Was That Sanders or Liberace in the Cowboy Locker Room?

Jeff Rude of the Dallas Morning News on Deion Sanders’ dressing procedure after a recent Dallas Cowboy home game:

“Most people slip on a shirt when they get dressed. Deion puts on a jewelry store.

“Around his neck are two large gold chains with diamond-studded 21s dangling at the bottom. Two gold and diamond bracelets circle his right wrist.

“A diamond-studded Rolex watch and another bracelet decorate the left wrist. Matching horseshoe earrings hang from his lobes.”

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Trivia time: What is the Pacific 10 Conference record for the longest pass play?

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Classy pattern: Green Bay Packer Coach Mike Holmgren on the pregame festivities at Texas Stadium:

“In the pregame warm-ups there are thousands of people on the sidelines. Everyone’s wearing fur coats. A receiver runs a route and runs into the crowd, and he comes out wearing a fur coat.”

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Only way to fly: The Boston Bruins used a plush chartered 727 during a five-game trip that ended Saturday in Detroit. The jet has good credentials. The Rolling Stones used it for a European tour.

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Add Stones: Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun wrote that the logo of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche “looks like the result of the Rolling Stones tour bus crashing into a Dairy Queen.”

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Any argument? In the final minutes of USC’s humiliating 38-10 defeat by Notre Dame at South Bend, Ind., on Saturday, Irish fans chanted, “Overrated! Overrated! Overrated!”

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Add Trojans: USC stumbled and so did NBC-TV announcer Charlie Jones. Before the game, Jones said the series began in 1926 with Notre Dame winning, 26-13. The score was 13-12. He also talked about USC’s comeback in the 1964 game when the Trojans scored 17 unanswered points after trailing, 17-0, at halftime. The Trojans scored 20 to win, 20-17.

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Rip-off: Todd Phipers in the Denver Post: “Wonder why big-time athletes aren’t crazy about signing autographs?

“Those balls Cal Ripken Jr. so graciously signed on the night he broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-game streak are now showing up in Baltimore memorabilia shops for about $80 apiece.”

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Trivia answer: Stanford’s Jim Plunkett to Randy Vataha, 96 yards against Washington State in 1970.

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Quotebook: Mike Tyson, on giving up a big pay-per-view payday to fight Buster Mathis Jr. on the Fox network Nov. 4: “I’m fighting on free TV, I’m not fighting for free.”