Coach may not mind mistaken ID

By Peter Yoon

Dec. 31, 2007 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Kentucky plays Florida State today in the Music City Bowl and that means Rich Brooks is getting ready for the e-mail onslaught.

No, not Wildcats Coach Rich Brooks, but a senior exercise science major at Kentucky who is unrelated but happens to share the same name.

They also share similar e-mail addresses, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, and that means e-mails from fans flood both inboxes after games.

“I used to get e-mails from recruits, guys wanting to come to UK,” the younger Brooks, 23, told the paper. “I’d get stuff from other coaches . . . and then from the fans.”

It’s those fan e-mails that can get “really descriptive,” he said.

“I got some bad stuff. It was like, ‘We hate you. Quit your job,’ that kind of stuff,” he said.

While sorting through the e-mails can get time consuming, Brooks said there may be some potential advantages to sharing the name.

“I’ve thought about it, but I’ve never called a place and said, ‘This is Rich Brooks. Can I get a dinner reservation?’ ” he said. “I thought it would be funny, but I never actually did it.”

Trivia time

Brooks, the coach, is trying to win his second bowl game since taking over at Kentucky in 2003. How many bowl games did he win while head coach at Oregon from 1977 to ‘94?

Tuna a la king

Seattle Seahawks Coach Mike Holmgren might be plotting his next career move after learning about the executive vice president of football operations gig his good pal Bill Parcells got with the Miami Dolphins.

“They pay you a lot of money. You sit in a nice office. You make decisions kind of like the king,” said Holmgren, who held the same title with the Seahawks from 1999 to 2002. “Probably a little less stress in his life than being a coach.”

But is it more stress than being a television analyst, the position Parcells is leaving for his new job?

“More stress than a TV analyst? I don’t know,” Holmgren said. “He spends a lot of time on his hair, I know that.”

Favre sells out

Brett Favre was named Sports Illustrated’s athlete of the year in the Dec. 10 issue and cheeseheads have quickly turned the issue into a scarce collector’s item.

The first printing was 3.2 million, but after high demand, the magazine did a second printing of 50,000 -- the first reprint since Dale Earnhardt died in 2001. Those sold out, so the magazine did a third printing of 100,000, marking the first time Sports Illustrated has ever done a third printing.

Fans have been lining up at newsstands and bookstores to get a copy. Internet auction sites have copies of it for $10, more than double the cover price.

Applaud the effort

The Chinese government clearly wants everything to be perfect during the Olympics next summer and that includes the applause.

The BBC reported that China is organizing classes to teach fans on the finer points of cheering, including when to clap and the importance of avoiding unsportsmanlike behavior.

“Beijing is worried about a repeat of events during the Asian Cup in 2004, when the Chinese football team’s loss to Japan led to ugly scenes among some Chinese fans,” the report read. “The cheering classes are part of a broader campaign by the Chinese government to encourage what it calls ‘civil- ized behavior’ during the Olympics.”

Trivia answer

One. Brooks was 1-3 in bowl games at Oregon, defeating Tulsa in the 1989 Independence Bowl.

And finally

Pat Noone was honored as the New England Patriots fan of the year last week in a ceremony at Gillette Stadium.

Among his qualifications: Noone, a Swiftwater, Pa., resident, has driven 5 1/2 hours each way to attend nearly every home game for the last 32 years. He has missed only two games.

But what might have put him over the top was that he has a room in his home that is a replica of the Patriots locker room, complete with a urinal.

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