How Moody Is Rodman? Just Ask the Doc

Guard Doc Rivers of the San Antonio Spurs told Raad Cawthon of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the Spurs miss Dennis Rodman, now with the Chicago Bulls.

“He was so unpredictable, he scared the other players,” Rivers said. “There’d be a loose ball or someone would want to drive the lane, but they didn’t know what frame of mind Dennis would be in.

“They didn’t know if he’d be in a good mood or the kind of mood where he’d want to beat the hell out of you.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the Super Bowl record for the longest field goal?

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Super speed: The Super Bowl even reaches into thoroughbred racing. Here are some horses’ names inspired by the game: Super Bowl Sunday, Super Bowl Shuffle, Arizona Bound, Dallas Attack, Cowboy Cheerleader, Super Bowl Widow, Switzer, Aikman, Steeler, Pittsburgh and Aikman To Emit. Obviously, spelling doesn’t count.

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Bury it: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune: “Interleague play is a novelty, hatched from desperation, an old idea that was stashed in there with Charles Finley’s Day-Glo baseballs and Bill Veeck’s circus freaks. That is where it should have stayed.”

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Nate’s world: Some observations from Nate Newton, the Dallas Cowboys’ 320-pound offensive lineman:

On what size clothes he buys: “When you’re this size, you don’t have sizes, all you have is X’s. Seriously, everything I buy has got an X on it. Right now I’m between three-X and four-X.”

On his meal the previous night: “I had frogs legs for my appetizer. That’s why I’m so jumpy this morning.”

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Nose for food: Jim Steeg, NFL executive director of special events, on the advice he gives hotel managers on how to deal with the media at the Super Bowl:

“If you want the [reporters] to go in a certain direction, you draw them in with the odor of sliced roast beef.”

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Step lightly: Charles Barkley of the Phoenix Suns on returning to the lineup after having been out because of an injured big toe:

“Please, America, don’t step on my toe. I’m going to beat the . . . out of the first person who steps on my toe. But first, I’m asking them not to step on it.”

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FYI: UCLA’s Jonathan Ogden, a 6-foot-8, 320-pound shotputter who will compete in the L.A. Invitational indoor track meet Feb. 24 at the Sports Arena, is the largest athlete in the 36-year history of the event.

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Trivia answer: Steve Christie of Buffalo, 54 yards against Dallas in Super Bowl XXVIII.

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Quotebook: New Miami Dolphin Coach Jimmy Johnson, describing his former boss, Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones: “Jerry wants a lot of things. In fact, Jerry wants everything.”