He Has No Choice but to Drink Alone

Japanese solo sailor Minoru Saito arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, on Wednesday--finishing the leg from Cape Town, South Africa, in the Around Alone race--with a drink in hand.

He had outfitted his 54-foot yacht with two boxes of sake, two boxes of wine, plus whiskey, brandy and beer.

“I don’t drink every day, but it gives me energy,” Saito told the Associated Press.

That he showed up a month after the winner of the leg doesn’t matter much to Saito, who has survived five heart attacks and already has sailed around the world twice.

Trivia time: Who holds the Super Bowl record for longest run from scrimmage?

Precedent? Bill Conlin in the Philadelphia Daily News: “The ancient Olympics were ended by a Roman emperor named Theodosius I, due to a shortage of virgins or bribes, in 384 BC (Bring Cash). History is vague.”

Positive spin: Center Bill Wennington, on the Chicago Bulls’ prospects: “That’s where the 50-game season comes in handy. If there ever was a good time to be bad, this is it, because you won’t be able to be as bad as long as you would otherwise.”

The flip side: Oddsmaker Vinny Magliulo at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas told Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News that there’s one Super Bowl bet he doesn’t offer anymore--which team will win the coin flip. “One year the team that won the flip deferred to the second half to receive the ball,” Magliulo said. “We automatically assumed the team that got the ball first won the flip. We wound up paying both sides. That’s not something we like to do here.”

Clean bribery: From the Vent column in the Atlanta Journal-Constituion: “What’s the problem with Olympic bribery? It was consensual, no one had sex, and no one lied to the grand jury.”

A real warrior: Denver Bronco guard Mark Schlereth, on facing his 23rd operation: “I’m nine parts stupidity and one part complete lunacy. If something is important to you, then do it. Football is important to me.”

A real steal: Randy Galloway in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, writing on the then-Houston Oilers trading quarterback Chris Chandler to the Atlanta Falcons: “Officially, it was fourth- and sixth-round draft picks, which amounts in football to key chains and fingernail clippers.”

Get it? Times columnist Mike Downey says the Chicago Bears should make the McGinnis book of records.

Trivia answer: Marcus Allen of the L.A. Raiders, 74 yards against Washington in 1984.

And finally: Davis Love III told Golfweek’s Jeff Rude that Michael Jordan’s hands are too big for his grip to allow him to play championship golf. “He’d have a better chance of becoming a wide receiver for the Chicago Bears.”