Old times’ sake gets extreme

Mike Flynt is redefining the meaning of “college senior.”

The former linebacker was kicked off his college football team for fighting before his senior year and recently disclosed to friends that he regretted not being able to complete his career.

So he returned to Sul Ross State in Texas to find out whether he still had eligibility at the Division III school. He did, and has been practicing with the Lobos this year -- 37 years after he last played.

Flynt is 59. He’s a grandfather, a card-carrying member of the AARP, and has children older than any of his teammates.

“I actually grieved for more years than I can remember the loss of that senior year,” Flynt told the Associated Press. “I don’t know if I ever got over it.”

Said Flynt’s wife: “I feel like I’m married to Peter Pan.”

Trivia time

What do Jack Kemp, former candidate for president and longtime quarterback of the Buffalo Bills, Jim Mora, former coach of the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts, and Ron Botchan, five-time Super Bowl referee and now a supervisor of NFL field officials, have in common?

Catching on

Country music singer Kenny Chesney made a guest appearance at a New Orleans Saints practice last Friday.

Chesney, a friend of Saints Coach Sean Payton, ran a few pass routes before Payton issued a challenge: If Chesney could catch a punt, the Saints would get a day off.

Chesney solicited advice from Saints punt returner Reggie Bush.

“He said, ‘Yeah, don’t drop it,’ ” Chesney said.

Chesney didn’t and the Saints got Monday off, which prompted this reaction from Bush:

“I love country music.”

Check the mattress

Matt Murphy, the man who wound up with Barry Bonds’ record-breaking home-run ball, reluctantly will sell it in an auction.

No. 756 is expected to fetch about $500,000, according to Sotheby’s/SCP Auctions, which will handle the sale. Murphy, 21, said he wanted to keep the ball but was told he’d be taxed on the valuable souvenir if he did.

“I’m young. I don’t have the bank account,” Murphy said. “It would have cost me a lot more to keep it.”

No bank account? So where’s he going to put the $500,000?

Shipwrecked

Former NBA player Latrell Sprewell, who three years ago rejected a $21-million contract offer by calling it insulting and saying he had a family to feed, had his 70-foot yacht repossessed Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.

LSF Marine Holdings, a company run by Sprewell, hasn’t made the $10,322 monthly payments on time, according to the newspaper’s report.

That food bill must be a bear.

View from the bench

Hamilton County, Ohio, Judge John Burlew berated the NFL for its season-long suspension of Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman over a drunk-driving conviction, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

During a hearing on a probation violation case, Burlew called NFL executives “hypocrites.”

“You don’t like alcohol, take those Budweiser commercials off TV,” he said. “Stop selling alcohol in the stadium.”

Think there’s any chance Burlew is a Bengals fan?

Short leash

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reports that the Browns have begun a “crackdown on fan misconduct” during home games after season-ticket holders “voiced concerns about fan behavior.”

Offenders will be subject to ejection, arrest and loss of tickets. And if that doesn’t work, they’ll let Michael Vick loose in the “Dawg Pound.”

Trivia answer

They are all members of the Occidental College class of 1957 and were teammates on the Tigers’ football team.

And finally

Reader Marc Popkin reacts to the news that Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is selling his Mercedes: “I wonder if the new owner will have to buy a new steering wheel. After all, you know how much Ortiz spits on his hands . . . “

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peter.yoon@latimes.com