Any Catch Could Qualify as Event’s Catch of the Day

More than 300 people took part in the recent Frosty Bobber ice fishing tournament on the frozen Red River in Grand Forks, N.D., in hopes of hauling in a trophy fish and the $500 grand prize.

But here’s the catch: Nobody caught anything. After several hours, officials called off the event and awarded prizes in a drawing. It was the second time in the Frosty Bobber’s three-year history that nobody caught anything.

Last year’s winner, by the way, caught a 2.47-ounce catfish.

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Trivia time: Which Pacific 10 Conference school holds the league record for points in a men’s basketball game?

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Journalism at its worst: John Feinstein writing in Inside Sports magazine: “The all-time idiotic Super Bowl question was asked in 1980, when Jim Plunkett was the quarterback of the Oakland Raiders.

“A writer from New Jersey [who since has passed from this mortal coil] sat down next to Plunkett and said, ‘OK, Jim let me get this straight. Is it blind mother, deaf father, or deaf mother, blind father?’

“I’m not making this up. I swear.”

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Future crib rattler: Spencer Dunkley, a 6-foot-11 former Delaware basketball player now playing in France, used to bemoan the attention his name drew.

But according to Sports Illustrated, now that he and his girlfriend are expecting their second child, a boy, Dunkley says the baby’s middle name will be Slam.

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High-tech stuff: What’s new in baseball? It’s the “radar ball.” The ball has a timer that starts with the snap of the pitch and stops when the ball hits the catcher’s mitt.

A microchip inside converts the time into mph, which shows on a liquid crystal display on the ball. The ball can be calibrated to measure speeds from different pitching distances.

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He’s clean: From comedy writer Earl Hochman: “The Tampa Tribune reports Florida taxpayers subsidized more than $75,000 in air travel for Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden. The good news is he wasn’t carrying a loaded revolver.”

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What hex? Some people have an uneasy feeling on Friday the 13th, but not senior pro golfer Jay Sigel.

Sigel was born Nov. 13. He made his first hole in one on the 13th hole in a tournament on the 13th day of the month. He was the 13th player to win both the U.S. and British amateur titles.

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Looking back: On this day in 1989, Golden State and San Antonio had 40 combined steals, to tie an NBA record set by the Warriors and Lakers in 1975.

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Trivia answer: UCLA scored 149 against Loyola Marymount, which had 98, in 1990.

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And finally: Former major leaguer Keith Hernandez says he’s not known for baseball anymore.

“Kids 25 and under, they don’t know I played baseball because they were too young. They know me from ‘Seinfeld,’ Hernandez said.

He guest-starred in one episode of the sitcom seven years ago.