A trip that changed McGrady

This morning, a Briefing item that isn’t looking for a laugh.

Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady, influenced by teammate Dikembe Mutombo’s humanitarian work in Africa and conversations with the Chicago Bulls’ Luol Deng, whose family is from Sudan, traveled to Chad last summer to witness conditions in camps for refugees from Darfur.

“To live a lifestyle like mine -- pretty damn good -- go over there and sleep in tents, hear stories, see devastation -- nothing compares to this,” McGrady told the Houston Chronicle.

McGrady’s traveling group of eight included John Prendergast, a former White House aide and co-chair of the Enough Project, which seeks to abolish genocide and mass atrocities, as well as a filmmaker and cinematographer. The NBA All-Star said he is helping fund a documentary to increase awareness of the torture and deprivation in the region.

“They’re burning up the villages, throwing the elderly in the fire,” he said, describing stories the refugees told him. “I mean, it’s just awful, awful to sit and listen to these stories. And everybody there has experienced the same thing. . . .

“I was really, I don’t know -- it just did something to me,” he told the paper. “I was overwhelmed. It was by far the hardest thing I ever did, by far. It was the hardest thing and the best thing.”

--

Trivia time

Welcome, Notre Dame fans. You are ineligible for today’s trivia quiz.

Who played George Gipp in the 1940 movie, “Knute Rockne All-American?”

Bonus points: Who played Rockne?

--

Feeding the hungry

Don’t say Pizza Hut President Scott Bergren doesn’t know a public-relations opportunity when he sees one.

After the mini-controversy over Detroit Lions receiver Roy Williams saying he doesn’t tip pizza-delivery people, Bergren wrote a letter to Williams inviting him to deliver pizza in Detroit for a day, with all the tips going to the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

Bergren, no fool, also sent a copy of the letter to the Detroit Free Press. But it might be more impressive if Pizza Hut offered to donate, say, $500 for every dollar Williams was tipped.

--

Learning the language

Yi Jianlian, the Milwaukee Bucks’ top draft pick, began practicing with the team this week. Although he used a translator, he demonstrated he has mastered the fundamental phrases necessary to play in the NBA.

“I have no comment,” Yi said when asked about rumors he is older than the age of 19 indicated by his birth certificate.

--

Doper’s index

Number of results for a Google search Friday for “Marion Jones” and “sad”: 626,000.

--

Haunted stadium

The minor league Lake Elsinore Storm’s ballpark will be a haunted house on selected nights this month, with “tortured souls” around every corner.

And we thought that stadium was in Philadelphia.

--

Trivia answer

Ronald Reagan played “The Gipper.” Pat O’Brien played Rockne.

--

And finally...

Yankees Manager Joe Torre, on the anti-Yankee sentiment that was almost palpable during the first two games of their playoff series in Cleveland:

“Really? I try to go around where I have friends, you know,” he said to laughter. “People are very nice here. Around Boston, believe it or not, people are very nice, just something happens when they go through the turnstile at Fenway Park and they become something else.

“And you have some people that like to harass here at the ballpark. I remember David Wells was warming up for a start here in the postseason, and he heard some things that he hadn’t heard before, which is saying something.”

--

robyn.norwood@latimes.com