Losing Brooks Doesn’t Upset All of Oregon

Dwight Jaynes of The (Portland) Oregonian on some of the reasons the Rams hired Rich Brooks as coach:

--”Now the people in Anaheim won’t feel so bad about losing their team.”

--”Gerry Faust turned them down.”

--”There are no WAC teams in the NFL.”

Note: Oregon, the Pacific 10 champion in 1994, lost to Hawaii and Utah.

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Trivia time: How many former Ram head coaches previously coached in the Pacific 10 Conference?

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Do-nothing league: How do you get into the playoffs in the Eastern Division of the American Conference of the Continental Basketball League?

Easy. You don’t do anything. With the Harrisburg (Pa.) Hammerheads and the Hartford (Conn.) Hellcats folding, only two teams were left in the Eastern Division--the Pittsburgh Piranhas and the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Fury. They automatically advance.

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I’m fed up and. . . : Dick Motta in Inside Sports on replacing Quinn Buckner as coach of the Dallas Mavericks after serving as a consultant to the franchise:

“I learned a lot by watching Quinn. I tried to do everything opposite. I watched for 2 1/2 months, and I would tell myself, ‘What a shame.’ I wanted to go down on that floor, grab him by the neck, kick him in the butt and take over. Just help the kids.”

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Bench sidebar: Ray Ratto in the San Francisco Examiner on a potential problem facing the 49ers:

“Carmen Policy is a lawyer. Steve Young is a lawyer. (Center) Bart Oates is a lawyer. Marc Trestman, the 49ers’ new offensive coordinator, is a lawyer.

“God help us all if they ever disagree on third and eight.”

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Gangway: Natrone Means, San Diego Charger running back, on the ball-carrying style he developed in junior high school:

“I used to get unnecessary roughness penalties called on me when I was just running ball.”

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Reticent: Gary Payton of the Seattle SuperSonics on trash talking:

“The (new) taunting rule doesn’t make no difference. If I feel like I want to talk, I get a (technical foul). It doesn’t make any difference to me. I’ll say whatever I have to say when I have to.”

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Opinion: Bob Hill, San Antonio Spur coach: “I have no doubt in my mind we can win the West with Dennis Rodman in the right frame of mind the rest of the year.”

Hill had better cross his fingers.

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Looking back: On this day in 1954, Frank Selvy of Furman, a future Laker, set an NCAA Division I record by scoring 100 points in a 149-95 victory over Newberry with 41 field goals and 18 free throws.

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Trivia answer: Three--Clark Shaughnessy (Stanford), Tommy Prothro (UCLA) and John Robinson (USC).

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Quotebook: Tony La Russa, Oakland Athletic manager, on starting spring training with replacement players: “I don’t think even a scorecard will help you keep track of some of the guys who will be playing.”