Players Are Glad the Enforcer Is With Them

The star-studded Colorado Avalanche will have a new enforcer this season -- Peter Worrell, who arrived from the Florida Panthers -- and at least the guy knows his role.

“I know [fighting] is a big part of my game, and I’m pretty good at it,” Worrell said.

Last year, Worrell had two goals, three assists -- and a team-high 193 penalty minutes in 63 games, fifth-most in the league. He led the NHL in penalty minutes with 354 in 2001-02.

“I like getting under people’s skin and agitating and trying to get people off their game,” he said. “The only difference is, I’m 6-7, about 250 ... and if we have to throw down to settle something, then so be it.”

Somewhere, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne and Milan Hejduk are smiling.

Trivia time: The Walker Cup, the amateur equivalent of the Ryder Cup, concludes today at Ganton Golf Club in Ganton, England. For whom is the trophy named?

Illustrated man: Shaquille O’Neal is getting his body prepared for a run at another NBA championship ... and we’re not just talking strength and fitness here.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Shaq has a new tattoo on his left forearm.

It portrays Shaq dunking with a crosshairs stenciled over his figure. It reads: “Public Enemy No. 1.”

Think he’s ready?

Travelin’ man: Barry Stokes will start at offensive tackle today for the Cleveland Browns, the latest stop in a very long and winding road. Let him recount the journey:

“Detroit to Jacksonville to the Rhein Fire [of NFL Europe]. Got cut. Three weeks later, they brought me back and got cut again. Went to the St. Louis Rams, and they cut me and they brought me back and got cut again. I went to Miami, over to Scotland [NFL Europe], come back to Miami and they cut me.

“They bring me back. Then back to Scotland and then back to Miami. They cut me. I go to Green Bay for two weeks.... They cut me. And then I went to Oakland for one week. In the off-season, they cut me, and then back to Green Bay. I played there through the year and then I came here.”

Got that?

A little tipsy: The newest motor sports craze has little to do with speed -- it’s called rock crawling, for Pete’s sake -- and everything to do with balance. Vehicles, primarily customized Jeeps with special tires, suspension and drive trains, attempt to traverse a narrow course, sometimes straight up a boulder.

There’s a driver, sure, but there’s also a spotter who directs the driver to the best path and tugs on a rope attached to the vehicle to keep it stable.

“It’s so new, most people have never heard of it,” said Darrell Motley, a veteran rock crawler from Lexington, Ky.

There’s no chance of a high-speed crash, but spectators can get a close-up view of a Jeep tipping over.

Trivia answer: Former U.S. Golf Assn. president George Herbert Walker, the great-grandfather of President Bush.

And finally: Veteran linebacker Ted Johnson, after seeing new Patriot teammate, 375-pound defensive tackle Ted Washington, for the first time: “You could show a movie on that backside.”

-- John Weyler