Morning briefing

Football would get icing calls

Shannon Sharpe has a half-baked idea regarding the Buffalo Bills’ attempt to get approval to play an exhibition and at least one regular-season game in Toronto as part of the team’s attempt to expand its market base.

On the Sirius Satellite Radio show he does with Bob Papa, Sharpe asked, “What’s big in Toronto?”

Said Papa: “The Maple Leafs.”

Sharpe: “Well, maybe the Bills can play the Maple Leafs. You play a half of football and then a half of hockey.”

Trivia time

Who was it that said of Terry Bradshaw, “He couldn’t spell CAT if you spotted him the C and the A.”

Picking on a picker

The spelling quip didn’t go over very well with Bradshaw at the time, but he has made a career out of playing a punching bag. Bradshaw’s Fox colleagues love to pick on the lovable Hall of Fame quarterback. It doesn’t matter what it is.

They’re even picking on Bradshaw about his picks -- even though he’s doing well.

A new segment on Fox’s NFL pregame show was introduced this year, and after Sunday’s games, Bradshaw was the leader with a 19-9 record, followed by Howie Long (18-10), Jimmy Johnson (16-12) and comedian Frank Caliendo (14-14).

Scott Ackerson, the NFL pregame show’s coordinating producer, joked, “My money is still on anyone except Terry. The person who is really surprised is Howie because he can’t believe Terry can name 19 NFL teams, let alone pick 19 winners.”

Worth the wait?

Rick Reilly, who will be leaving Sports Illustrated to join ESPN, recently pointed out the wait to become a Green Bay Packers season-ticket holder is a long one.

“The line moves slower than the one at the Kabul DMV,” Reilly wrote. “For instance, if you put your name on the waiting list today, you would be number 74,659. An average of 70 people give up their tickets every year, which means you’ll have your tickets by the 3074 season.

“Luckily you’ll still catch Brett Favre’s last year.”

Picking on a Padre

The World Series-bound Colorado Rockies got into the playoffs at the expense of late-season losses by the San Diego Padres.

Said Rob Dibble to the Rockies’ Matt Holliday when he was a guest on FSN’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period”: “Did you vote a full playoff share to Trevor Hoffman?”

Rugby woes, New York style

“South Sydney Story,” a six-episode series on Versus, tells the story of a troubled rugby team bought by actor Russell Crowe and Australian businessman Peter Holmes. The third episode airs Tuesday night.

The Sydney Rabbitohs, a legendary team, used to be publicly owned by the working class sector of Sydney. And things were not good.

“If you can imagine the city of New York owning the Yankees and letting them fall into disrepair, you can start to imagine the magnitude of what Russell and Peter were up against to rejuvenate the club,” said Versus programming executive Marc Fein.

Wait a minute. The Yankees are privately owned, and they’ve still fallen into disrepair.

Trivia answer

Linebacker Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson of the Dallas Cowboys made the comment before Super Bowl XIII in January 1979. The Steelers won, 35-31, to give Bradshaw the third of his four Super Bowl rings.

And finally

Roberto Madrazo, who finished third in Mexico’s presidential election last year, was recently stripped of his over-55 victory in the Berlin Marathon for taking a shortcut and skipping as many as nine miles of the race.

“Who was his running mate, Rosie Ruiz?” asked reader Bill Littlejohn.

At the 1980 Boston Marathon, Ruiz was initially declared the women’s winner until it was discovered that, instead of running a fast one, she had pulled one.

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larry.stewart@latimes.com