Coaches' corner.

A WINNING PROPOSITION...

"You're never a loser until you start thinking like one."

- Bud Wilkinson 

BILL WALSH: "I had only one superstition as a college football coach - that it was unlucky to be behind at the end of the fourth quarter."

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: "I was so small as a kid that I got my start in golf as a tee."

JIMMY CONNORS: "I had such a terrible personality in tennis that even John MacEnroe couldn't make people forget me."

JOHN MADDEN, trapped behind the mike: "From the waist down, Earl Campbell had the biggest legs I've ever seen on a running back."

GENE STALLINGS, former Alabama coach, after losing six straight coin tosses: "Next year we are going to recruit a gambler."

CHUCK NEVITT, of the NBA, on the advantage of being 7-ft.-5: "You're never mistaken for anyone else."

CASEY STENGEL, as manager of the Mets: "We had so few contact hitters that I allowed the ground crew to drag the infield during batting practice."

GEORGE STEINBRENNER, on whether he'd still like Joe Torre if he lost half of his games: "Absolutely! And I'd miss him, too."

LARRY MERCHANT, boxing expert for HBO: "Since Mike Tyson turned vegetarian, he's only booking opponents with cauliflower ears."

BILL FITCH, the veteran NBA coach on coaching an expansion team: "It's like a religious experience - you do a lot of praying and the answer is always no."

STEVE PATTERSON: "I never thought I'd wind up my basketball career as a trivia question: Who played center at UCLA between Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton."

LEE TREVINO: "If Jack Nicklaus would have had to play my tee shots, he would have wound up as a pharmacist with a string of drugstores in Ohio."

JACK NICKLAUS: "If I had been forced to play any of Lee Trevino's shots from anywhere, I'd have been happy to settle for a string of drugstores."

TOMMY BELL, the great NFL official who was also a practicing attorney: "During the week I practiced law. On Sundays, I was the law."

WILLIE STARGELL, former Pirate superstar after the new team leader, Dave Parker, announced that Willie was his idol: "I'm flattered because I know that Dave's previous idol had been himself."

SPARKY ANDERSON, on why he always called Tommy Lasorda "Walking Eagle,": "He was so full of himself that he couldn't fly."

TOM BURLESON, former North Caroline 7-foot center, on why he had been such a fine student: "The profs never had to call the roll to know I wasn't there, so I could never cut class."

STEVE KREIDER, former Cincinnati Bengal, on when he discovered that the American education system had collapsed: "When 46,000 people showed up for a game where the wind-chill factor was minus 90 degrees."

RON WOLF, Green Bay Packers G.M., when asked about an official's decision that cost the Packers the game: "Sorry, coaches and club officers are not allowed to comment on lousy officiating."

CESAR GERONIMO, explaining how it felt to become the 3000th strikeout victim of both Nolan Ryan and Bob Gibson: "It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time."

BOB VALENTINE, on the most memorable pitcher he ever coached: "After losing four straight starts 15-0, 12-1, 14-2, and 13-0, he stormed into my office and demanded a trade. 'How do you expect me to win a ball game if the hitters don't give me any runs?'"