Golf Buffs Show Up in Oddest Places

Amy Alcott is stuck on 29 victories, one shy of the number needed to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. She got a rude reminder during a tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

“I opened the door in my hotel and I was trying to get my newspaper,” Alcott recalled in Golf Digest. “I didn’t have any clothes on and I figured it was safe because it was 5:45 in the morning.

“I’m standing there naked and there is this guy standing there going, ‘I hope you win your 30th soon.’

“I looked at the guy and said, ‘Thanks. How did you know it was me?’

“He said, ‘Oh, I’d recognize you anywhere.’ ”

Trivia time: Who holds the NFL record for most pass receptions in a season?

Up to date: Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune writing on the Chicago Cubs:

“This is a team that once tried a college of coaches, that resisted the electric light bulb (night games) until it was sure it was not just a fad, that treats failure like an annuity.”

Sideshow: Eccentric Dennis Rodman of the San Antonio Spurs regards himself as a showman. “I keep things on edge. People come to see me so they can see something different,” he said.

No doubt about it. These days Rodman has fuschia-colored hair and body piercings, including one in his navel and one in his nose.

Thud!Ronnie Lott, the veteran New Jork Jet defensive back, describes in a book “Total Impact” his approach to the game:

“Grab a football, throw it in the air, and before you can catch it, have your best friend belt you with a baseball bat. No shoulder pads. No helmet. Just you, your best friend and the biggest Louisville Slugger you can find.

“That’s what it feels like to be hit by me.”

Bear hunting: USC’s 61-0 blowout of California on Saturday wasn’t the largest margin of victory over the Golden Bears in the series.

Howard Jones’ Thundering Herd team routed Cal, 74-0, at the Coliseum in 1930.

Come again?Steve Obradovich, a former USC football player, recalled the time that his friend George Brett gave him some old bats.

When Obradovich asked for more, Brett replied: “These things don’t grow on trees.”

Fish story: Tom Krasovic writing in the San Diego Union-Tribune on San Diego State’s 52-35 loss to Wyoming on Saturday:

“LARAMIE, Wyo.--Here in the state of cutthroat trout, San Diego State turned in a flounder of a football outing yesterday.”

Trivia answer: Sterling Sharpe of the Green Bay Packers, with 112 in 1993.

Quotebook: Terry Francona, manager of the double-A Birmingham Barons: “You could enter Michael Jordan in a Ping-Pong tournament and people would come. He’s a magnet.”