Making a Run on Groceries

When you’re the mother of 10, a big grocery bill is a fact of life. But when nine of the 10 are long-distance runners?

“It’s embarrassing to go to the supermarket,” Judy Mahon says.

Mahon and her husband, Robert, are parents of eight boys and two girls. Their two youngest sons, Brendan, a senior, and Bryan, a junior, are members of La Habra’s cross-country team, following in the footsteps of siblings Danny, Pat, Terrence, Tim, Kelly and Robert--most of whom still run competitively.

Sean, the oldest, played football at Servite but has since converted to distance running. Elizabeth, the youngest, is in her first season of running in junior high.

At the Mahon home, carbo-loading is a family ritual. Judy estimates the family goes through about three pounds of pasta per day. As for bread? It goes too fast to keep track.

“They eat a loaf of bread,” Judy says, “like you and I would eat a slice.”

Perhaps some peanut butter might slow them down.

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Speaking of carbo-loading, the folks at Lamppost Pizza in Fountain Valley are up to their elbows in dough--the flour and water variety, that is.

Since starting a fund-raising promotion for Fountain Valley High School last week, Lamppost owner Mike Flynn says he and his staff are tossing twice their usual number of pizzas. Half the total sales go toward repair costs of the Baron gymnasium, which was vandalized last summer. The promotion ends tonight.

Fortunately, Flynn says, none of his employees have come down with “pizza wrist,” the carpal-tunnel syndrome of the pizza industry. At least not yet.

Said Flynn: “I’ll probably get it when I write out the check.”

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No one can accuse Capistrano Valley quarterback Sam Gaines of kissing up to his coaches. Not after the T-shirt he wore to practice last week.

“Friends Don’t Let Friends Go To Notre Dame,” the shirt said.

Cougar Coach Eric Patton is a Notre Dame graduate.

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Please don’t breathe another word about running cross-country this fall to Corona del Mar volleyball player Kelly Campbell. She doesn’t want to discuss it.

As a freshman last spring, Campbell ran some of the fastest times in county history for the 3,200 meters. Many figured she would run cross-country this fall. Some wondered if she might quit volleyball.

Forget it, Campbell says. At the moment, the only spikes she’s interested in are the kills she slams for Corona del Mar.

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Football players used to cringe at the thought of getting their head shaved before the season, but David Russo, a Brea hairstylist, says lately he’s amazed by the enthusiasm.

For the last five years, Russo has played host to a Buzz Off, in which area football players receive free haircuts. This year, Russo shaved the heads of 40 players from Servite, all with the players’ girlfriends, parents and/or grandparents looking on.

“The first year we did it, it was pretty depressing for the guys,” Russo said. “But this year when I said, ‘OK, who’s first?’ about 20 guys nearly stampeded me.

“It’s the parents that cry, especially the moms. They say, ‘Oh, my son! My son!’ ”

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Some people compete in triathlons, others sleep on a bed of nails. Brea-Olinda athletic director and softball Coach Sharen Caperton follows the Angels.

“I’ve been a season-ticket holder for 17 years,” she says. “Next year, I want to follow the Angels on a road trip.”

Ugh.

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Corona del Mar’s Josh Walz, a sophomore quarterback/defensive back, is described in the 1993 Sea King media guide as having “a rifle arm,” “a quick release” and a desire for “the physical side of football.”

It also states: “He won’t wear a dress this fall.”

The author? Walz’s dad, John.

Your guess is as good as ours.

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Spotted on the desk of George Berg, Fountain Valley football coach: an official “Jurassic Park” trace-and-color book.

Our theory: The Barons are going with the T (Rex) formation this year.

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There’s boxing promoter Don King, there’s Kramer from “Seinfeld.” And now, from the wonderful world of weird hairstyles, comes Gerry Santillan of Katella High.

Santillan, a junior offensive guard, sports a reverse mohawk--the center of his head is shaved but the sides long.

Coach Larry Anderson said he and his assistant coaches couldn’t help but laugh when Santillan first revealed the new ‘do. “He looked like Bozo the Clown with black hair,” Anderson said.

Anderson, who is nearly bald, isn’t laughing anymore, though. Not since Santillan looked him straight in the eye and said:

“But Coach, I did this as a tribute to you .”

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Dana Hills football players shouldn’t feel bad about being 0-1.

Then again, it’s not too late to drop football and join the surf team. Tryouts begin today at dawn.

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Hard to believe, but that Diablo mascot controversy is heating up again at Mission Viejo High.

You know, I’ve been talking to Satan about this and he says he’s just sick and tired of the entire issue. Go ahead and change the stupid name, he says. See if he cares.

To prove he wasn’t a sore loser, Satan suggested a new nickname:

The Mission Viejo Solbaid.

Solbaid? It has a nice ring to it, Satan says, especially when you say it backward.

Barbie Ludovise’s column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Ludovise by writing her at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, 92626, calling (714) 966-5847 or by fax at 966-5663.