Satellite TV Has Made Him an Igloo Name

Pat O’Brien, who was the host of “At the Half,” a mainstay of CBS’ coverage of the NBA, is part of the network’s broadcast crew for the world’s biggest snow job and ice show, next February’s Winter Olympics.

When O’Brien and the other CBS anchor people who will work the Games in Albertville, France, gathered in Los Angeles this week to meet the media and drum up some publicity, he was asked his favorite winter sports moment.

“I was covering the Iditarod, the dog sled race (in Alaska), and I was in this little village in the middle of nowhere, somewhere on the Bering Sea,” O’Brien said. “Sitting there on the edge of the dock was a lone fisherman, an Eskimo. He looked up at me and said, ‘Do you think the (Philadelphia) 76ers can repeat?’ ”

Best excuse: After a pitch bounced away from him, Pittsburgh catcher Mike LaValliere blamed “inconsistent dirt.”

Best strategy: From Pirate pitcher Bob Walk: “I’ve got to keep ‘em guessing. . . . Actually, I keep myself guessing--I don’t know where the ball is going.”

Trivia time: How much money will each NFL team receive this season from the television networks?

From ace to joker: Remember the item about the 12-year-old Swedish boy who reportedly made three holes in one on different courses in six days this month? Now, Mattias Herrstrom, a 28-handicapper, said he lied about one ace, and there are indications none of the others happened, either.

A Swedish regional association that handles rules infringements said Herrstrom, who began playing golf in May, could receive a warning, fines totaling $1,555 or a two-year suspension. Or they could throw the book at him and make him play PGA West.

Kinerism: Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Press reports the latest unintentionally unintelligible offering from New York Met broadcaster Ralph Kiner: “So (Dave) Magadan hit a sinking liner to left, but it went right into the glove of (Dale) Murphy in right.”

Add Collier: After President Bill Giles of the Philadelphia Phillies awarded General Manager Lee Thomas a contract extension through 1994--because Giles said Thomas had the club “going in the right direction”--Collier said: “I guess if he gets the club to where it’s consistently playing .300 ball, he’ll be a candidate for a lifetime contract.”

Leave a message: The Washington Redskins and holdout quarterback Mark Rypien are about $230,000 apart in contract negotiations, so Rypien is sitting out training camp, which apparently makes owner Jack Kent Cooke very unhappy.

Cooke delivered a message to Rypien through an interview with a Washington TV station. Cooke was asked what he would say to Rypien: “I think you’re a bloody damn idiot if you don’t come soon.”

Playing hardball: Pitcher Wade Taylor of the New York Yankees has been outspoken in his criticism of his coach at the University of Miami, Ron Fraser. Taylor, who wasn’t drafted coming out of college, blames Fraser for pitching him in only 20 innings as a junior. So Taylor hammers Fraser with provocative quotes as often as he can.

“I hope that when he reads them, he chokes on his doughnuts,” Taylor said.

Trivia answer: $32 million.

But what flavor?: Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens had an unusual explanation of his curveball that the Texas Rangers’ Steve Buechele hit for a home run Monday night to beat Clemens, 2-1: “It sort of snow-coned in my fingers and just hung there.”

Quotebook: The Pirates’ Bob Walk, after giving up a home run to Bill Doran of the Cincinnati Reds: “I laid it in there hoping he’d hit it hard at someone. He did, but the someone he hit it hard at was sitting in the seats.”