At least he wasn't trying to pick George Fox

When it comes to George Washington, Russell Pleasant can't tell a lie, either.

Pleasant, a 46-year-old software engineer from Bellevue, Neb., is one of just four entrants — out of 3 million — to get all four Final Four teams correct in ESPN.com's NCAA tournament pool. And all because he shot a brick on George Mason, which plays his title pick — Florida — in one of Saturday's semifinals. "I got them confused with George Washington," Pleasant admitted to SI.com. "I was filling in my bracket on the job and trying to do it pretty quick.

"When I got done, I said, 'Was that George Mason or George Washington?'

"Now, I kind of wish I'd picked George Mason to go all the way."

Stay in the yard, kid

Little League officials announced that the fences in Williamsport, Pa., would be moved to 225 feet from 205 for the Little League World Series.

Hey, it's cheaper than drug-testing all those 12-year-olds for Flintstones Vitamins.

Singing the fight song

College-football safety Tom Zbikowski — of the Fighting Irish, naturally — will make his pro boxing debut at Madison Square Garden on June 10, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Here's hoping he won't need smelling salts to wake up the echoes.

Not sure if this message is marked urgent, but Greg Cote of the Miami Herald has one to pass along to Florida coach Billy Donovan:

"Eddie Munster called.

"He wants his hairline back."

Spare the lightning

Baseball's schedule-makers didn't want to tempt fate, you have to figure, or else the Padres would be playing the Cardinals on 6/6/06.

Talking the talk

• Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on visions of corpulent Rick Majerus in the Valley of the Sun as a possible Arizona State coaching candidate: "Is there enough tanning butter in the world to protect him?"

• Teen prodigy Michelle Wie, to Time magazine, on dealing with trash talk from fellow LPGA players: "I'm used to people judging me without even knowing me. I'm in high school."

• Devils forward Scott Gomez, to the New York Daily News, on former teammate Ken Daneyko's popularity in New Jersey: "It probably goes Tony Soprano, then Kenny Daneyko."

• Mike Downey of the Chicago Tribune, on the one failure in the legacy of outgoing NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue: "Not being able to bring professional football to Arizona."

Pawning over

Russian chess champ Alexandra Kosteniuk, 21, one of the world's top four women's players, will be featured in the May issue of Penthouse, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

No reaction yet from world federation officials, but, in chess parlance, it certainly gives a whole new meaning to leaving your queen exposed.

Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com