Remember, the Trophy Is Just Symbolic

The old Grey Cup ain’t what she used to be.

The trophy, which the Toronto Argonauts won Sunday with a 36-21 victory over the Calgary Stampeders in Winnipeg, Canada, fell apart when it arrived home.

After handling by the players and team management and a photo session on the lawn of General Manager Mike McCarthy’s home, the cup portion of the trophy separated from the base.

Dick Tietze, McCarthy’s father-in-law, put the 82-year-old trophy back together. “I’m not very mechanically minded, so my father-in-law fixed it for me,” McCarthy said.

Trivia time: What was unusual about the USC-UCLA football games in 1936 and ‘38?

Saliva test: The Trojans and Bruins play for the Victory Bell, and the Little Brown Jug is the trophy for the Michigan-Minnesota game.

Not so appealing is the Brass Spittoon, the prize that goes to the winners of the Michigan State-Indiana and Texas El Paso-New Mexico State games.

Never mind: In an otherwise distinguished NBA career, Wilt Chamberlain was frustrated by his poor free-throw shooting.

Chamberlain said it got so bad when he played for the Philadelphia 76ers that owner Ike Richman sent him to a psychiatrist to work out his problems.

“After two months, that sucker, the psychiatrist, was a great foul shooter, and I was doing my same thing,” Chamberlain said.

Zebra time: Alan Greenberg of the Hartford Courant estimated that referee Gordon McCarter and his crew called “about 963 official timeouts” to review plays in the Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants game on Nov. 17.

Said Greenberg: “The last person to hold the Meadowlands microphone longer than McCarter was Bruce Springsteen.”

Range war: Who says golf is a nonviolent sport?

In a Senior PGA Tour event last month at Napa, J.C. Snead and Dave Hill got into a wrestling match on the practice range.

The altercation was triggered when one of Snead’s shots hit the golf cart in which Hill’s wife, Joyce, was sitting, according to Golf World magazine.

Hill charged across the range, brandishing a club. Then, the senior players dueled briefly with their clubs before tumbling to the ground.

“Just a misunderstanding,” fellow touring pro Jimmy Powell said.

Naughty boys: Glenn Dickey of the San Francisco Chronicle scolded California after its 38-21 loss to Stanford for the Bears’ lack of discipline:

“The taunting and late hits have to stop. This is the kind of thing many of us deplored when we’ve seen it practiced by the Miami Hurricanes; it’s even more repugnant close to home.”

Go for it: Sacramento ended a 43-game road losing streak by beating Orlando, 95-93, last Saturday night in Florida, prompting the Kings’ coach, Dick Motta, to say:

“We’ve already equaled last year’s output for wins on the road. If we win another one, we will improve by 100%. Not many teams can boast that kind of improvement.”

Trivia answer: They were each played on Thanksgiving Day.

Quotebook: When the Detroit Pistons’ John Salley was asked how his teammate, former Laker Orlando Woolridge, plays defense, he said: “There’s a D in Woolridge, but it’s silent.”