Real Payoff for Labonte Is the Trophy

In an era of athletes demanding multimillion-dollar salaries, well beyond the comprehension of the day-to-day working stiff, stock car champion Bobby Labonte offers a refreshing thought about winning.

Labonte’s NASCAR Winston Cup championship will pay him $3 million at the New York awards banquet this week. But this is what he told Sandra McKee of the Baltimore Sun:

“I wanted [the championship] for the trophy. As corny as it might sound, that trophy means I have accomplished a goal. It means, even when the money is gone and none of us have any idea where it went, the trophy will be sitting there in my living room, letting me know that in the year 2000, we were the best and at the top.”

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Trivia time: Who are the only basketball Hall of Famers enshrined both as players and coaches?

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Give a cheer: Among the things Keith Langlois of the Oakland (Mich.) Press says he is thankful for: “That college basketball isn’t poisoned by anything remotely as idiotic as the Bowl Championship Series.”

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Sideline fodder: There will be more than the game on the line for TV cameramen today when the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Oakland Raiders. Cameras will be trained on the animated coaches, the Steelers’ Bill Cowher and the Raiders’ Jon Gruden.

“They are a lot alike,” said Raider wide receiver David Dunn, who used to play for the Steelers. “They are both intense and have that look. I can’t wait to go out there and watch them stare each other down.”

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The decider: Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“When does Bush vs. Gore go to strength of schedule?”

Move over, Tiger: Bud Bradley, nine-time Wilshire Country Club champion, has accomplished his own international Triple Crown.

When Bradley won the Canadian Senior Amateur at Laval-sur-de-Lac, Quebec, it followed wins in the U.S. Junior Amateur 46 years ago at the Los Angeles Country Club, and the British Senior Amateur.

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Big numbers: In all the Heisman Trophy talk, how about a word for quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan of UC Davis. In a Division II playoff game against Mesa State, “Just Touchdowns” completed 21 of 24 passes for 364 yards and six touchdowns in a 62-18 rout of a team that had won 10 consecutive games.

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That hurts: After Denver Bronco lineman Mark Schlereth underwent his 29th surgery, David Whitley of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel wrote:

“He’s only 11 behind the American Medical Assn. leader, Cher.”

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Trivia answer: John Wooden, who played at Purdue, and Lenny Wilkens, who played at Providence.

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And finally: Marty Moore was Mr. Irrelevant when he was the 222nd and last pick in the 1994 NFL draft. After he was wined and dined by Orange County host Paul Salata and other Irrelevants, few expected Moore to survive in pro football.

Seven years later, Moore is a starting linebacker for the Cleveland Browns.

“If I get another year, I’ll be crowned king of Irrelevant Week,” Moore said.