He Made Sure the High School Was Set for Coach-Forwarding

Rick Neuheisel was in Elk Grove, Calif.--between Stockton and Sacramento--last Monday, recruiting football players for the University of Colorado.

But he had his mind on more important matters. He was a candidate to become the head coach and he told Rick Schwartz of XTRA radio that he called Colorado to see if he had gotten the job.

He was told to sit tight in the office of the Elk Grove High football coach. Later, he got the call telling him that he was the new coach, succeeding Bill McCartney, who had resigned on Nov. 19.

The last name of the Elk Grove coach? Lombardi. Neuheisel hopes it’s an omen.

Trivia time: Who holds the UCLA basketball record for points in a game?

Incentive: Marshall Faulk, standout rookie running back with the Indianapolis Colts, on growing up in New Orleans:

“I always ran. I always liked the idea of running. You grow up in the ghetto, you hear gunshots, you run.”

Grounded: Jon Saraceno’s lead in USA Today: “The Falcons looked primed to let another victory fly away Sunday when the (Philadelphia) Eagles’ big bird, quarterback Randall Cunningham, swooped in and laid his second big egg, preserving Atlanta’s 28-21 victory.”

No big deal: Sally Gunnell, women’s world record-holder in the 400-meter hurdles, commenting in Track & Field News on British athletes failing drug tests:

“If you tested 90% of the public, they would fail from hay fever remedies and stuff like that.”

Peking Open?It’s believed that the game of golf originated in Scotland almost 1,000 years ago. However, Ling Hongling, a Chinese professor, says the modern game of golf originated in China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), refined out of an ancient game involving hitting a ball with a club, the official People’s Daily newspaper reported.

The similarities are that the ancient game was played on wide-open grassy areas, competitors used a stick with a bent head, and their aim was to hit a ball into a small hole in the ground.

Bilingual: Casey Stengel, the late New York Yankee and Met manager on why he never visited Montreal: “Because then there would be two languages I couldn’t speak--French and English.”

Trivia answer: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) with 61 against Washington State in 1967.

Quotebook: Dallas Maverick Coach Dick Motta, 63, on a career goal: “Going for 1,000 wins is not so impressive. It’s losing 750 games and still getting a job. If you ask me, that’s impressive.”