Team’s Sword Is Mightier Than the Pen

Reggie Rivers, in his second year as a running back for the Denver Broncos, has quite a little media empire going. A journalism major when he attended Southwest Texas State, Rivers is writing a syndicated column that appears in four newspapers--the Rocky Mountain News, the Laramie (Wyo.) Daily Boomerang, the Billings (Mont.) Gazette and the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal.

Of course, there is always the chance that Rivers won’t be around to fill his appointed space.

His column in the Rocky Mountain News appears with this explanation: “Bronco running back Reggie Rivers’ column will appear on Sunday as long as he is with the team.”

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Trivia time: Who hit the only ball to reach the scoreboard at Chicago’s Wrigley Field?

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Et tu, Pele?Conveniently forgetting about all of those 1-1 games, former soccer star Pele considers the media’s lack of support to be a major reason why his sport has yet to take hold in the United States.

“When I played here (in the old North American Soccer League), I was on the cover of Sports Illustrated only one time,” he said during a recent appearance in Los Angeles to promote a credit card company for which he works. “You see every other sport on the cover. Never soccer. This is not fair. Soccer in the States is a reality.”

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Add Pele: The game’s greatest scorer, Pele had 97 goals in international competition for his native Brazil. His son, however, is a goalkeeper. Said Pele: “Maybe he doesn’t want the comparisons.”

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Unforgettable: Even with all his great years as part of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Steel Curtain,” Joe Greene is often best remembered for the soft-drink commercial that played so sweetly off his “Mean Joe” image.

Witness this exchange, reported by Scott Fowler of the Miami Herald, between Greene, now the Miami Dolphins’ defensive line coach, and cornerback Kerry Glenn after a recent practice:

Green (sweating profusely): “Kerry, get me a couple of towels, will you?”

Glenn: “What’d you say you want, Joe? A Coke?”

Green (now growling): “A towel.”

Glenn: “A Coke?”

According to Fowler, Greene finally gave up and got the towels himself.

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Forgettable: Skip Bayless writes in the Dallas Observer: “As an American, I’m embarrassed to be represented at the Olympics by Charles Barkley. His brainless comments can make him the ugliest of Americans.”

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It’s the 1984 model: According to South African journalist Hugh Mervyn Eley, taxis in his country are known as either “Zola Budds” or “Mary Deckers.” A Zola, he says, is faster. However, a Zola becomes a Mary when it is involved in an accident.

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Attention, TripleCast fans: ESPN plans to devote 6 1/2 hours of live coverage to baseball’s expansion draft in November.

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Trivia answer: Golfer Sam Snead. According to “Green Cathedrals,” a book on baseball stadiums, Snead teed up a golf ball at home plate on April 14, 1951, and drove it to the scoreboard. The book reports that no batter has accomplished the feat, although some, including the late Roberto Clemente, have come close.

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Quotebook: Don Sutton of TBS, on third baseman Terry Pendleton’s leadership and willingness to play with pain for the Atlanta Braves: “You can bet Pendleton won’t be asked to play the lead in ‘The Darryl Strawberry Story.’ ”