-- Did you know Broncos QB Jay Cutler was raised in Christmas Village, a subdivision of Santa Claus, Indiana (which gets half a million letters a year addressed to Santa)? Though wealthy today, he once made $8 an hour hauling rubbish while riding on the back of a garbage truck ... Packers' 280-lb. DE Aaron Kampman's favorite pickup line in college: "Want to carry my books?" ... Dolphins had a bye week last month and the bye was favored by five points! Miami may pick analyst Howie Long's son Chris (Va. DL) with their #1 draft choice ... "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" or, better yet, wouldn't it be terrific if UCF's dazzling RB Kevin Smith wound up in a Tampa Bay uniform? And to think UCF was the only school that recruited him to play RB out of Miami Southridge ... How did we ever watch football on TV without the yellow first-down line?
-- A couple of weeks ago at the 71-year-old Orange Bowl, emotion overflowed as did the toilets ... Just found out Notre Dame is a Latin phrase meaning "The New York Mets" ... Things turned ugly in the University of Texas athletic dorm last week during a Monopoly game when two players started fighting over the "Get Out of Jail Free" card.
-- Betty David shares one of her favorite prayers: Dear God, please help me to be the person my dog thinks I am.
-- This is a great time to go to Vegas. The casinos are deserted because the NBA referees have gone back to work.
-- Rockies players have voted to give a full playoff share to Amanda Coolbaugh, the widow of minor league coach Mike Coolbaugh, who died after getting hit by a line drive this season ... Nice Christmas gift for Barry Bonds--buy him a ticket to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame because he's going to need it to get in. Our Rays are so desperate, they might consider signing Bonds. That would be like the Girl Scouts hiring Britney Spears to push cookie sales ... When on the road, the Yankees have often used fake names when registering at hotels: Don Mattingly (Bruce Almighty), Mike Mussina (Austin Powers), Jorge Posada (Ricky Ricardo) and egomaniac Reggie Jackson (Reggie Jackson).
-- How about the Long Island soccer mom who was recently busted for hitting her daughter's coach with a folding chair? Isn't it just a game?
-- In closing, Brian Tulinski gives us two reasons NYC would be a great place for the Olympics--there is no shortage of starter pistols and they already have a cute mascot, "Enrique" the giant rat!
(Some of the information in this column was obtained from other news organizations)
