Are You Ready for Some Track?

NFL coaches may drool at the prospect of Michael Johnson as a wide receiver, but they might as well forget it.

“I didn’t like contact, and I didn’t like the whole football mentality,” said Johnson, who went to high school in football-crazy Texas. “On a football team, you’ve got to be yelled at. Or you’ve got to yell at someone.

“It’s not football without some yelling or some hitting and all that kind of stuff. And that’s just not me.”

Trivia time: Who was the last American male tennis player to win an Olympic gold medal before Andre Agassi?

Fairway hazards: To create the Coyote Hills golf course on Unocal property in Fullerton, architect Cal Olson had to contend with pumping oil wells, high voltage lines and above-ground pipes. But they weren’t his biggest challenge.

“For the environmentalists, we had to protect and provide a continuing habitat for the California gnatcatcher and the cactus wren,” Olson said. “And for every pepper tree we uprooted, we planted two.”

Mother knows best: Mike Grier of Boston University, recently signed by the Edmonton Oilers, hopes to become one of the few African Americans to play in the NHL. He says he expects race to be a factor in his rookie year as a professional but believes advice from his mother will see him through.

“My mom told me just to ignore it and put the puck in the net, and that would shut people up,” he said. “That’s something I’ve always tried to do.”

Coaching logic: University of Minnesota football Coach Jim Wacker is installing a new defensive alignment this season.

“If we don’t know what we’re doing, [opponents] can’t know what we’re doing,” he explained.

New Olympic sport? If you enjoy watching beach volleyball, wait until you see Takraw, a Southeast Asian sport for more than 500 years that is best described as “kick volleyball.” Takraw does not permit use of hands or arms. Spiking, digging and blocking are done with feet, head and knees by three-player teams separated by a five-foot net.

If you’re curious, the U.S. Takraw Open is being played today and Sunday at Santa Monica State Beach.

Looking back: On this day in 1944, Red Barrett of the Boston Braves threw only 59 pitches in beating the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0, in a nine-inning game.

From the pro: Have you seen the latest commercial for the Tommy Armour Golf Co. introducing titanium irons? In it, pro Bruce Lietzke gives Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman some tips, including the suggestion, “Taking off those Super Bowl rings may help.”

Trivia answer: Vinnie Richards in 1924.

And finally: In 1989, Southern Methodist was trying to recover from a two-year NCAA “death penalty,” during which it could not field a football team. In November, as luck would have it, the Mustangs, composed of freshman walk-ons, met No. 1 Notre Dame at South Bend, Ind.

“The challenge,” recalls SMU Coach Tom Rossley, who was Forrest Gregg’s assistant back then, “was to get them to come out of the dressing room.”

Final score: Notre Dame 59, SMU 6.