Super Bore: As if we needed another reason not to get excited about this week`s Super Bowl buildup, you might be interested to know geographical history says the game will be a blowout. The average score for Super Bowl games played in the Superdome is 33-10, helped mightily by the Bears` 46-10 pasting of New England. Doesn`t that seem a million years ago? The three title games in New Orleans` Tulane Stadium weren`t any better. The average score was 21-5.
– Fore!: RJR Nabisco`s decision to reduce radically its spending in golf after 1990 is no surprise to Wall Street analysts. Pick up a copy of
”Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco” and you learn former RJR President F. Ross Johnson made George Steinbrenner look like a cheapskate. According to the book, Johnson loved to pal with jocks, and among those on his RJR payroll were: Jack Nicklaus, $1 million a year; Don Meredith, $500,000;
Frank Gifford, $413,000 (plus a New York apartment and office); Ben Crenshaw, $400,000; Fuzzy Zoeller, $300,000; Don Mattingly, $250,000; and O.J. Simpson, $250,000. Amazingly, Simpson and Mattingly were usually no-shows at the few appearances they were asked to make. And Nicklaus, who gets grumpier by the day (he was 50 Sunday), refused to do more than six appearances a year and balked at working the RJR rooms at events he did attend.
– Diamond capers: If there was a theme to Saturday`s Diamond Dinner at the Palmer House, it was this: Don`t let there be a baseball strike. Harry Caray delivered the night`s final, most forceful pitch. ”It`s ridiculous,”
he said. ”Here we are in a time of baseball`s greatest prosperity for everyone, players, owners and broadcasters, and we`re talking about a strike. . . . We need Bill Veeck. His was the voice of reason. He was the one man who understood that the lifeblood of baseball is the fan.” Caray was so eloquent White Sox President Eddie Einhorn strode to the dais from his table to shake the broadcaster`s hand. . . . Other good lines. National League President Bill White: ”I played with Jim Frey and now I fined him.” Jeff Torborg: ”I won`t speak for any length of time-probably just the length of our highlight film.” Steve Lyons: ”With no apologies to Cub fans, you`re missing flat-out the best shortstop (Ozzie Guillen) in baseball.” Don Zimmer: ”I thought I was a good manager in San Diego in `72 when we only lost 102 games.” FYI: Cubs CEO Don Grenesko and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf registered about the same number on the boo-meter.
– Truth in advertising: The death of Bronko Nagurski rekindled memories for Lawrence J. Scheff, a Chicago dentist. Scheff, a student at the time, says he and Nagurski became good friends in the late 1930s while they stayed in neighboring rooms in the old West Side YMCA. Said Scheff: ”The Y was all Bronko could afford at the salary the Bears were paying him.” In one of the earliest endorsements made by an athlete, Nagurski supplemented his pay $50 by plugging Wheaties. Added Scheff: ”He and I frequently ate breakfast at the Y cafeteria and when we opened the sports pages and saw the ad showing Bronko eating and endorsing Wheaties, we had a good laugh. All he ever ate for breakfast were rolls and coffee. He received cases of Wheaties from the company, but he never ate them. When I`d go home for a weekend, he`d give me a case (12 boxes) and after a while we were inundated with Wheaties. My mother asked me to stop bringing them home.”
– Picture this: That rascally, wily, unpredictable, and-oh, what the heck-lovable Sports Writers on TV crew is about to be the subject of a big spread in Sports Illustrated. Rick Telander, one of the show`s participants, will write the piece. No disrespect to Rick, but the most interesting part could be the photos. Each performer was asked to pick a favorite spot as background for the SI photographer assigned to the story. Telander, who actually was an athlete (if you count playing football at Northwestern), chose Deerfield`s Multiplex. Ben Bentley opted for a boxing gym and then got directions to one. Bill Gleason, who never has felt comfortable north of Madison Street, supposedly asked for Comiskey Park and a cigar store (which, if published, should guarantee a lifetime supply of cigars). Bill Jauss? His choice was Bruno`s Tap in Rogers Park, surely the best real sports bar in the city. But, for a reason that befits such an establishment-dim lighting, Jauss` shoot was moved to Murphy`s.
– News, Notes & Nonsense: Alex Karras, one of the true, colorful greats in National Football League history, may be coming to Chicago in the spring to film a movie. A spokesperson for Karras said he`s looking at scripts and indicated an announcement may be forthcoming soon, but Alex has told friends he`s on his way. . . . Judging by the negative reaction drawn by the first mention of Trent Tucker`s name in the Stadium Sunday, it is going to be a while before Bulls fans forget the Madison Square Garden Miracle Shot by the Knicks guard. . . . John Svitak, a west suburban truck driver, will be going to the Super Bowl thanks to his wife`s football knowledge. Sharon Svitak won a trip for two in a restaurant chain`s football trivia contest during the season.
– And finally: Janet Jones, an actress practically no one had heard of before she married Wayne Gretzky, says she`s ready to go back to work after giving birth to the couple`s first child. Said Jones: ”Hockey is nice, but there`s more to life than sitting in the stands trying to avoid getting hit by pucks.” Rough life.
