Payton Linked To Grizzly Event -- Cal Mascot Gets Benched For Cake Toss

You could say Oregon State guard Gary Payton indirectly took Cal's mascot out of action for the next two weeks.

Or you could say, what Oski did at the Cal-Oregon State game two weeks ago was a hare-brained thing for a bear to do.

The university suspended Oski, the Golden Bear mascot, for two weeks for hitting Payton's father, Al Payton, with a double-layer cake at halftime of a game in Harmon Gym.

The prank was not well received; Payton's family threatened a lawsuit and the secret association that selects the mascots was looking into ways of avoiding further such incidents.

Beavers back in black

-- Oregon State ordered three sets of new uniforms this season: redesigned white uniforms for home, redesigned orange ones for certain road games, plus a flashback to 20 years ago - new black road uniforms, a concept devised between Coach Jimmy Anderson and captain Payton.

The last time Oregon State wore black for basketball was in the late 1960s under Coach Paul Valenti, one of Anderson's mentors. Payton apparently pushed their revival with the same passion with which he attacks most of his goals for the team.

How do the Beavers decide what to wear on the road?

``(It's) according to the superstition of the moment,'' said Mike Corwin, OSU associate sports information director.

For the record: The black uniforms had a rocky debut in a December defeat at Memphis State. But their mystique seems to be growing; the Beavers are now 3-1 in them.

Nance rips Robinson

-- More fuel for the ongoing national debate about the merits of Payton versus Michigan point guard Rumeal Robinson:

``Rumeal's not good enough to carry Gary Payton's suitcase,'' Washington Coach Lynn Nance said.

Payton gets insurance

-- Payton took out a $1 million insurance policy with Lloyd's of London against a career-ending injury, similar to the policy Sean Elliott carried last season at Arizona. Payton's father paid the $5,500 premium and the coverage started a month ago.

Driven to distraction

-- You might recall the Washington Huskies' mishap two weeks ago when their charter bus driver was arrested, leaving them stranded in the desert.

When the Stanford team departed Pullman after its 69-49 victory at Washington State Sunday, the Cardinal wound up with a Greyhound bus driver who may have been to the same driving school.

After the bus drove on a small highway through the rain in the dark for an hour, some members of the Stanford contingent were beginning to wonder where Spokane was, and why the bus was passing so many small towns they didn't remember from the trip over.

Then the driver pulled into a small gas station.

``Where are you going?'' Coach Mike Montgomery asked.

``I'll be back in a minute,'' the driver replied. The proprietor of the station was seen gesturing in various directions.

``We're lost,'' said Bob Vasquez, Cardinal sports information director.

The trip resumed, as the players munched their sandwiches and settled in for another round of cards. At a fork in the road, the driver hesitated and then went right.

Ten miles later, he stopped and reversed the bus and retraced his route. The team got to Spokane an hour late.

``It's a good thing we won,'' Vasquez said, ``or Mike (Montgomery) might have really laid into him.''