These Prices Leave New York Fans All Lathered Up

John M.R. Bull of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Pirate fans may be ticked off paying $3.50 for a beer, but it could be worse.

”. . . You could be in New York, seeing the Mets and paying the highest beer tab in the league, $5.50 for a 20-ounce brew.

“Or you could be watching the New York Yankees, where you’ll pay the highest average price for a family of four to see a game: $166.84. That’s almost $70 more than here.

“At the other end of the scale, the cheapest hot dogs are in Toronto, the equivalent of $1.41 in American currency. Take two, they’re probably small.”

Trivia time: Who was the future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback that the L.A. Rams drafted in the fourth round of the 1949 draft?

Prejudgment: Skip Bayless of the Chicago Tribune writing before the NFL draft: “If [Mark] Hatley [Bear vice president of player personnel] believes [Cade] McNown will be better than [Daunte] Culpepper, he can no longer see the forest for the tease.

“Cade was an arcade of a college quarterback--an exciting, gutsy, nimble overachiever. But all you need to know about McNown is that current Bears quarterback Erik Kramer has a stronger arm and is about an inch taller.”

Chicago didn’t trade up to get Culpepper. So McNown, the Pacific 10 Conference career leader in total offense, starts his Bear career under scrutiny. By the way, Skip, McNown and Kramer are each listed at 6 feet 1 in their respective media guides.

Excellent suggestion: Bob Ryan in the Boston Globe: “The NFL should run its draft from midnight to 8 a.m., so no one watching or covering it should be forced to waste a perfectly good April Saturday afternoon.”

Dry humor: Garth Woolsey in the Toronto Star: “Trying to de-wrinkle a shirt, Boston Red Sox second baseman Lou Merioni turned on the hot water in the shower of his Kansas City hotel room recently, then went to the health club for 40 minutes.

“He didn’t check to make sure the drain was open, and teammate Mike Stanley’s room below was flooded as a result.

“ ‘My shirt was steamed, though,’ Merioni said.”

FYI: McNown is the fourth UCLA quarterback to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft. The others:

Ernie Case, 1947; Troy Aikman, 1989, and Tommy Maddox, 1992. Bill Kilmer was selected as a quarterback in the first round in 1961, but he was primarily a single-wing tailback at UCLA.

Todd Marinovich is the last USC quarterback to be selected in the first round, in 1991, by the Raiders.

Trivia answer: Norm Van Brocklin of Oregon.

And finally: Jack Nicklaus was answering a question at the Masters press building recently when veteran Atlanta sportswriter Furman Bisher got up and started walking out.

“What’s the matter, Furman, aren’t you interested in what I have to say?” Nicklaus asked. Replied Bisher: “At my age, Jack, a man learns to respect his kidneys.”