Reds’ New GM May Cook Up Problems

They’re taking bets in Cincinnati on how long it will be before Manager Pete Rose and new General Manager Murray Cook of the Reds bang heads for the first time.

Philosophical differences are already evident between them. Cook, formerly with the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees and Montreal Expos, was hired recently to replace the fired Bill Bergesch.

Cook says the general manager’s job is to provide the field manager with players.

But Rose, accustomed to close consultation with Bergesch, thinks the field manager should have a big role in getting the players he wants.

“The way it’s been here, I’ve always picked the players,” Rose said. “I’ve never had a general manager say, ‘You have to pick this guy.’ I heard him say that his job was to give the manager the players. I don’t really agree with that. If my job is on the line, I want to be responsible for who I go to war with.”

Sounds like a conflict with plenty of room for development.

The Utah Jazz played an exhibition game against the Chicago Bulls in Pittsburgh, of all places, and had to travel the next day to Louisiana to play another. After getting his early wake-up call, Utah Coach Frank Layden was sitting in the Jazz’s hotel lobby at 6:30 a.m. wearing sport coat and tie, waiting for the team bus, when someone spotted him and asked what he was doing.

“I’m waiting for the lobby bar to open,” Layden said.

And now a story about the real victims of the demise of the San Francisco Giants. When the Giants lost to the Cardinals in the National League playoffs, the players weren’t the only ones who were upset.

Some women took it badly. Even if they didn’t know baseball from a hard roll, since the Giants lost, it’s been more difficult to find proper male companionship at restaurants and nightclubs.

Jacqueline Lakocy said she knew little about baseball but hoped to go out and meet lots of men.

“It’s really sad,” said Lakocy, a 26-year-old financial consultant.

Why?

“If they win, we meet happier men.”

Oh.

Billy Martin, on his way back to manage the Yankees again, obviously knows something about hot situations.

So Martin will be able to use his expertise Sunday. That’s when he helps judge the 21st annual Tecate World Championship Chili Cook-Off at the Tropico Gold Mine in Rosamond.

Martin is going to taste 75 hot and spicy recipes. He can handle it, though. We already know he’s got a strong stomach.

Oregon State basketball Coach Ralph Miller, 36 victories away from passing John Wooden on the all-time victory list, says his decision on when to retire will not be affected by the pursuit of milestones.

Miller is eighth on the all-time college victory list with 632 victories. Wooden, who coached the great UCLA teams of the 1960s and ‘70s, is sixth with 667. Heading the list is Adolph Rupp of Kentucky with 875.

“The Wooden thing is kind of immaterial,” said Miller, who is 68. “Something like that would be nice if it worked out, but if it doesn’t, so what?

“Every day I live, I have one less day to live. With each day that passes, I’m one day closer to retirement.”

Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team has had a few problems recently. Who is to blame?

Ray Perkins, who used to coach at Alabama, said he is.

Perkins says his decision to jump to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is one of the reasons for the tough surfing the Crimson Tide has had under Bill Curry, Perkins’ replacement.

“I hate to admit this,” Perkins said. “There has to be some toll when a new coach and staff take over with a change. Now, how much, I really don’t know.”

Today’s cheery thought: Super Bowl XXII is just 103 days away.

Quotebook

Coach Doug Collins of the Chicago Bulls, when asked if there was anything he had liked about an exhibition game between the Bulls and the Utah Jazz: “Yeah, it ended.”