Sugar Bowl Not All That Sweet, Either

From Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post, writing about the University of Virginia’s decision to not play in the Fiesta Bowl:

“How can you elect not to go to the Fiesta because Arizonans voted down the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, then choose the Sugar Bowl even though Louisianians came close to voting former Klansman David Duke, already a state senator, to the U.S. Senate? What would Virginia do next year during the ACC season, vote not to play North Carolina and N.C. State because North Carolinians re-elected Jesse Helms?”

Trivia time: From 1933 to 1940, the first eight years of their existence, the Pittsburgh Steelers were known by another nickname. What was it?

Married . . . with asterisk: On “The Oprah Winfrey Show” this afternoon, a woman complains that when she went into labor one Sunday at 10 a.m., her husband dropped her off at the hospital, then returned to his restaurant to watch a blacked-out Chicago Bears game on satellite television, instructing his busboys and waitresses to monitor her progress by telephone.

When the game was over, he returned to the hospital and arrived four minutes before the birth of his son.

Add Oprah: CBS-TV commentator Lesley Visser, another guest on the show, advises that a woman should get involved with her man’s sports mania.

Says Visser: “If you just learn it a little bit at a time, a passion will follow. . . .

“Men aren’t born with this genetic blueprint, where they can recognize a triangle-and-two, a box-and-one and a 4-3 defense. They learned it, just like we can.”

Excuuuuuuusez moi: You didn’t expect the French to sit around and let terms such as “passing shot” and “starting block” pollute their language, did you?

In an official government journal to be published next year, French media and fans will get their terminology straight. “Passing shot” will be tir passant, and “starting block” will be block de depart.

The pole position in an auto race will be position de tete , and in golf, a playoff to break a tie will be departage or manche decisive .

Red-faced redbirds: Opponents of the University of Louisville--which finished a 9-1-1 season Saturday and is ranked No. 22 in this week’s Associated Press football poll--have a combined record of 39-65-4.

Of the Cardinals’ 11 opponents, only two--San Jose State and Southern Mississippi--have winning records.

Add Louisville: Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Rick Bozich wrote recently about a high school football player in northeastern Ohio:

“The first piece of recruiting literature Dan Gangwer received from the University of Louisville was a questionnaire. This is standard operating procedure. Recruits are asked to supply their height, weight, grade-point average and favorite fast food, rock band and Nintendo cartridge.”

Second-biggest catch: Newlyweds Steven and Jeanne Lange of Westchester recently returned from their honeymoon in Australia, where they fished the Great Barrier Reef.

Jeanne, 30, weighs 125 pounds, but it took her only 35 minutes to boat a black marlin estimated at 700 pounds, the largest in that area this year. During the battle, the fish, which later was tagged and released, jumped three times.

Said Jeanne: “I’d never caught a fish in my life--not even a tadpole. It was almost as exciting as getting married.”

Trivia answer: The Pirates.

Quotebook: Former Baltimore Oriole pitcher Jim Palmer, on the combative behavior of major league umpires in 1990: “If the umpires want respect, they have to umpire better.”