They play doubles in comedyJustin Gimelstob said...

They play doubles in comedy

Justin Gimelstob said goodbye to his U.S. Open career this week, losing to his buddy Andy Roddick in the first round and saying he’ll retire after the season because of back trouble.

Afterward, the friends took a microphone and interviewed each other on the court, then continued their banter in the post-match news conference.

“What do you think was the key to the match,” Gimelstob asked Roddick, pausing a beat, “besides you being way better than me?”

They laughed about Gimelstob’s arguing with the chair umpire over whether he should have a first serve or a second serve after fans applauded when a group of men and women in uniform left the stands.

Gimelstob said it would have been “unpatriotic” for him to serve as the crowd applauded.

Roddick granted the former UCLA standout a first serve -- and then Gimelstob double-faulted anyway.

“You go for an hour, and then you do that?” Roddick teased.

Trivia time

What do Don Larsen, the only player to pitch a perfect game in the World Series, and new Dodger David Wells have in common?

Chew on this

Remember the woman from Missouri who auctioned her Michael Vick trading cards on EBay after letting a couple of dogs chew and slobber on them?

Those dog-eared cards fetched a lot of dough.

The winning bid: $7,400, which Rochelle Steffen said she planned to donate to the Humane Society.

Fast cash, please

The old saying is you drive for show and putt for dough.

PGA Tour players just want that money in their pockets right now, apparently.

The winner of the inaugural FedEx Cup playoff series will get $10 million, but it will come in the form of a retirement annuity.

An anonymous player writing for Sports Illustrated said it was like “giving a 5-year-old a Cadillac for his birthday and telling him, ‘Sorry, you can’t drive it until you’re 18.’ ”

Tiger Woods, who skipped the first event of the series, didn’t seem to think much of the annuity, saying, “I may be dead before my retirement fund comes around for me to be able to utilize it.”

And Phil Mickelson suggested the payout should instead be made Vegas-style, with silver dollars, “or like the World Series of Poker, with piles of cash.”

Apparently, accountants’ talk about deferred taxes and the wonders of compounding doesn’t make much of an impression on the 30-something set.

Still, the annuity can be accessed as early as age 45.

Trust us, Tiger and Phil, it will come around sooner than you think.

Trivia answer

They both pitched a perfect game for the New York Yankees, and they both attended Point Loma High in San Diego, where they played for the Pointers baseball team.

Thanks to reader Pete Palermo, Point Loma Class of 1955, for the submission.

And finally

Before the U.S. Open interview was over, someone asked Roddick how he would describe Gimelstob to someone who didn’t know him.

Gimelstob interrupted before Roddick could answer.

“Sexy, a good kisser,” he said.

Roddick: “Funny.”

Gimelstob: “Enjoys a good cuddle.”

Roddick: “You got your answer, right? No, but at the heart of it all, you know, I think one of the things that we can all respect, even though he’s about as self-deprecating as one can get -- and he kind of touched on it before. . . you never had to worry about him not giving his all. He kind of got dealt some bad hands with injuries and stuff.”

Gimelstob had one more self-deprecating remark about his shortcomings.

“Genetics,” he said.

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robyn.norwood@latimes.com