Gumbel gets cold roasting

BRYANT Gumbel’s former “Today” show colleagues, as well as staffers from HBO’s “Real Sports,” toasted and roasted the host when he was honored with the Marist College Lifetime Excellence in Sports Communication Award. Former “Today” executive producer Jeff Zucker recalled a winter storm that blitzed New York, and how, “with only public transportation available in the blizzard, we literally had to send Bryant’s assistant over to his house to teach him how to take the bus.” MSNBC boss Phil Griffin quipped: “If Bryant liked you, he was the absolute greatest friend in the world. If he didn’t, you should join the witness protection program.” And Jane Pauley, who was on “Today” for 13 years, told Gumbel — in front of a crowd including Matt Lauer, Katie Couric and Kelly Ripa at the New York Athletic Club — “On the ‘Today’ show, you became an older brother to me. And now, you’re still older.” Even Gumbel jokingly admitted, “I’m reminded of what they said about John Foster Dulles — that I’m a bull who carries around his own china shop.”