It Was an Arbitrary Decision, but a Good One for Pete’s Sake

When Pete Rozelle announced his retirement as commissioner of the National Football League, Ed Garvey, the former NFL Players Assn. chief who led the players’ strike in 1982, recalled one humorous moment in their usually adversarial relationship:

“I remember Alan Page filed a grievance in 1972 because Jim Finks (then of the Minnesota Vikings) wouldn’t pay him a bonus,” Garvey told the Washington Post. “Rozelle was the arbiter, and I called him as a witness. He got out of his arbiter chair and into the witness chair, and the first question I asked was, ‘What’s your salary?’

“The management lawyer shouted, ‘I object!’ and I said, ‘Who’s going to rule? We don’t have an arbiter.’ Rozelle asked if it was all right for him to go back to his arbiter chair. I said yes. He sat down and said, ‘Objection sustained,’ and then calmly moseyed back to the witness stand.”

Trivia: Name the brothers who pitched no-hitters in the major leagues?

Magic’s clone: Arizona Coach Lute Olson told the Washington Post’s Ken Denlinger that when he looks at Wildcat star Sean Elliott, he sees a young Magic Johnson.

“They’re both players who make the four people playing with them play better,” Olson said. “Sean’s more mobile and he’s definitely a better shooter than Magic was coming out of college.”

Name that tune: Before Duke’s final home game against North Carolina State, Coach Mike Krzyzewski asked the student section, known as the Dukies, to refrain from negative comments about the Wolfpack.

In response, one of students asked the band director to play “Pomp and Circumstance,” the traditional commencement exercise song. The Dukie was heard to say, “It’s the only time the State players will ever hear it.”

Too much to stomach?: For Manager Dallas Green of the New York Yankees, the sooner spring training ends, the better. The Yankees’ Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., facility is known as Camp Can’t because of all the injuries that have hit the team.

Green insists, however, that his on-field problems won’t make him a candidate for an ulcer. But what if another primary player is sidelined, say Rickey Henderson?

“If Rickey goes down,” Green said, “I might empty the pistol.”

Losing his cool: Cincinnati pitcher Rob Dibble got Manager Pete Rose’s attention after Dibble took out his frustrations on some benches and tables with a bat, and threw chairs into a pond at the Reds’ training facility in Plant City, Fla., following an exhibition loss to the Tigers.

Dibble lost the lead for the third time this spring by giving up a two-run homer to Billy Bean.

“He should have thrown himself in there,” Rose said. “The chairs didn’t throw the ball, did they?”

Trivia answer: Ken Forsch of the Astros and Bob Forsch of the Cardinals. Bob no-hit the Phillies on April 16, 1978, and Ken did the same thing to the Braves on April 7, 1979.

Quotebook: Miami Coach Ron Rothstein, when asked after the Heat’s tenth win of the season--which assured the team that it would not have the worst record in NBA history--where the victory ranked: “Right up there, with the other nine.”