36 Years Later, He Gets His 20 Minutes

Patience sometimes pays off.

Art Modell, who with Pete Rozelle and Roone Arledge started “Monday Night Football” in 1970, told The Times’ Sam Farmer that he was pushing for an earlier start time back then.

Beginning in 2006, Monday night NFL games on ESPN will begin at 5:40 p.m. instead of 6 Pacific time.

“I felt the start time should be earlier so people on the East Coast could go to bed earlier,” Modell said. “[ABC] thought it would interfere with West Coast local news, which was very profitable.... It took a long time to be heard.”

Trivia time: The San Diego Chargers had two first-round picks in last weekend’s NFL draft. In 1983, when the Chargers had three first-round picks, two of the three came from the same school. Who were they?

Good idea: Horse trainer Wayne Lukas, at this week’s Padua Village Charity Golf Classic, said his close friend Bob Knight used to invite him to sit on the bench during basketball games when Knight was coaching at Indiana. “I always sat down at the far end because Bob tends to get a little active on the bench,” Lukas said.

Unpaid assistant: Lukas said that once, when Indiana was trailing Minnesota at halftime, Knight invited him into a small room to sit with Knight and his assistant coaches before they addressed the team.

Knight asked for comments from his assistants, and when no one said anything, Lukas, a former basketball coach, finally made a few suggestions.

“I have three of the highest paid assistants in the country,” Lukas quoted Knight as saying, “and the only guy who has anything to say is a ... horse trainer.”

Golf fanatic: Rocker Alice Cooper, who was a guest on the syndicated radio show “Tee It Up,” said he quit drinking 23 years ago and since then has played golf six days a week, even when on tour.

“It’s called an addiction,” Cooper said.

He has heard this one: When Cooper plays in a charity golf tournament that attracts a gallery, he gets one thing out of the way early on.

“I turn to the crowd and say, ‘Let’s get this over with,’ ” he said. “Let’s everyone go ahead and say it all at once: ‘Hit the ball, Alice.’ ”

Looking back: On this day in 1988, the New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5, in Cincinnati on a delayed call by first base umpire Dave Pallone. Red manager Pete Rose received a $10,000 fine and 30-day suspension when Pallone accidentally poked him in the cheek and Rose shoved Pallone twice.

Trivia answer: Linebacker Billy Ray Smith and running back Gary Anderson of Arkansas. The Chargers’ other first-round pick in 1983 was cornerback Gill Byrd of San Jose State.

And finally: Cooper, a native of Detroit, didn’t start playing golf until he moved to Phoenix as a youngster.

“There are only three sports kids play in Detroit,” he said. “Baseball, basketball and grand-theft auto.”

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