One Coach’s Embarrassment Is Another’s Bonus

Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti is fuming that the Aloha Bowl picked California instead of his Ducks to play in its Christmas Day bowl game.

“I’m shocked,” he told the Eugene Register-Guard. “It’s a travesty, and the Pac-10 ought to be embarrassed, and California ought to be embarrassed.”

Each school finished with a 6-5 record and was 3-5 in the Pac-10, but Oregon won its final three games and Cal lost its final three. Also, Oregon defeated the Bears, 40-23.

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The other side: Cal Coach Steve Mariucci is not fuming, however. When the Bears got the call, it meant a $10,350 bonus for the first-year head coach. Mariucci’s contract called for 9% of his base salary if Cal made it to a bowl.

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Trivia time: Which teams played in the highest-scoring game in NBA history?

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Remembering Lou: People are still trying to figure out why Lou Holtz is giving up the Notre Dame coaching job. Chicago Tribune columnist Bernie Lincicome offered a novel reason: “Maybe Holtz has to go because everyone has heard all his jokes.”

Fellow Tribune writer Steve Rosenbloom suggests Holtz could become a good used-car salesman: “Who else could tell you it’s ‘the right thing to do’ and not give you any reason why?”

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Cold shoulder: Albert Belle’s teammates last year in Cleveland called him Mr. Freeze after he busted a clubhouse thermostat with his bat.

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Irish confidence: Maybe it has something to do with being the only NHL player born in Northern Ireland, but San Jose Shark right wing Owen Nolan thinks big.

“I expect nothing less than 50 goals this season,” he said.

He’d better pick up the pace. After 23 games he has nine goals.

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Looking back: On this Thanksgiving Day in 1960, A.J. Foyt won the first Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix run at Ascot Park. The race was shortened from 150 laps to 122 because of fog.

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No sleeping: The people of the small Australian sugar farming town of Ayr were up early Monday to watch hometown favorite Karrie Webb in the final round of the LPGA Tour Championship in Las Vegas.

“The phone kept ringing with people asking how she was going . . . the whole town was watching,” said Evelyn Webb, the golfer’s mother. “Everyone was bawling by the time she won.”

When Karrie made her final putt on Sunday, it was 9 a.m. Monday in Ayr.

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For the record: The NBA’s 50th anniversary CD, which includes Marvin Gaye’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1983 NBA All-Star game in the Forum, is not the first U.S. release of Gaye’s performance. It was a part of the “Marvin Gaye Collection” and “Marvin Gaye: A Musical Testament.”

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Trivia answer: The Detroit Pistons defeated the Denver Nuggets, 186-184, in triple overtime Dec. 13, 1983, in Denver.

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And finally: After the Houston Oilers lost two games by a point and four of their last five, linebacker Micheal Barrow said, “It’s a tragedy like Shakespeare would have written. It’s like cancer. It’s slowly eating our insides. We’ve got to find a cure.”