Plenty of irons in the fire

Some golf-related quotes of the year, as compiled by Bob Frisk of the Chicago Daily Herald:

Steve Elkington, 44, winless since 1999, on why he is playing more: "My son, who is 11, asked me where I bought all my trophies."

Mike Greenberg of ESPN Radio, on whether Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson is a rivalry: "No. Not unless you consider a hammer and a nail a rivalry."

Champions Tour golfer Joey Sindelar, on his struggling short game: "I think the only way I can explain it to my sons, who are 18 and 15, is that my scoring software has a virus."

• WHAT'S IN A BOWL GAME NAME -- What is the strangest name ever for a college bowl game?

The Web site FanIQ.com lists a few contenders:

-- The Bacardi Bowl: A reference to the famous Cuban rum, this bowl was played seven times in Havana. In the last Bacardi Bowl, held in 1946, Southern Mississippi defeated Havana University, 55-0.

-- The Refrigerator Bowl: The game was played annually in Evansville, Ind., from 1948 to 1956, when Evansville was known as the "Refrigerator Capital of the World."

-- The Salad Bowl: A short run for this bowl, only five years. It was played at Montgomery Stadium in Phoenix from 1948 to 1952. In the inaugural Salad Bowl, UNR defeated North Texas State Teachers College, 13-6.

Including corporate sponsors names, it is difficult to top the Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl.

• THUNDER BLUNDER -- With the Oklahoma City Thunder on pace for the worst regular-season record in NBA history, Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News wonders if all the effort expended to relocate the franchise from Seattle was worth it.

"The back-biting, the legal wrangling, the hue and cry, the trek across the Continental Divide -- it was all for this?" Finger wrote. "A team that has gone 3-26, fired its coach and shown no signs of escaping the depths of the Western Conference anytime soon?

"At least Seattle got something for Christmas, and it's called karma."

• BOTTOM OF THE BARREL -- After the Toronto Raptors lost to Oklahoma City, 91-83, on Dec. 19, Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun wrote: "If this isn't rock bottom, it's going to take a visit to the D-League to beat it."

• MOON OVER SAN FRANCISCO -- Janice Hough of LeftCoastSports Babe.com, on pants-dropping Mike Singletary getting the full-time gig as 49ers head coach: "So, can we assume his quarterback coach will be Warren Moon?"

• ROTTEN EGG -- Tim Sullivan of The San Diego Union-Tribune, after the Chargers fell behind the lowly Chiefs 21-3 before rallying in a must-win game Dec. 14: "To lay a larger egg, you'd have to be a brontosaurus."

• BROKEN TROMBONE -- The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research declared cheerleading produces more serious injuries than playing football does.

Added Rick Chandler of Deadspin.com: "No word on how dangerous it is to be in the band."

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