Rison Says Jackson’s Number Is Up

Andre Rison wants jersey No. 80 with his new team, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Willie Jackson, a second-year receiver, currently wears that number.

“Eventually, I’m going to get it, even if Willie and I have got to tussle in the room after curfew,” Rison said. “I offered him some money. We’re still negotiating.”

Why is it so important to Rison? Because he has a tattoo with No. 80 on his left arm.

Trivia time: Who holds the major league record for pinch-hitting batting average for a single season?

Lightening up: After last season’s collapse in the NFL playoffs, Detroit Lion players were warned by Coach Wayne Fontes that they’d better be in shape when summer practice started. Fontes himself dropped a few pounds.

“I don’t know if we have a better team,” the coach said. “I won’t know that until we line up and play. But we look good in shorts.”

Where’s Isaac Newton? The old phrase “what goes up must come down” didn’t hold true when the Cleveland Indians’ Alvaro Espinoza hit a pop fly down the right-field line at the Metrodome in Minneapolis a few years ago. Three Minnesota Twins were camped where they thought it should come down--but it had disappeared into one of the Metrodome speakers.

When it never came down, it was ruled a foul ball, but Minnesota pitcher Jim Deshaies said “it should be like golf, an unplayable lie. Alvaro should have a free drop from the top of the Metrodome.”

Fast acting: Some of Tom Lasorda’s friends have reportedly been calling interim Dodger Manager Bill Russell “Alexander Haig” for the way Russell declared he was “in charge” of the team before Lasorda was even out of the hospital.

He’ll work every day: Peter Gammons asks in the Boston Globe, “Why doesn’t Bob Dole ask Cal Ripken to be his running mate.”

Different strokes: Things you might never know about Kim Maher of Fresno if she weren’t an infielder on the U.S. Olympic softball team:

She has a half-dozen or so tattoos, including the Olympic rings on her buttocks and pierced rings in her breasts.

“I’m not just another girl down the block,” she said when asked about her “body art,” as she calls it.

Trivia answer: Ed Kranepool of the New York Mets, who batted .486 with 17 pinch-hits in 35 at-bats in 1974.

And finally: Coxswain Steve Segaloff of the U. S. crew hoped to meet the Dream Team during opening ceremonies at Atlanta.

“I ended up getting boxed in by a bunch of volleyball players,” he said. “At 5-4, it’s hard to see over everybody, and I don’t think Shaq was looking for me.”