He’s Not Ewing and Ahing Over Patrick’s Play

Peter Vecsey of the New York Post thinks center Patrick Ewing, and not Coach Jeff Van Gundy, should be taking the heat for the New York Knicks’ inconsistency, saying:

“If Ewing really wants that championship ring, he’d better take a long, deep look inside his overpaid soul.

“Ewing must stand up and lead, or the only ring he’s going to see is the one left around the whirlpool where he soaks his aching knees.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the Pacific 10 Conference bowl-game record for rushing yards?

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Lower deck: Even though Wilson Alvarez has never won more than 15 games in a season, the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays signed the former San Francisco Giant pitcher to a five-year, $35-million contract.

Said Gary Shelton of the St. Petersburg Times: “His payroll says he is an ace; his resume says he is more like, say, a 10 of clubs.”

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Worth the agony: Over a late-night dinner after watching Chuck Daly agonize on the sideline of a recent Orlando Magic game, a friend told him: “I wouldn’t have your job for a million bucks.”

Daly’s top assistant, Brendan Suhr, laughed and broke in: “Neither would Chuck!” Daly gets $5 million a year to coach the Magic.

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Little big man: Larry Lacewell, the Dallas Cowboys’ director of scouting, commenting on the 5-foot-8 3/4 height of standout rookie linebacker Dexter Coakley:

“I didn’t really care that much about his height, because I’d seen other small linebackers make it in this league. We didn’t bring him in here to put in light bulbs.”

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No way out: Joe Montana, commenting to Jerry Magee of the San Diego Union-Tribune on quarterbacks being smothered under a massive pass rusher:

“That’s where the injuries are taking place, when 200 pounds are under 300 pounds. The physics are pretty easy.”

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Bradshaw fumbles: Rudy Martzke of USA Today gave his “Oops” award to Fox’s Terry Bradshaw for saying the New England Patriots’ “Drew Bledsoe won’t play well against Jacksonville. The game’s too big.”

Bledsoe passed for 234 yards and two touchdowns Sunday as the Patriots won, 26-20.

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Looking back: On this day in 1965, Chicago’s Gale Sayers scored six touchdowns to lead the Bears to a 61-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The six touchdowns gave Sayers a record 21 for the season.

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Trivia answer: Gaston Green of UCLA, 266 yards in the Bruins’ 31-10 victory over Brigham Young in the 1986 Freedom Bowl.

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And finally: Indiana Pacer Coach Larry Bird said he still hasn’t forgotten the sight of Robert Horry throwing a towel in Phoenix Coach Danny Ainge’s face last year in Boston.

“They should have suspended that guy [Horry],” Bird told Norm Frauenheim of the Arizona Republic. “That was a real embarrassment to the NBA. But instead of a suspension, the guy got traded to the league’s best team, the Lakers. They should have sent him to Siberia.”