He’s Fine at Line, but He Sputters With a Putter

Spud Webb of the Sacramento Kings has made 103 of 107 free throws this season.

When asked which is more difficult, a 15-foot free throw or a four-foot putt, Webb, an avid golfer, didn’t hesitate: “A four-foot putt.”

Webb noted that opposing players sometimes try to harass him when he steps to the free-throw line. “They’ll say, ‘This is just like a four-foot putt.’ They’ll try to mess with me,” he said.

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Trivia time: Who is the only player to win the Super Bowl most valuable player award while playing on the losing team?

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Can-did: Pitcher Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd, a former major leaguer, says he’ll cross the picket line and be a replacement player:

“If anybody calls The Can a scab, I’ll kick their . . . They can’t call me that. Ain’t no kid nowhere paid the dues that I paid to play in the big leagues.

“They better know whose toes they are stepping on because Dennis Boyd ain’t letting nobody step on his toes. There’s nobody that can tell me what to do. I have to do this for The Can and nobody else.”

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Stretching it: Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe: “When you really think about it, the World Cup (soccer) final might actually be better than Super Bowl XXIX.”

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Any argument? Lyle Spencer of the Riverside Press-Enterprise suggests that the Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club, Feb. 23-26, should be renamed the Nissan Jim Murray Open because “he has done as much for golf with his words as Palmer and Nicklaus have with their swings.”

Take it back: Jeff DeForrest on WIOD radio in South Florida, discussing the baseball strike:

“Replacement players? That’s like going to a Chinese restaurant, ordering Szechwan duck and they bring you Chungking chicken.”

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No kidding! After Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls was ejected from a Tuesday night game against San Antonio and threw a chair across the court before storming to the dressing room, Chicago Coach Phil Jackson said in an understatement:

“It’s obvious that Scottie has been under a lot pressure.”

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Sign language: Woody Paige of the Denver Post went to Jimmy Johnson’s restaurant in Miami and saw a woman near a water tank, dressed like a mermaid.

“Are you a vegetarian?” he asked. “No, Sagittarian,” she replied.

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Nutso and bolts: Janine Lawrence was one of the 5,000 Charger fans who got up in the dark Friday to stand in a chilly San Diego parking lot and form a human lightning bolt.

“OK, so we’re a little nutso,” she said, grinning.

The huge human bolt, sponsored by a radio station at the crack of dawn, was just the latest example of Super Bowl fever.

Consider:

--On a Navy aircraft carrier out at sea, sailors formed another human bolt on the giant flat top.

--An effigy of 49er quarterback Steve Young dangles in the wind over busy Interstate 8.

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Poverty: Nick Kypreos, New York Ranger forward, asked by customs officials if he had anything to declare upon re-entering the United States after the NHL lockout ended:

“No, the owners took it all.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1990, the San Francisco 49ers routed the Denver Broncos, 55-10, in the most lopsided Super Bowl victory.

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Trivia answer: Chuck Howley of the Dallas Cowboys in 1971.

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Quotebook: Danny Ozark, former Philadelphia Phillie manager on his team’s losing streak: “It’s beyond my apprehension.”