COACHES' CORNER.

MARK KREIDLER, Sacramento Bee columnist, on when the Met fan realized that the dream Subway Series with the Yankees was over: "I woke up one morning and thought, 'My God, its November and I'm still living in New Jersey!'"

BOB BRUCE, Senior PGA pro, on gambling in golf: "I used to play with a guy who was such an inveterate cheat that when he 1 once made a hole-in-one he wrote down 0 on his scorecard."

HARVEY WALKER, former National League executive, on the Cubs' failure to win a World Series since 1908: "Any team can have a bad century."

DAVE CAMPBELL, ESPN sportswriter, on the quickness of Roberto Alomar: "He gets to the ball quicker than Cinderella's sisters."

MARTIN MULL, comedian, on why baseball is better than football: "It has fewer people named Bubba."

RICHARD NIXON, on why nothing has changed in Washington since he started out in life as a Washington Senator baseball fan: "The Senators were never very good on either the field or in the House."

JIM FREY, general manager of the Cubs, after the traditionalists complained about the Cubs installing lights in 1988: "They are the same guys who complained when the catchers started wearing masks."

RING LARDNER, JR., when Susquehanna retired its immortal football coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg, at the age of 90: "It's better to retire a football coach too soon than too late."

FATHER HESBURGH, the Spirit of Notre Dame: "Ten years after the average athlete graduates, everyone will have forgotten when and where he played, but every time he opens his mouth, everyone will know whether he was educated."

MARK PURDY, San Jose Mercury News, in a fictitious diary for Oakland coach John Gruden, who arrives at work at 4 a.m. every day: "4:02 a.m., noticed that the next car into the lot was Raider QB Ken Stabler, returning from a night on the town that started in 1965."

JERRY PERISHO, comedy writer: "Moroccan runner Abdelkhader El Mouaziz won the New York City marathon in 2 hours, 10 minutes, and nine seconds. He could have broken two hours if they hadn't sewn his name on the back of his jersey."

CASEY STENGEL: "The two most important things in life are a good wife and a good bullpen, but not in that order."

CHUCK KNOBLAUCH, owner of the world's worst throwing arm, on the most embarrassing moment of his life: "It was throwing out the first ball in a Little League game. I aimed for the plate and hit a bird bound for Capistrano."

RAYMOND FLOYD, PGA veteran, at the Buick open: "In Tiger Woods' worst round of the tournament, he had to sink a 10-foot putt on the last hole to finish 24-up."

CEDRIC DURST, first baseman/right fielder, upon coming up with the Yankees that had Gehrig on first and Ruth in right field: "The first thing I did was donate my glove to the Red Cross."