DATE: Friday, September 26, 1997            TAG: 9709261103

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

                                            LENGTH:   54 lines

THE NBA ISN'T THE ONLY LEAGUE THAT COULD USE A 3-POINT CURE

Kicking it around: Why are some of us fond of calling the NFL the National Fieldgoal League? Maybe because, after four weeks, teams have attempted 240 field goals, compared with 216 at the same point last season. Boring!

Idle thought: It's the NFL, not the NBA, that should move back its 3-point line.

Odds are: If this Ryder Cup were a Super Bowl, the Europeans would be the AFC.

Daddy dearest: Seems that Earl Woods, Tiger's dad, is steamed at the PGA, which paid for the wives of Ryder Cup players to make the trip to Spain but would not pick up the tab for a certain young golfer's father. The miffed Earl of Woods, who is staying home, said this to a London paper: ``I can unequivocally state that I'm more responsible for Tiger being where he is today and have a bigger contribution to the team than all the wives and girlfriends combined.''

Fashion statement: As for the testimony of the woman who said Marv Albert greeted her in his hotel room dressed in panties and garter belt . . . somewhere Dennis Rodman is asking, ``What's the big deal?''

Add Marv: Did somebody say Frederick's of Hollywood? Yesss!!

Pretzel logic: The trainer for the Montreal Expos was suspended for seven days for cursing an umpire, while Baltimore's Roberto Alomar received four days for spitting on one.

Getting worse: The negative Notre Dame note of the week concerns quarterback Ron Powlus, who is going to have to find someone else to blame for his poor performances now that Lou Holtz is no longer on campus.

Bronx tale: Although their home attendance is up 330,000 this season to 2.5 million, the Yankees grumble that they are the only American League playoff team that didn't draw 3 million. They point to their stadium as the problem.

In passing: The Los Angeles Dodgers' season attendance is 3.3 million. Of course, 1.2 million left before the seventh inning.

Booby prize: Only baseball would arrange its postseason so that the Orioles, the American League's winningest team, would be rewarded with a long trip to Seattle to begin the playoffs.

Time will tell: Not to rain on the Tampa Bay Bucs' parade, but some may recall that the Redskins started last season 7-1, yet failed to make the playoffs.

Slow motion: TNT football analyst Pat Haden, on the indecisiveness of Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kent Graham: ``Don't give him the wine list.''

Mr. Reliable: Though he has the best winning percentage among active big-league managers, you get the sense sometimes that Baltimore's Davey Johnson is underrated, especially by his owner.

Money madness: Many years of outlandishly lucrative contracts to underachieving athletes could not have prepared us for the notion that somebody thinks big, bumbling Greg Ostertag of the Utah Jazz is worth $5 million a year.

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