A long way from theory of relativity

Our fascination with mascots at sporting events has been nearly a lifelong one, knowing no bounds and largely falling into two categories:

* What were they thinking?

* Is someone taking a delight in scaring young children?

These thoughts surfaced upon spotting a picture of “Chessy,” the mascot of the recently completed European Chess Championships in Dresden, Germany.

His blue suit looks like a plastic rain poncho and his “hair” and sizable clown-like nose are supposed to create the image of Albert Einstein.

That noise you just heard was Einstein flipping over in his grave.

Still, the website ChessBase.com took a whimsical view of Chessy, writing, “Especially the children are fascinated by the figure. None of them, as far as we know, has run away screaming.”

Add chess

Who doesn’t like a competition where the young and old can compete at the same venue? The oldest chess player in Dresden was 75-year-old Karl-Heinz Hesselbarth of Berlin, according to officials, and the youngest, 11-year-old Filiz Osmanodja of Dresden.

Osmanodja apparently gained his first international experience at age 7. Just think, in Hesselbarth, young Filiz was competing against someone who could have been his great-grandfather.

Trivia time

Where was horse racing’s first $100,000 turf race run?

Hockey talk

Fore or forecheck?

Haven’t we heard in Los Angeles all these years that hockey and warm weather are not a natural fit for players? Sun equals comfort. Cold weather equals grit.

Apparently, the problem may be even worse in Arizona. Jeff Shumway, the chief executive officer of the playoff-challenged Phoenix Coyotes, lamented the current state of affairs with his hockey club and vowed to seek change.

“For instance, players will say they want to be in Phoenix,” Shumway told the Arizona Republic in a recent interview. “Sometimes, I think that means the weather is good, the golf is good, and there are nice clubs in Scottsdale.

“What they mean is, they want to retire in Phoenix. What we need are guys who want to play hockey in Phoenix.”

Collapsing like

a souffle

Many a sports reporter has made reference to this fact, at the inevitable juncture of a playoff series: The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the New York Islanders in seven games in the 1975 playoffs -- after winning the first three.

“Why do you want to remind me of that?” former Pittsburgh defenseman Bob Paradise said to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I’m over it.... It was impossible that we could lose four straight games. But we did.”

Trivia answer

Santa Anita in 1954. That notable race, the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, was won by By Zeus.

The envelope

please ...

Olympic swimmer and multiple gold medalist John Naber, on the tension surrounding the announcement in Washington last Saturday when the USOC selected Chicago over Los Angeles as the domestic host city for the 2016 Summer Games:

“I think we’ve all been changed. I don’t think I will ever watch ‘American Idol’ quite the same way.”

And finally

Four-time Olympic Alpine skiing champion Janica Kostelic, of Croatia, announcing her retirement: “I’m just a normal girl who doesn’t like to read about herself in the headlines.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com