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Marino Couldn’t Pass Up Opening

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Times Staff Writer

In a segment for HBO’s “Inside the NFL,” Dan Marino traveled to the set of the remake of “The Longest Yard” to interview Burt Reynolds and Adam Sandler.

In the remake, Sandler plays quarterback Paul Crewe. Sandler’s coach for the role was former USC and NFL quarterback Sean Salisbury.

Why Salisbury? Marino wondered that too.

“You can’t put him in the class as an official quarterback,” he said. “He couldn’t throw it in the ocean if he was standing on the beach.”

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Salisbury threw 19 touchdown passes in his NFL career, Marino a record 420.

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Trivia time: The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, featured in the movie “A League of Their Own,” ended a 12-season run 50 years ago. The league was founded in 1943 by what major league owner?

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He can do it all: In the movie “Friday Night Lights,” the uncle of star running back Boobie Miles has one of the better lines.

“That’s my nephew out there,” he says. “The boy can play some football, I’m telling ya. He can spin to the left, he can spin to the right. He can block, tackle, score touchdowns, snap the ball, hold the snap and get extra points.

“The boy can fill up the Gatorade cooler, walk the dog and paint your porch.”

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Golf truisms: Reader Dan Catherwood of Sierra Madre passed along some truths that have been making the rounds on the Internet.

* A law of physics -- It’s easier to get up at 6 a.m. to play golf than to mow the lawn.

* Sometimes it seems as though your cup moveth over.

* If your opponent has trouble remembering whether he shot a six or a seven, he probably shot an eight.

* A good tee shot on the final hole has kept many a golfer from giving up the game.

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Tough ruling: Sergio Arturo Perez, a visually impaired judo competitor, lost his Paralympic gold medal after testing positive for prednisolone, an anti-inflammatory agent that, according to the International Paralympic Committee, is not a performance-enhancing drug.

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Then why is it banned?

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Ducking out: Troubled All-Big 12 football center Richie Incognito left Nebraska and then lasted less than a week at his next stop, Oregon.

Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times described his stay with the Ducks as “second and short.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1981, USC’s Marcus Allen rushed for 211 yards against Arizona, but the Trojans lost, 13-10.

Trivia answer: Philip K. Wrigley, the owner of the Chicago Cubs.

When Wrigley surveyed the seven other National League teams to see if they would join him in this venture, the only support came from Branch Rickey, Brooklyn Dodger president.

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And finally: From George Foreman, quoted in Guideposts magazine on the key to success in the ring: “There’s more to boxing than hitting. There’s not getting hit, for instance.”

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

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