Money Takes All the Fun Out of Game

Lee Trevino was once a high-stakes golf gambler, according to Golf World magazine. Now, however, when he plays in the off-season, the standard bet is $5 a side, winner buys lunch.

“I like to talk and have fun,” Trevino said. “You start playing for big dollars and you’re a clown and crazy like I am, you’re going to get a two-iron between your eyes.

“You’ve got to be very quiet when you play those $100-, $200- and $500-Nassaus.”

Trivia time: Tony Gwynn is heading toward his sixth batting title. Who are the six players who have won that many?

Epic encounter: When Notre Dame plays Ohio State on Saturday in Columbus, it will be only the third meeting between the schools. The first, in 1935, has been called “the game of the century.”

Favored Ohio State led in the fourth quarter, 13-0, before Notre Dame, on the passing of Bill Shakespeare to Wayne Millner, rallied for an 18-13 victory, an astounding comeback at the time.

Add epic: All of the 95,000 or so seats in Ohio Stadium have been sold, most of them several months ago.

Every major newspaper in Ohio is running classifieds for game tickets. There were 135 ads selling or buying Notre Dame-Ohio State tickets in Wednesday’s editions of the Columbus Dispatch. Scalping tickets is permitted in Columbus.

From A to Z: Otis Nixon, Texas Ranger center fielder, on the dominance of Seattle Mariner pitcher Randy Johnson:

“You’ve got to get to him early. If you don’t, you’ve got an L and a lot of K’s to go with it. He gives you the alphabet.”

Add Rangers: Texas is 1-8 against Seattle this year and 2-19 since Sept. 21, 1993, prompting Ranger Manager Johnny Oates to comment, “We don’t even belong on the same field offensively. They have four guys with more RBIs than our whole ballclub.”

Bonding: Carl Steward in the Oakland Tribune on the Giants’ Barry Bonds’ ongoing problems with the media:

“Maybe I was right in the first place. Maybe Bonds, for as fine a ballplayer as he is, is a hopelessly immature crybaby--and incurable jerk, besides.

“Nah. On second thought, scrap the ‘maybe.’ ”

Looking back: On this day in 1954, Willie Mays made his famous over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz’s long drive as the New York Giants defeated the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series, 5-2.

Trivia answer: Ty Cobb, 12; Honus Wagner, eight; Rogers Hornsby and Stan Musial, seven; Ted Williams and Rod Carew, six.

Quotebook: Mike Ditka, NBC pro football analyst: “They should put in a rule that when a receiver drops the ball he has to do the same gyrations as when he caught it.”