It’s Not a Place for the Meek

When Gayle Gardner substituted for Marv Albert on NBC’s pregame baseball show recently, she went to Riker’s Island prison to do an interview with former New York Yankee Joe Pepitone.

According to Stan Isaacs of Newsday, NBC colleagues agreed that the fastidious Albert would never go to the prison because “it isn’t clean . . . and some of the inmates are like animals.”

Said NBC publicist Dan Martinsen: “I don’t think they are any worse than the guys in the blue seats at the Garden hockey games.”

Telling-it-like-it-is Dept.: A listener to KNBR radio in San Francisco passes along this gem from Giant broadcaster Ron Fairly: “Bruce Sutter has been around awhile, and he’s pretty old. He’s 35 years old. That’ll give you some idea of how old he is.”

Frank Gifford, on Howard Cosell, once a budding barrister: “I asked him to represent me in court on a parking violation, and they brought in a manslaughter conviction.”

Trivia Time: Who won the AFC East in 1987? (Answer below.)

From Joe Magrane of the St. Louis Cardinals, calling it an adventure to pitch in Candlestick Park: “The wind, the fog rolling in . . . if that’s not excitement enough, they ought to just plant land mines arbitrarily in the outfield.”

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: Former Ohio State basketball coach Fred Taylor revealed that John Galbreath, the baseball and horse racing owner who died this week, helped out in the recruiting of Jerry Lucas.

Taylor: “I took Luke fishing one morning on Mr. Galbreath’s Darby Dan Farm outside of Columbus. Mr. Galbreath came by and asked if we were doing any good. Jerry told him we weren’t. We were using fly rods, and Mr. Galbreath said we had to have worms for bait.

“Jerry ended up catching a 10-pound catfish. I always figured that was a good omen for Ohio State. Here it was a Sunday morning, and Mr. Galbreath went out and dug up the worms himself.”

Christine Brennan of the Washington Post, on Florence Griffith-Joyner: “She is a Maybelline advertisement waiting to happen.”

Add Griffith-Joyner: A positive thinker, she listens to tapes of Norman Vincent Peale each night before going to sleep.

Floyd Patterson, who fought for Cus D’Amato, is taking a dim view of Mike Tyson’s suit against manager Bill Cayton. He told the New York Times:

“Cus took kids like Tyson and worked with them, not only in boxing but in building character. Cus gave Mike his big break. Jimmy Jacobs and Bill Cayton supported Cus’ camp and home in the Catskills.

“They fed him, clothed him, trained him, brought him up. They were there when nobody else was. Not the promoters or matchmakers or so-called friends.”

The Name Game: Kent Hrbek of the Minnesota Twins answers to the name of Rex. That is short for T-Rex. That is short for Tyrannosaurus rex.

Bob Mathias, asked what the United States can do to regain its prestige in the decathlon, told USA Today: “You take Michael Jordan. If I could coach him for six months, I think he could shatter the world record.”

Trivia Answer: Indianapolis Colts.

Quotebook

Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers, on New Jersey Nets draft choice Chris Morris, who also is from Auburn: “He’s a complete wacko.”