Three Rings Make Him Better Than Marino, Right?

Some great football players spend an entire career in the NFL without getting a Super Bowl ring.

Jason Garrett has three of them and has never played a down, and he could secure another Sunday. Without playing a down.

Garrett, an Ivy Leaguer from Princeton, is the backup quarterback for the New York Giants, as he was for three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.

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Trivia time: Kerry Collins threw every pass for the Giants this season, all 529 of them. Only three others have thrown every pass in a season since 1990. Who are they?

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Travel problem: When Brad Faxon teamed with Scott McCarron to win the Shark Shootout in November, he said his goals were to get into the Masters, play in either the U.S. Open or British Open without having to qualify, and travel on the Concorde in September for the Ryder Cup.

His victory in the Sony Open brought him close to his golfing goals, but he may have to find another way to England for the Ryder Cup. The Concorde has been grounded since one of the supersonic jets crashed last year.

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Bottoms up: The Bud Bowl may be next for soccer fans in England, with Budweiser set to pay $67.5 million over three years to take over sponsorship of England’s Premier League next season.

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Boat ride: After reading a San Francisco Chronicle headline “Camby Nails Coach After Missing Ferry,” Steve Hornbostel of the Chronicle said, “He should have kept calm as he considered alternate transportation.”

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It’s coming: Be patient, baseball fans. Opening day is only two months and six days from today--in Puerto Rico, where the Texas Rangers will meet the Toronto Blue Jays.

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One man’s view: “To me, Al Davis is the closest I’ve seen to a mature James Dean. He’s a rebel with a cause. Al has something to say to the American public. I don’t know for sure what it is, but it’s heavy.”

So said former Raider John Matuszak.

To which the Houston Chronicle’s Mickey Herskowitz added: “Indeed, the James Dean analogy was a nice touch. It all comes through in the expensive, black leather jacket he frequently wears to games, when he isn’t wearing his shiny white Elvis jump suit.”

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It is football: The Super Bowl, in the view of Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Art Thiel:

“Given the strengths of their defenses, the Ravens and Giants will bring all the charm of soccer to Tampa. Meaning: nil-nil.

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Night life: International cricket players have been accused of having been offered prostitutes as rewards for match fixing in Australia.

One Aussie star, spinner Stephen Boock, described the allegations as a joke, but added: “There’s nothing to suggest the players were under-performing intentionally, but if they were that busy at night maybe they were doing it unintentionally.”

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An Olds joke: Comedy writer Kenny Noble Cortes, noting that the Oldsmobile will be phased out, says, “Olds will soon go the way of dinosaurs, dodos and the Los Angeles NFL teams.”

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Trivia answer: Dave Krieg, 1990 with the Seattle Seahawks and 1992 with the Kansas City Chiefs; Mark Brunell, 1996 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Peyton Manning, 2000 with the Indianapolis Colts.

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And finally: Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a 15-handicapper, recently made a hole in one at Paradise Valley, near Phoenix. She rode the round in a cart, causing Tallahassee Democrat columnist Don Veller to ask: “Will that influence her vote in the Casey Martin case?”