Immaculate Injection, anyone?
Steelers Hall of Fame QB Terry Bradshaw is teaming up with the National Foundation for Infectious Disease to urge those 65 and older to get a Pneumococcal Pneumonia vaccination.
Super Bowl headlines
• At TheOnion.com: “7,500 health-care workers instinctively rush field to treat player injury.”
• At Fark.com: “TB wins second Super Bowl, TB wins seventh Super Bowl.”
Proud and loud
Multiple Tampa residents are suspected of firing off illegal cannons, judging from all the window-rattling noises whenever the Buccaneers scored in the Super Bowl, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
In fact, veteran NFL watchers say they hadn’t heard this many “booms” since John Madden retired.
Point taken
Recalling ex-fireballer Randy Johnson’s claim that he once kept a bag of baseballs by his bed to throw at would-be burglars, just be glad the Big Unit never took up javelin-throwing.
This’ll take a spell
If the Lord’s Prayer can be inscribed on the head of a pin, engravers can certainly fit the full name of Bucs run-stuffer Vita Vea — Tevita Tuliʻakiʻono Tuipulotu Mosese Vaʻhae Fehoko Faletau Vea — onto a Super Bowl ring, right?
Tex mess (cont’d)
Those wild and crazy Houston Texans agreed to release star pass-rusher J.J. Watt — still under contract — instead to trying to get some return value in a trade.
Veteran team watchers say you’d have to go back weeks — weeks — to find a Texans move this confounding.
Game of thrones
Whoa there, kingmakers: Tom Brady, with seven Super Bowl rings, is still four shy of Bill Russell’s 11 NBA championship baubles.
And still a field goal’s worth from matching Yogi Berra’s bounty of World Series rings.
Just wondering
Will apathetic NBA players, stealing a page from their NFL brethren in this era of COVID, set a record for “injury” defections from this year’s All-Star Game?
Tackled for a loss
Offshore sports book Bovada says it won’t pay out on a $10,000 Super Bowl streaker prop bet placed by the fourth-quarter interloper — or any of his associates — that would have made them all a hefty profit.
Now that’s what you call a losing streak.
Healthy directions
West Coast cities San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and San Diego came in 1-2-3-4 in WalletHub.com’s latest rankings of the country’s healthiest cities.
Horace Greeley, it appears, was on to something.
Stat of the Week
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes ran 497 yards before throwing the ball or being sacked in this year’s Super Bowl, according to NextGenStats.
And bonus points for doing it on a foot that required turf-toe surgery.
Painful exit
New Rams QB Matthew Stafford revealed that he played his final season with the Lions through injuries to his torso and all four limbs: a partially torn UCL (right thumb), torn UCL (left elbow), cartilage damage (ribs), a tear (back of left knee) and subtalar sprain (right ankle).
He requested a trade out of Detroit, though, so obviously his head is still OK.
Baby, it’s cold inside
Players for the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels will live at the team’s rink in Alberta this season to reduce the COVID-19 risk.
“Fine with us,” said every stay-at-home defenseman.
Talking the talk
• Blogger Chad Piscasner, on Trevor Bauer’s new Dodger contract penciling out to $10,000-plus per pitch this season: “Which could lead to this conversation on the mound: Manager: ‘How do you feel, Trevor?’ Bauer: ‘I think I got about $40,000 left in me, Skipper.’ ”
• Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, during his MVP acceptance speech, summing up his unforgettable 2020 season amid a pandemic: “180 straight days of having my nose hairs scraped.”
• Ex-Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch, to the Pat McAfee Show, on his various post-playing business pursuits: “They call me the ‘Make It Happen Captain’ — I do everything, (from) fly-fishin’ to badminton.”
Here’s the scoop
Think there might be a future Baskin & Robbins endorsement for Oklahoma State basketballer Ferron Flavors Jr.?
Looks like he’s banking on it: Flavors wears jersey No. 31.
Quote marks
• Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski, to CBS, apparently not realizing that the Super Bowl streaker got stopped at the 1-yard line: “He actually scored. The Chiefs didn’t … they should definitely sign him.”
• Bucs QB Tom Brady, via Twitter, on speculation he was drunk at the team’s title celebration: “Noting to see her … just litTle avoCado tequila.”
• Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg, via Twitter, on the NFL offering up its stadiums as COVID-19 vaccination sites: “Well, except for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium. Everyone knows they don’t have a shot.”
• RJ Currie of SportsDeke.com, pleased to hear that, according to one survey, the No. 1 food among Super Bowl partygoers is chicken wings: “Chicken Wing was also my nickname when I played hockey.”
Quote, end quote
• Nick Canepa of The San Diego Union-Tribune, after Hall of Famer Brett Favre opined that NFL quarterbacks “make too much money to voice an opinion”: “No wonder I can’t shut up.”
• Tim Hunter of Everett’s KRKO Radio, on Yankee Stadium doubling as a vaccination site: “Out of habit, Red Sox fans immediately started yelling, ‘Vaccines suck!’ ”
• Bob Molinaro in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, on the Super Bowl commercial featuring Bruce Springsteen out on the range in a Jeep: “Bruce in a cowboy hat? He’s not even from West Jersey.”
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.