They Need Some Cash, and Not Norm Cash

Players from Weber State’s national champion baseball team are begging for cash -- with no risk of being sanctioned by the NCAA.

That’s because the players belong to a club team that recently won the National Club Assn. World Series.

Each team member paid $600 just to play, and when the Wildcats needed $13,000 more to play in the national tournament, they took a loan from the school.

But now, having won the title with a 4-0 victory over a club from Texas A&M;, their work is still not done.

Even though they paid for their food on the trip, they’re still short by a couple of thousand dollars.

“Anybody that wants to give us money, we’ll take it,” outfielder C.J. Misik said.

Obviously, Misik has big league potential -- if not as a player then as an agent.

Trivia time: What are the seven teams that have won the Stanley Cup three times within a 10-year span?

Seems fishy: ESPN has announced that in September it will have a new prime-time fishing show, “Totally Hooked.”

Producers say the men and women in the cast will live and fish aboard a luxury yacht for nearly two months, traveling to resort destinations in Florida, the Bahamas, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia Beach.

“The places they will visit have vibrant local culture, terrific nightlife,” coordinating producer Dan Bowen said, adding, “We’ll delve into our passengers’ daily lives while they learn about each other and ... have opportunities to try new things.”

Anyone else sense that there will be bait and lures outside the tackle boxes?

Readers uncorked: San Francisco Chronicle readers aren’t buying Sammy Sosa’s excuse that he accidentally used his only corked practice bat.

A sampling, as quoted by columnist Tom FitzGerald:

“Who led the search of the clubhouse? Hans Blix?”

“This ... has the potential to send the Cubs from first place straight to the cellar.”

And, “Imagine if [former Giant infielder] Duane Kuiper had used a corked bat. He might have hit two home runs.”

Clip and trash: In the coupon section of the new Los Angeles Westside Yellow pages, Pepperdine’s athletic program is offering eight cut-and-use tickets for free general admission to any of the school’s regular-season sports events in 2003-2004.

Then, in the small print, there’s the disclaimer, “Excludes men’s basketball vs. Gonzaga and women’s basketball vs. Connecticut.”

In other words, come out and watch our teams -- unless we’re playing a game worth watching.

Trivia answer: New Jersey, Detroit, the New York Islanders, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa (though not the current Senators).

And finally: The Guardian newspaper of London recently described a meeting of English soccer superstar David Beckham and Nelson Mandela, the president of South Africa, as an encounter between “an icon of his generation, adored by millions across the globe, who has brought hope to his nation where there was once despair, ...

” ... and Nelson Mandela.”

-- Mike Hiserman