Morning briefing

It doesn’t always stay in Vegas

Dave Romleski is hanging up his furry green suit after the season and moving to Germany -- where life will be much safer.

Better known as the Duke, a charismatic mascot for the Las Vegas Wranglers minor-league hockey club, Romleski tells the Las Vegas Sun of the time he blew out a knee and fell to his rump in agony during a playoff game last year.

A kid leaped forth and with both fists “was teeing off on my nose, using it as a speed bag.”

Then there was the time an errant puck flew into a narrow opening Romleski looks through and struck him in the left eye, knocking him senseless.

He loses 10 pounds each game and, because he has to keep his head downcast to keep the costume head properly positioned, he requires regular visits to the chiropractor. Needless to say, the Wranglers are having a tough time finding a replacement.

Trivia time

Who threw out major league baseball’s first ceremonial pitch?

Striking it rich

The Dallas Mavericks’ playoff hopes are in jeopardy and the absence of injured Dirk Nowitzki is not helping.

Coach Avery Johnson, after conferring with a wealthy oilman buddy, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram the team has to “just keep on digging, keep on fighting and hopefully we’ll hit one of those really big-time wells. A gusher.”

Actually, that should happen Monday. The Mavericks are playing the Clippers.

Topless trouble

Wrestlemania has arrived in Orlando, Fla., and a giant downtown banner reveals the hulking, shirtless torsos of stars John Cena, Triple H, Randy Orton and Big Show.

But there’s something wrong with this picture: There are no nipples on the torsos. They were erased, it turns out, because city staffers asked World Wrestling Entertainment to create banners that weren’t too provocative.

Writes Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel: “It’s rather unsettling. And Ken-like.”

Naturally, we’re suspicious

Hank Steinbrenner is standing behind Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez amid steroid-use accusations, calling him a modern-era Natural.

“You are going to see them today just as you saw them in the ‘90s, just like you saw them in the ‘80s and just like you saw them in the ‘30s,” Steinbrenner, who runs the team with brother Hal, told the New York Post. “You are going to see Naturals, and that’s what he is.”

That would be easy to believe were it not for so many Unnaturals having been recently exposed.

Capitol intrigue

President Bush will throw out the first pitch today at the Washington Nationals’ home opener in their new stadium.

But he won’t throw to Paul Lo Duca. The catcher was yanked in favor of Manager Manny Acta, presumably because of his prominent mention in the Mitchell Report and Bush’s strong stance against steroid use. White House spokesman Tony Fratto, however, denies a role in the switch, telling the Washington Times, presumably with a straight face, “The president will be happy to pitch to whomever the Nationals choose.”

Cull of the wild

On learning that authorities in L.A. have been busting unlicensed mixed martial-arts contests, Steve Rosenbloom of ChicagoSports.com wondered whether that was good.

“Isn’t society better off,” he asked, “if people dumb enough to engage in these fights cull their own herd?”

Trivia answer

President William Howard Taft in 1910.

And finally

From Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “Shouldn’t free-agent forward Jesse Winchester -- signed by the NHL’s Ottawa Senators this week -- be shooting pucks somewhere out West?”

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pete.thomas@latimes.com