Avoid this point spread

High school football coaches in Connecticut will have to be good sports this fall – or risk a suspension.

The football committee of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs high school sports, is adopting a “score management” policy that will suspend coaches whose teams win by more than 50 points.

A rout is considered an unsportsmanlike infraction and the coach of the offending team will be disqualified from the next game.

Some have dubbed it the “Jack Cochran rule,” after the New London High’s football coach, who logged four wins of more than 50 points last year. In New London’s 60-0 rout of Tourtelotte/Ellis Tech, Cochran enraged the Tourtelotte bench by calling a timeout just before halftime. Tourtelotte’s coach was arrested on breach of peace charges after police say he struck a security guard and an assistant New London coach.

See your local veterinarian

From Elliott Harris of the Chicago Sun-Times: “You can only wonder whether any of us will live to see the day when all Americans (dare we even dream all human beings?) receive health care comparable to what Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro has had.”

Just a puff of smoke

John Ramsey told the Sporting News a story about Muhammad Ali, his longtime Louisville friend:

“Muhammad is at dinner when this firefighter says, ‘Mr. Ali, could I get an autograph? You’ve been my hero forever.’ Muhammad says, ‘No, you’re the hero. Go into burnin’ buildings, pull people out. I was just a boxer. Nothin’ like you.’

“The firefighter says, ‘C’mon, Mr. Ali. You fought Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Smokin’ Joe Frazier.’

“So Muhammad whispers into the firefighter’s ear. ‘Between you ‘n’ me,’ he says, ‘Joe wasn’t really smokin’.’ “