Notre Dame Takes Out the Trash

When linebacker Joey Ferrer announced he was leaving Notre Dame, he didn’t mince words about why he was making the move.

“A lot of guys come to Notre Dame playing with a swagger,” the 6-foot-2, 235-pound Ferrer said. “But that’s taken away. There’s no room for that on this team. I like to let my personality flow when I play. I’m a wild guy, I like to talk trash, to celebrate. You can’t do that at Notre Dame. That’s not part of the image.”

The coach’s view: Notre Dame Coach Bob Davie said hairstyles and trash talk have nothing to do with success.

“Notre Dame is a place where we do things with class,” Davie said. “Notre Dame is not for everyone. Maybe we do have a higher standard.”

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Trivia time: What sets the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic apart from other 90-hole PGA events?

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Will it work? After Australian Jelena Dokic showed up five hours late for a postmatch news conference in the Australian Open tennis center, she said she spent part of the afternoon in a church.

“I prayed to play a bit better than I did today,” the teenager said of her first-round loss to Rita Kuti Kis.

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Titan tip: The Tennessee Titans are 15-0 when Eddie George has at least 27 carries.

New stats: Tony Perez was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame because 82 writers who did not vote for him last year did so this year.

“He must have had a career year on ESPN Classic,” said Jayson Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Long way to go: Tampa Bay is near the top of the football world now, but since joining the NFL in 1976 the Buccaneers have finished in last place 10 times and would need to duplicate this season’s 11-5 record for the next 22 seasons to get above .500.

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Gallows talk: Former boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the inspiration for the film “The Hurricane,” apparently didn’t lose his sense of humor during nearly 20 years in prison.

During an address at DePaul, Carter, who was wrongly convicted of a triple murder, recalled how he had narrowly escaped the electric chair: “When you think about that, it’s a pleasure to be here today.”

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One man’s view: There are all kinds of ways to describe Jacksonville’s 62-7 rout of Miami last Saturday. Perhaps Miami receiver Oronde Gadsden said it best:

“It would have been a bad game on the video game PlayStation,” he said.

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Trivia answer: It is the only tournament played on four courses.

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And finally: Wrestler Ric “Nature Boy” Flair wants to follow the lead of Jesse Ventura, now Minnesota’s governor, and run for governor of North Carolina.

Flair, a 50-year-old platinum-maned pro wrestler, said that he might run as an independent candidate.