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But united they stood

July Bergeron, fiancee of Kings’ forward Yanic Perreault, gave birth last Friday to a 7-pound, 4-ounce boy. The couple named him Jeremy Francois, although Yanic said, “I was thinking about naming him Ross Perreault.”

Sometimes Moore was less

There has always been a dispute as to when the late Archie Moore was born - Dec. 13, 1916, as he insisted, or Dec. 13, 1913, as his mother claimed.

Asked once about the discrepancy in his birth date, Moore said: “I have given this a lot of thought, and I have decided that I must have been 3 when I was born.”

Living in denial

Even though Penn State finished with an 8-3 record and only 5-3 in the Big Ten, coach Joe Paterno said he really enjoyed the season.

“So many people say to me, how do you handle all the negatives?” Paterno told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I don’t read the papers. I don’t listen to talk shows. And very few people come up to me and say, ‘Hey, Paterno, you’re a jackass.”’

Raking Leaf

Tom Cushman of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that lame-duck Chargers coach June Jones wants to look at game film before making a decision whether to start rookie quarterback Ryan Leaf in the final game of the season Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.

“Why? Against the Raiders, all Leaf did was stand on the sideline with his hat turned backward - perhaps a sartorial reminder of the fact that when given an opportunity earlier in the season he played as though his helmet was on backward.”

Call him a pro bono practitioner

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times on U.S. Rep. Mary Bono, Sonny’s widow: “If only she’d marry U2’s Bono, divorce him and marry NFL quarterback Steve Bono, she’d be Mary Bono Bono Bono.”

Covering the court

Joe Knowles in the Chicago Tribune: “The United States Tennis Association is offering free tennis lessons to locked-out NBA players.

“From the looks of his waistline in Saturday night’s charity game, Shawn Kemp can play doubles all by himself.”

Ewing backlash

As a Knick, Charles Oakley spoke his mind. Getting traded to Toronto, locked out and watching Patrick Ewing in his role as union president hasn’t proven soothing.

“That’s why we’re in this situation,” Oakley told the New York Times, “‘cause you have all these so-called franchise players who aren’t leaders, who don’t make anyone better and don’t even make the playoffs. This league has become all about fake superstars, about hype.”

A little rocky in the ring

Sylvester Stallone, star of the Rocky movies and honoree at the Oscar De La Hoya Foundation dinner in Beverly Hills: “The only guy I could fight now is Sen. John Glenn.”

The last word …

“If indeed you drive for show and putt for dough, how come the tour’s leading putter, Rick Fehr, ranks 138th on the money list?”

- Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News