He Used to Keep His Cowboys on a Short Leash

Dallas Cowboy deep snapper Dale Hellestrae on former coach Jimmy Johnson, now with the Miami Dolphins:

“I heard he’s a changed man. I heard he carries a dog on the flight with him--Buttercup. I heard he actually held up the plane for Buttercup. It had to go to the bathroom or something.

“He wouldn’t hold up the plane for Michael Irvin when he was here. But for Buttercup, yeah, we can do that.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the single-game NBA record for steals?

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No sympathy: Tony Ayala Jr. has resumed his boxing career after serving 17 years on a rape conviction. And he offers his perspective on another often troubled fighter:

“Mike Tyson is a jerk. Four years in jail and $100 million in purses, and he cries to the world that he’s misunderstood.”

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Wordsmith: Indianapolis Colt Coach Jim Mora on disciplining players: “If you start wavering on rules and regulations, you’ve got problems. You start to acquiesce.”

Acquiesce. Now that’s a classy word for a coach.

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Heavy stuff: David Casstevens says in the Arizona Republic that his favorite football award is the Melberger Award, presented each year to the outstanding player in Division III by the Downtown Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Touchdown Club.

“The award depicts an old-fashioned leather football helmet resting on a grass field. Made of anthracite coal and weighing 55 pounds, the objet d’art would make any athlete--or locomotive engineer--proud.”

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Benched: Massachusetts basketball Coach Bruiser Flint hoped his players would learn to speak better when he suspended himself for one game. They played better too.

Three days after using profanity on his postgame radio show following a loss to Marshall, he watched from a glassed-in reception room as his players beat Boston University, 70-51, Thursday night under associate coach Geoff Arnold.

Flint said he imposed the one-game suspension because he would have done it to a player who used that language. He said he received about a dozen calls Thursday, and he’s concerned about the publicity his move generated.

“It scares me that people praise me for doing what I think is right, because it says they think there’s a lot of wrong going on,” Flint said.

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They can’t gloat: Jay Leno on the throat-slashing gesture in the NFL, which will now draw a fine: “The Cincinnati Bengals are really upset. They said, ‘That’s not fair. We haven’t had a chance to do one yet.’ ”

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Trivia answer: Larry Kenon of San Antonio against Kansas City on Dec. 26, 1976, and Kendall Gill of New Jersey against Miami on April 3, 1999, 11 each.

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And finally: In an interview in ESPN The Magazine, Detroit Piston star Grant Hill said, “Charles [Barkley] got along well with my parents at the Olympics.

“When we had that bomb scare at the Omni in Atlanta, he told my parents that if anything happened to them, he would take care of me.

“That’s all I need, Charles Barkley taking care of me.”