Former Coach’s New Career Begins With Perfect Question

At the press conference to announce that Bill Walsh was leaving the San Francisco 49ers to become a National Football League analyst for NBC, the first to take a seat on the dais was 49er owner Eddie DeBartolo.

According to Bill Odine of the Philadelphia Inquirer, a voice from the rear asked: “Hey, DeBartolo, how about the quarterback situation? Are you going to vacillate on the quarterbacks again?”

The voice belonged to Bill Walsh.

Add Inquirer: Greg Page, sparring partner for Mike Tyson, told how he blocked a left hook by the champion with his arm.

And?

“And my whole arm went numb. The whole thing, just dead.”

And?

“Then the feeling came back.”

And?

“Then I wished it hadn’t come back.”

Because?

“Cause it hurt like something awful.”

Trivia time: With what teams did Hall of Famers Duke Snider and Juan Marichal end their careers?

By any name: The Pacific Sock Exchange. That’s the label they pinned on San Francisco sluggers Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell after a radio station contest. Here are some of the nonwinners: Lumber Jocks, Captains of Crunch, Dudes of Destruction, Thriller and Killer, and Seek and Destroy.

Take that: When Arnold Palmer shot a 68 on the opening day of the PGA national, Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal probably wished he hadn’t written the following the day before: “Hard to believe, but after failing to break 80 in the Masters, the U.S. and British Opens this year, Arnold Palmer is going to subject himself to more public embarrassment in the PGA this week.”

Palmer slipped back into the pack, but he closed with a two-under-par 70 and finished ahead of a host of big names, including former PGA champions Hubert Green, Dave Stockton, Hal Sutton, Lanny Wadkins, Bob Tway, Lee Trevino, John Mahaffey and David Graham.

He’s No. 1: LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young football coach, on why he likes Sherlock Holmes: “I love those guys who win ‘em all.”

Word of caution: After the Houston Chronicle did a story on CNN football analyst Danny Sheridan, a reader dug up some of Sheridan’s 1988 forecasts, to wit:

--”UCLA will destroy Southern California by four TDs in the final game of the Pac-10 season to reach the Rose Bowl.”

--”Other winners, Texas in the Southwest Conference.”

--”Notre Dame will be a big disappointment this year.”

USC beat UCLA, 31-22. Texas tied for seventh in the Southwest Conference. Notre Dame won the national championship.

Trivia answer: Snider with San Francisco, Marichal with the Dodgers.

Quotebook: Emil Zatopek, all-time distance running great from Czechoslovakia: “There are three things worth living for--American luxury, Japanese women and Chinese food.”