What’s Next? Valentine’s Day Shopping or Spring Cleaning?

Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe on life without major league baseball or the NHL: “Suddenly there has been so much free time. Leaves have been raked and Halloween decorations have been put up two weeks early.

“Our magazines have all been read. Is it too early to get Christmas gifts?”

Trivia time: Who holds the NCAA Division I-A record for points in a season?

Armageddon: Arizona Coach Dick Tomey on his team’s 10-7 victory over Washington State on Saturday: “It was the mother of all wars.”

Defensive: Detroit Lion Coach Wayne Fontes, responding to critics on his team’s three-game losing streak:

“I took over a team that was in shambles. Take a look up there--’57,” he told writers in Detroit, pointing to the Lions’ NFL championship flag hanging in the Silverdome. “Don’t blame me for all those blank years.”

Oh, happy day: Bryan Burwell in USA Today: “Just how ill do you think those bowl coalition geeks are feeling?

“The unbeaten Penn State Nittany Lions are on their way to the Rose Bowl, which is not part of the stupid bowl coalition’s New Year’s Day boondoggle.

“The unbeaten Auburn Tigers, who are on NCAA probation, are ineligible for postseason play.”

Vicious: Bruce Jenkins in the San Francisco Chronicle: “The nerdy, annoying little coward of hockey’s Establishment, Gary Bettman, is rapidly joining (Bud) Selig on America’s Most Wanted List.”

All the way: Pitcher Mark Grant, who has been with six major league teams, on his medical history: “I’ve had shoulder surgery. I’ve had elbow surgery. All I need now is to get a lobotomy.”

Come again?Dominique Wilkins, the former Clipper now with the Boston Celtics, has bought a four-acre spread that allows him to fish the Charles River in his back yard.

“I think I’m kind of a country type at heart,” Wilkins said.

Makes sense: Steve Jacobson in Newsday: “The reason the gladiators of Rome didn’t have shoe contracts is because they wore sandals.”

Irish woes: Joseph Tybor in the Chicago Tribune on Notre Dame’s 21-14 loss to Brigham Young last Saturday:

“For the second week in a row, Notre Dame looked like Notre Shame.”

Reality bites: Despite all the reform talk by college presidents and chancellors, Coach John Cooper of Ohio State knows what is really wanted.

“It’s understood you’d better win,” he said. “I haven’t coached at a school yet that didn’t want to win.”

Cooper is 5-2, 2-1 in the Big Ten.

Looking back: On this day in 1957, Maurice Richard scored his 500th goal in a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks.

Trivia answer: Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State with 234, on 39 touchdowns.

Quotebook: Dallas Cowboy Coach Barry Switzer on becoming an NFL coach: “The biggest surprise I’ve had is that halftimes are only 12 minutes. Hell, I didn’t know that.”