In This Case, Mother Really Did Know Best

As Gene Stallings always has said, it pays to save for a rainy day.

Stallings, fired Monday as coach of the Phoenix Cardinals, was a spokesman for Valley National Bank in Arizona. In commercials made before his firing, Stallings’ mother told him to save money for possible emergencies.

Two days after he was fired, Stallings taped a new commercial.

“So I started a savings program that pays me good interest rates and lets me get to my money when I need it,� Stallings says in the new ad. Then, with a slight chuckle, he turns to the camera and says, “And I need it now.�

The bank requested that Stallings make the new commercial.

“I wasn’t in too good a mood to do it, but they’ve been nice to me,� Stallings said.

Bank spokesman Steve Roman said he was not sure how long the new commercial would run or whether others would be made. He said Stallings’ ad campaign was scheduled to end in December, when the NFL’s regular season ends.

Trivia time: The Rice and Houston football teams play for the Bayou Bucket. Which teams play for the Bean Pot?

Birds of a feather: Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis presented the honorees for his 12th annual Turkey Banquet. Some of those invited:

“Anthony Carter: People figured Carter was letting out the frustration of a salary dispute when he said, ‘They might as well trade me because I’m not going to put my best foot forward.’ With 68.87% of the schedule complete, A.C. has convinced the committee it wasn’t frustration. He was telling the truth.

“Dan Gladden and Kent Hrbek: There was sentiment that an invitation should be sent to Frank Viola, the departed Twin pitcher, for his early season whining. Viola was rejected and the Minnesota baseball honorees are Gladden and Hrbek, the two guys who ripped Viola--a pitcher who never missed a start in 7 1/2 years with the Twins--between their stays on the disabled list.

“Dave Anderson: A Pulitzer Prize winner and a fine gentleman, Anderson, a Sport of the Times columnist for the New York Times, has been asked to represent all of the knee-jerk sportswriters who backed the idiotic notion that the World Series should have been canceled after the Bay Area earthquake.�

Walk, don’t run: Jerry Reynolds, coach of the Sacramento Kings, on the inconsistency of center Ralph Sampson: “Against teams that walk the ball up the floor, like Dallas, Ralph’s all right. But against teams that run, his (surgically repaired) knee can’t take the pounding.�

Add Sampson: Mark West, center for the Phoenix Suns, on how to stop Sampson: “You try to keep him uninterested in the game.�

Trivia answer: Boston University and Northeastern.

Quotebook: The Detroit Pistons’ Scott Hastings, after being cut on the face during a game: “As long as Bill Laimbeer is around, I won’t be the ugliest guy in the world.�