Where There’s Smoke, There’s a Rodriguez

Chi Chi Rodriguez quit smoking last November and his game on the Senior PGA Tour has suffered.

“I had to choose between my health and my golf,” Rodriguez told Golf World. “I chose my health.

“But you know, my grandfather and my grandmother both smoked and they lived to be 114. My uncle, Jesus, smoked five packs a day and drank a quart of rum and he lived to be 107.”

Jesus might have made it to 114 if he had taken better care of himself.

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Trivia time: Who was the first UCLA athlete to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated?

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Motor mouth: When asked who is the biggest trash talker in the NFL, John Elway, Denver Bronco quarterback, identified Alfred Williams, former Cincinnati Bengal end who is now with the San Francisco 49ers.

“And he’s not even any good,” Elway said. “He can’t play, but he can talk.”

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Just wondering: Oakland Athletic Manager Tony La Russa once called Ruben Sierra “the village idiot.” So Bob Finnigan of the Seattle Times wrote: “Now that Sierra has been traded to New York [the Yankees], is he the Greenwich Village idiot?”

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Security alert: The Good Doctor, writing in Inside Sports magazine, when asked the real reason security has been tightened at the White House: “They’re afraid the University of Miami will win the national football title and come visit.”

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It’s a tie: In an Associated Press story, it was conjectured that the 13-season association of Miami Dolphin Coach Don Shula and quarterback Dan Marino is a pro record.

Coach Hank Stram and quarterback Lenny Dawson of the Kansas City Chiefs can match it. They were together from 1962 through 1974.

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Frequent flyer: Tim Povtak in the Orlando Sentinel: “As part of the contract Dominique Wilkins signed in Greece earlier this month, he will receive an unlimited supply of first-class airplane tickets between Athens and the United States, a four-bedroom home and two cars.”

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Big spender: ABC’s Brent Musburger, during the Michigan-Virginia game Saturday, on why he wouldn’t be a good college football coach: “I’d give away too many Cadillacs [to players]. I’m on the kids’ side.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1937, Joe Louis won a 15-round unanimous decision over Tommy Farr in the first defense of his heavyweight boxing title.

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Looking back further: On this day in 1905, Ty Cobb made his major league debut, hitting a double off Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders in the Detroit Tigers’ 5-3 victory.

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Happy birthday: Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams is 77 today.

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Trivia answer: Decathlete Rafer Johnson, who appeared on the issue of Jan. 5, 1959.

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Quotebook: Senior tour player Bob Murphy on why Jack Nicklaus doesn’t play more senior events: “He doesn’t like to lose to short fat guys.”