The Open champ is shut down

Fame is fleeting, but this is ridiculous.

Padraig Harrington has dreamed of being introduced as the British Open champion most of his life. But when he stepped to the tee at the Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday for his first competitive round since his wild win at Carnoustie, it didn’t happen.

“I was really, really looking forward to the guy on the first tee announcing ‘The Open champion,’ and he didn’t do it,” Harrington said after the first round.

“He just said, ‘Padraig Harrington, Ireland.’ I was gutted.”

Harrington said the announcer was different from the one he remembered from previous years in Akron, Ohio.

“They used to have a guy here who went into a lot of theatrics announcing the name and they sacked him because he did too much,” he said. “I wish he was there today.”

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It isn’t for me . . .

Harrington’s autograph is suddenly in increased demand, with fans trailing him during practice rounds.

“I had four people following me yesterday who had 20 each to be signed . . . all for their grandchildren,” he said.

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Trivia time

Name the 10 events of the Olympic decathlon.

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Fretting about the past

John McEnroe, a stalwart in the Canadian Open when he was on tour, recalled the Canadian-made guitar he was given when he played the tournament for the final time in the early 1990s.

It met its demise after new security rules in the wake of 9/11 forced him to choose between checking the instrument and checking his rackets.

He checked the guitar, and it came out “looking [as if] I’d just got pummeled in a match by [Pete] Sampras. It was not a good look,” McEnroe told the Toronto Globe and Mail.

“To have the guitar messed up was a bummer,” he said. “I don’t play as much now, but I take better care of them.”

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Days gone by

It’s easy to forget the affable McEnroe had truly offensive moments. From the Times of London’s list of 50 greatest sporting insults, here’s what McEnroe once said to a fan: “What problems do you have, apart from being unemployed, a moron and a dork?”

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Not funny

How difficult is Firestone Country Club playing this week for the Bridgestone Invitational? “It so firm right now, you look at some of these pins and you just start to laugh,” Justin Leonard said.

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Here’s a twist

Two Cuban boxers disappeared last month during the Pan American Games.

Defections?

Nope. They ran up a big bill at a resort near Rio de Janeiro, and now they have told police they want to go home.

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Gasp guzzler

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister, apparently impressed by the customized $200,000 monster truck Jamal Lewis showed up with last year, arrived at training camp with a truck so big the 6-foot-1 McAlister’s head doesn’t reach the bottom of the windshield.

It’s a Ford F650, the Baltimore Sun reported.

No mention of its MPG rating.

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Smokin’

It’s hot in the East, David Letterman said in a recent monologue.

“It was so hot, you know that crooked NBA ref? Well, today he was fixing hockey games.”

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Trivia answer

The 100 meters, the long jump, the shotput, the high jump, the 400 meters, the 110-meter hurdles, the discus, the pole vault, the javelin and the 1,500 meters.

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And finally

The Tampa city council is deciding whether to allow liquor sales throughout Raymond James Stadium during Tampa Bay Buccaneers games, or continue to limit hard liquor to certain areas.

“I understand the way the Bucs have been playing that people want to drink,” said council member John Dingfelder, quoted in the St. Petersburg Times.

Last season’s record: 4-12.

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robyn.norwood@latimes.com