Zimmer Goes Left or Right Equally Well

If you’ve wondered what a bench coach does for a baseball team, Bob Verdi of the Chicago Tribune asked that question of Don Zimmer, bench coach for the New York Yankees.

“Well, I’ll tell you,” Zimmer said. “When Joe [Torre, the manager] calls for a hit-and-run and it works, I get real close to him for the TV cameras and pat him on the back.

“If he calls for a hit-and-run and it doesn’t work, I get up and walk to the other end of the dugout for a drink of water.

“That’s what a bench coach does.”

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Trivia time: Who was the first L.A. Ram to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season?

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Changing times ABC’s Al Michaels in an interview with Art Spander of the Oakland Tribune:

“When I started in this business [broadcasting] doing major league baseball with the Reds in ‘71, Pete [Rose] was holding out. And everybody’s saying, ‘Nobody’s worth that much money [$112,000].’

“And now Kevin Brown signs for a seven-year contract which pays a thousand times more than Pete got for one year.”

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The flip side From David Letterman’s “Top Ten Signs the Football Game You Are Watching is Fixed:” “During a coin toss, a player calls heads and the ref says, ‘That’s close enough.’ ”

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Always a rainbow: Jay Delsing, former UCLA player and struggling PGA Tour pro: “The neat thing about golf is what you’ve done in the past has nothing to do with what you might do in the future.”

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Exposure: Interestingly, Charlotte Hornet guard B.J. Armstrong thinks television is the answer to the NBA lockout.

“We need to get the media in on the negotiations,” Armstrong said. “If these guys make mistakes, people will see it. I want to see what NBA Commissioner David Stern looks and acts like at the negotiating table.

“If I can see O.J. Simpson and I can see Bill Clinton testifying before Kenneth Starr, why can’t I see NBA negotiations on TV?”

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Give it up: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune: “I will say this about the Bears. They don’t know the meaning of the word ‘quit,’ or of ‘euthanasia’ either, but either would be a kindness.”

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Bad omen: Montreal forward Shayne Corson, on the troubles of the last-place Canadiens: “You know things aren’t going good when you get to Phoenix and it’s snowing.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1961, Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors began his NBA-record streak of scoring 50 or more points in seven consecutive games.

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Trivia answer: Dick Bass, 1,033 yards in 1962. Bass also rushed for 1,090 yards in 1966.

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And finally: Former NFL receiver Don Beebe is running a training program for athletes called the House of Speed in Naperville, Ill.

“People have called and asked, ‘This doesn’t have anything to do with drug paraphernalia, does it?’ ”