Spurrier’s Talk Show Always Scores Big

Steve Spurrier, who took heat from critics for running up the score while at the University of Florida, is getting the same treatment now that he is coaching the NFL’s Washington Redskins.

“Any time you score a lot of points, people look for something to be critical about,” he said. “I’ve always wondered in basketball, when one team is way ahead, how come they keep shooting. Why is that legal?

“In baseball, if you’re up 10-0 going into the top of the ninth, is a guy supposed to go up and strike out? He’s still swinging. So why can’t football [players] keep playing? Why is football the only sport that they call running up the score?”

Trivia time: How many American drivers have won Formula One races?

Keeping tabs: Former Atlanta Brave slugger Dale Murphy ran into Greg Maddux one day and mentioned to the Atlanta pitcher, “I was one for 22 against you [when Maddux was a Cub].”

To which Maddux replied, “No, it was one for 26.”

High honors: Three of the country’s top 10 high school football teams, as ranked by USA Today, are in California, headed by No. 1 Concord De La Salle, riding a record 125-game winning streak. Long Beach Poly is No. 4 and Los Alamitos No. 10.

Took a long time: After nearly 80 years, Devils Lake, N.D., is dropping Satans as its high school nickname.

“It’s hard to stand up and cheer for the Satans,” said one mother and coach. “It’s not an appropriate name for children.”

Talking horse: Repent, a Kentucky Derby favorite in April before he was sidelined with an ankle chip, is coming back today to run in the $1-million Travers Stakes at Saratoga Springs, N.Y. What prompted trainer Ken McPeek to enter Repent after a 140-day layoff? “He told us he’s ready to go,” said the trainer.

Wedding bells: Fifteen couples are getting married today at Bristol Motor Speedway before the Sharpie 500 Winston Cup race.

If you think that’s odd, how about this? Jerry Nadeau, who drives for Petty Enterprises, will serve as honorary best man for each couple, and his sponsor, Georgia-Pacific, will give out their first wedding presents. The catch: All must have tickets for the race.

More on Bristol: Says third-generation driver Kyle Petty about the high-banked half-mile Tennessee oval: “The Daytona 500, the Southern 500--those races might have been the ones that put NASCAR on the map. But tracks like the Bristols and the Martinsvilles and the Richmonds are the ones that made NASCAR go before there was a map.”

Trivia answer: Five: Mario Andretti, 12; Dan Gurney, four; Phil Hill, three; Peter Revson, two, and Richie Ginther, one.

And finally: After forward Keith Van Horn was traded by the New Jersey Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers, Shaun Powell of Newsday couldn’t resist a barb or two about the former collegiate All-American:

“They certainly bought into the insane hype that said Van Horn would become another Larry Bird. Well, Van Horn can never be Bird. Not the Bird who led the Boston Celtics to championships, and not the Bird who’s going on 46 and shooting hoops in his driveway.”