What Was He Going to Do, Suspend Her?

Anne Marie Bratton, daughter of the late NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, told an amusing story about her father at a New York memorial service for him.

She talked about the time Rozelle invited Jet quarterback Joe Namath to his apartment to confront him over ownership of a Manhattan bar. She was a young girl at the time, and Rozelle shooed her into a bedroom and told her not to come out until the meeting was over.

Anne Marie contained herself as long as possible and then, as Namath was leaving, burst into the room, shouting, “Joe, I love you even though my father hates you!”

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Trivia time: How many of the four Grand Slam golf tournaments--the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship--are co-sponsored by the PGA Tour?

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Man of the Packers’ cloth: At Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Juneau, Wis., Father Guy Gurath has said Mass wearing a gold stole decorated with “Packers” and a “G” logo.

“I know when I look out over these faces in Juneau, as soon as you mention the Packers, Reggie White or Brett Favre, the attention goes up at least 25%,” Gurath said. “So why not use that?”

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Buckeye encore: Once is apparently not enough for Ohio State fans, particularly when the Buckeyes win a Rose Bowl game. That’s why Ohio State’s dramatic 20-17 victory over Arizona State on New Year’s Day will be televised again today on WSYX in Columbus.

“When there’s one game in town and you live there, I guess it’s only natural,” station manager Sam Stallworth said.

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Loser’s lament: Green Bay Packer receiver Don Beebe knows the agony of defeat in the Super Bowl. His losing experiences with the Buffalo Bills still bother him.

“I went to four straight Super Bowls, something that will probably never happen again, but we’re all labeled as losers,” he said. “That’s a shame, because we won more games in Buffalo than any team in the NFL in the early ‘90s.”

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Soccer mania: When groundskeepers showed up at the stadium of third-division Viterbese in Italy recently, they found 11 wooden crosses, each bearing the name of a team player, planted in the middle of the soccer field.

Police said disgruntled fans of the central Italian club, which had lost its last four games, were presumably to blame.

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Trivia answer: None. The Masters is an invitational run by Augusta National, the U.S. Open is run by the U.S. Golf Assn., the British Open by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, and the PGA Championship by the Professional Golfers’ Assn. of America, which incorporates club pros as well as touring pros.

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And finally: Roger Clemens’ new contract with the Toronto Blue Jays calls for $24.75 million over the next three years, but another provision may be more satisfying. The contract allows his children to work out on the field from 2-5 p.m. before home night games. The kids, 10, 8 and 2, even will have a locker next to Dad at SkyDome.