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Subject: First NFL First Down There Would Be a First Down Under
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 09:41:27 EST
Message-ID: <sports336.1992Nov21.094127@AmeriCast.com>

HEADLINE: First NFL First Down There Would Be a First Down Under
Publication Date: Thursday November 19, 1992
BYLINE: SHAV GLICK

The NFL has played exhibition games in Japan, England, Germany,
Mexico, Canada and Sweden. What will be the next foreign site? Troy
Hunter, a former University of Arizona player, hopes it will be
Australia.

   More than 5,000 Australians play organized American football. Hunter,
31, holds regular coaching clinics at 25 high schools in Queensland
state, and teams are playing competitively.

    Already one Queensland player, fullback Nick Rotschied, has won a
football scholarship to Arizona Western College.

   *

   Trivia time: What is USC's largest margin of victory over UCLA in
football?

   *

   Talkathon: Former race driver Jackie Stewart was in town the other day
and a friend was asked if he had seen him.

   "Yeah, I've seen him," the friend said. "I haven't spoken to him in
two weeks, though. . . . I didn't want to interrupt him."

   *

   Ahoy: Norm Charlton is on a cruise and could not be reached after he
was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Seattle Mariners for Kevin
Mitchell.

  Said Lou Piniella, the former Cincinnati manager who now manages
Seattle: "It seems pretty appropriate that Norm would be at sea on the
night that he became a Mariner."

   *

   Spelling lesson: Ailene Voisin of the Atlanta Journal notes that
Shaquille O'Neal's name was misspelled "O'Neil" on the NBA All-Star
ballot. Shaq was miffed, but didn't prove any better as a speller.

   "My name is spelled like Tatum O'Neal," the Orlando rookie told
Voisin, "not Tip O'Neil." Tip O'Neill uses a double-L.

   *

   Growing up: NHL players, on average, are about an inch taller and 10
pounds heavier than their predecessors 20 years ago. According to an NHL
report, players this season average 6 feet and 194 pounds. In the 1972-73
season, they averaged 5-11 and 184.5 pounds.

   *

   Did you know? New York Knick Coach Pat Riley was drafted as a wide
receiver by the Dallas Cowboys in the 11th round in 1967.

   *

   Bodine-built: When Geoff Bodine isn't driving Winston Cup stock cars,
he likes to go bobsledding. When the U.S. did poorly in the Winter
Olympics using European sleds, Bodine decided to build a sled for the
Olympic team to use.

   "We need help--serious financial help," he says. "I'm way over budget
on this, and I can't afford to do more than I have. The bobsled
federation is out of money. Nobody wanted to help us until we had an
actual bobsled built. Now we have it, and it's for real."

   *

   Sound reasoning: Pitcher Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves, profiled
in Sports Illustrated for Kids, was discussing playing hockey as a
teen-ager with Pittsburgh Penguin goalie Tom Barrasso and New York Ranger
defenseman Brian Leetch. Asked why he chose baseball over hockey after
being drafted in both sports, Glavine said, "Pitchers don't get
body-checked by rugged defensemen like Brian Leetch."

   *

   Trivia answer: USC beat UCLA, 76-0, in 1929.

   *

   Quotebook: Donna Horton-White, after holing a 25-foot putt during an
LPGA tournament while seven months pregnant: "That putt was so good, I
could feel the baby applauding."


This article is copyright 1992 The Los Angeles Times Home Edition.
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