Cheap Seats
Time to fold ‘em
Paul Azinger’s telephone interview after his round of 62 in the Las Vegas Invitational golf tournament was cut short because he was calling from the ladies’ card room at Las Vegas Country Club - and it was time for the card game.
George almost strikes out
Only George Steinbrenner could get himself in trouble by saying nice things about somebody. A few weeks ago, Steinbrenner was sitting in the visiting manager’s office at Jacobs Field, after the Yankees’ Game 5 victory in the A.L. Championship Series over the Indians, when a columnist from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution came in and began asking him questions about Braves owner Ted Turner.
“Ted is a great friend,” Steinbrenner began, “and he’s one of the most brilliant businessmen I’ve ever met. He’s responsible more than anyone for the television contracts we’ve gotten in baseball, and he’s done a tremendous job with his ballclub.”
A minute or so after the Atlanta guy thanked Steinbrenner and excused himself, Joe Torre emerged from the office’s shower room.
“Hey, George,” Torre asked, “I’m just curious. What did you think of Turner when he fired me?”
“Uh, well, uh,” Steinbrenner stammered before quickly recovering, “think of it. If that hadn’t happened, I couldn’t have gotten you here. You did bounce around a lot before I got you.”
“You’re right,” said Torre, who has been fired by the Mets, Turner’s Braves and the Cardinals. “I have bounced around. But that was a good answer.”
He has a future as spin doctor
After Illinois was thrashed 41-0 by the heralded Ohio State Buckeyes this season, Fighting Illini quarterback Kurt Kittner was in no mood to dish out compliments.
“They’re not super-human,” he said. “Everyone can be beaten on a given day. They are the No. 1 team in the nation, but we had plenty of chances to move the ball and we should have put the ball in the end zone at least a couple of times.
“They’re All-Americans, but we played with them and moved the ball a little bit. I didn’t throw an interception against a bunch of All-Americans, so that’s positive from my standpoint. We could have done a lot better than what we showed today.”
Kittner took exception when a reporter said Illinois had been “smacked” by the Buckeyes.
“I wouldn’t say smacked,” protested Kittner.
“We got beat.”
Like a drum.
The last word …
“I transferred from Prairie View to come here. I feel terrible.”
- Defensive back Devren Byerly after Langston’s loss to Prarie View this season, which ended an 80-game losing streak.