You've read about his budding movie career. You've wondered at his collection of exotic pets. Now the Mailman has another, um, unusual hobby: He's going to be a long-haul trucker.
Who better to deliver your produce? Karl Malone is having an 18-wheel custom-made truck built to his specifications, with intentions of driving the big rig professionally. The truck, which should be ready within a few weeks, will have a fax machine, VCR, television, stereo, refrigerator and microwave.Though Malone admits this may appear to be an off-the-wall whim, he says driving truck has long been a serious dream. When his college playing days were through, Malone went to a Louisiana bank and procured a $60,000 business loan.
"If I would have been cut from the Jazz, I would have gone back to Louisiana and bought an 18-wheeler and gone into business by myself," he said.
Malone has already talked seriously with a representative from an Idaho company about hauling potatoes from Idaho to Louisiana. "My ultimate plan is next summer, after the Olympics, to get in my 18-wheeler, get some potatoes and drive to Louisiana. That's our relaxation period. When (his wife) Kay gets tired, she can stop at the next city and fly home and meet me when I get there."
Malone says after college he wanted to be a state trooper - he spent one summer as a deputy sheriff in Louisiana after his rookie season - and a truck driver. "I've put it off for a good seven, eight years now," he said. "After we win the gold, that's my time to get away from things."
Meanwhile, the Mailman, who has been known to mug and woof on occasion, says there won't be much of that going on in the '92 Games. "You have to keep in mind you're not just representing Karl Malone," he said. "You represent the whole country. We won't be out taunting anybody. We'll let our basketball speak for itself . . . We're not going to rub it in anyone's face.
"I will say this, though: we're going to get the gold. That's why we're going."
In a later interview, the Mailman was even more explicit. "There's no way I can sit here and say we're not willing to say yes. I guarantee you that if there's one guy on this Olympic team that says we're not going to win the gold medal, I don't want to go. And he shouldn't go . . . we have to win the gold. It's not a silver or bronze medal at all. We have to win the gold."
Speaking of Olympics, at least one person has plenty to say about the reason Isiah Thomas didn't make the U.S. team. Jazz President Frank Layden thinks Thomas has the wrong attitude and doesn't deserve to represent the country in international play.
"It's a tragedy that Isiah doesn't understand why he wasn't picked. If he went back and looked at his conduct after the Chicago series, that's not the kind of leadership we need on the Olympic team," said Layden.
Layden said Thomas, who led teammates off the court before the final buzzer had sounded in the Eastern Conference finals, is the proverbial emperor with no clothes on, failing to see what everyone else in the NBA knows. "It's a shame, but he should see that and assess himself accordingly.
"People that coach in the basketball world see him for what he really is, and talent isn't enough," continued Layden. "He's got great God-given talent, but everybody sees through him on all the other things."
Layden, who said his comments should be viewed as constructive criticism, went on to point out that Thomas does commercials for a foreign car manufacturer, while making his living in America's Motor City. "If that doesn't show a lack of sensitivity, I don't know what does.
"This is a guy whose smile just doesn't do it. He's one of those professional athletes who when it's over will say, Hey, how come there's no place for me? People will say, Hey, forget it."
Layden said he hopes the Olympic committee "isn't intimidated" by pressure to put Thomas on the team.
The former Jazz coach also took a dim view of the Pistons' Bill Laimbeer, who complained about there being no tryouts for the Olympic team. "Laimbeer's got a lot of nerve," said Layden. "He couldn't make the Olympic team of Czechoslovakia."
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ODDS AND ENDS: Malone on what it means to dunk on another person: "You just disrespected him!" . . . Inside Sports' preseason predictions have the Jazz finishing second (again) behind San Antonio in the Midwest Division race, while Basketball Digest has picked the Jazz to edge out Houston, followed by the Spurs . . .Malone and his wife, Kay, are expecting a baby in December. An ultrasound indicates it will be a girl . . . John Stockton and his wife, Nada, had their third son during the summer.