If Asked, Paterno Might Do His Duty

Joe Paterno is standing his ground, saying a five-game losing streak and some intense criticism isn’t going to get him to quit as Penn State’s coach.

So, what would it take?

“If the White House called me and said they needed me to go over to Iraq, I might go over,” Paterno said, according to Associated Press.

Trivia time: When did the NBA adopt the three-point field goal?

Not quite: Tom Fitzgerald of the San Francisco Chronicle quoted this prediction from Woody Paige of the Denver Post about Monday night’s game between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos:

“It doesn’t matter if Danny Kanell or Hortense the Wonder Pony starts at quarterback, the Broncos are dead-cert, lock-cinch, bona fide, five-star, solid-fuel sure things.”

Final score: New England 30, Denver 26.

A bit of everything: “Finding 24 hours of programming apparently won’t be a problem for the new NFL Network,” says Greg Cote of the Miami Herald.

“Coming up from 3:30-4 a.m.: Panel of longtime former referees share anecdotes on penalty flag’s evolution from white to yellow flags.”

Welcome home: Former New York Knick coach Jeff Van Gundy returned to the New York area Tuesday, when the team he currently coaches, the Houston Rockets, played the New Jersey Nets.

The Newark Star-Ledger described the often-rumpled-looking Van Gundy as fans’ “favorite raccoon-eyed, dour-faced, wrinkle-suited, leg-clinging, Honda-driving, Diet Coke-chugging, cheap-watch-wearing coach.”

Mr. Nice Guy: Van Gundy, talking to New York reporters, indicated Yao Ming might be too nice.

“I love his humility,” Van Gundy said in a New York Post story. “But you don’t want him trying so hard to fit in that he can’t stand out. If he gets single coverage every time, he should be thinking score every time.”

Feeling the heat: Don Mattingly, hired as the New York Yankee batting coach, knows what it is like to work for George Steinbrenner.

“You don’t get out of here alive,” Mattingly said at a news conference Tuesday, according to the Post. “Everybody talks to me about ‘It’s great to have you back’ and whatever. I am not naive in the fact that if the ballclub isn’t swinging the bat after a month that I am going to be on the hot seat.”

Trivia answer: 1979.

And finally: Cris Collinsworth, on this week’s edition of HBO’s “Inside the NFL,” said this in defense of Oakland Raider Coach Bill Callahan:

“All of a sudden, because one player -- Charles Woodson -- has been critical of Bill Callahan, Bill Callahan has lost the team. Every newspaper article I pick up [says] he has lost the football team.

“It couldn’t possibly be that these players are playing awful football, they’re getting old, they’re not getting the job done, and it’s their fault. No, it’s got to be Bill Callahan’s fault for this thing falling apart.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.