Young’s Mother Calls His Signals

Vince Young, who announced Sunday that he would make himself available for the NFL draft, had said he would do whatever his mother told him to do.

That prompted this line from comedian Argus Hamilton: “This time next year he will be playing for Harvard Medical School.”

Trivia time: What is the fewest number of victories for Coach Mack Brown’s teams in any of his eight seasons at Texas?

Political football: From Mike Downey of the Chicago Tribune: “Well, I guess we all know what George W. Bush is going to say to Mack Brown when the national champions visit the White House: ‘Brownie, you did a heck of a job.’ ”

Roger that: Reader Gideon Young of Pasadena in an e-mail noted this headline, including a misspelled name, in Saturday’s Newswire regarding Roger Federer’s defeating Tommy Haas to advance in the Qatar Open at Doha: “Federer Defeats Hass to Reach Qatar Final.”

Wrote Young: “But how did he do in the Semi Final?”

Easy target: From David Letterman’s “Know Your Current Events”:

Q: “The end of the NFL regular season means the beginning of what?”

A: “The New York Jets’ annual eight-month vacation.”

No fan of the soaps: Golfer Ernie Els, talking about the worst part of being sidelined for four months after knee surgery, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “Daytime television is pretty depressing.”

Chip off the ice: In an event to raise money for the U.S. men’s and women’s bobsled teams, 10 NASCAR drivers competed in a bobsled race Saturday at Lake Placid, N.Y.

The winner was Boris Said. Coincidentally, his late father, Bob, drove in the 1968 and ’72 Winter Olympics for the U.S. bobsled team.

“I know nothing about bobsledding,” Said said. “Maybe some of it rubbed off.”

Horse art: For the last three years, famous racehorses have been painting with their noses, whiskers, tails and hooves, and the paintings are sold to help ReRun Inc., a nonprofit retired thoroughbred adoption organization.

The idea began as a whim, but the practice has turned into serious cash. A piece of work by Smarty Jones recently sold for $3,250 on EBay, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

As the Associated Press indicated, Smarty Jones could become known as Arty Jones.

Looking back: On this day in 1977, the Oakland Raiders won their first NFL championship by defeating the Minnesota Vikings, 32-14, in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl. It was the Vikings’ fourth Super Bowl loss.

Trivia answer: Nine. Brown’s teams were 9-3, 9-5 and 9-3 in his first three seasons at Texas and haven’t had fewer than 10 victories in a season since. His last two North Carolina teams, in 1996 and ‘97, went 10-2 and 10-1.

And finally: “Eli’s Comin’ ” is a Three Dog Night song. Sunday, Eli Manning had a four-dog day.

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