A Cowboy Coach Who Always Knows the Score

Frank Luksa in the Dallas Morning News on new Dallas Cowboy Coach Dave Campo:

“[Campo] was once a musical celebrity. He sang second tenor in a Connecticut high school for ‘The Windjammers’--five lads whose professional dates included the New York World’s Fair.

“Music has provided background melody in his life ever since. To relieve stress, Campo retires to a theater room at home where he listens to Broadway musicals.”

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Trivia time: When was the Pro Bowl last held in Los Angeles and what was the result?

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No contest: Jeff Spinner-Halev, a political science professor at Nebraska, on former football coach Tom Osborne’s chances of winning a seat in Congress:

“It’ll be shocking if he doesn’t win, and doesn’t win easily. He is adored.”

Aw, that’s sweet.

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Anything goes: Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post: ‘This just in. In an attempt to lure big-name NFL players to his new football league, WWF President Vince McMahon will allow players to use the controversial throat-slashing gesture on the field. With real knives.”

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Add wrestling: On the incredible popularity of the so-called sport, especially among today’s youth, Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press writes, “. . . Most American children can’t tell you a thing about evolution. But they can tell you everything about Mankind. He’s a wrestler, you know.”

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Vicious! Upon his acrimonious return to Orlando, Phoenix Sun guard Penny Hardaway was greeted by a sign that said, “Penny’s new shoe contract: Penny Loafers.”

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Pack a lunch: Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News: “A Michigan golf course will open this year with a 1,007-yard par-five hole, eclipsing by 43 yards the longest hole now on record, on a Japanese course.”

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Yawn! Like hundreds of thousands of Italians, Filippo Mattioni has grappled with grogginess to follow the America’s Cup.

“I try to watch the whole race. But if I have to get up for class the next morning, I’ll watch the start, then go sleep,” said Mattioni, a engineering student from Rome, “then wake up after about 45 minutes to watch some more, set the alarm again and sleep a little more, then wake up again to root.”

He’ll probably follow the same routine starting Feb. 19 when Italy’s Prada, the challenger, meets Team New Zealand for yachting’s top prize.

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Trivia answer: The NFC defeated the AFC, 13-7, at the Coliseum in 1979.

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And finally: John McGrath of the Tacoma (Wash.) News Tribune on the Pro Bowl: “One day last week, some noodleheaded reporter--behaving as though there was something on the line in Honolulu--asked [AFC Coach Tom Coughlin] to gauge the intensity of his squad’s practices.

“ ‘Intensity?’ Coughlin replied, clearly offended by such a cavalier use of a sacred cliche. ‘This is an all-star game!’ ”