Two Weeks Much Too Long to Wait for the Super Bowl

John C. O’Brien is writing in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on what he has learned during the hype of previous Super Bowls. A sampling:

“I’ve learned that Ickey’s [Woods] brother was nicknamed ‘Cokey’ because his head was shaped like a coconut, and that the father of Edward De Bartolo Jr. [the owner of the San Francisco 49ers) was called--are you ready for this?--’Senior.’

“Former Dallas Cowboy coach Jimmy Johnson went to the same high school as Janis Joplin, and that Buffalo Bill receiver Bill Brooks once threw up in the locker room room before practice.

“Now, that’s football news.”

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Trivia time: Can you name the former UCLA and USC athletes who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

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Come again? Some wisdom from Dennis Rodman:

“A lot of teams are afraid of the [Chicago] Bulls because of who the individuals are. They have to concentrate on so many people that they are skeptical about what they’ll be able to do. They’re so worried about how to play us that they forget to just play us.”

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Numbers game: During Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941, he had to be the best hitter in baseball, right?

Not quite. From Game 1 through Game 56, DiMaggio hit .408. During the same period, Ted Williams hit .412, according to numbers provided by Daniel Berger of the Boston Red Sox.

That was the year Williams finished at .406, the last .400 batting average in the major leagues.

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Mr. Personality: Jim Hodges of The Times sports staff recalled that before Super Bowl XIII, involving Dallas and Pittsburgh, Steeler coach Chuck Noll picked up the nickname “Chuck Droll.”

On a bulletin board outside the media room was a sheet of paper headed: Quotable Quotes from Chuck Noll’s press conference.

It was blank.

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Make up your mind: David Moore in the Dallas Morning News:

“Out of bounds: To New York’s Charles Oakley, who complained that Don Nelson doesn’t work the Knicks hard enough.

“Oakley, one of Pat Riley’s most outspoken critics, often complained that the former Knick coach worked them too hard. Oakley should just keep quiet and rebound.”

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Yawn: David Roos of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal wrote that 6,000 soccer fans showed up in the rain last Thursday in Chaves, Portugal, to watch the completion of a Dec. 30 game that had been interrupted by a power outage with the score tied, 1-1.

They saw 2 1/2 minutes of scoreless action, which is to be expected in soccer.

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Trivia answer: Bob Waterfield, Tom Fears and Jimmy Johnson of UCLA, Frank Gifford, Willie Wood, Ron Mix, O.J. Simpson and Morris (Red) Badgro of USC.

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Quotebook: Boxer Tommy Morrison on working with promoter Don King: “I don’t mind being in a room full of snakes if the lights are on.”