This Poll’s Findings Somehow Don’t Reflect Computer Logic

UCLA, with a 3-2 record, is ranked 22nd and 23rd, respectively, in the Associated Press and USA Today/CNN college football polls.

But the Bruins fare much better in the computer rankings of the New York Times. UCLA is ranked seventh, ahead of unbeaten Notre Dame and Alabama, ranked ninth and 10th, respectively.

Hmm. Computer virus?

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Trivia time: Who holds the World Series pitching record for most games won and lost?

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A bit premature: Worst headline of the season? Phil Rogers of the Dallas Morning News nominates one in the New York Daily News after the Yankees and Mets had won on opening day: “Subway Series?”

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Genius bashing: From Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star: “This is the week when the most frequently uttered fear of Stanford will be ‘Give Bill Walsh two weeks to prepare and look out, Arizona.’

“What will be forgotten is that Walsh had six months to prepare for Washington and the Genius got stomped, 31-14.”

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Right on: Mike Ditka, now an NBC-TV pro football commentator, detests elaborate touchdown celebrations. He described a clip of Houston receiver Ernest Givins’ gyrations after scoring:

“It’s a new move--called ‘the jerk.’ ”

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Comparison: Dino Radja of the Boston Celtics commenting to the Boston Globe on his former homeland, Yugoslavia, being torn apart by civil war:

“Crime is way, way up. There is a lot of violence.”

Pause.

“I guess that means it’s like New York.”

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Gambling edge: From Bulgarian soccer player Sasho Kostov: “No doubt that there is corruption in Bulgarian soccer. Last year, for example, one knew in advance the result of many matches.”

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Looking back: On this date in baseball in 1970, Baltimore Oriole pitcher Dave McNally became the first pitcher to hit a grand slam in a World Series game.

He hit it against Cincinnati’s Wayne Granger in the sixth inning of Game 3. Baltimore won, 9-3.

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Turn off: From the Good Doctor in Inside Sports magazine:

Q: How many TV viewers would another Super Bowl Sunday involving the Buffalo Bills probably get?

A: Only 92,999,000 fewer than the last episode of “Cheers.”

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Trivia answer: Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees, with a 10-8 record.

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Quotebook: Washington receiver D.J. McCarthy on his team’s 24-23 comeback victory over California on Saturday: “The Rose Bowl they took away from us? We just played it.”