Morning briefing

Caddie can take a swig of humor

Tiger Woods is out for the season recovering from knee surgery, so that means his caddie, Steve Williams, is out of work.

Caddies are generally paid about 7% to 10% of a player’s winnings, so Williams will miss out on six figures worth of salary in the absence of Woods.

As caddies are a close-knit group, Williams’ fellow loopers decided to take up a collection for their now unemployed colleague.

At the Travelers Championship three weeks ago, they posted a sign asking for donations to the “Steve Williams Benevolent Fund.”

Apparently they figured Williams didn’t need much help because the donation jar was a shot glass.

Trivia time

Williams has caddied for Woods since 1999 and was Greg Norman’s caddie from 1982 to ’89. Whose bag did he carry in between?

Lost his bite

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher A.J. Burnett had an emergency root canal Tuesday night, then had a filling done Wednesday morning, less than 12 hours before he started, and won, against the Baltimore Orioles that night.

He had seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings and won for the third time in four starts. He said he never considered skipping the start.

“That’s just my tooth,” he said. “I don’t need that to throw.”

Facebook faux pas

Ashley-Paul Robinson plays soccer for Crystal Palace of the Championship division in England, so it’s no surprise that he was excited when offered a tryout for a Premier League team.

The problem was, he couldn’t contain his excitement and posted news on his Facebook page that he was in “secret talks” with Fulham.

The message was intended for only Robinson’s friends, but he mistakenly made it available to all visitors and that didn’t go over well with Crystal Palace officials, who cut Robinson.

Robinson followed up the next day with another Facebook post.

“Ashley-Paul has been very naughty lol!” he wrote.

Fantasy money

Even though many fantasy football leagues offer monetary prizes, bragging rights are often the more cherished prizes, but one league is looking to change that.

The Fantasy Football Championship on www.Fanball.com is offering a first prize of $1 million in a league that costs $125 to join.

“Right now there are millions and millions of people who play fantasy sports, many of them fantasy football, and there’s no real championship for all of them to participate in,” said Stan Misthios, designer of the game he says “can truly crown a national champion.”

Go East, young man

The Great West Conference may soon have to change its name after it announced it has added the New Jersey Institute of Technology as a member.

The league also added Houston Baptist, Texas Pan American, Utah Valley, North Dakota and South Dakota, but those schools are at least west of the Mississippi.

The New Jersey Institute of Technology, in Newark, isn’t even in West New Jersey.

Trivia answer

Raymond Floyd’s.

And finally

Chicago White Sox pitcher Scott Linebrink, filling in as closer with Bobby Jenks on the disabled list, was succinct in describing his performance after he blew a 7-5 lead in the 11th inning Tuesday night in a game the White Sox rallied to win, 8-7, in 13 innings.

“The only two words I can give you for me out there are: ‘I stink,’ ” he said.

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peter.yoon@latimes.com