Hardy Would Just Love to Pass on This Mark

I wasn’t surprised, of course, to learn it’s a former USC quarterback who holds the NFL record for most passes intercepted in one game.

I was stunned, though, to learn former Trojan Jim Hardy is now convinced his 51-year-old mark of having eight passes intercepted in one game will never be broken.

I know he’s seen Carson Palmer play.

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ON SUNDAY, Ty Detmer had seven passes picked off while playing for Detroit.

I wonder, if I wrote seven bad columns in a row, would Dwyre pull me from Page 2. Apparently not.

Sometimes it’s hard to understand what bosses are thinking, or based on personal experience, if they’re thinking at all.

Detroit Coach Marty Mornhinweg not only played Detmer for Sunday’s entire game-with a healthy Charlie Batch available-but said after reviewing video of the game Monday, he’s decided to start Detmer against the Rams on Oct. 8. Maybe Mornhinweg has done his history homework.

A week after having eight passes intercepted while throwing for the Chicago Cardinals against the Eagles on Sept. 24, 1950, Hardy set another Cardinal record that still stands with six touchdown passes against the Colts.

Detmer will probably have to grow five inches this week to have that happen, but I like the chances of a quarterback throwing for six touchdowns in the Lions-Rams’ matchup, all right, as long as Kurt Warner is playing.

Hardy, who led USC to Rose Bowl victories in 1943-44, wanted to talk about his touchdown days, but I was interested in the interceptions.

He needs to get a column if he wants to get his way.

“It’s like childbirth, I’ve put that game out of my mind,” he said, revealing, I guess, he’s also the first quarterback in NFL history to ever experience childbirth.

“It still haunts me to this day,” he said.

The delivery or the interceptions?

“You know on the way there that day, I also totaled my car,” he said.

The hospital or the stadium?

“It’s my baby, all right-that damn record,” Hardy said. “I was cheering hard for Detmer, but let’s face it, I don’t ever see anyone breaking it.

“Someone will hit in 57-straight and take Joe DiMaggio’s record and someone will run the 100 in seven seconds, but anyone approaching my so-called point of excellence is going to be jerked from the game. No one is going to get the chance to throw eight.”

I know how much importance USC puts in tradition, and you’ll have to convince me after watching the brain trust at work in Oregon, the Trojans aren’t preparing Palmer to follow in Hardy’s record-setting footsteps.

Hardy, who makes his home in the Palm Springs area, said he went to the locker room at halftime of that infamous encounter with the Eagles having been picked off three times, and sitting with his chin in his hands, he asked himself, “What could be worse than throwing three interceptions in a game?”

Ever since, like a broken record, the answer continues to be eight.

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AFTER WATCHING the Cubs struggle to find someone to protect Sammy Sosa in their lineup, I can’t imagine anyone suggesting the Dodgers should trade Gary Sheffield, unless opposing pitchers sign a contract saying they will never throw a breaking ball to Phil Hiatt.

You take Sheffield away-for the sake of another pitcher and/or leadoff batter-and based on how Shawn Green handled the pressure last year playing in his hometown and this year in crucial situations, he melts or the opposition walks him.

And if he walks as much as Sosa, get out the 6-4-3 record books, because there will be no holding Eric Karros back.

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SHEFFIELD IS controversial, of course, which makes him a columnist’s dream and the very last Dodger I wanted traded.

Take Sunday.

He gets booted in the first inning, and before Monday’s game, he explains he’s been biting his tongue all season when it comes to the umpires, and while he cursed at the plate, it wasn’t personal and was the most common curse word heard in baseball.

I told him I didn’t buy his line of defense.

“I don’t care if you buy it or not,” he said.

“I’m hurt,” I replied. “But I’ll get over it.”

He said he was sure I would, smiling all the time, and then suggested he couldn’t care less what people might think of him, saying, “too bad to everybody” who thinks ill of him, while indicating, “I play with emotion-so be it.”

OK, so when he speaks, he’s usually off base. But that’s not as important as his ability to clear the bases with one swing of the bat, so I say, keep the slug.

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THE DODGERS’ biggest problem is the lack of quickness in their manager.

“I didn’t get there quick enough,” admitted Jim Tracy, too-late arriving at the plate to keep Sheffield from being tossed.

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BEFORE THE game with the Giants, I counted 13 writers surrounding agent Scott Boras.

You’d think he was the Dodgers’ general manager or something the way everyone was acting.

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AFTER GETTING checked by security while entering Qualcomm Stadium on Saturday night, each fan received a wooden bat to commemorate Tony Gwynn’s accomplishments.

I’m surprised no one else has thought of arming everyone in attendance after they’ve been frisked.

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OLYMPIC ORGANIZERS will not bring the Dead Sea Scrolls to Salt Lake City because of the cost of transportation and insurance.

I thought it was a nice gesture by Plaschke to offer to fax some of his old columns and have them put on display.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in an e-mail from Jim:

“The WWF postponed its championship match at Madison Square Garden. Why not just cancel it all together and announce who was going to win it?”

At the risk of having Dwyre agree-you should be writing Page 2.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.