Maybe a Better Strategy Would Be to Cut His Corner

Oscar De La Hoya is getting useful advice from all corners--after his own might have misguided him in his championship fight Saturday night against Felix Trinidad.

From Wallace Matthews of the New York Post:

“You want to know who--or what--beat Oscar De La Hoya Saturday night?”

” . . . Arrogance. The arrogance of De La Hoya and his corner and his promoter and his fans. Boy, were they smug going into the fight and boy, were they shocked coming out of it. In both cases, they should not have been.”

Mark Kriegel of the New York Daily News had one simple recommendation:

“Oscar De La Hoya’s post-fight ritual usually includes the firing of his own trainer. For once, the move would be justified. . . . Lose the trainer.”

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Trivia time: Teammates have finished 1-2 in the Heisman Trophy voting only once. Who were they and what was the year?

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Caddie, caddie: Payne Stewart on facing the Europeans in this weekend’s Ryder Cup:

“On paper, they should be caddying for us. But that isn’t what this is about. It’s about bringing your game to the event, and they bring it.”

Europe is trying for a third consecutive triumph.

“If we lose this year, after [losing] the Presidents Cup and losing the last two Ryder Cups--and after all that controversy over money--well, it’s going to be bad,” Davis Love III said. “So we can’t lose. We just can’t lose.”

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No Elway, no way: John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News, on ESPN’s omission of John Elway from its list of the century’s top 100 athletes:

“And while I might argue how great an athlete a golfer is, compared with a football, basketball, baseball or hockey player, I understand the need to be inclusive in this kind of evaluation.

” . . . But under every stretch of the imagination, even if the number of football players has an unwritten limit, John Elway absolutely must be on that list.”

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Sand man: The A’s are raving about second baseman Randy Velarde, acquired from the Angels on July 29.

“The guy should have power, look at him,” right fielder Matt Stairs told the San Francisco Examiner. “The guy’s shredded. He’s Atlas Jr.”

Said A’s Manager Art Howe: “Can you make cement without sand? He’s the sand to our cement.”

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Add A’s: Jim Caple of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, noting that Oakland’s three best starters began the season in Kansas City, Anaheim and Midland, Texas: “They have as much business competing for a playoff spot as Keanu Reeves does competing for an Academy Award nomination.”

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Trivia answer: Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis of Army in 1945.

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And finally: Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, on transforming his 1-15 team of 1989 into championship material: “I danced with the devil and lived to tell about it.”