A Story Lies Behind These Storied Names

“The Complete Book of Sports Nicknames,” coauthored by Burnham Holmes and Louis Phillips, outlines the origins of individual and sports nicknames. A sampling:

“Casey--Charles Dillon Stengel (baseball): His nickname originated because he was from Kansas City (K.C.).

“Bear--Paul William Bryant (football coach). At 14, he was reportedly getting a dollar a minute to wrestle a bear at a carnival.

“After pinning the bear, the muzzle came off the animal and it bit Bryant, who jumped from the stage and ran out of the theater. He never got his money.

“Bambi--Lance Alworth (football, Chargers). His nickname came from the deerlike way he ran.

“Rams--St. Louis (formerly L.A. and Cleveland). In 1937, the new Cleveland team in the NFL took its nickname from one of the best college teams in the country, the Fordham Rams.”

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Trivia time: What was the result of the first NBA championship series in the 1946-47 season?

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Wild ride: Ron Wilson, coach of the Washington Capitals, has a knack of finding off-beat ways to entertain his team. He took his players bowling a few weeks ago, then trumped that last week, while on a break in Las Vegas, by taking them on a roller coaster ride at one of the casinos.

“I wanted them to see what being a coach was like,” Wilson told the Washington Post. “You’re going around and around, being upside down, and you’re terrified. And then, when it’s over, you get that incredible rush of elation, like, ‘Oh, my God. I survived this game and I didn’t have a heart attack.’ ”

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Covering the court: Joe Knowles in the Chicago Tribune: “The United States Tennis Assn. is offering free tennis lessons to locked out NBA players.

“From the looks of his waistline in Saturday night’s charity game, Shawn Kemp can play doubles all by himself.”

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Exorcism: New England Patriot linebacker Chris Slade, on Sunday’s game with the New York Jets: “We need to beat the [Jets]. That’s the only way for the ghost of Bill [Parcells] to be gone.”

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Just wondering: Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News: “If indeed you drive for show and putt for dough, how come the tour’s leading putter, Rick Fehr, ranks 138th on the money list?”

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Looking back: On this day in 1951, Norm Van Brocklin and Tom Fears teamed on a 73-yard touchdown pass play in the fourth quarter to give the L.A. Rams a 24-17 victory over the Cleveland Browns and the NFL title at the Coliseum.

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At long last: Charger fans have been on pins and needles all week, waiting for the announcement, and today’s the day. Hawaii-bound interim Coach June Jones will reveal the starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Jones is picking between Craig Whelihan, who has thrown 13 interceptions in the last four games, and rookie Ryan Leaf, who was benched after starting the first nine games and has made one relief appearance since, throwing two interceptions and fumbling once.

Leaf thinks he knows how the selection will go.

“I don’t think my teammates want me out there,” he said.

He may be right. The San Diego Union- Tribune reported that some Chargers have criticized Leaf for falling asleep in meetings.

Leaf, ever the wordsmith, had a perfect comeback.

“I don’t understand how anybody would know,” he said.

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Trivia answer: The Philadelphia Warriors defeated the Chicago Stags, 4-1, in a best-of-seven series.

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And finally: Woody Paige of the Denver Post, on the Broncos losing to Miami on Monday night:

“The Broncos looked like a junior varsity team. In the marquee matchup, if the two 50,000-yard and $10-million quarterbacks were being contrasted, Dan Marino was Dom Perignon and John Elway was Boone’s Farm.

“Swell and swill.”