Athletic Club Is Ready to Draw a New Line in the Saudi Sand

Note to Saddam Hussein: You should consider immediate capitulation. OMBAC may be on its way.

The Old Mission Beach Athletic Club, that fabled pack of aging jocks and beer swillers, is talking with the Marine Corps about taking Over-the-Line to the troops in Saudi Arabia.

A deal is being cooked up for OMBAC to provide both equipment and expertise. Including an OMBACer or two to make sure the game is treated with all the irreverence and rowdiness it deserves.

From Fiesta Island to Operation Desert Shield. Who’d have thought it?

Well, for one, Michael Neil, the trial lawyer and reserve brigadier general who is now in command of Camp Pendleton. As a San Diegan, he’s familiar with the annual OTL bacchanal that mixes softball and madness.

“Over-the-Line is perfect for Saudi Arabia,” said OMBACer Ron Price, 47, bartender at the Pennant in South Mission Beach (unofficial OTL headquarters). “You’ve got a lot of sand and a lot of bored guys with no recreation. They need us.”

So far, nothing is nailed down. The Jan. 15 deadline set by the United Nations may yet mess things up.

But, if the word is go, OMBAC is ready.

“It should be fairly easy to do,” said OMBACer Mike Curren, 60, a surveyor. “Nobody knows more about Over-the-Line than OMBAC. Six guys, a bat and a ball and you’re in business.”

There will, however, have to be certain modifications from the OTL original.

Don’t look for a lot of drinking. And don’t look for a Ms. Emerson Contest, which, as you may know, is based on an old knock-knock joke and involves close anatomical inspection.

Saudi customs frown on public displays of beer and bust lines.

So Sue Me

Take your pick.

* Your legal system at work.

The Los Angeles city attorney is suing the owner of a moving company that does business in L.A. and San Diego counties.

The owner: Louis Porcaro. His company: A Nice Jewish Boy Moving & Storage Co.

Not that nice. Forty-four customers complained about late deliveries, breakage and overbilling.

* The legal drunk limit has been 0.08% for nearly a year now.

But the Department of Motor Vehicles has yet to change the multiple-choice test given in San Diego for a driver’s license. It lists as options: 0.10%, 0.01% and 0.09%.

DMV’s solution: Everyone gets credit for a right answer.

* Among the Christmas gifts available at Grossmont Center in La Mesa: A pillow shaped like huge lips. Makes a kissing noise when you sit down.

Retail price: $29.98.

* Playing through.

An Air Force sergeant has written to Taylor Made, the Carlsbad golf equipment manufacturer, about golfing in Saudi Arabia. No greens, no trees, no water traps.

But there is a local hazard: Camels often stroll through the makeshift course.

* The Guardian Angels will provide crowd control for Sunday’s San Diego Marathon in North County.

Marathon organizers had hoped for 200 Marine volunteers from Camp Pendleton, but they’ve all shipped out.

He Had a Good Teacher?

Plus ca change ...

Let’s review: Sheriff John Duffy is bad because he liked to travel rather than mind the store.

He’s also bad because he’s supposedly not helping Sheriff-elect Jim Roache, the reform candidate, learn the ropes before he takes over next month.

But wait: The state Commission on Peace Officer Standards & Training is holding a four-day seminar right now in San Diego for newly elected sheriffs. There are 23 of them statewide.

Roache is one of only two new sheriffs not attending. He’s vacationing in Puerto Vallarta.