On a Scale of 1 to 10, He’s an 11

Minnesota became the first 11th-place football team in Big Ten history last year, and Coach Jim Wacker noted this dubious achievement by saying:

“I used to think it was mathematically impossible. It just shows you what you can do if you stay focused.”

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Trivia time: How many major league players have hit 500 or more home runs while playing for only one team?

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Stepping down: Adam Kucera, who had a brief fling of fame as a Nebraska quarterback last year, is back doing what he does best to help the team--being a student manager.

He was asked to fill in as a scout-team player after four other quarterbacks were injured or left school.

“I checked and I’m in the media guide with one pass and one carry,” said a proud Kucera, who played in the Cornhuskers’ 70-21 rout of Pacific.

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Sinking pug: Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle on the strange ending of the Mike Tyson-Peter McNeeley bout last Saturday night:

“Somewhere in the blather of [television] announcers just after the ‘fight’ ended, I swear one of them said something like, ‘McNeeley really gave a good accounting of himself.’ So did the captain of the Titanic, for a while.”

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Rip-off: Cal Ripken is scheduled to break Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games played on Sept. 6 in Baltimore and scalpers are drooling over the prospect.

One broker has an advertisement running in the Baltimore Sun. His asking price for $7 tickets ranges from $300 and $750, depending on location.

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Perfect record: ESPN basketball commentator Dick Vitale, a former NBA and college coach, said he’s always asked by coaches if he misses coaching, adding that they miss the point.

“On Monday, I coach Arkansas. On Wednesday, I coach North Carolina,” he said. “In 16 years, I haven’t lost any games.”

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War of words: Dan Marino takes up 35 pages in the Miami Dolphin media guide, which was believed to be a professional sports record until this year.

Quarterback Dave Krieg’s biography in the Arizona Cardinal media guide runs 40 pages. “We’ll get them next year,” vowed Harvey Greene, Miami media relations director.

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Looking back: On this day in 1940, outfielder Ted Williams pitched the last two innings for the Boston Red Sox against Detroit at Fenway Park. He gave up one run on three hits but struck out Rudy York on three pitches. The Tigers won, 12-1.

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Trivia answer: Five. Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks, Ted Williams, Mel Ott and Mike Schmidt.

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Quotebook: When asked what he could take out of a recent 31-7 exhibition game defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriot Coach Bill Parcells said: “I can take the plane home.”