From His View, Athletes Aren’t Getting Message

Alan Page, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a Minnesota Supreme Court justice, gave an address on civic responsibility at Kent State this week.

Before the speech, he told the Akron Beacon Journal that society must hold athletes more accountable.

“The frustrating thing is when we have athletes who are role models and they act badly, we don’t hold them up as someone acting badly. In some perverse way, we glorify it,” Page said.

“What athletes do, they do in some degree because we let them do it.

“Take the athlete who pounds on his or her spouse. We may note it in the newspaper, but the next day, we’re out there glorifying him. That’s a mixed message if I’ve ever seen one.”

Gosh, wonder if Page has been following the NFL?

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More Page: What does he think of Jesse Ventura moonlighting as an XFL analyst?

“Because he is the governor, I will not comment,” Page said.

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Trivia time: What three players have won more PGA tournaments in a calendar year than Tiger Woods’ nine last year?

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Testing, 1-2-3: In honor of the NFL scouting combine this weekend, Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz took a few riffs on the Wonderlic test used to assess players’ intelligence.

A sampling:

“The most important defense in the NFL is:

“A) The two-deep zone; B) The prevent defense; C) A strong legal defense.

“Ray Lewis is in a white limousine. He leaves a double-murder scene at 3:20 in the morning. How long will it take him to forget what he’s just witnessed?

“A) Brian Billick objects to this question.

” . . . Good luck. And no cheating. Unless the guy next to you looks like a punter.”

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Star reporter: The Indianapolis sports pages lost a Hoosier classic when Bill Benner wrote his final column this week, taking a job with the Indianapolis Sports Corporation after 33 years.

In an age of increasingly any-city-fits-all columnists, Benner is a national-class writer who wrote about the sports Hoosiers hold dearest. Not that he didn’t take on Bob Knight plenty--and he notably left him out of his final column.

“I’ve sat with Tony Hinkle and John Wooden and Ray Crowe [Oscar Robertson’s high school coach],” Benner wrote. “I’ve shared a cold beer and hot basketball conversation with Larry Bird and Slick Leonard. . . .

“Yes, I still cry every time I watch ‘Hoosiers’, the last time this past Christmas Day. Let’s win it for all the little schools that didn’t get here. . . .

“Now, one last wish as I walk out the door:

“Can we have single-class basketball back?”

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Trivia answer: Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead.

Nelson won 18 in 1945, Hogan won 13 in ’46 and 10 in ‘48, and Snead won 11 in 1950.

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And finally: From comedy writer Jerry Perisho, on the presidential pardon scandal:

“Bill Clinton’s brother-in-law, Hugh Rodham, received nearly $400,000 for successfully lobbying the then-president for a pardon and a prison commutation on behalf of clients.

“Rodham made $400,000 for just a few minutes work? Just exactly who does he think he is, a relief pitcher?”