You Know You Have Hit the Big Time If ...

Tom Craft is in his second season as San Diego State’s football coach after two successful stints as coach at Palomar College, where he won three national junior college championships.

The colorful Craft, whose team plays UCLA tonight at the Rose Bowl, had some fun at Friday’s Pasadena Quarterbacks Club luncheon.

Asked the difference between coaching at the junior college level and the Division I level, Craft said, “It’s easier to prepare for a Division I opponent. They always line up in the right place, unlike in JC, where sometimes the players go wherever they want.”

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Trivia time: When was the last time San Diego State won in the Rose Bowl?

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Berkeley bluster: A reader named Barry Smith, who must be a California alum, e-mailed: “What does the average USC player get on his SATs? Drool.”

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Uncovering history: Neil Laverdiere of the Montreal Gazette e-mailed to say that Clint Benedict of the Montreal Maroons, in 1930, was the first goalie to wear a mask.

According to the Web site www.hockeysandwich.com, Benedict created a mask to wear after a puck had crushed his cheekbone and nose.

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Boxing, Salvadoran style: There will be a public workout today at 2 p.m. in the Staples Center parking lot featuring featherweight champion Erik Morales, super featherweight champion Famoso Hernandez of Salvador and others on the Staples Center card pay-per-view card next Saturday.

But this is no ordinary sparring session. Besides boxing, the session will include salsa music, a Salvadoran marching drill team and even a bathing suit contest, with the winners earning the privilege of being ring-card girls next Saturday.

“We are offering everything but free food,” publicist Bill Caplan said.

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Try changing channels: Reader Bob Smagula said in an e-mail that he was watching a boring USFL game on ESPN Classic this week and asked himself, “Why would they show such drivel?” He soon got his answer. “It was Lee Corso’s first professional win,” Smagula said. “Next week I look forward to Stuart Scott’s intramural highlights from his college days. Or perhaps Kenny Mayne’s Little League years.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1998, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals homered twice to reach No. 70 on the last day of the season.

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Trivia answer: San Diego State defeated Boston University, 28-7, in the 1969 Pasadena Bowl. El Camino College Coach John Featherstone was the MVP of that game, a receiver on a team that featured quarterback Dennis Shaw.

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And finally: Jesse Orosco is not only still pitching at 46, he’s going to the American League playoffs with the Minnesota Twins. “I’m probably older than all of the guys combined out there today,” he said this week after getting his first AL victory since July 19, 1998, as a member of the Baltimore Orioles.

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