‘Now Let’s Go to John From the ATL . . . ‘

Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe: “Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig ordered Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker to undergo psychological testing. Selig may yet discipline Rocker for making idiotic remarks about minorities and homosexuals.

“This is a slippery slope. Rocker, in his recent Sports Illustrated interview, managed to offend virtually every minority group in this country, but Rocker does not make his living on the basis of his opinions and it’s not against the law to be an ignorant pig.

“ ‘If saying stupid things was a crime, there would be no talk radio,’ notes Globe radio-TV critic Howard Manly.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the NFL postseason record for touchdowns in a game?

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A sinking ship: According to syndicated columnist Norman Chad, Cincinnati Bengal President Mike Brown’s decision to stick with Coach Bruce Coslet, despite a 21-36 record for four seasons, “is reminiscent of Herbert Hoover sticking with Treasury boss Andrew Mellon after the 1929 stock crash.”

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Care to guess? From Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Daily News, on TV’s presentation of college football’s national championship game:

“[It was] a game sponsored by everything from corn chips to ranch dressing, a game laced with those AFLAC trivia questions. The most challenging question was not addressed, though. Which is, of course, this:

“What the bleep is AFLAC?”

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Junk man: Indianapolis Colt receiver Marvin Harrison, denying he takes steroids or food supplements, says:

“I’ll tell you what. I eat McDonald’s every day and I got my locker full of candy, so I’m the total opposite. I don’t look for nutrition. I just go out there and get all the junk food I can eat, and that’s that.”

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Same guy: Rob Johnson will be the starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills in their NFL wild-card game today against the Tennessee Titans, and Larry Felser of the Buffalo News raved about him to the San Diego Union-Tribune:

“I think he’s fabulous. He’s got a cannon, he’s got touch, and he can run. In a third-and-11, he’s liable to get you a first down with his feet.”

Johnson apparently is more mobile now than when he played at USC.

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Trivia answer: Ricky Watters, then of San Francisco, five, against the New York Giants in 1993.

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And finally: Miami Dolphin Coach Jimmy Johnson, explaining why a successful NFL coach might quit:

“There might be somebody who might actually like his family. Somebody might someday want to see his kids. A guy might want to get eight hours’ sleep. You can never tell. There are strange people out there.”