Palmer’s Agenda Isn’t Hidden

So how objective are Heisman Trophy voters? Carson Palmer, who votes because he won the award in 2002 for USC, told Petros Papadakis on KMPC Tuesday that he voted for the Trojans’ Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and Dwayne Jarrett.

Why Jarrett, a freshman receiver?

“I didn’t want to give Jason White any votes,” Palmer said.

Trivia time: Army had back-to-back Heisman winners in 1945 and ’46 in Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis. What is the only other school to have different back-to-back Heisman winners?

Pac-10 prowess: UCLA won its eighth NCAA water polo championship Sunday. Last year, USC won the men’s and women’s water polo titles, two of the 11 national championships won by Pacific 10 schools in the academic year.

The other nine: In women’s sports, UCLA won in golf, gymnastics, softball, and track and field; Stanford in cross-country and tennis, and USC in volleyball. In men’s sports, Stanford won in cross-country and California in golf.

More water polo: Dick Enberg, in his recently released autobiography written with Jim Perry, says he was doing some weekend radio work in 1963 when he got his first L.A. television assignment -- a USC-UCLA water polo match for Channel 11.

“I didn’t know one thing about the sport,” Enberg says. “I used to wonder how they got the horses in the pool.”

Strange but true: Here it is December and the San Diego Chargers lead the AFC West by two games.

“The first-place Chargers?” asks Jim Armstrong in his AOL Sports column. “Talk about your all-time oxymoron. What next, compelling soccer matches?

“No wait, I know: federal surplus.”

Incidental information: Ever wonder why the country club in Thousand Oaks, site of the Target World Challenge that begins Thursday, is named Sherwood?

The name dates to 1922 and Douglas Fairbanks’ silent movie, “Robin Hood,” which was filmed on the scenic property. Robin Hood lived with his merry band of followers in Sherwood Forest.

Fund-raising idea: Grant T. Harris, University of California student-body president in 1996-97, is asking alums to donate the money they would have spent attending the Rose Bowl to the Cal football program. His plea:

“The stench of the BCS system may have drowned out the smell of roses, but we still have an opportunity to build a program that will be smelling roses and oranges for years to come.”

Looking back: On this date in 1961, Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scored 78 points and grabbed 43 rebounds in a 151-147 triple-overtime loss to the Lakers. Elgin Baylor led the Lakers with 63 points.

Trivia answer: Yale, with Larry Kelley in 1936 and Clint Frank in ’37.

And finally: With Texas playing in the Rose Bowl, reader Janice Hough wonders, “Will they start referring to it as the Yellow Rose Bowl?”

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