This Cook Could Really Dish Out the One-Liners

Carroll H. “Beano� Cook’s broadcasting career has been reduced from ESPN television to ESPN radio, he had a toe amputated last fall because of diabetes and he had triple-bypass heart surgery in April, but at 70 he’s still kicking.

“My 19th year,� Cook, who has neither a voice for radio nor a face for television, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Chuck Finder when talking about his broadcasting career. “When I started, most people gave me an over and under of five weeks.�

Cook first made a name for himself as Pitt’s sports information director from 1956-66. Besides writing hilarious press releases, he once tried to get Dr. Jonas Salk to pose with a Pitt star basketball player for a poster proclaiming, “America’s Great Shotmakers.�

Among his stories is one about the time a young woman phoned to get a roster of the football team because, she said, she wanted to, uh, date every player. Said Cook: “The first one is Cook, Carroll H.�

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Trivia time: What NBA Hall of Famer was on the Brooklyn Dodger roster when the New York Giants’ Bobby Thomson hit his famous home run in 1951?

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Digging deep: The ESPN press department has been working overtime publicizing the “SportsCentury� series on the best North American athletes of the 20th century.

Here are some tidbits:

* Football has provided 18 athletes in the top 100, more than any other sport. However, only three of them--O.J. Simpson, No. 49, Bo Jackson, No. 72, and Barry Sanders, No. 76, won the Heisman Trophy.

* Mark Spitz, No. 33, was the first athlete in the top 50 to participate in a sport that does not take place on land. And he and Greg Louganis, No. 54, are the only two water-bound athletes in the top 100.

* Two athletes in the top 50 so far share a birthday. Spitz and Bill Tilden, No. 45, were born on Feb. 10.

* Of the athletes named in the top 50 so far who played ball sports, only three--Sandy Koufax, No. 42, Lou Gehrig, No. 34, and Bobby Orr, No. 31--were left-handed.

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Missing luggage: The Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League arrived in Nashville, Tenn., for a Friday night game with the Nashville Sounds. One problem, though. The team’s luggage and equipment were sent to Chicago.

The game was postponed and the teams played a doubleheader Sunday.

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Tough town: Andy Reid, the Philadelphia Eagles’ new coach, made his debut Thursday against the Baltimore Ravens and wasn’t exactly greeted with open arms. One sign hanging from Veterans Stadium read: “We’re a tough town. Be a tough coach.�

The team didn’t help matters, losing, 10-7.

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Early start: They’ve already started playing high school football in Alaska so the season can end in October, before it gets really cold.

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Trivia answer: Bill Sharman.

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And finally: From Michael Ventre of MSNBC: “Wade Boggs reaching the 3,000-hit plateau with a home run is like Shaquille O’Neal winning the NBA scoring title with a free throw.�