The Judge’s Decision Is Final: Neon Deion May Light Up NFL

Lester Hayes, the man they called the Judge when he played cornerback for the Raiders, was asked by Terence Moore of the Atlanta Journal what he thought of Deion Sanders, the defensive back from Florida State who is using baseball as a tool to extract more dollars from the Atlanta Falcons.

Recalling a Florida State game on television last season, Hayes said: “FSU was playing an SEC team and No. 2 was all over the field all day. He’d knock somebody down, and he’d stand over him and point a finger at him. It was stupendous.”

Hayes said Sanders has all the tools, but he advised him to look at as much film as possible.

“At FSU, he could use his God-given talent to chase down Caucasian Clydesdales, but in the NFL he’ll be dealing with professionals who get paid thousands of dollars to figure out ways to beat him, and they’ll beat him,” Hayes said.

As for the future, Hayes said: “No question Deion would have made a great Oakland Raider. His destiny is to spend some time in the penitentiary--you know, the big one in Atlanta. I should know, because I’m the Judge. So be it.”

Trivia time: Of whom was it said: “He’s the only man who has played both Harvard and Hamlet.”

Reunion: When Jim McMahon was traded to the San Diego Chargers, he was reunited with assistant coach Ted Tollner who coached him as an assistant at Brigham Young.

McMahon told USA Today: “I respect him as a coach and as a person, and I wanted to get back someplace where I knew somebody and liked to play football again. It wasn’t a whole lot of fun the last two years in Chicago.”

Add QBs: Of the Mike Tomczak-Jim Harbaugh battle at Chicago, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle wrote: “One thing Mike Ditka likes is the toughness of Harbaugh. In practice, Harbaugh threw a bad pass to receiver Dennis McKinnon who was obliterated on the play. McKinnon came back to the huddle complaining to Harbaugh. Harbaugh floored him with one punch.”

Word game: Wrote Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer of a Don King press conference: “It was, as usual, a Don King soliloquy. His word for the day was formidable. By actual count he used it 23 times. And if it occurs to you that keeping track of how often a man employs a particular word indicates that there isn’t a whole lot to do, then you have hit upon the essence of a Don King monologue.”

Trivia answer: John Heisman, college football coach and Shakespearean actor. He’s the man for whom the trophy was named.

Quotebook: Fight trainer Carmen Graciano, on the verbosity of Don King: “One day he will asphyxiate by the force of his own exhaust.”