They Could Be Recruiting More Trouble

That guy with the 900 number who charges $1.49 a minute for the privilege of listening to a tape that tells you which high school athletes are going to which colleges (“Press 8 for New Daily Committals!”) ought to team up with the University of Kentucky.

According to David Davidson of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, the Kentucky athletic department recently sank $80,000 into a computer system designed to track the recruiting, initial eligibility and financial-aid status of its athletes.

Davidson continued: “And if the Wildcats get in trouble with the NCAA again, the system can be used for information retrieval, saving investigators thousands of hours of plodding through volumes of paperwork.”

Trivia time: Which player holds the NBA record for most points scored in one quarter?

A new level: DePaul University is promoting its basketball team this season with a novel proposition: Anyone who spots Coach Joey Meyer on a Chicago Transit Authority (elevated) train and gets his autograph can trade it for two free tickets.

Said Meyer: “A lot of people are telling me, ‘Just give (an autograph) to me and I’ll tell them I got it on the El.’ At one game, 25 people must have come up to me asking for free tickets.”

As for being spotted on the train, Meyer said: “It’s not that I’m getting mobbed. I’m no Michael Jordan.”

Other than that . . . : Joe Collier, recently hired as the New England Patriots’ defensive coordinator, was fired from the same position at Denver in 1988 after 20 years with the Broncos.

Collier was candid when Jim Donaldson of the Providence Journal-Bulletin asked about his relationship with Denver Coach Dan Reeves.

Said Collier: “Let’s just say I’m not one of his biggest admirers. When you work with people you don’t particularly like, it’s tough. It wore on me.”

Add Collier: He recalled his time as an assistant with the Boston Patriots in the early days of the American Football League.

Said Collier: “We had one car for the four assistant coaches. It was painted red, white and blue and had ‘Patriots’ on the side. You couldn’t miss it. Whenever we’d lose a game, people would boo as we’d drive away from the stadium.”

Take your time: Diligent baseball researchers may dispute this, but as far as anyone knows, Cy Young never had a telephone answering machine.

However, Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Doug Drabek, the 1990 Cy Young Award winner, has one, with this message:

“What do you mean Ball 4? Hi, I’m in a jam right now, but if you leave your name and number I’ll get back to you as soon as I’m out of this inning. Thank you.”

Just a number: Former Cincinnati Bengal linebacker Reggie Williams, now general manager of the World League’s New York Knights, recently recalled watching the Bengals’ first 1990 exhibition game with his children.

Said Williams: “On the opening kickoff, there’s Bernard Clark wearing No. 57, my old number, and he gets knocked out. Knocked out on the opening kickoff!

“My kids are yelling, ‘Daddy’s hurt! Daddy’s hurt!’ ”

Trivia answer: George Gervin of the San Antonio Spurs, with 33 in the second quarter at New Orleans on April 9, 1978.

Quotebook: Baltimore Sun columnist John Eisenberg: “When I hear the loud voices at the NCAA throwing around the word reform, I grab my back pocket to make sure my wallet is still there.”