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They say it’s true

When Yogi Berra’s wife said she had taken one of their sons to see “Dr. Zhivago,” he replied: “Now what’s wrong with him?”

How about a little support

Tony Kubek says there was more pressure on Roger Maris to break Babe Ruth’s home run record than there is on Mark McGwire to break Maris’ record.

“The big difference between McGwire and Maris isn’t only that pitching is more watered down and the ball may be livelier, it’s that Roger had to do it in New York, in Babe’s backyard,” said Kubek, a teammate of Maris on the 1961 New York Yankees. “He had to do it in the media capital of the world where most of the writers - and even some of his teammates - didn’t want him to break the record.”

Kubek explained the Yankees were pulling for Mickey Mantle (who had 54 home runs that season) because he had been with the club longer.

So, that means some of the Cardinals are pulling for Tom Pagnozzi?

Jackson is due his due

Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune on the anticipated breakup of the Bulls:

“Will anyone who had anything to do with that sixth championship banner be on hand to see it raised, other than Toni Kukoc, keeper of the flame and default house pet?

“Phil Jackson certainly will come back for one official final bow and to see, if I understand the honor, his own banner hauled to the rafters. Jackson will be the first NBA coach to have his suspenders retired.”

Here’s hoping he remembers to wear a belt to the ceremony.

Geography lesson

It has been reported that Nigerian-born Michael Olowokandi liked the idea of attending University of the Pacific because he wanted to go to a school close to the ocean. Pacific is in inland Stockton, Calif.

Peter May of the Boston Globe wrote: “It’s like Humphrey Bogart’s great line from ‘Casablanca’ after he told Claude Rains that he came to Casablanca for the water. Told that Casablanca is in the desert, Bogart says, ‘I was misinformed.”’ <, Hey, somebody has to squat behind the plate

Catcher Sal Fasano of the Kansas City Royals remembers going out one night with Mark Gubicza and Jeff Montgomery when the team was in California.

Said Fasano: “A guy walked up to us and said, ‘Hey, you’re Mark Gubicza. Hey, you’re Jeff Montgomery.’ Then he said to me, ‘Hey, didn’t you work on my house?”’

Welcome to the 20th century

New Buffalo Bills coach Wade Phillips says he can be counted on to quote historical figures, as his predecessor Marv Levy often did.

“The only difference,” Phillips says, “is that (Levy’s quotes) are from Homer. Mine are from Homer Simpson.”

The last word …

“Instead of well-worn adjectives to describe the two, just recall that Turner has gone to great financial lengths to save the world, and Steinbrenner has gone to great lengths to control it.”

- I.J. Rosenberg in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on George Steinbrenner and Ted Turner