As a Team, They’re Like Martin-Lewis

Charles Price, a contributing editor of Golf Digest, says in the November issue that today’s golf tournaments are televised by, and for, non-golfers.

He cites ABC’s Brent Musburger, “An announcer who knows nothing about golf, and Steve Melnyk, a golf pro, who knows nothing about announcing.

“As a team the two come off like an indulgent dad taking his 10-year-old to a circus, what with Musburger’s gee-willikers and Melnyk’s vacuities.”

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Trivia time: What pitcher holds the World Series record for strikeouts in a career?

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Sure you do: Gerald Wilkins, a former New York Knick now with the Cleveland Cavaliers, said that Chicago’s Michael Jordan will have to work extra hard when the Cavaliers play the Bulls.

“I’m not afraid to guard Michael,” Wilkins told the Miami Herald. “Not many people make Michael Jordan think. I make him think and I make him blink.”

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Oh-oh: Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield has a 28-0 record and challenger Riddick Bowe is 31-0.

“Somebody’s ‘O’ has to go,” Bowe said of their Nov. 13 bout in Las Vegas.

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Equal time: Two radio broadcasters, one from CJCL in Toronto and the other from ISN, almost came to blows in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse after Wednesday’s game.

They arrived in front of pitcher Jack Morris’ locker at the same time, pushed for position, but neither one would give. After some serious yelling and pushing, the CJCL reporter backed off, but got in a glancing blow with his microphone before he left.

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Wint’s legacy: Arthur Wint of Jamaica, who died Tuesday at 72, won the gold medal in the 400 meters in the 1948 Olympic Games in London, along with a silver medal in the 800.

He got another silver in the 800 in the 1952 Games at Helsinki and was a member of Jamaica’s winning 1,600-meter relay team. Wint was unusually tall for a 400-800 runner, standing 6 feet 4 1/2 inches.

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Gentleman’s game: Rich Cimini of Newsday, commenting on the New York Jets, who have a 1-5 record and inexperienced quarterback Browning Nagle:

“Because he hasn’t had much exposure to NFL defenses, Nagle often calls running plays that go into the strength of the defensive alignment. In one game, he made the wrong call at the line and interrupted his cadence to say, ‘Excuse me.’

“At least he’s polite.”

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Starts with a four: Hugh Pinney, a former sportswriter for the Los Angeles Herald-Express, was dictating a story to his desk at a track meet at the Coliseum many years ago.

Suddenly, Pinney threw the phone down and shouted in anguish: “He (a rewrite man) asked me how to spell 440!”

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Come again? Sports departments get some odd calls from readers, but this one may top the list.

A woman once called The Times and asked, “Could you tell me who won the Ice Follies?”

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Trivia answer: Whitey Ford, of the New York Yankees, with 94.

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Quotebook: Sherman Douglas of the Boston Celtics, commenting on NCAA penalties assessed against Syracuse, his former school: “I never took a dime a day in my life. I’m like Ronald Reagan. I saw nothing. I heard nothing.”