State of This Rivalry Was Never Stable

Carmen Policy, president of the San Francisco 49ers, reflecting on the 49er-Ram rivalry to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch when the Rams were in Los Angeles:

“San Franciscans consider themselves to be stable, solid, articulate, classy and substantive people. Whereas LA is viewed to be tinsel, pizazz, Hollywood, trendy, and less real.”

Haight-Ashbury, classy?

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Add rivalry: After San Francisco routed the Los Angeles--oops St. Louis--Rams, 44-10, last Sunday, 49er fullback William Floyd said:

“These guys kind of disrespected us. Everyone here made a consolidated effort to go out and demolish those guys.”

So what’s new. It was the Rams’ 10th consecutive defeat by the 49ers.

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Trivia time: What is the NFL record for the largest regular-season crowd?

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Recount in order: Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle: “From Rich Lieberman: ‘Now they’re saying there were 2 million people at the Million Man March--but Don King counted it.’ ”

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NHL record?: From Michael Arace of the Hartford Courant: “At the Florida Panthers’ home opener, against Calgary two weeks ago, forward Scott Mellanby [killed] a rat in the locker room and then went out and scored two goals. Teammate John Vanbiesbrouck called Mellanby’s feat “a rat trick.”

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Can’t they count?: Shaun Powell of Newsday on how the replacement NBA officials have done while the regulars have been locked out:

“Referees called the Cleveland Cavaliers for illegal defense when the Detroit Pistons had only four players on the floor.”

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Hey, look at me: Tampa Bay Buccaneer Coach Sam Wyche on his team’s 5-3 record: “If you’re not winning, there’s a lot of times you’re making sure somebody is hiding the sharp objects. There are other times you love to pump your own gas just to see who notices.”

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Stressed out: Chad Brown, Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker, after blacking out during a game with Jacksonville, an NFL expansion team, on Oct. 8: “Maybe I looked up at the scoreboard and saw we were losing to Jacksonville and fainted.”

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Reality check: Reality check: Whitey Herzog, former St. Louis Cardinal manager, on the Cardinals’ hiring Tony La Russa as their next manager:

“He’ll do all right. But I get a kick out of it when people say he’ll sell tickets. He ain’t going to sell any more tickets. They better win some games.”

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Doint it my way: From the “Golf Hall of Shame” by Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo: “The first time Frank Sinatra played golf with Arnold Palmer in Palm Springs, Old Blue Eyes spent more time in the rough than the fairways.

“After the round, Sinatra asked Palmer, ‘What do you think of my game?’ ‘Not bad,’ Palmer replied. ‘But I still prefer golf.’ ”

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Trivia answer: The Rams defeated the 49ers, 37-24, before 102,368 at the Coliseum on Nov. 10, 1957.

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Quotebook: New Jersey Net forward Jayson Williams on his off-season free agency: “The [Chicago] Bulls had me in for a four-hour psychological test and the next day they went out and signed Dennis Rodman.”