Coaching Can Be a Dream Job --or Nightmare

Green Bay Packer Coach Mike Holmgren said that losing the Super Bowl game to the Denver Broncos on Jan. 25 left him in a state of depression.

“I was in a funk for about a month,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “That was the first time that ever happened. I had no energy. I couldn’t sleep. I was all screwed up.”

Holmgren said he was so angry with his players during the game that he lost track of what down it was.

“That’s the only time all year I lost a down,” he said. “I was angry. I snapped. I was looking for someone to strangle, to kill on the sidelines.”

Fortunately, he didn’t find anyone.

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Trivia time: Who holds the Final Four record for most free throws made in a game?

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Going, going: Arizona Diamondback Manager Buck Showalter, commenting on the 479-foot home run hit by the Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa at Tucson Electric Park:

“Sammy’s ball would have been out of most national parks. Not National League parks. National parks.”

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Just another fan: Tiger Woods, who is playing in the Players Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., gave a veiled prediction to USA Today on the Stanford-Kentucky men’s basketball game tonight:

“It’s going to be great when I go to San Antonio on Monday to watch my team,” said Woods, who attended Stanford for two years before joining the PGA Tour.

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The big guy: Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated urges fans to support Utah and Coach Rick Majerus in the Final Four.

“Go ahead. Give in to Starch Madness,” Reilly wrote, adding “Majerus always looks like a man shoplifting pillows.”

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Better than No. 66: John Madden on how little regard there is for the National Invitation Tournament: “What’s the winning team going to do? Run around the court and yell, ‘We’re No. 65?’ ”

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FYI: Michigan State, with Magic Johnson, led Pennsylvania, 50-17, at halftime of the 1979 NCAA tournament semifinal game, a record margin, Penn “rallied” in the second half, losing, 101-67.

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Looking back: On this day in 1992, Christian Laettner scored on a 15-foot turnaround jump shot at the buzzer to give Duke a 104-103 overtime victory over Kentucky and a fifth consecutive trip to the Final Four.

The Blue Devils won the NCAA championship by beating Michigan, 71-51.

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Trivia answer: Gail Goodrich of UCLA, with 18 in 20 attempts against Michigan in the 1965 championship game.

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And finally: Lennox Lewis will not be wearing black boxing shoes for his World Boxing Council title fight tonight against Shannon Briggs in Atlantic City, N.J.

His trainer, Emmanuel Steward, contends that “black wears you down, they’re like wearing boots.

“The lighter the colors the lighter you feel. And Lennox is very fleet on his feet. It’s psychological.”