Trash Day Isn’t Limited to Once a Week

As the Super Bowl draws nearer, Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune isn’t impressed with the Baltimore Ravens.

“Here come the Baltimore Ravens,” he wrote, “woofing and yapping and talking enough trash that if somebody doesn’t jump on the obvious advertising tie-in with Waste Management Inc., a chance for big bucks will have been lost.

“Here they come, a team charged with first-degree verbal assault and loving every adjective of it.”

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The reaction: Said Raven tight end Shannon Sharpe: “I’d like to ask America, what does crow taste like? Because y’all are eating it right now.”

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Trivia time: Where and when was the first Super Bowl played?

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Blink of an eye: Skier Isolde Kostner won a woman’s World Cup downhill race by .02 of a second over Renate Goetschl a week after losing to her by .05 of a second.

“It’s pure luck to win by .02, just as only bad luck can make you lose by so little,” Kostner said. “You can’t even measure it.”

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Bad memories: New York Giant offensive lineman Glenn Parker has played in four previous Super Bowls, all with the Buffalo Bills.

“After all the trips down to the Super Bowl and everything, honestly, I don’t remember all the bars or parties I went to, but I remember four losses,” Parker said.

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Trade bait? Says Minnesota Viking wide receiver Randy Moss:

“I’m going to have a Super Bowl ring. I’m not worried about that. I doubt if it’s in Minnesota. I can’t really say I’m going to be a Minnesota Viking in a couple of years.”

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Mama’s boy: Tiger Woods is starting the year with a new head cover for his driver. His mother, Kultida, has made him a new one every year since he was 10. She stitches “Love From Mom” in Thai.

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Price is right: Soccer superstar Mia Hamm, who will play for Washington in the new women’s pro league, has found it difficult locating a place to live.

“We looked at 12 places so far,” she told the Washington Post. “Ask the [president] if I can pitch a tent on the White House lawn.”

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Historical: The Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night featured the first NHL matchup between European coaches in Chicago’s Alpo Suhonen and Pittsburgh’s Ivan Hlinka.

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Location, location: Second baseman Joe Morgan, who played with five teams but was with Cincinnati in the days of “the Big Red Machine,” hit .271, had 2,517 hits, 268 home runs, 1,133 runs batted in and was voted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

Second baseman Lou Whitaker, who spent his entire major league career in Detroit, hit .276, had 2,369 hits, 244 home runs and 1,084 RBIs and received so few votes in his first year of eligibility that he won’t be on next year’s ballot.

Explains Terry Foster of the Detroit News: “This is Lou Whitaker’s punishment for being dull. This is his sin for not playing in New York, or more postseason games.”

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Trivia answer: In the Coliseum, Jan. 15, 1967. Green Bay defeated Kansas City, 35-10, before 61,946.

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And finally: Nomar Garciaparra’s mother was so proud that her son, the Boston Red Sox shortstop, was going to appear on “Saturday Night Live” that she called all her friends.

Later, as she watched the show, she was taken aback by the risque punch lines spoken by her son during a skit.

“After the show, she called [her friends] back and said, ‘That’s not my son. They must’ve got someone else to play him,’ ” Garciaparra told the Boston Herald.