Mom Will Take Flying Leap Over a Flip Out

Being a snowboard mom is nerve-racking, says Anita Jacobellis, whose son Ben and daughter Lindsey are aspiring Olympians from Vermont.

Anita recalled her daughter’s first Winter X Games experience four years ago, when Lindsey was 16. She lost control on a jump and landed on her head.

“I was biting my nails so hard I chipped my front tooth,” Anita said. “I couldn’t take it anymore so I said, ‘I’m going to go over and watch those guys that are flipping motorcycles.’ ”

She quickly learned that being a snowboard mom is nothing compared to being a freestyle motocross mom.

“I found out that there were no mothers watching that because they couldn’t bear it,” she said. “I’m just glad my kids don’t want to flip motorcycles.”

Trivia time: Who was the first Masters golf champion to wear the green jacket?

Don’t believe it: North Carolina basketball Coach Roy Williams was asked by an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter whether he could retire without winning a national championship and still feel fulfilled.

His response: “I think I can. It is something I do want. It’s something that I hope happens. But if it doesn’t, I’m not going to jump off a building. If you find me at the bottom of a building someday, you can believe that somebody pushed me. I didn’t jump.”

Hear, hear! The Philadelphia Inquirer published a top-10 list of sports lawsuits, with its analysis of each, and at No. 2 was Anaheim versus the Angels over changing the team name from Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Analysis: “If the legal tactic works, the city of Los Angeles might sue to have Los Angeles removed from the Clippers’ name.”

Fat chance: A controversy erupted in Japan involving sumo wrestlers and their attire. They’ve always clashed wearing only wrapped loincloths, but an amateur association has suggested allowing shorts as a means of attracting younger participants, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported.

The professional sumo association is having none of that.

“We have no intention of allowing children in pants into the ring,” a spokesman said.

Rank amateur: Noah Nielsen, 10, of Montpelier, Vt., is the winner of the 30th annual Odor Eaters Rotten-Sneaker Contest. He credited his never wearing socks for the pungent aroma wafting from his shoes.

“Human feet shouldn’t smell that bad,” judge Bill Fraser said.

Writer’s block: An item in Monday’s Morning Briefing referred to Maui High School’s Kalaika Kahoohalahala as having the kind of difficult name sportswriters dread. Wrote Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “Our guys here at the Times have a similar challenge, what with a tennis player from West Seattle’s Chief Sealth High School named Xaysanamoungkoun. At least Xaysanamoungkoun goes by the first name of Montana.”

Trivia answer: Sam Snead in 1949. The tradition has continued since.

And finally: Jay Leno on the state of baseball in light of all the steroid allegations: “This is the first time in baseball history the players have more additives in them than the hot dogs.”