Rock the Vote? Not Over His Dead Body

Ryan White of the Oregonian was one of three voters who placed Auburn ahead of USC in the final Associated Press college football poll.

Asked why he would do such a thing, White said, “I enjoy death threats.”

He said one e-mailer, after calling him all kinds of names, offered this suggestion: “Go kill yourself and make a video of it.”

“I assume it was from a USC fan,” White said. “Or maybe a Raider fan.”

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Trivia time: Who is the only professional athlete in football, basketball, baseball or hockey to go 33-0 in his first 33 starts?

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The correct name: Mike Downey of the Chicago Tribune, chastising his own newspaper for referring to USC as Southern Cal, points out there is no such place as Southern Cal.

Downey wrote that, among USC alums, current students, faculty members and employees, “not a half-dozen would call their school Southern Cal. ... They gladly will answer to any of the following: Southern California, USC, SC or Trojans.”

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A day of rest: The Green Bay Packers, who play host to the Minnesota Vikings in a playoff game today, defeated the Chicago Bears in their season finale, 31-14, despite resting some of their starters.

Elliott Harris of the Chicago Sun-Times noted that some of the Bears’ starters also rested during the game.

“It just happened to be when they were on the field,” Harris wrote.

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The brutal truth: Peter King, on HBO’s “Inside the NFL,” asked Viking Coach Mike Tice: “Does it bother you that the average pro football fan looks at the Vikings as classic underachievers?”

Said Tice: “Well, as I told the team, until we win the big game, until we get out in the cold, in an outdoor stadium, and take care of business, that is how we are going to be perceived.”

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Give ‘em the needle: It would be fitting if the Vikings end up getting tattooed by the Packers in Green Bay today. There’s an international tattoo convention taking place in Green Bay this weekend.

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Looking back: On this day in 1972, the longest winning streak in major professional sports history, 33 games, ended when the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Lakers, 120-104, at Milwaukee. The Bucks were led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scored 39 points.

Three years later, Abdul-Jabbar was traded to the Lakers.

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Trivia answer: Jim McMillian, who replaced Elgin Baylor at the start of the Lakers’ streak on Oct. 31, 1971.

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And finally: When the Lakers’ 33-game winning streak ended, the late Mal Florence, then The Times’ Laker beat writer, was told to come home by a boss who was concerned about his travel budget.

Bill Sharman, the Lakers’ coach, saw Florence walking through the lobby of the team’s hotel the next morning with two suitcases in hand and asked, “Where are you going, Mal?”

Florence turned around and delivered a memorable line: “I don’t cover losers.”

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