Playbook of a different stripe

Call it the NFL quarterback’s prison-time game plan.

Art Schlichter, whose career and personal life were destroyed by a gambling addiction, gave the Atlanta Journal-Constitution some suggestions for Michael Vick.

“I would advise Mike to go in with a lot of humility,” Schlichter said. “I’d advise him to try to be like everyone else.

“If you walk in there expecting to get special treatment from the inmates or the guards, you’re going to be disappointed. They don’t take kindly to that. What I tried to do was keep my mouth shut and get to know some people I wouldn’t normally have had the chance to meet. I kept my head down most of the time.

“There’s a saying: Do the time, don’t let the time do you.”

Schlichter, 47, repeatedly relapsed into gambling and served prison time for fraud and forgery as well but said he is now trying to help others avoid his mistakes.

Since his most recent release last year, Schlichter has focused on his nonprofit foundation ( www.gamblingpreventionawareness.org) and made frequent appearances to speak about gambling.

People seem to be forgiving toward him, he said.

“It’s the American way. Some love to tear you down if they have a chance, but most people like to see a success story.”

Trivia time

What team drafted Schlichter from Ohio State in 1982 with the fourth pick overall?

How to manage

Boston Red Sox Manager Terry Francona -- dubbed “FranComa” by some talk show hosts and e-mailers -- nevertheless reads all his mail and has mostly learned to let criticism roll off his back.

“Sometimes I’ll be speaking to a group of fans, away from the park, and I’ll ask a guy what he does,” Francona told the Boston Globe. “If he says he’s a dentist, I’ll say, ‘What would you say if I stood over you while you were pulling out a molar and I told you that you were doing it all wrong?’ And the guys will say, ‘Well, that would be ignorant.’ Well, this is kind of the same thing. It’s just that everybody identifies with baseball. That’s part of what makes it special. If I show that I can’t handle it, then they’ve got the wrong guy.”

Why does Francona even bother to read his mail? Because there might be something from a worthy charity or a needy youngster, he said.

“I don’t want to miss something like that just because some blowhard is insulting me.”

Trivia answer

The Baltimore Colts. The team moved to Indianapolis in 1984.

Pigskin preschool

On football Saturdays at Missouri, the school’s department of human development and family studies offers child care so parents can go to the game.

“Even parents from rival teams utilize our service, especially the Nebraska fans,” said Larry Ganong, the department co-chairman. “We treat them just as well as we treat the little Tiger fans!”

Students supervise the children, fulfilling requirements for a course on drop-in day care. The service costs $45 to $50, and parents can drop off infants as young as 6 weeks old up to two hours before kickoff and pick them up as late as two hours after the game.

Maybe the service ought to include a ride home too.

And finally

TV analyst John McEnroe, who attended Stanford, reacting during a U.S. Open broadcast to Michigan’s loss to Appalachian State:

“What’s next? Stanford’s going to have a good year?”

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