They Enjoy the Public Service of Golfers

Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times couldn’t be more thrilled that the U.S. Open is being played for the first time on a public golf course, Bethpage Black:

“After 101 years of snooty hobnobbing at elite clubs, the Open is stooping to the Tin Cup crowd ... where Joe Divot and his buddies can play for $31 during the week and $39 on weekends.

“You can just hear the pull tabs popping on the beer cans.”

Trivia time: Who was the first Southern Section football player of the year, in 1937? Hint: He gained fame playing for two Bay Area teams.

Party on: Freshman fullback Brandon Hancock says it didn’t take long for USC to make him feel welcome after his early enrollment this spring.

“I was immediately swept up by fraternity rush,” Hancock wrote in a diary he kept for Sports Illustrated. “I went to a party every night for four nights. Some houses had 400 people and two deejays, and it seemed as if every house made sure the girl-to-guy ratio was 3 to 1.”

New ice age: Bob Lipper of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, commenting on how quickly Southern sports fans have rallied around the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes:

“[Now] there’s a Cup worth getting excited about that’s not named Winston.”

Center stage: Maryland forward Chris Wilcox, a sophomore who has made himself available for the NBA draft, is renting Madison Square Garden for two hours Saturday to conduct an open workout for NBA teams.

Wilcox is being represented by boxing promoter and manager Rock Newman, who had been banned from the Garden for his part in a brawl during the Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota heavyweight fight in 1996.

Changing times: The Confederation of African Football said a recent ban of soccer team witchdoctors was needed to wipe out a Third World image, especially as African nations are likely to compete to host the 2010 World Cup.

“We are no more willing to see witchdoctors on the pitch than cannibals at the concession stands,” a CAF statement said.

Going bust: Vietnamese police have broken up an illegal betting ring based in a coffee shop named after French soccer star Zinedine Zidane, whose team was eliminated from the World Cup this week.

Four satellite dishes used to watch World Cup games were seized from the Zidane Cafe in Ho Chi Minh City. No word yet on how many bets were placed on the French team, which went scoreless in three games.

Trivia answer: Frankie Albert of Glendale High. A running back in high school, Albert was moved to quarterback in college and was a Rose Bowl hero for Stanford and the first All-Pro quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.

And finally: Rob Howe of the Iowa City Press-Citizen says reporters covering Big Ten football need to start getting in shape for next season:

“Most of the training centers on weightlifting. Scribes must be in shape to tote massive media guides from press box to press box.

“If you’ve yet to see one of these things, think New York City phone book. Michigan produces a collection of facts, figures and fanfare that would cause hospitalization if it were dropped on your foot.”