Gruden Is Vermeil’s 4 O’Clock Shadow

Kansas City Chief Coach Dick Vermeil, who was the model for “coaching burnout” during his years with the Philadelphia Eagles, says that the Raiders’ Jon Gruden is a prime candidate for the same condition.

“I look at him and I laugh,” Vermeil told the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. “He’s so much like I was.”

However, Vermeil added that Gruden doesn’t work as hard as Vermeil once did.

“He gets there at 4 o’clock in the morning. I didn’t come in at 4 o’clock. I was still working there at 4 o’clock.”

*

Trivia time: Other than Gary Beban winning the Heisman Trophy in 1967, what is the highest finish by a Bruin player in the voting?

*

Cop-out: Bud Geracie in the San Jose Mercury News: “As the use of tape recorders increased, ‘taken out of context’ replaced ‘misquoted’ as the primary defense for loose-lipped athletes.

* “With Heinz Stadium as their new home, reader muses, will the Steelers be forced to play ketchup?

* “Washington State linebacker Kyle Stiffarm might be better utilized on offense.”

*

A real pick and roll: Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle:

“Mailman Malone announces he’s joining the monster-truck racing circuit. This just in: ‘Mailman wins his first race! His opponent was leading until just before the finish line, when he collided with a small pickup truck driven by John Stockton.’ ”

*

Prediction: Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post: “We ought to have two unanimous rookies of the year in major league baseball, but, of course, we won’t.

“You watch. Some guardian of the game with a laptop and a mustard-stained bowling shirt will refuse to vote for Ichiro Suzuki because he played all those years in Japan.”

*

Guess who? From David Letterman: “A reason you may suspect a Little Leaguer is too old: Teammates put their teeth under their pillows. He puts his in a glass of water.”

*

Surprise! Craig Kilborn of CBS’ “The Late, Late Show”: “Happy birthday to Kobe Bryant. Twenty-three years old [on Aug. 23]. Shaq jumped out of the cake and uttered those three special words: ‘I’m wide open.’ ”

*

Oddity: Regarding Kansas State’s 10-6 win over USC, the last time the Trojans lost by that score was to Notre Dame in 1990 at the Coliseum.

*

Looking back: On this day in 1988, UCLA defeated No. 2-ranked Nebraska, 41-28, at the Rose Bowl.

*

Looking back again: On this day in 1977, USC defeated Missouri, 27-10, in a season-opening game in Columbia, Mo.

*

Trivia answer: Third--Paul Cameron in 1953, Troy Aikman in 1988 and Cade McNown in 1998.

*

And finally: President Bush had a resting heart rate of 43 beats per minute after a recent medical checkup.

“Good night. It’s incredible!” Jim Brown, executive editor of the Georgia Tech University Sports Medicine and Performance Newsletter, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I doubt there’s an NBA player with a resting heart rate of 43.”

The average person’s rate is 70 beats per minute.