He Gets Jump on Fine Dining Down Under

Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press, writing and eating (burp) from Sydney: “I did not waltz with Matilda. I ate her.

“I admit it. I ate kangaroo. And I feel terrible. I need to get this off my chest--er, stomach. I ate kangaroo. I dipped it in a sauce, bit and swallowed.

“I ate kangaroo. At the time, I thought no more about it than a tourist thinks of removing his shoes inside a Japanese home. Do as the locals do.

”. . . You are what you eat. I feel a sudden urge to hop.”

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Trivia time: Seventeen NFL players share the record for interceptions in a game with four. Who was the first?

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Slamming Sonny: Fox broadcaster Terry Bradshaw, on former Washington Redskin quarterback and current radio broadcaster Sonny Jurgensen:

“[He] gained [owner] Daniel Snyder’s ear and told him how great Jeff George was and then Snyder ran out and signed him. Why? I don’t know.

“Sonny played 18 years and only made four playoff appearances. Jurgensen and George have one thing in common--they’ve never won anything.”

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Hot shot: David Whitley in the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, on 100-meter gold medalist Maurice Greene: “[He] drives a Mercedes with the license plate ‘Mo Gold.’ He tooled around Sydney last week in a canary yellow Ferrari.

“Greene also cranked up a tabloid romance with a 19-year-old Sydney model, proving at least one human is capable of catching him.”

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Big head: Kevin Lynch of the San Francisco Examiner, on the escalating number of 300-pound players in the NFL:

“The biggest player is second-year Detroit Lion tackle Aaron Gibson, who’s 6 feet 4, 380 pounds, and apparently has to struggle to maintain that weight. Gibson’s big all over. [He] wears an 8 3/8 helmet [stretched].”

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Anyone know? Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News: “Idle question: Why do Olympic female gymnasts sound like they have been inhaling helium?”

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More Sherrod: “Put on your hip boots. Neon Deion Sanders just said: ‘I would love to play a sport where everybody makes the same amount of money.’ ”

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Fat fact: From Fitness magazine: “Q: Does using a napkin to soak up grease lower the fat on a slice of pizza? A: Yes, pizza blotting cuts some fat, but there’s only so much a napkin can do.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1981, Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros became the first player to pitch five no-hit, no-run games--a 5-0 victory over the Dodgers at the Astrodome.

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Trivia answer: Sammy Baugh of the Washington Redskins, on Nov. 14, 1943, against Detroit.

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And finally: Redskin Coach Norv Turner gave a vague answer on his team’s quarterback situation last week. And, later, when asked about his response, he said:

“I think of a lot of things. I think of things I can’t tell my wife, but I think about them.”