It’s the Series, and the Rest Is History

Much has been made of Curt Schilling’s pitching on three days’ rest in the World Series, and Randy Johnson’s coming back a day after starting Game 6 to record four outs in Game 7.

In the old days, though, four days off would have seemed like a summer vacation to many pitchers.

Bob Gibson, for instance, started three times each for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1964, ’67 and ’68 World Series.

“When you talk about doing it the full season, there might be a tendency to wear down,” Gibson said.

“But in the World Series? If you can’t get up for that, what’s the sense of being there?”

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Trivia time: What is Michael Jordan’s highest single-game point total, and where does it rank?

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Ozzie’s Oz line: CNN/SI’s Ozzie Smith on the World Series: “It brings to mind the famous line from ‘The Wizard of Oz:’ There’s no place like home.

“But the most amazing thing to me is that the Yankees were actually playing in a Game 7, with the team hitting .183. That’s flat-out amazing.”

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The size of it: Shaquille O’Neal recently said he’s not yet in great shape, that he’s about 85%.

“But I don’t need to be in shape to play this game,” he said. “This game is mental.”

It also helps to be 7 feet 1 and 335 pounds.

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Climb every pit? Redskin defensive tackle Kenard Lang, after Washington’s 27-14 victory Sunday over the Seattle Seahawks, its third victory after five losses: “It’s good we turned it around before we got too deep in the pit. We were pretty deep, but we’re climbing out.”

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Death wish: Fox’s Terry Bradshaw told Vanity Fair that if he could choose the way he would die, it would be “riding off into the sunset at an old age, at peace with the world and all those who inhabit it. Either that or on the Sunday show, just to see how long it would take before anybody realized I was actually dead and not just acting.”

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Bad hair year: Dean Mozingo, who drives the transporter for Terry Labonte’s stock car racing team, figures his appearance will take a turn for the better, now that the Winston Cup season is coming to an end.

Mozingo has been on the road nearly every weekend since the Daytona 500 last February.

“We haven’t been home very much,” he said. “And when we are, there’s not much time to get anything done.

“You don’t even have time to have a regular barber, so we get a lot of haircuts on the road, and some of them are pretty bad.”

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That’s our Nellie: From NBC newcomer Jayson Williams: “Don Nelson had the best line of the whole preseason: ‘If Michael Jordan plays his cards right, he can be the next Kobe Bryant.”’

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Trivia answer: Jordan scored a high of 69 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1990, which ranks 10th. .

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And finally: Pat Croce on whether he would have added Derrick Coleman to his team when he ran the Philadelphia 76ers:

“No. I had experience with him three years ago--poor work habits, bad attitude, no commitment to practice, no commitment to team, no commitment to coach, no commitment to fans. Wouldn’t sign autographs, wouldn’t attend any community functions.”