Replace Deion With a Pope! Is That Smug?

Guest columnist Skip Bayless, who lives in Dallas, took some shots at the 49ers in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“In September, [Jerry] Rice blasted his ex-teammate, saying the 49ers wouldn’t miss Deion [Sanders].

“Rice is wrong. The 49ers grew so smug that they actually thought they could replace cornerback Deion with safety Marquez Pope.

“That’s like replacing Cindy Crawford with Broderick Crawford.”

*

Add Sanders: Dallas Cowboy safety Darren Woodson in the Sporting News on the acquisition of Sanders:

“We have so many egos on this team that some of the best egos haven’t ever been seen by the public. They get overwhelmed in here. All Deion will do is bring more ego to the table. He won’t be disrupting anything.”

*

Trivia time: Who holds the NFL record for most yards receiving in a game?

*

Payback: In 1962, the year after he bought the Cleveland Browns, Art Modell fired legendary coach Paul Brown, after whom the team was named.

In his 1979 autobiography, Brown wrote that he and Modell had a “basic conflict between two different philosophies of operation--one from knowledge and experience; the other from a complete lack of either.”

*

Easy does it: Wilson Kipketer, world 800-meter champion, debunked one myth about Kenyan runners in Track & Field News.

“Unlike many Kenyan children, I didn’t have to run to school and back. Our farmhouse was next to the school. So I could walk there nice and slowly.”

*

Out of sight: Philadelphia journalist Herm Rogul, in his new book “Winning Sportswriting,” recalled that fellow Philadelphian, comedian Bill Cosby, once competed in track for the Quantico Marines:

“Cosby high-jumped 6-5 for the first time in the national AAU meet and placed 17th. He recalled Charlie Dumas and Ernie Shelton [former USC athletes] clearing 6-5 with their warmup suits on.”

*

Get real: Gene Collier in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “The NFC Psychotic of the Month is Sam Wyche, coach of the spunky Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“After the Bucs lost to Atlanta [Oct. 22] and had their record modified to 5-3, Sam said: ‘We feel lousy. That’s how you feel when you’re used to winning.’ Under Sam, the Bucs have won 21 of their past 56.”

*

Exterminator needed: Tampa Bay Lightning Coach Terry Crisp on how he wants his hockey team to play: “We’ve got to be hitting, pounding, being in their face. We’ve got to be a nasty, grinding, miserable little rat pack out there.”

*

FYI: Rob Fitzgerald, who played cornerback for the University of Missouri from 1974-76, has made it big as the star of the Bud Light commercial who delivers the line: “I love you, man.”

*

Trivia answer: Willie (Flipper) Anderson of the Los Angeles Rams, with 336 yards against New Orleans on Nov. 26, 1989, in an overtime game.

*

Quotebook: Detroit Piston Coach Doug Collins, philosophizing on the NBA: “Everybody is just a pulled ligament from mediocrity.”