He Looks Down on Pittsburgh From a Mile High

Woody Paige of the Denver Post couldn’t work up any animosity about Pittsburgh this year as he did in 1978 when he called himself an “immature cynic.”

“I wrote about people showing up there the first time and saying: ‘Boy, is this the pits. Let’s call it Pittsburgh.’

“And how everybody said ‘How youse doing?’ and wiping their hands on their dirty dungarees before shaking your hand.”

Even though Paige said he has mellowed toward Pittsburgh, he couldn’t resist at least one shot at the city before last Sunday’s game against the Broncos:

“But I’d rather be a toilet seat in Denver than the mayor of Pittsburgh, and why hate some bodies who are about to lose?”

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Add Denver: Bronco fans should be elated that their team is playing in the Super Bowl. However, longtime fan Janet Seewald told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “It’s almost worse to get there and not [win] it.”

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Trivia time: When did Stanford last win or share a men’s basketball conference championship?

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Sock it to him: Denver quarterback John Elway is superstitious, like many other athletes, but is endeavoring to become less so.

“I had so many [superstitions] they became a pain,” Elway said. “I would wear socks on the same feet.”

Asked how someone knows which socks belong on which feet, he said: “That’s where it really gets hard.”

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Clip and save: Washington State Coach Mike Price on quarterback Ryan Leaf’s impending pro career: “By the time Ryan is done, he will be the best that ever played the game.”

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Goading Gotham: TNT’s Hubie Brown didn’t endear himself to New York Knick fans when he said: “The Knicks are all about hype. Year after year, they don’t back it up.”

Does that include the years that Brown was their coach?

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Sick stuff: From NBC’s Conan O’Brien: “Evander Holyfield says he hasn’t ruled out fighting Mike Tyson again. When asked why he’d want another fight with Tyson, he said, ‘I’d like my ears to match.’ ”

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Cruel but true: Mike Monroe of the Denver Post on the Nuggets, who have the NBA’s worst record at 2-32:

“Losing to the Nuggets has been a mark of shame for any team, let alone good ones. Now even the bottom feeders regard the Nuggets as the real pond scum.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1968, the Green Bay Packers won their second consecutive Super Bowl, defeating the Oakland Raiders, 33-14, in Miami. Green Bay quarterback Bart Starr was the game’s most valuable player.

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Trivia answer: Stanford and UCLA tied for first in 1962-63, when the Pacific 10 Conference was called the Athletic Assn. of Western Universities.

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And finally: Eric Lindros of the Philadelphia Flyers on the recent U.S. Figure Skating Championships:

“I can’t believe they can do what they can do. The quad? Where the guy spins four times in the air? You won’t see me doing that. I have a tough enough time getting up and down the ice.”