NFL fines more for strap than tackle

In the grand scheme of things, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco’s wearing the wrong-colored chin strap is but a drop in the ocean.

Still, the NFL decided to fine Ochocinco $10,000 for wearing a black chin strap instead of white during the Bengals’ loss to Houston last week.

The NFL also fined San Diego’s Larry English $7,500 for a horse-collar tackle in the Chargers’ loss to Denver.

A black chin strap earning a bigger fine than a potentially harmful tackle?

That’s the NFL, also known as the No Fun League. The NFL has a reputation to protect.

Trivia time

After Johnny Vander Meer pitched consecutive no-hitters in 1938, who was the player who ended his hitless streak?

Not in postseason form

Box score from the National League Championship Series post-Game 5 revelry in Philadelphia:

Forty-nine arrests for mostly minor offenses -- among them 29 for disorderly conduct, six for assaults on police, three for thefts or attempted thefts, three for vandalism, two for ticket-scalping and one for public intoxication.

Only one for public intoxication? And only 49 arrests overall?

By Philadelphia standards, the crowd was on its best behavior.

“That’s not many, considering the size of the crowds,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told the Philadelphia Daily News.

The possibility of a Phillies-New York Yankees World Series concerned Ramsey.

“With the Yankees, and the close proximity [to New York], we’re going to have a handful,” he said.

How big of a handful?

Phillies infielder Greg Dobbs was musing about the possibility of his team meeting the Yankees in the World Series.

“It might be so crazy it’d fall into the ocean,” he said. “It would be wild. Absolutely wild.”

Old but experienced

In trying to right the wreck of a season the Washington Redskins are enduring, the team has taken play-calling duties from Coach Jim Zorn and given the responsibility to Sherman Lewis.

“Two weeks ago, Lewis was calling bingo games at a senior citizens center,” wrote Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel. “This seems like an unusual hiring search, but it’s the same way the Vikings found Brett Favre.”

Shaken, not stirred up

Considering his reputation for shaking up a basketball game and/or team, it comes as no surprise that Ron Artest is endorsing his own brand of milkshake.

Artest will spend an hour, from 5 to 6 p.m., today at 8910 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood to introduce the “Ron Artest Milkshake” and give away free samples to fans.

What flavors can we expect? Supply your own punch line here.

Trivia answer

Debs Garms of the Boston Braves.

(Question and answer provided by reader Bion LaShier of Glendale.)

And finally

From Doug Lunney of the Winnipeg (Canada) Sun, on Canadian scientists trying to pinpoint the age of a 19th-century sugar-maple hockey stick: “It’s believed to be the first one used by Chris Chelios.”

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mike.penner@latimes.com