A Tough Guy Who Keeps Coming Back for More

Think of the toughest men in pro football today. What names come to mind?

Greg Lloyd. Reggie White. Cortez Kennedy.

Dave Krieg?

So writes Bob Trumpy in the December edition of Inside Sports, ranking the journeyman quarterback No. 8--ahead of Kennedy and Steve Atwater--on his “Dirty Dozen” list of toughest players in the NFL.

Trumpy’s rationale: “The 18-year NFL veteran has been sacked more times than any other quarterback, he’s fumbled more times than any other player--but he keeps turning up. . . . He’s one of the working stiffs and that’s why his teammates love him wherever he goes. He isn’t a great physical specimen, but he knows how to fit in.”

Trumpy also gives Krieg’s wife and children “recognition for toughness, because the Krieg family is always moving; the Oilers are his sixth team in the past seven seasons.”

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Add “Dirty Dozen”: The Packers’ White gets Trumpy’s vote as the toughest man in the NFL:

“White has never promoted his dark side--he prefers to be viewed as a 300-pound Mother Teresa--but between the lines he’s one of the most violent, abusive players the game has ever seen . . .

“Don’t look him squarely in the eyes, and never cut-block him--don’t do anything that might [tick] him off. White is 35 years old and has been ground down by 15 seasons of pro football, but players still are running away from him.”

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Trivia time: When was baseball’s first expansion draft and who was the first player chosen?

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Faux Boys From Brazil: The Spanish soccer clubs Albacete, Logrones and Salamanca each agreed to shell out $7,000 recently to participate in a series of exhibition games against the famed Brazilian club team Botafogo.

Or so they thought. In actuality, the three Spanish teams were scammed by a group of con artists claiming to be Botafogo, as they began to suspect when “Botafogo” lost the matches by scores of 2-0, 6-0 and 2-0. Their worst suspicions were confirmed when the real Botafogo club, which never left Brazil, heard the news of these shocking defeats in a land far, far away.

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Show us the cheap seats: The hiring of Larry Bird as coach has yet to translate into bustling ticket sales for the Indiana Pacers, but ticket director Mike Henn claims he isn’t surprised.

“More and more,” Henn said, “with ticket prices the way they are, I can’t count on Dad saying at 5 o’clock, ‘Hey, I have a hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket, let’s go to a Pacers game.’ ”

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Trivia answer: The Los Angeles Angels made pitcher Eli Grba the first choice of major league baseball’s first expansion draft in 1960.

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And finally: Detroit Piston center Brian Williams, warning against writing off the slow-starting Chicago Bulls: “Scottie will be back, Dennis will play. I can’t remember how many times Chicago has been counted down. Pat Riley did say as long as Michael’s playing you can never count them out. I don’t agree with much of what Pat says. But I probably agree with that.”