NFL Wants Exposure, but Not This Kind

The NFL plans to get tough on players who don’t stick to the dress code this season. Those players whose uniforms don’t conform will not be allowed to play.

But there’s nothing really new about this. Back in the 1970s, Raider receivers Fred Biletnikoff and Mike Siani were threatened with fines for failing to pull their socks all the way up.

League officials were informed that Biletnikoff and Siani had skin conditions on their ankles that were alleviated by leaving that area uncovered.

Fine, replied then-commissioner Pete Rozelle in a note, but let’s hope they never get jock itch.

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Add Raider uniforms: On another occasion, tight end Dave Casper was fined $250 for failing to tuck in his shirt in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Casper sent the league office a check for $62.50, one-quarter of the amount, along with a note saying that the rest of the fine should be assessed against the three Pittsburgh linebackers, since they were the ones who kept pulling his shirt out in that game.

Casper got a note back from Rozelle saying that he had viewed the game film and Casper was right.

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Trivia time: How many times has a horse won the first two legs of the Triple Crown--the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness--only to lose in the Belmont Stakes?

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High praise: TNT basketball analyst Hubie Brown is among those who have jumped on the Hakeem Olajuwon bandwagon.

“Hakeem’s the total package,” Brown told Dave Kindred of the Sporting News. “He’s humble. He was totally respectful of [David] Robinson after [the Houston Rockets eliminated the San Antonio Spurs]. He gave credit to the Spurs and his teammates. He sounded like a coach saying all the right things.

“He’s got all the offensive moves. The spin-fade--do you know how much distance he covers with that? And he shoots it as well as other guys shoot baby hooks; his percentage is off the charts. You come to him, he gives you a drop step and puts a shoulder under you. Everything a small forward can do, this guy does and he’s 7 feet, 265 pounds.”

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Add Hakeem: Brown just can’t figure out how Olajuwon become so good. “His defensive IQ is incredible,” Brown said. “Where does that come from? He played one year in high school; he played at the University of Houston. Where’d he learn it? He’s so disruptive on defense. He’s got it all figured out. A doctorate degree in basketball, and where he’d get it?”

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Campaign on wheels: Look at the race car of David Everly and you’ll see what you’d see on the vehicles of all his competitors on the dirt track: Sponsor logos paid for by tire manufacturers and others looking for a good advertising spot.

Look closely at Everly’s car, however, and you’ll see something you won’t see anywhere else: political advertising.

Brian Gallagher, a West Virginia state delegate who will be a candidate again in 1996, has paid Everly $1,000 to put green, yellow and white signs on the side of the car that say, “Brian Gallagher” and “House of Delegates.”

Everly plans to drive in 19 races in West Virginia and Ohio this year.

Said Gallagher: “It gets me on the sports pages.”

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Trivia answer: Twelve times, the last such Belmont loser being Sunday Silence in 1989.

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Quotebook: General Manager Jan Volk of the Boston Celtics on the dead spots in the parquet floor, which is being moved from Boston Garden to the new FleetCenter: “It’s a closely guarded secret. . . . When we trade players, we tell them, ‘Keep the playbook but give back the dead-spot book.’ ”