Now, Green Wants to Tackle the Best

Washington cornerback Darrell Green, considered the National Football League’s fastest man after beating Phillip Epps, Ron Brown and Willie Gault in successive 60-yard races last month, would now like to take on Carl Lewis.

“I could beat Lewis from 1 to 100 (yards),” Green said. “He would probably beat me in the 200, but I could take him in the quarter (mile).”

Green ran 10.08 seconds in the 100 meters as a member of the Texas A&I; track team. Lewis has run 9.97.

Mr. Nice Guy: After Philadelphia was knocked out of the playoffs by Milwaukee Sunday, the 76ers’ mean-looking Charles Barkley went to, of all places, Major Goolsby’s, the Milwaukee sports bar where Reggie Jackson recently had a run-in with a fan.

But instead of looking for someone to punch, Barkley willingly signed autographs and talked with fans.

Easy mark: Daley Thompson of Great Britain regained the world decathlon record without doing a thing.

Thompson had fallen one point short of West German Jurgen Hingsen’s record when he won the Olympic decathlon at the Coliseum in 1984. But Thursday, the International Amateur Athletic Federation announced that, because of a timing error, Thompson now has the record.

Studies of the electric photo-timer at the 1984 Games revealed an error of .01 of a second in the 110-meter hurdles. That doesn’t sound like much, but it added a point to Thompson’s winning total of 8,797. And subsequent changes in the scoring system gave Thompson the record outright.

Under the new system, Thompson’s Olympic score is now 8,847, and Hingsen’s is 8,832.

The NBA lottery has been heavily criticized, but as a television attraction, it’s a big hit. Last Sunday’s Milwaukee-Philadelphia game drew an impressive Los Angeles Nielsen rating of 9.9, but at halftime, when the lottery was televised, the rating went to 10.4. The Dodgers, facing Montreal later in the day, drew only a 6.8.

An improved area: This year, Angel rookie first baseman Wally Joyner leads the majors with 13 homers. Last season, Angel first basemen combined to hit seven home runs.

Said Detroit pitcher Walt Terrell: “You can take that ERA stuff and stick it. The name of the game is winning, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not an ERA fan at all. They don’t give out Cy Young Awards to ERA winners.”

Terrell (4-1) has an ERA of 5.12.

The Cincinnati Enquirer conducted a phone poll Thursday, asking readers if Manager Pete Rose of the Reds should retire as a player. Of the 293 readers who called, 169 favored retirement, 124 didn’t.

Said Rose: “I’m not going to think about retiring on the basis of 293 phone calls. Not in a country where I’ve played before millions.”

Quotebook

Jerry Burns, the Minnesota Vikings’ new coach, who carried a whistle with him during the first day of this week’s minicamp: “The first time I blew it, nobody paid attention.”