Hey, Who Would Like to Sponsor a Wrestling Show?

The increased use of sponsor names in major sporting events caused Bill Flick, columnist for the Bloomington, Ill., Daily Pantagraph, to think of other changes. His comments:

“We have Mobil Oil underwriting New Year’s Day football, Budweiser beer footing the bill for speedboat races and Virginia Slims cigarettes sponsoring tennis tournaments.

“Wouldn’t it make sense if Tide sponsored the World Surfing Championships? Shouldn’t Bluebonnet margarine host the Bluebonnet Bowl? How about the Sugar Bowl, proudly brought to you by Kellogg’s cereals?

“The Rose Bowl . . . officially will be known as ‘The Rose Bowl, as presented by AT&T.;’ What a shame. ‘The Rose Bowl, as presented by Your FTD Florist’ would have seemed so much more logical.”

*

Trivia time: Josh Lakatos of Pasadena is third in the U.S. Auto Club’s TQ midget series. What is his other sports achievement?

*

Good reason: When Chicago Cub teammates asked Sammy Sosa why he was buying Powerball tickets after having signed a $42-million contract last year, he grinned and said, “I was going to win the Powerball and buy the Cubs.”

*

Horse trading: Country singer Marty Robbins, who drove in 35 NASCAR Winston Cup races before his death in 1982, got his first Cup car in 1968, in a trade with Bobby Allison, a car builder at the time.

“Marty offered me a late model sportsman car, a trailer, a pick-up truck, a Black Angus bull and a Lincoln Continental with a lizard-skin roof,” Allison said. “That sounded like a pretty even trade to me, so we put the deal together.”

Robbins entered the Dodge in the National 500 at Charlotte, N.C., and finished 12th.

*

Think about it: For every person killed by a shark, approximately 10 million sharks are killed by people.

*

The right fit: When Cleveland Indian catcher Sandy Alomar was made an honorary member of Michael Andretti’s race team, the muscular 6-foot-5 Alomar asked if he could help out on a pit stop.

“You can be our backup in case the airjack breaks and we need you to lift the front of the car,” Andretti told him.

*

Word association: Peter Gammons in the Boston Globe notes that when Cincinnati used an outfield of Dmitri Young in left, Micah Frank in center and Chris Stynes in right, it was ‘Young, Frank’n Stynes.’

*

For long hitters: The Council of National Golf Course Unions in Great Britain and Ireland has stretched the limit of a par-four hole to 500 yards.

*

Trivia answer: He was the silver medalist in trap shooting at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

*

And finally: At a junior golf clinic, tour player Charlie Rymer asked who was the best golfer in attendance. When a couple of youngsters raised their hand, Rymer gave one a $5 bill and said, “Here, kid, you won’t learn anything from me today. Go get me a hot dog and keep the change.”