Knight Is Already Hot Stuff In Texas

Bob Knight has yet to coach his first game for Texas Tech, but he is already a celebrity in Lubbock. Why, even a burrito has been named after him at J.C.’s Burritos.

“Made fresh every day, it is stuffed with sliced pork or chicken and green chile sauce for $4.89 plus tax,” wrote Andrew Bagnato of the Chicago Tribune. “And like the man for whom it is named, the Bobby Knight Burrito is, well, spicy.”

“His temperament is very much like mine--just kind of snappy,” store owner Rachel Castillo said. “I’m a really strong boss. But I don’t pick up any chairs and sling them across the room.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the Pacific 10 Conference record for the longest punt return?

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Unbiased: Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Here’s Georgia play-by-play man Larry Munson’s recent call on the touchdown pass that beat Tennessee with five seconds left: ‘My God, a touchdown! We just stepped on their face with a hobnailed boot and broke their nose! We just crushed their faces!”’

Where do you get that “we” stuff, Mr. Excitable?

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Perspective: Bob Davie has a 32-22 record as Notre Dame’s football coach.

In the same span, 1997 to the present, USC is 27-27 under three coaches: John Robinson, 1997; Paul Hackett, 1998-2000 and Pete Carroll.

Knute Rockne lost only 12 games in 13 seasons (1918-30) at Notre Dame while winning 105 and tying five times.

Howard Jones lost 36 games while winning 121 and tying 13 in 16 seasons at USC (1925-40).

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Easy for you to say: Glenn Dickey of the San Francisco Chronicle is calling for the firing of California football Coach Tom Holmoe.

The Bears, who play the Bruins at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, are 0-5.

“This dreadful season has already taken a serious toll at the stadium,” Dickey wrote. “Only the large number of fans from the Bears’ opponents make the attendance close to respectable. ... It won’t get any better until Holmoe is fired--unless he does the decent thing and announces that he will resign at season’s end.”

Decent thing? Hey, Glenn. It isn’t your job.

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Ambush? The Nov. 10 game between UCLA and Oregon might be for a berth in the national championship game at the Rose Bowl as well as for the Pacific 10 Conference title.

However, undefeated Washington State could be a spoiler.

The Cougars play Oregon and UCLA at home on Oct. 27 and Nov. 3--and Pullman, Wash., can be a troublesome site for visiting teams.

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Looking back: On this day in 1988, the Oakland Athletics defeated the Dodgers, 2-1, in the third game of the World Series.

It was the only game the A’s won, as the Dodgers won the series in five games.

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Trivia answer: Hugh McElhenny of Washington, 100 yards against USC in 1951.

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And finally: Dodge ball players at the University of Georgia are so serious about their sport that they insist on calling it “deathball.”

The game is played five-on-five, complete with “prison rules”--tackling, slamming and leg sweeping. Players of the school’s newest club sport show off their cuts and bruises like varsity letters.