Cyclops Probably Has His Eye on This Title

Bob Ryan, writing on the NFL in the Boston Globe:

“As distasteful a thought as it may be, the fact remains: Two of these teams will meet in Atlanta on the final Sunday of January, and one of them is going to win the Super Bowl.

“How could things have flip-flopped so dramatically in one year? There are no Minnesotas and no Denvers, superteams steaming toward an apparently inevitable confrontation.

“The National Football League this season is a monument to mediocrity. In the land of the blind, an as-yet-unidentified one-eyed team will emerge as its king.”

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Trivia time: Who shares the NFL record with Walter Payton for consecutive seasons leading the league in rushing attempts?

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Ketchup with that? Mike Ulmer of Canada’s National Post wonders how two NHL general managers have kept their jobs after pulling off a number of bad deals.

“We do not seek to libel or slander Bob Clarke, general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, or New York Islanders GM Mike Milbury,” Ulmer wrote. “But even a cursory look at their records shows a largely unbroken trail of dreadful personnel decisions that in a just world--a world outside the crazy sports universe--would have consigned both to the takeout window at Jack in the Box.

“That would be the second window, where no money is involved.”

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That can’t be: Bob Fedas of the Boston Globe, on the desperate 56-yard pass that Cleveland’s Kevin Johnson caught on the final play of Sunday’s game to beat New Orleans, 21-16:

“A Hail Mary beats the Saints? On a Sunday? Is nothing sacred?”

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Fickle city: Ron Borges in the Boston Globe: “These are tough times for Bill Parcells.

“His predicted romp to the AFC championship has collapsed into a weekly march toward defeat and more injury, and he is now absurdly criticized by the New York media as he was once absurdly praised by them.”

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Sweetness was toughness: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune: “[Walter] Payton’s most vital contemporary, Franco Harris, saved himself by running out of bounds. Payton never ran out of bounds. Never.

“Payton was the toughest Bear, tougher than Butkus or Ditka or Hampton. Payton has more records than any Bear, is held in more hearts than any Bear. Forever.”

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Somber thought: This year the sports world lost Pee Wee Reese, Joe DiMaggio, Catfish Hunter, Gene Sarazen, Payne Stewart, Wilt Chamberlain and now Payton.

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Trivia answer: Steve Van Buren of Philadelphia, four.

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And finally: Emmitt Smith, after the Dallas Cowboy running back won his fourth consecutive NFL rushing title in 1995:

“Every Monday morning I feel like I’ve been in a car wreck. I used to think I could break Walter Payton’s [rushing] record, but the more I look at it, the more superhuman it gets. I mean, he caught passes and returned kicks too.”