It’s a Safe Bet They Will Still Take Your Money

Oddsmakers in Las Vegas reported a record betting spree during the Super Bowl. Not all the bets were conventional, however, such as Denver giving seven to win. One of the more unusual involved matching Phil Mickelson’s score in the final round of the Phoenix Open against yards receiving by the Broncos’ Ed McCaffrey.

Mickelson shot an 80, and McCaffrey finished with 72 yards--demonstrating that oddsmakers usually know how to figure the odds pretty close.

Bets were also taken on the winner of next year’s Super Bowl. Surprisingly, the favorite wasn’t Denver, at 7-1, but the Minnesota Vikings at 6-1.

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Trivia time: Newly elected former Rams Eric Dickerson and Tom Mack join a dozen other former L.A. Ram players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Who are the others?

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The easy way to win: Sam Snead once said that most golf matches are won, or lost, on the first tee--before the first shot is made. A National Golf Foundation survey indicates that most golfers believe it too.

It revealed that more than 45% of players feel that three-quarters of their associates fudge on their handicaps, and 25% believe that half of all players gave false handicaps when lining up matches.

Anyone want two a side?

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Family affair: In a recent hockey game in New York, when the announcer said, “Goal, Gretzky,” it wasn’t for Wayne, it was for Janet.

Janet Gretzky, wife of “the Great One,” hit the net on a penalty shot during a charity game for the Christopher Reeve Foundation.

“She’s got more goals than I have this month,” her husband joked afterward.

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Seeing is believing: Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, who was known for his tiny, cluttered office when he was president of the Milwaukee Brewers, likes to recall the time in 1974 he brought Hank Aaron back to Milwaukee.

“We went to Atlanta and just about worked out a deal with his attorney, Irving Kaler,” Selig said. “In trying to sign him, I was trying to convince him the Brewers couldn’t afford a lot of money, that we were a low-budget operation.

“A week later, he came up to Milwaukee with Hank and came into my office. He looked around and said: ‘He wasn’t kidding. This is a low-budget operation.’ ”

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Laying it out: Seattle Mariner outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. on his team:

“We’ve had the best shortstop in baseball [Alex Rodriguez], the best center fielder [himself], the best designated hitter [Edgar Martinez], the best right fielder [Jay Buhner] and we haven’t won anything. We need pitching. The team doesn’t owe that to Ken and Alex, it owes it to the fans.”

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Trivia answer: Tom Fears, Bill George, Elroy Hirsch, Deacon Jones, Dick (Night Train) Lane, Ollie Matson, Tommy McDonald, Joe Namath, Merlin Olsen, Andy Robustelli, Norm Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield. Former owner Dan Reeves and former coach Sid Gilman are in the hall too.

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And finally: Darin Smedley, who runs a booth in Sydney that sells only 2000 Olympic pins, says one of the most asked questions is, “When’s the bribery pin coming out?”