Most Kids Would Be Happy if They Got an Old Barracuda

A teen-ager in Carpinteria, casting about for a new name, has reeled in a golden one: Trout Fishing In America.

Peter Eastman Jr., 17, wanted to do something different for his graduation from Carpinteria High this year, so last week, he went to Superior Court to legally change his name to Trout Fishing In America, a name inspired by Richard Brautigan’s 1967 counterculture classic, “Trout Fishing in America.”

Add Trout Fishing: The Associated Press noted: “It figures the teen-ager would come from a community locals call Carp.”

His father supported his son’s decision, but said he was sad that the family torch has been passed to a fish.

“My God, our family name has history,” the elder Eastman said.

Trivia time: Who won the first Santa Anita Handicap?

Enough is enough: According to a survey by the Opinion Research Corp. of Princeton, N.J., one of six Americans videotaped portions of the the 1994 Olympic Winter Games. Figure skating was the most popular with 85% of the videotaping audience.

By the time the closing ceremony had concluded, 54% had recorded more than four hours of the action.

Hard life: Caught On The Fly, the caustic Sporting News column, isn’t impressed by the spring training work of Dodger relief pitcher Todd Worrell.

“Who says baseball players aren’t athletes?” Fly wrote. “Todd Worrell, tryin’ to come back from injuries, pitches battin’ practice last week, then refuses to take grounders on the mound. Says glass-fragile Todd: ‘I was just tired. Ten minutes of B.P., it’s harder than it looks.’ ”

Too much smoke: Dan McGhee, athletic director and basketball coach at Loraine (Tex.) High, has been fired for violating the school’s no-smoking policy. He had been suspended since December after being caught smoking in his office in the gym on a Saturday morning.

Only in New England: This is how Michael Arace of the Hartford Courant began his story after the Boston Celtics lost their 13th consecutive game:

“BOSTON--Like Hemingway’s Santiago, the title character in ‘The Old Man and the Sea,’ the Boston Celtics staggered home from a long trip and collapsed. Like Santiago, they now wonder whether men can be defeated but not destroyed--and vice versa.”

What a thought: From Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Sun:

“Imagine how our stock would soar around the world if we could send a team full of Bonnie Blairs to the Olympics, winter and summer. Her quip, ‘It took Eric Heiden a week to win five gold medals, it took me six years,’ is a classic.”

Trivia answer: Azucar, on Feb. 23, 1935.

Quotebook: Mac O’Grady, when told about Deane Beman’s resignation as PGA Tour commissioner: “It can’t be what Bill Murray said (‘He’s just another screwhead too big for his britches’), because I’ve been saying the same thing all along. My vote for the next commissioner goes to Murray because the tour needs some humor.”