He Is Giving Brand-Name Recognition a New Twist

Veteran NBA writer Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune reports that there is only one player who memorizes the names of writers from all over the country so he can call them by their first names.

Smith also reports that there is only one player who makes it a habit to greet every usher and ball boy in every arena and sign autographs and exchange high fives with fans on a regular basis.

That player is the Clippers’ Elton Brand.

Trivia time: Brett Favre threw 58 passes in the Green Bay Packers’ 19-7 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Has a quarterback thrown more passes against the Bears?

Impressive streak: Reader Jim Helms of Arcadia, a 1949 graduate of Sewanee, a small liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tenn., sent a newspaper clipping about a five-game football winning streak by his alma mater.

What’s impressive is that Sewanee won the five games in a six-day span, from Nov. 9 to Nov. 14, 1899. The victories came against Texas, Texas A&M;, Tulane, Louisiana State and Mississippi, and all were shutouts.

A batty business: It’s amazing what collectors will pay for sports memorabilia. A year ago, at an auction in New York, the bat Babe Ruth used in 1923 to hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium sold for $1.26 million.

Shoeless Joe Jackson’s favorite bat, known as “Black Betsy,” will be among more than 350 sports memorabilia items Saturday at a New York sale put on by Sotheby’s and Orange County-based SCP Auctions.

It sold at an auction in 2001 for $577,610.

David Kohler, SCP Auctions president, points out that the bat this time should go for more than the gate receipts for the 1919 World Series -- $722,414.

A money shortage here: As the San Francisco 49ers, now 2-10, were losing to the Seattle Seahawks four days before Thanksgiving, 49er radio announcer Joe Starkey, according to the San Jose Mercury News, said, “With each touchdown the 49ers score this season, Wells Fargo will give $500 to underserved youths in the Bay Area.”

After a pause, Starkey added, “Those kids must be starving.”

Hard to please: New York Jet center Kevin Mawae, on how fans will react to the team’s losing record, was quoted in the New York Daily News as saying, “The history is, they’ll root for us to lose so we can get a high draft pick, so they can boo it on draft day.”

Looking back: On this day in 2000, the Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal set an NBA record by going 0 for 11 from the free-throw line in a 103-95 loss to Seattle. The previous record was 0 for 10 by the Philadelphia Warriors’ Wilt Chamberlain against Detroit on Nov. 4, 1960.

Trivia answer: Randall Cunningham of the Philadelphia Eagles threw 62 passes against the Bears in 1989.

And finally: NASCAR Chairman Brian France, always cognizant of sponsors, was on a conference call Wednesday when there was static on a reporter’s line. “Tell him to get a Nextel phone,” France said.

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