The Player Was Different Than the Coach

For an entire generation, there is only one Tom Landry: the stern, emotionless, unruffled figure on the Dallas Cowboy sideline.

But an earlier generation remembers Landry, the long-time Cowboy coach who died Saturday, bubbling with emotion back in his playing days as a cornerback with the New York Yankees and the New York Giants.

“I caught [a pass] in the clear at the 20,” said former Los Angeles Ram receiver Glenn Davis in “God’s Coach” by Skip Bayless, “and had an easy touchdown. Thing was, when I got to the goal line and started to ease up, I could still hear Landry pounding after me, so I ran right through the end zone. He was still coming. . . . I was 10 yards beyond when he finally tackled me. . . . I slammed the ball in his face. . . . I’ll be damned if he didn’t chase me halfway to the bench.”

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Trivia time: Where and when did the New York Yankees play football?

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Hot and cold: Landry was different when he turned to coaching.

“[Vince] Lombardi was, on the surface, a much warmer person than Landry,” former Giant owner Wellington Mara once said. “He went from warm to red hot. You could hear Vince laughing or shouting from five blocks. You couldn’t hear Landry from the next chair.”

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On the other hand: “He would give us ‘the look,’ ” former Cowboy safety Charlie Watters said. “It was something we all feared. It was like he was saying, ‘What in the world are you doing out there?’ He never screamed or reprimanded us. He just gave us ‘the look.’ Believe me, ‘the look’ spoke volumes. In this case, the whisper was a lot louder than the roar.”

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The great stone face: “One time, I came over to him on the sidelines and he was looking at the hole in the roof of Texas Stadium,” former Cowboy quarterback Roger Staubach said. “I was waiting to get the play and, after a long time, he finally gave it to me. I said, ‘I always wondered where you got those plays from.’ He didn’t even crack a smile.”

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Attention John Wooden: If you’re reading today’s paper, avoid this item. You don’t need the aggravation.

Portland Trail Blazer forward Rasheed Wallace, the NBA leader in technical fouls with 21, says he doesn’t plan to clean up his act until the postseason.

“Come playoff time, that’s when it all counts,” Wallace said. “I’ve never been thrown out of a playoff game, and I never will be. A lot of things go on in the regular season that don’t go on in the playoffs. Right now, I could have a million techs. I don’t care.”

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Trivia answer: A member of the All-America Football Conference, the Yankees played from 1946-49, in Yankee Stadium, of course.

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And finally: Eyebrows were raised when outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. agreed to a nine-year, $116.5-million contract with the Cincinnati Reds, the deal calling for deferment of more than 50% of the money. At just under $13 million a season, Griffey is only seventh on baseball’s wage-earner scale.

Said agent Scott Boras, “If the player owns a Rolls-Royce and he choose to sell it at Volkswagen prices, that’s his right.”