Next Time, Try Asking Him About Al Davis

The weather is usually a good icebreaker, but apparently not always.

Jillian Barberie, the weather forecaster on “Fox NFL Sunday,” in a story in Spirit, the Southwest Airlines magazine, talked about her relationship with Fox colleague Howie Long.

“For the first year, Howie didn’t really look at me,” Barberie said. “The second, I asked him a question about football, and he actually turned around and got animated, and I dropped to the floor. I said, ‘Did Howie Long just acknowledge me?’ The key is, don’t talk to him about the weather.”

More football talk: Regis Philbin was talking about the New York Jets on his show this week when his overly perky sidekick, Kelly Ripa, said, “Oh, they still have a chance to go to the ... what do you call it?”

Philbin, smirking: “Playoffs.”

And then this: Bob Koontz, director of sales for KSPN and its ABC sister stations in Los Angeles, e-mailed a story to Don Barrett’s laradio.com Web site regarding the late Ken Brett.

Koontz said he was introduced to Lori, the woman who would become his wife, by Brett. Somewhere along the way, Lori asked Brett to get her a Bo Jackson autographed baseball. Brett, as a bonus, also had his brother George autograph the ball.

“The first thing she said to Ken was, ‘Who is George Brett?’ ” Koontz wrote.

Trivia time: Tiger Woods won this year’s Vardon Trophy, which goes to the PGA Tour golfer with the lowest scoring average, based on a minimum of 60 rounds. Woods is the third five-time winner of the award. Who are the other two?

Rank computer: Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, on the New York Times’ college football rankings: “I’m not saying [they] are wacko, but if the Times computer were ranking movies, ‘Casablanca’ would be No. 7, four spots behind ‘Tango & Cash.’ ”

Honest answer: Barry Sanders has been making the rounds on the talk-show circuit, peddling his book. On Jim Rome’s show, he was asked whether he ever had any desire to break the all-time rushing record, formerly held by Walter Payton.

Said Sanders: “I don’t have nearly the competitive spirit Walter Payton had.”

Extra incentive: The Orlando Magic lost its 17th consecutive game Wednesday night, falling to New Orleans.

Said the Hornets’ David Wesley: “When you have a team that’s lost 17 or 18 in a row, they’ve got to win one somewhere. You don’t want it to be [against] you.”

Looking back: On this day in 1981, USC’s Marcus Allen, after setting an NCAA record for yards rushing in a season with 2,342, was named the Heisman Trophy winner.

Trivia answer: Billy Casper and Lee Trevino.

And finally: Lawrence Taylor, a guest on Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” was asked whether everything that had happened to him was in his autobiography.

“Not everything,” he said. “My closet has some closets.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.