Will There Be a Bear Market for Palmer?

Jerry Angelo, general manager of the Chicago Bears, isn’t convinced that either of the top quarterbacks available in the NFL draft -- USC’s Carson Palmer and Marshall’s Byron Leftwich -- is worthy of the team’s No. 4 overall pick, a view not shared by Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times:

“What Angelo is saying is this: He is afraid to invest a $12-million signing bonus in a player who might flop, figuring he and Coach Dick Jauron don’t have enough time to develop a franchise quarterback because their contracts expire after the 2004 season.

“Angelo would rather protect his job status than take a confident shot at, say, Palmer, a pure passer viewed as a ready-made pro and possible superstar after a brilliant senior year.

“You have to ask how a GM keeps his job when he acknowledges doubts that his staff can develop a quarterback, particularly as Washington’s Steve Spurrier and other NFL decision-makers stalk Palmer and consider trading up for him.”

Trivia time: Who was UCLA’s first All-American basketball player?

Ripple effect: When Miami running back Willis McGahee tore up his knee in the Fiesta Bowl, it also tore up the draft plans of several NFL teams, including the Houston Texans, writes Dale Robertson of the Houston Chronicle:

“Desperately seeking a big-play running back to lift them into playoff contention before [quarterback] David Carr gets pulverized trying to go it alone, the Texans had found nothing not to like about the elusive [McGahee]. He seemed a most intriguing potential helpmate for Carr.

“Well, forget that now.... And according to current pre-combine conventional wisdom, there are no other backs deemed worthy of being the third pick overall.”

No calls: Ohio State’s Will Allen has been reluctant to call McGahee since making the tackle that injured the Miami standout.

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to talk to me; I’m pretty sure he’d be mad at me,” Allen told the Dayton Daily News.

“I know he’s got to be pretty discouraged right now and I don’t want to upset him even more.”

Amateur hour: Woody Paige of the Denver Post asserts that the Colorado and Colorado State basketball teams are probably better than the Denver Nuggets this season:

“The Buffaloes and the Rams each have more victories and a lot fewer losses than the 8-26 Nuggets. The amateurs score more points on most nights than the pro team, play stronger defense and, despite the Nuggets’ assertion, work just as hard.”

Looking back: On this day in 1972, the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Lakers, 120-104, to end their winning streak at 33 games, still the longest in major professional sports.

Trivia answer: Dick Linthicum, 1931 and ’32.

And finally: Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, on the controversial ending to the 49ers’ playoff victory over the New York Giants:

“You can’t blame the officials for not calling pass interference on that final play. They were stunned to see a 49er actually covering a Giants receiver.”