HBO Crew Is Caught in the Eye of a Storm

A line in Sunday’s Morning Briefing referred to Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant, George Foreman and Oscar De La Hoya as “Three Men and a Baby.” Now the HBO announcing trio has a new nickname: “Three Blind Men.”

On HBO Saturday night, heavyweight Chris Byrd was awarded a unanimous decision over Fres Oquendo. The HBO trio, plus Harold Lederman, all had Oquendo winning, 115-113.

“Either we or the judges were completely blind,” Lampley said.

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Fisticuffs, senior division: Longtime L.A. boxing promoter Don Fraser says publicist Bill Caplan’s skirmish with a writer in the media room after the Shane Mosley-De La Hoya fight wasn’t his first.

“Caplan has been in a number of fights, including two with me,” Fraser said. “One was in front of 17,000 people at the Forum for Ernie ‘Indian Red’ Lopez and Jose Napoles [in 1970]. Bill wasn’t credentialed for the seat he was in. I told him he had to move, and suddenly here were two out-of-shape guys going at it.

“Someone needs to pull Caplan’s license. He’s getting too old for that kind of stuff.”

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Trivia time: Who was the Hall of Famer who broke into the major leagues on a World Series loser and, 22 years later, bowed out on a World Series loser?

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Buffed and fluffed: San Francisco’s Terrell Owens, asked by CBS’ Lesley Visser about his skin-tight warmup outfit, said, “If you got it, flaunt it.”

Visser: “Do you look at Ralph Lauren ads and say that could be me?”

Owens: “All the time. I see ads and I say, ‘I can do that.’ ”

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No dandy, Dan: Said Dan Marino on CBS’ “NFL Today”: “You know what the problem is defensively from the Cleveland Browns? It’s news. They’ve got a drug problem. They get drug down one side of the field and get drug back down the other.”

Aside to Marino: You’re no comedian.

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Idle minds: Under the headline, “Thoughts Running Through Carson Palmer’s Head,” ESPN magazine offers these lines:

* “Tell me again what I’m supposed to be learning by watching this?”

* “Note to self: Call NCAA to see if I have any eligibility left.”

Name game: Reader Jeff Skier suggests that Kelli White marry Wayne Knight, who played Newman on “Seinfeld.” Then she’d be Kelli White-Knight. “Try taking her medals then,” Skier says.

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Heavy issue: Jet quarterback Chad Pennington reportedly is irritated by having to wait while his fractured and dislocated left wrist heal. The New York Post headline: “Pennington now battling a wait problem.”

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Trivia answer: Willie Mays. He broke in with the 1951 New York Giants and exited with the 1973 New York Mets.

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And finally: To raise money for the San Diego Food Bank, Drew Brees, LaDainian Tomlinson and several other Chargers will taste recipes from 14 San Diego restaurants Tuesday.

The way things are going for the team, they may want to bring along their own taste-testers.

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.