Holtz not exactly super sized

Need proof that this is not your father's college football?

Lou Holtz was a linebacker while playing at Kent State.

Yep, the same man who once said, "I stand 5 feet 10, weigh 152 pounds, wear glasses, speak with a lisp and have a physique that appears like I've been afflicted with beriberi or scurvy most of my life," once played the same position as Dick Butkus and Ray Lewis.

Today, Holtz would be an undersized water boy.

Then again ...

Looking at former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, would you guess college quarterback?

• FAINT PRAISE -- Here's guessing that getting credit from Navy offensive captain Osei Asante did little to make Army feel any better after its eighth straight loss to its rival.

"It kind of takes away from the game when you beat them 34-0 and 38-3 (like Navy did) the past two years," he said. "They said they were going to come out and try to beat us, they were going to give us their best shot. They did -- a lot of credit to Army. We just outplayed and outworked them today, and the scoreboard shows it."

In other words, they weren't Army tough.

• A GOAL-GETTER -- We've known for a long time that Tiger Woods' main golf focus was to surpass Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major victories.

What we didn't know was that he is closing in on one of Wilt Chamberlain's unofficial marks, too.

And speaking of Woods, shouldn't he get back to the golf course, because his girlfriends are teeing off.

• BIG MEN ON CAMPUS -- With a couple of well-rounded college football coaches now out of work, it might be a good idea for Maryland's portly Ralph Friedgen to consider Mark Mangino and Charlie Weis as assistants on his staff. Beyond any expertise they might bring, think how much more svelte Friedgen would look in comparison.

It also would be a ton of fun for comedy writers.

• WEIRD TIMES INDEED -- In a year of very strange stories, which stands out the most?

a) Alex Rodriguez wasn't a bust in the postseason;

b) Manny Ramirez took a drug prescribed to fertility patients;

c) John Daly commenting on Tiger Woods' missteps;

d) Alex Rodriguez wasn't a bust in the postseason.

• TALKING TIME -- Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, on a recent fast-food slump: "Sales at McDonald's restaurants slipped .6 percent in the United States in November. In a related story, John Daly has lost 115 pounds."

-- Bob Arum, promoter of Manny Pacquiao, on trying to work out a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the middle of a recession: "I'm guaranteeing my fighter $25 million. I ain't going for pie in the sky on this."

• TRASH MAN -- Jesus Leonardo claims to have cashed nearly a half-million dollars in winning horse racing tickets without making a single bet.

Leonardo told The New York Times he spends more than 10 hours a day feeding thousands of discarded betting slips through a ticket scanner. His largest payoff was for $9,500 in 2006.

Still, Leonard admits that almost every ticket is a loser, and that doesn't include the worthless Nets and Knicks tickets he finds.

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