Giambi Didn’t Ask for This Needling

The New York Yankees asked Reggie Jackson to work with struggling slugger Jason Giambi this weekend while the team is in Oakland for a three-game series.

A New York Post headline referred to Jackson as “Doctor” and Giambi, who went into Friday night’s game hitting .195, as “Dolittle.”

Trivia time: Which team has been no-hit the most by the Los Angeles Dodgers?

An award is an award: Terry Bradshaw, who suffers from bouts of depression, was among those honored Friday at the “Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards” luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for their work in educating the public about mental illness. “Wow, I’m getting an award for being depressed,” Bradshaw said.

He added, “I’m proud to be the whipping boy for all those macho guys who won’t talk about it.”

Check that: In an exchange on his taped HBO show Friday night, Bob Costas told guest Billy Crystal that Howard Cosell was never nice to him. Crystal said Cosell probably was jealous because Costas was up and coming.

Costas said, “I was anxious to meet him, and I extended my hand. He said, ‘You! You’re the child who rhapsodizes about the infield fly rule. I’m sure you’ll have a fine career.’ And he turned and walked away.”

Said Crystal, “I take it back. He hated you.”

Rejected: The triple-A Rochester (N.Y.) Red Wings were supposed to honor their manager of 1966 and ’67 tonight with “Earl Weaver Bobblehead Night.”

One problem. The bobblehead dolls were rejected by the team and Weaver, who’ll still be there, because of poor quality. Presumably, the Wings learned something: Don’t order bobbleheads from knuckleheads.

Unpopular decision: Lloyd Cutler, who died last Sunday at 87, was former White House counsel to presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and was involved in the U.S. decision to boycott the 1980 Olympics. In a 1981 interview, Cutler talked about the U.S. Olympic Committee’s resistance to the boycott.

“They thought we were out of our minds,” he said. “To say that you must not go to Moscow was like saying to a politician that you must not have an election.”

No pluses: International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz told The Times’ Alan Abrahamson this week that the passage of time suggests Olympic boycotts lead to only one outcome. “They hurt athletes,” she said. “They do nothing else.”

Looking back: On this day in 1968, the Dodgers’ Don Drysdale started his streak of 58 consecutive scoreless innings with a 1-0 shutout of the Chicago Cubs.

Trivia answer: The San Francisco Giants. They were no-hit by Sandy Koufax in 1963, Jerry Reuss in 1980 and Kevin Gross in 1992.

And finally: The New Orleans Saints may be moving to Southern California, with Anaheim a possibility. Angels and Saints in one city? Wouldn’t that be a blessing?

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