Houston Having Trouble Getting the Big Picture

Jerry Magee in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “A man associated with Houston’s efforts to win an NFL expansion team was talking. ‘I’m not optimistic,’ he said. ‘There are people within the league office who are entranced by all that Los Angeles glitz.’

“Let me say this about that: L.A. is the worst football town in America. Why anybody would even think about operating an NFL club there escapes me.”

Worst football town? Does that apply to UCLA, USC, or the Rams, who had 34 crowds in excess of 80,000--eight of 90,000 or more--before moving to Anaheim in 1980?

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Trivia time: What was the largest crowd to see a regular-season NFL game?

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Flutie revival: Skip Bayless in the Chicago Tribune on Buffalo Bill quarterback Doug Flutie:

“Have you been watching the reincarnation of the Magic Flutie? Of course you have. Do you believe what you see? Flutie returned from Canadian exile with a stronger arm at 35 than he had at 22.

“Constantly throwing through snowstorms can do that for a guy.”

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Short-changed: Denver Bronco wide receiver Rod Smith on losing bonus money after a 1996 playoff loss to Jacksonville:

“Heck, yeah, I remember that. . . . People kill each other over $30,000.”

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Best of the boobirds: Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on booing: “In Philadelphia, they once booed Santa Claus. It’s said Philly fans are so tough they would boo a cure for the common cold.”

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Not so fast: Wallace Matthews of the New York Post has a problem with former Dodger Mike Piazza’s promising, if he is one day inducted, to enter the Hall of Fame as a New York Met.

“Whoa, boy,” Matthews wrote. “Before we book that trip to Cooperstown, can we first stop off at the World Series? Or at least the playoffs?”

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No privacy: Michael Jordan slipped out of the NBA players’ meeting last week at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. As TV cameramen waiting outside turned on the strobe lights and reporters got ready, he said:

“Hey, I’m just going to use the restroom.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1974, Muhammed Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round in Kinshasa, Zaire, to regain the world heavyweight boxing title.

Trivia answer: In 1957, 102,368 saw San Francisco play the Rams at the Coliseum.

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And finally: The New York Times reported that Boston Celtic Kenny Anderson pays $75,000 a year to insure his eight luxury automobiles. But during the NBA lockout, Anderson sees the need for fiscal responsibility.

“I’ve got to get tight,” he said.

Remarked Tony Kornheiser in the Washington Post, “That raises the possibility Anderson could, at great personal sacrifice, decide he needs only seven cars.”