No Advantage in This Family Power Play

Pavel Bure’s father says he’s rooting against his son and the Florida Panthers in their NHL playoff series with the New Jersey Devils.

“I have to be going for New Jersey,” Vladimir Bure said. “My heart is with the Devils.”

The elder Bure made his comments to the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale on the eve of Thursday night’s first game of the series, won by the Devils.

Father and son haven’t spoken in nearly three years. Neither will say why.

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Trivia time: The NFL draft was inaugurated in 1936. Who was the first player selected?

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Woof-woof or meow? Bill Lyon in the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Given the choice, which would you rather be--a dog or a cat?

“This is an actual question asked of potential draft picks by a psychologist employed by 10 NFL teams.”

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Top priority: “Speed is the key in the NFL draft this weekend,” comedy writer Alan Ray told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Teams will be looking for players who can outrun the police.”

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No Waterloo: Steve Rosenbloom in the Chicago Tribune: “After drafting Peyton Manning two years ago and Edgerrin James last year, Colts uber-football guy Bill Polian patrols the team headquarters with such imperiousness that people refer to him as ‘Napoleon.’ ”

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Signing frenzy: Headline in the New York Daily News announcing the Keyshawn Johnson trade to Tampa Bay: “Just Give Me the Damn Pen.”

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Denial, denial: In noting Pete Rose’s 59th birthday Friday, Steve Davis of the Dallas Morning News suggested that it should be celebrated “by giving yourself a ridiculous haircut.

“Then despite overwhelming evidence, try to convince everyone in the office that it never happened.”

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Sick stuff: From comedy writer Jerry Perisho: “A German robot named ‘Otto’ recently helped surgeons attach an artificial ear to a patient. The operation was completed in the Evander Holyfield wing of Vincent van Gogh Memorial Hospital.”

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Trivia answer: Jay Berwanger, a halfback from University of Chicago, by Philadelphia. He didn’t elect to play pro football. Berwanger was also the first Heisman Trophy winner.

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And finally: “The best story to come out of a pre-draft examination,” says Tim Keown of ESPN The Magazine, “came a few years ago when a prospect taking an intelligence/psychology test from the New York Giants was asked to respond to a true/false question that read: ‘I like tall women.’

“The prospect, perhaps not realizing how many stern-faced professors of football would be examining his head as well as his body, responded by crossing out the ‘t’ in tall.”