Watchdog

Upon listening to Stuart Scott talk on SportsCenter this morning about golfing with Barry Bonds and John Smoltz (see reference to ESPN chumminess with athletes below), I realized how obnoxious I've sounded in making references to a party I attended Friday night along with various ESPN executives and others.

But I brought it up only because you should know more about the guest of honor, a public relations man named Joe Goldstein who was celebrating his 80th birthday and who has been a fixture in New York sports and a classic New York character for many, many decades.

ESPN's Jeremy Schaap - whose father, Dick, was a close friend of Goldstein's - hosted the story-telling segment of the evening. The strangest/coolest moment might have been when Ralph Branca (another New York classic) rose to lead the guests in singing "God Bless America.''

(Mr. Branca has a nice voice.)

Anyway, there are a number of nuggets about Goldstein's career in the chapter on the sports p.r. "Haul'' of Fame in a new book called "Sports Publicity,'' by Joe Favorito, a former p.r. poobah for the Knicks and currently with the International Fight League.

Favorito details Goldstein's close friendships with a wildly diverse trio of sports journalism heavyweights: Howard Cosell, Red Smith and Dick Young. He did publicity for everyone from Bob Hope to Mobil Oil to the Saudi Arabian Olympic soccer team.

Goldstein, a Jew from Conway, S.C., made his mark in and around the big city. He settled in at Roosevelt Raceway in 1954 and eventually handled p.r. for the entire harness racing industry.

Happy birthday, Joe.