Two Crashes in Three Days Can Make Anyone a Wreck

Did you hear about that auto accident UCLA Coach Bob Toledo and assistant Mark Weber were involved in while recruiting Monday in Norcross, Ga.? They must not have been driving defensively.

Bad joke. Toledo was visibly suffering from shoulder, back and neck pain while appearing at a news conference in Pasadena on Wednesday with his Rose Bowl counterpart, Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez.

The emotional toll of the accident might linger even longer. The collision occurred when the driver of the other car had her vision impaired by a smiley face balloon in the passenger seat and crashed into the car driven by Weber. Both cars were totaled, but no one was seriously injured.

“We’re lucky to be alive,” Toledo said. “It put that Miami game in perspective, I’ll tell you that.”

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Unfortunately for Toledo, the media were at the Tournament House to remind him how tragic the loss was. . . .

He was critical of Bruin defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti earlier this season but not Wednesday. . . .

“We had people in the right place,” he said. “We just didn’t do the job.” . . .

That doesn’t give him cause for optimism when he considers his defense against Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne. When the 5-foot-11, 253-pound tailback gains 100 yards, the Badgers are 18-4. . . .

“We couldn’t stop Edgerrin James, so I don’t know,” Toledo said. “We’re going to practice tackling a pickup truck.” . . .

Craig James is perhaps the most credible of television’s college football analysts, but he whiffed when he said Wisconsin is the worst team ever to play in the Rose Bowl game. . . .

The 10-1 Badgers were first in the Big Ten Conference in total defense and rushing offense and beat a pretty good Penn State team, 24-3, to end the regular season. . . .

“I don’t think any time you win 10 games you have to apologize to anybody,” Alvarez said. . . .

The foot injury that kept Eric Young out of the Dodgers’ last 11 games must no longer be bothering him. . . .

He was healthy enough to walk down the aisle Saturday in Chattanooga, Tenn., for his wedding to Malika Hakeem. She’s the daughter of a Chattanooga city councilman. . . .

Bill Russell, a guest at the wedding, remained in Tennessee for the winter meetings in Nashville, where he’s looking for a job. . . .

He might not have been the right manager for last season’s Dodgers, but he’s a good baseball man who belongs on a major league team’s coaching staff. . . .

I hate to see the NBA All-Star game canceled, although I have to say the greatest performance I ever saw at one was not delivered by a player. . . .

It was Marvin Gaye singing the national anthem at the Forum in 1983. . . .

Shaquille O’Neal, Eddie Jones, Kenny Anderson and other NBA players participating in the game Sunday at Pauley Pavilion are donating the proceeds to charities--the Chris Mills Youth Foundation, Hollenbeck Youth Center and United Way. . . .

That was not the case with a game involving striking NFL players in 1982 at the Coliseum. . . .

Asked by Steven Herbert of the Post Newspaper Group why he participated, John Riggins, who had played in another exhibition the day before in Washington, said, “Money, money.” . . .

Paid attendance for that game at the Coliseum was 680. . . .

As far as I know, that game wasn’t saved on tape for posterity. . . .

But then neither was Super Bowl I at the Coliseum, even though it was televised by CBS and NBC. . . .

Other games ESPN’s Classic Sports Network reports have been lost are ones in which Bobby Thomson hit his shot heard around the world, Don Larsen pitched a perfect game, Bill Mazeroski’s home run won the 1960 World Series and David Thompson and North Carolina State beat Bill Walton and UCLA. . . .

In a less-than-flattering reference to sportswriters, Bob Knight once said that most people learn to write in the third grade and then move on to other things. . . .

Yeah, and most people quit throwing tantrums even before then.

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“They lost today,” the boy told him.

“That means nothing. The great DiMaggio is himself again.”

--”The Old Man and the Sea”

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While wondering if San Diego voters would like to vote again on that stadium bond issue after the Padres failed to re-sign Ken Caminiti, Steve Finley and probably Kevin Brown, I was thinking: The hardest-working person in the NBA charity games will be the scorekeepers, may NFL teams voting against instant replay be burned by the officials, Archie Moore was tougher longer than just about anyone who ever boxed.

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.