This Batch of Surfers Was After Cold Cash

North Carolina’s Jesse Hines earned his first professional surfing win Friday. Now if only his head would stop spinning.

Hines was among those participating in the Red Bull Ice Break off Nova Scotia. The air was below freezing and the water was reportedly 32 degrees. As fans of “Seinfeld” may suspect, the shrinkage factor was off the charts.

Said Hines: “If you go under a couple of times it’s just freezing. It gives you these horrible headaches, and your head just spins when you come up.”

The motivation: His share of the purse was $4,500.

Trivia time: Sunday’s matchup between the New York Yankees’ Randy Johnson and Boston Red Sox’s David Wells -- both are 41 -- marked the second time pitchers 40 or older faced each other as starters on opening day. Who were the others?

Pass the Tums: You think the national pastime is baseball? We say it’s eating the hot dog. Some ballparks are providing healthier alternatives but have another idea of what people want.

According to a National Hot Dog and Sausage Council survey, more than 27.5 million hot dogs will be consumed by baseball fans this season. Laid end to end, that’s enough tube steak to stretch from coast to coast. Top dog, in terms of sales, is Dodger Stadium, where 1,674,400 Dodger Dogs were sold last year. Angel Stadium was sixth at 1,133,000.

Which is it? Soccer star Landon Donovan, as columnist Bud Geracie of the San Jose Mercury News pointed out, said his decision to join the Galaxy was a “no-brainer” and one made with “thoughtful consideration.”

Bad blood: CBS analyst Billy Packer, asked whether he and ESPN’s Dick Vitale were feuding, told reporters he hardly knows the man: “I’ve never been to Dick Vitale’s house. I’ve never had a meal with him. I think I’ve talked to him one time on the phone. I’ve never written him a letter. I’ve never written him a note. He’s never written me a note.

“We’ve never played golf -- I don’t even know if he plays golf. The things we have in common -- I understand that he has a great family, a real neat wife -- I have likewise. But that may be the only thing we have in common.”

Translation: They’re feuding.

Australian for “oops”: Richmond of the Australian Football League enjoyed a long and lucrative sponsorship deal with the state of Victoria’s Accident Commission. As part of the agreement, players wore jerseys bearing an educational message: “Drink, Drive. Bloody Idiot.”

The deal ended last week when a player was arrested on suspicion of speeding and driving under the influence -- the second such incident in four years. Richmond says it’s looking for a more suitable partner.

Trivia answer: Pittsburgh’s Rip Sewell, 41, beat the Chicago Cubs’ Dutch Leonard, 40, 1-0, at Wrigley Field on April 19, 1949.

And finally: Billy Casper, recalling in Golf Digest the days when he learned his allergy problems were associated with certain meats: “So I turned to bear, caribou, venison, hippopotamus, buffalo, elk and moose.”

He liked buffalo and elk the most. Of hippopotamus, he said, “Not surprisingly, it’s very watery.”