Cheap Seats

Never let facts get in the way

If you’ve been within earshot of Brent Musburger lately, you’ll know that the ABC sportscaster keeps insisting without substantiation - that Stanford golfer Tiger Woods will turn pro this summer.

“He knows more about my life than I do,” Woods complained to Mark Soltau of the San Francisco Examiner. “He’s never asked me anything. Considering the source, it’s not hard to understand.”

Mind if we play through?

It was just a laid-back round of golf on a course in Las Vegas. And then Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway’s group caught up with another group, which included his former coach, Dan Reeves.

Remember, Reeves and Elway hardly parted on friendly terms and Elway said this was the first they had seen each other since the coach was fired after the ‘92 season. But Elway said he has no lingering animosity for Reeves.

“We haven’t been real successful without him in Denver, and other than his first year in New York, they’ve kind of struggled a little bit, too,” Elway said. “Neither one of us has done very much since we parted.”

So does Elway regret Reeves’ departure? “No,” Elway insisted.

Call it the Lost-and Foundation

A charity started in the name of deceased Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis has collected more than $500,000, but hasn’t done much with the money so far.

The Reggie Lewis Foundation Inc. was unveiled two weeks after Lewis’ funeral in August 1993. His widow, Donna Harris-Lewis, promised money collected would help struggling families in Boston and perhaps nationwide. But the non-profit, tax-exempt foundation has done little except for holiday turkey giveaways.

It has held just one fund-raiser in 34 months. It has no office and no staff. And while it’s collected $513,846 in contributions, it has doled out only $14,267 in turkey giveaways, including only $317 in Boston last year.

The foundation’s biggest beneficiaries include two film production companies, which received $18,800 for making promotional videos, and the Boston law firm of Ropes and Gray, which collected $48,577 in legal and accounting fees.

“We’re going slow to make sure we get everything right,” Harris-Lewis said. “We’re going to be around for a long time.”

By just living off the interest, hmm?

Type casting

Despite John Kruk’s recent denial that he is interested in doing another movie - “The Fan,” in which he plays a baseball player, starring Robert De Niro, will be released this summer - friends say he has an upcoming role in the works as a crazed postal worker who memorizes the phone book.

And all along we thought it was Isaiah Rider

After only eight seasons, the Minnesota Timberwolves are changing their logo to a more ferocious-looking wolf, prompting Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News to write: “So that was the problem.”

The last word …

“Plans for a women’s NBA do give Dennis Rodman yet another option.”

- Bernie Lincicome, Chicago Tribune

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo