The Fridge has more to smile about

When you think of William “Refrigerator” Perry, you think of his considerable girth, the touchdown he scored in the Super Bowl and all those holes in his smile.

The former Chicago Bears’ lineman, 45, has dealt with dental pain for some time, so he relented and made his first visit to the dentist in 20 years.

“Back then [dental work] was rough, rough,” Perry told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Now it’s so updated and modern.”

Perry, who was already missing nearly half his teeth, had a “full mouth reconstruction.” The remaining teeth were removed and replaced with dental implants that are capped.

It’s not as if Fridge’s dental problems slowed his caloric intake, but it’s nice that he’s happy with his new chompers.

“It’s wonderful,” he said. “They look great . . . and I love them.”

Trivia time

Who is the only golfer to make a hole in one on a par-four hole during a regular PGA Tour event? (Hint: He had some help.)

It’s just a job

The agent for Rich Rodriquez can’t understand the criticism leveled at his client after he left West Virginia to become Michigan’s football coach.

Mike Brown told the Associated Press that coaches are human beings who should be “afforded the same grace that others get.”

“They should hear, ‘Thanks for your hard work, good luck in the future.’ What’s the difference between a head coach changing jobs and an executive going from IBM to Honeywell?”

Well, one difference is that nobody at IBM paints his face and chest with the company’s colors and stands out in freezing weather exhorting it to make really great business machines.

Fans or scalpers?

Some New York Giants fans are selling their tickets to New England Patriots fans who want to see Tom Brady and his teammates go for a 16-0 record in the regular-season finale Saturday night at Giants Stadium.

“It looks like it’s on pace to be one of our top 25 events for all time. It’s definitely one of our hot sellers,” Joellen Ferrer, a spokesman for Internet auction site StubHub, told the Star-Ledger of Newark. “Although it’s meaningless to the Giants, it’s still going to be a great game to watch.”

In the first 24 hours after the Giants beat Buffalo on Sunday, more than 200 Giants ticket-holders put their seats up for bid on the auction site EBay. As of Monday, about 3,000 tickets were available for purchase on StubHub. Tickets on StubHub have gone for as much as $1,600 apiece, Ferrer said.

Kid nation

A lot of Dodgers fans are relieved the team hasn’t traded either of their top young players -- first baseman James Loney and outfielder Matt Kemp -- because they’re eager to see what kind of numbers the 23-year-olds will put up in a full season.

Loney’s 2007 stats (15 home runs and 67 runs batted in) project out to 22 homers and 97 RBIs if he maintained that pace for 500 at-bats. Kemp (10 homers and 42 RBIs) would end up with 17 homers and 72 RBIs.

But why all the fuss about those two?

If shortstop Chin-Lung Hu, also 23, somehow managed 500 at-bats in 2008 while performing at his 2007 pace, he’d have 34 homers and 86 RBIs.

Trivia answer

Andrew Magee hit his driver off the tee at the 332-yard 17th hole in the 2001 Phoenix Open. Tom Byrum, in the group ahead, was squatting down to line up his putt and Magee’s tee shot bounced off his putter and into the hole.

And finally

From Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“Figure skater Kimmie Meissner, hockey player Scott Gomez and speedskater Chad Hedrick will join forces in January to promote National Skating Month.

“What, no O.J. Simpson?”

--

john.weyler@latimes.com