A Really Bad Trade, or Was It Banishment?

Art Spander of the San Francisco Examiner is seemingly shocked that the Oakland Athletics would trade Jose Canseco to the Texas Rangers.

“What do we lose next?” Spander writes. “The Oakland end of the Bay Bridge? Jerry Rice? Napa Valley?

“Am I missing something? Did Jose Canseco admit he had shipped arms to Iran? Is visiting Madonna an indictable offense?”

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Add Spander: “In Boston, they still suffer from the ‘Curse of the Bambino.’ Not since the Red Sox traded George Herman Ruth to the Yankees in 1919 have they won a World Series. Well, get ready around here for the ‘Curse of the Canseco.’

“You don’t trade Jose Canseco for Ruben Sierra, the Sierra Nevada and the ‘Treasure of Sierra Madre.’ ”

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Hasta la vista, baby: Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle takes a different view of the Canseco trade:

“The A’s didn’t trade Canseco, they banished him. They sent him to baseball oblivion with a little note card reading, ‘Thanks for all the headaches.’ ”

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Trivia time: Who holds the Ram record for the longest punt?

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Load off his mind: Atlanta Falcon Coach Jerry Glanville was bemoaning the absence of former rookie tackle Bob Whitfield from training camp.

“I wouldn’t know Bob Whitfield if he was sitting on my lap,” Glanville said.

Oh, yes you would. He weighs in excess of 300 pounds.

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Makes sense: The Good Doctor in Inside Sports lists some reasons Mike Dunleavy left the Lakers for Milwaukee:

“(He) doesn’t have to speak Serbo-Croatian to his center . . . no more of that damned Dyan Cannon short-skirt distraction . . . fans stay until the game is over . . . serious cheese habit.”

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Different era: Sixty years ago USC yielded 13 points in a 10-game season. The 1992 Trojans have given up 31 points after one game.

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Burnout? Beth Daniel has earned more than $300,000 this year on the LPGA Tour, but she told Golf World that she’s losing her zest for the game.

“The game is not much fun and I don’t enjoy the tour, but then I’ve never enjoyed the tour,” Daniel said. “This my 14th year and I’m tired of doing the same thing all the time.”

And getting the same old money.

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Ugh: Two of the top returnees to the University of Idaho football team are punter Tom Sugg and tackle Jody Schnug, according to sports information director Rance Pugmire.

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Away Jose: “Texas might be Jose Canseco’s dream state,” writes Thomas Boswell of he Washington Post. “Everyone drives 100 miles per hour.”

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Trivia answer: Bob Waterfield, 88 yards in 1948.

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Quotebook: Pittsburgh Pirate Coach Rich Donnelly on Candlestick Park: “It’s like playing a game on an aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic.”