They Said It

?Upton Bell, New England Patriots' general manager, whose roster includes graduates of Yale, Colgate, Dartmouth and Princeton: "When some guys come in to talk contract, I may be reading a paperback. When those guys come in I'm reading Dostoevski."

? Al Conover, new Rice football coach, explaining his background: "I have a master's degree. The subject of my thesis was 'What college done for me."

?Selita Sue Smith, who will be Purdue's Golden Girl for Boilermaker football games for the fourth consecutive year: "I've been getting ostracized by the Women's Lib types at Purdue. They say I'm exploited, but I don't think so. As I see it, I'm not going to wear a sequined suit for the rest of my life, so why not enjoy it while I can?"