Maybe He’ll Talk His Way Into an NFL Job

Sam Wyche, 59, living on a 28-acre ranch near Greenville, S.C., has been volunteer coaching at a high school. The former Cincinnati Bengal and Tampa Bay Buccaneer coach still aspires to get back to the NFL as an assistant coach or coordinator.

He has had some health problems but says he is doing fine now, except for his voice. A doctor doing a biopsy in March 2000 accidentally cut a nerve that leads to his vocal cords.

“My voice is an issue,” Wyche told The Times’ Sam Farmer. “I can’t yell across the field.

“I’ve had a bunch of players say, ‘Why didn’t this happen 20 years ago? I wouldn’t have had to run as many laps.’ ”

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Trivia time: The Bengals, under Wyche, were 12-4 in 1988 and went to the Super Bowl, where they lost to San Francisco 49ers. Wyche also went to what Super Bowl as a quarterback, and with which team?

Different perspectives: Besides going to the Super Bowl as a head coach and as a player, Wyche was an assistant with the 49ers when they defeated the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI in January 1982.

“I’ve seen it from all corners of the locker room,” Wyche said.

Age-old question: Wyche thinks he might be too old to be considered for a head-coaching position. But Marv Levy, 77, doesn’t think he is too old. He’d like another shot. “Hey, look at [Dick] Vermeil, [Bill] Parcells, Jack McKeon in baseball,” Levy told NFL Network. “Age doesn’t mean anything.”

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Now this is old: Of Dennis Rodman’s playing for the Long Beach Jam of the ABA, KFWB’s Bret Lewis said, “He’s 42 years old, but keep in mind, that’s 126 in Dennis Rodman years.”

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Nothing unique: Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News says Roger Clemens is being unfairly criticized. “Now he goes to work for another team after saying he was retired,” Lupica wrote. “Bill Parcells does it all the time.”

Weight watcher: Stanford’s Rob Little told the San Jose Mercury News his secret to losing 25 pounds and reducing his body fat 50% before the start of the basketball season.

“Stepping back from the table, I ask myself, ‘Why am I eating these cookies, why am I having seconds, why am I having pizza for breakfast?’ ” Little said.

Perfect match: Here’s one more Tug McGraw line, this one about meeting his wife: “I met her in a New York bar. We had a lot in common. We were both from California, and we were both drunk.”

Trivia answer: Wyche was a backup quarterback for the Washington Redskins when they lost to the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VII in January 1973 at the Coliseum.

And finally: Regarding Morning Briefing’s comparison of Pete Rose and pretend lottery winner Elecia Battle, reader Thomas Irish of Rancho Palos Verdes says, “The comparison is apt, but doesn’t go far enough. If Rose had made the lottery-ticket claim, he would have ultimately admitted that he lied -- but he still would have asked the lottery commissioner to give him the prize.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at [email protected].