Trojans.

They exchanged heated words and, just when it appeared that a fight was imminent, were separated by onlookers.

In any event, USC won, 14-3, in its first Rose Bowl appearance.

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Trivia time: Besides Penn State, Bezdek coached two other Rose Bowl teams. Can you identify them?

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The last word: During a game between the New York Nets and Phoenix Suns in New Jersey on Dec. 8, a fan watched the Nets’ Derrick Coleman score on the Suns’ Charles Barkley and crowed: “What do you think of D.C. now?”

Replied Barkley: “I think D.C. means Disturbed Child.”

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Anxious: Nick Canepa in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “There are a lot of dentists out there who wish this hockey strike would get settled.”

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Segregated: Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle: “At Raider games in the L.A. Coliseum, which is being remodeled, sportswriters are seated directly behind a group of fans, who smoke pot, the rest of the Coliseum having been designated as the drinking-and-fighting section.”

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Wake-up call: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune: “One day Dennis Rodman will need to ask somebody to tell him about the ‘90s.”

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Opinion: Dick Moss, former official in the baseball players’ union, speaking at a recent Friars’ Club benefit on the owners’ approach to the current strike:

“Their approach all along has been unity. But unity in pursuit of a stupid plan is stupid.”

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Just wondering: For the 1995 PGA golf tour, will Payne Stewart wear NFL “throwback” knickers and socks?

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History lesson?Tom Weir in USA Today: “This week’s bad image move: Don Fehr sitting down in a hotel lobby to play the piano during a break at baseball’s labor talks.

“Watching that, you can’t help but think of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.”

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Wild swing: Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe on the Red Sox’s acquisition of Jose Canseco: “Watching Jose strike out is more exciting than seeing Scott Cooper hit a grand slam.”

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Trivia answer: Bezdek coached Oregon in 1917 and the Mare Island Marines in 1918.

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Quotebook: Angel pitcher Chuck Finley on his new teammate, Mitch (Wild Thing) Williams: “Now our team psychologist doesn’t have to feel guilty about coming to work every day.”