First Step Quickens When Cash Is Involved

Thomas Boswell in the Washington Post: “Deion Sanders has lost a step, and maybe two, out on the corner. But it’s nice to see that, when it comes to taking the money and running, he’s just as fast as ever.

“ ‘I know [the Washington Redskins] are going to have to release me and when this happens, I’ll jump up in the air and click my heels twice,’ said Sanders. ‘They’ll be paying me . . . for doing nothing.’

“Gall, thy name is Deion.

“Actually, Sanders wished the Redskins would cut him. Some athletes have burned their bridges to old teams. Sanders is bombing his Redskins bridges back to the Stone Age.”

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More Boswell: “The only connection Deion wants with Washington is that $8-million signing bonus he gets to keep if the Redskins release him.”

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A modest raise: In other financial matters, Minnesota Viking wide receiver Randy Moss will make $3.5 million on the last year of his original four-year contract. He’ll be asking for plenty more next time around.

“I think realistically, not trying to get out of the ordinary, probably between $18 million and $20 million, as far as a signing bonus,” he told a Washington radio station. “But altogether, maybe $100 million. It’s reasonable.”

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Trivia time: When the 1971-72 Lakers won a record 33 consecutive games during the regular season, what was their record in the NBA playoffs?

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Golf nut: Phil Queller played 276 holes in one day--possibly a world record--on Monday in Corona. His 12-hour golf-athon raised $3,000 for the American Lung Assn.

“This was harder than a triathlon, a lot harder,” he told the Riverside Press-Enterprise. “At about the 13th round, I hit a wall. Luckily, I got my 20th wind.”

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“K” King: How do you improve on a perfect game in Little League? Just strike out all 18 batters.

That’s what pitcher Robert Knight did in a six-inning game Monday in Harper Woods, Mich., a Detroit suburb. Knight, 12, also had three hits in the Tigers’ 7-0 victory over the Giants.

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Frauds? Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune, commenting on the Lakers after they were beaten by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first game of the NBA Finals: “If the Lakers are the best team in NBA history, then superfan Dyan Cannon is doing ‘Twelfth Night’ next week at the Globe Theater.”

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Shower crisis: Power problems aren’t confined to California. Romania’s gold-medal winning Olympic gymnasts went without showers for two days recently after the electricity in their training school outside Bucharest was cut off because of unpaid bills. The school owes $70,000 in unpaid electricity bills.

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Novel excuse: After shooting a 77 in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open, Donna Andrews cited her belief that “I think I had some bad golf balls.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1985, the Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics, 111-100, at Boston to win the NBA championship in six games. The Lakers rallied in the series after losing the first game, 148-114, at Boston.

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Trivia answer: They were 12-2 in winning the championship.

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And finally: Dan Barreiro of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, commenting on the Minnesota Twins passing on USC pitcher Mark Prior in the amateur draft to select local high school catcher Joe Mauer:

“The Twins passed on the best player. They blinked, they surrendered, they choked, they conceded. . . . Understand that money is the one and only reason the Twins went the direction they did. . . .

“Pick a theory, even those more sympathetic to the Twins. But please don’t pretend the Twins took the guy they thought to be the best player.”