There’s More Than One Way to Settle a Score in Football

Craig Fertig, a 1960s USC quarterback, was talking recently about an old high school rival, Ron McBride, who played at South Gate High when Fertig was at Huntington Park High.

“He was an outstanding lineman in those days,” Fertig said of McBride, now the coach at Utah.

“And he was the best street fighter I ever saw.”

Street fighter? Are we talking about the same Ron McBride?

The same, Fertig said. He was asked if street fighting ever got McBride in trouble.

“Let me put it this way,” Fertig said. “My father was the Huntington Park police chief. In those days, Ron McBride had more contact with my father than I did.”

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Trivia time: What country has produced the most summer Olympic medalists per capita?

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For what it’s worth: Ron Dossenbach of Windsor, Canada, claimed a world record for stair climbing in a 24-hour period Sunday, making it to the top of a Detroit hotel 78 times for a total of 85,420 steps.

He probably figured that was more productive than watching the Super Bowl.

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Bad numbers: Sunday’s Super Bowl telecast drew relatively weak ratings numbers, a 41.3 and a 63 share, according to A.C. Neilsen Media Research.

Only seven Super Bowls have drawn lower numbers.

Of history’s 10 most-watched TV shows in the United States, four are Super Bowls. The ratings champ is the 1982 game between San Francisco and Cincinnati, which drew a 49.1.

That game was the fourth-most-viewed program ever, ranking behind, in order, the final “M*A*S*H” episode in 1983, a “Dallas” episode in 1980, and “Roots, Part VIII,” in 1977.

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Add bad numbers: Think college basketball is a big deal?

The Saturday telecast of the Cal-UCLA game drew a 3.6 rating in a five-county Southland area. Each number translates to 50,064 households.

Four other programs shown at the same time Saturday drew higher ratings: A rerun of “Three’s Company,” two reruns of “Family Ties” and a “Baywatch” rerun.

Other Saturday telecasts of college basketball games didn’t do as well as Cal-UCLA.

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How embarrassing: Last Friday morning, Kentucky basketball Coach Rick Pitino called Inglewood High Coach Patrick Roy, saying he’d like to recruit Roy’s star, 6-foot-7 Paul Pierce.

Uh, a little late, coach.

The day before, Pierce had scheduled a Friday news conference to announce that he was going to Kansas.

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No no-heights: Al Franken, promoter of the Sunkist Invitational track meet Feb. 11 at the Sports Arena, on why he pays pole vaulters for heights they clear instead of appearance fees:

“In 1972, Hans Lagerqvist of Sweden finished seventh at the Olympics. Then he made the U.S. tour the following indoor season for appearance fees. In 10 meets, he failed to clear a single height.”

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Trivia answer: Finland, according to the Amateur Athletic Foundation, citing a study by the Sydney Organizing Committee.

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Quotebook: The Rev. Gene Swinson of Atlanta, when asked why he put a wide-screen television at the altar of his downtown GraceWay Church last Sunday, so members could watch the Super Bowl:

“Where else would these people be--a bar?”