Go ahead, charge this one to the room

Boxing gloves? Check.

Boxing trunks? Check. Boxing boots? Check.

Boxing check? ... D'oh!

Middleweight fighter Kelly Pavlik's manager-father inexplicably forgot to pack his son's $666,750 check when they checked out of the Bally's hotel following Pavlik's Sept. 29 title-fight win over Jermain Taylor in Atlantic City, N.J.

As Pavlik, who was issued a new pay stub, told The Associated Press: "Of all the checks to leave, it had to be that one. It would have been a hell of a tip for the maid."

The book of Isiah

Knicks coach Isiah Thomas says he's tired of getting misconstrued by the media, telling AP: "You can say what you didn't say because if you say what you didn't say, than y'all print what is said."

Seconded Drew Curtis of Fark.com: "You can say that again."

Yankee quippers

Among the phony names that Yankees players used to check into a Seattle hotel for an August 2005 series against the Mariners, according to The Village Voice:

• "Johnny Drama" (Derek Jeter).

• "Ricky Ricardo" (Jorge Posada).

• "Sam Adams" (Randy Johnson).

• "Austin Powers" (Ruben Sierra).

"A-Rod stayed at a different hotel — yes, with Cynthia — and so didn't make the list," the Voice's Neil deMause reported. "And front-office adviser Reggie Jackson went by ... Reggie Jackson.

"You expected something else from a guy who put his face on a candy bar?"

News flash

The Cleveland Indians, in an unprecedented clubhouse vote, will announce today they have voted full playoff shares to 29 players, six clubhouse attendants and 37,193 insects.

Look out, LSU

The most deserving No. 2 team in this week's polls? Here's a vote for Appalachian State.

Pointed out Times reader Janice Hough: "Hey, they beat Michigan, which shut out Notre Dame, which beat UCLA, which stomped Stanford, which beat USC."

Talko time

• CBS' David Letterman, on the theme for the new ABC show based on the Neanderthals in the Geico ads: "It's a group of cavemen, and they live together and they run Madison Square Garden."

• Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios, 45, to Detroit's WCSX radio, on who was president when he made his NHL debut in 1984: "Oh, man ... whoever it was, they had lower taxes, I'll tell you that."

• Toronto comedian Frenchie McFarlane, on the NHL's Nashville Predators accepting a purchase offer that not only was $50 million lower than the highest bidder, but that now looks like it might fall apart: "Guess who's dumber than a fifth-grader?"

• Reader Jeff Funnekotter, to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, on the Broncos' Travis Henry — father to nine children by nine women — testing positive for marijuana: "Pot, eh? My money was on Viagra."

Trimming the ears

Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek, Ariz., has something for Suns fans — the likeness of star guard Steve Nash cut into a 10-acre cornfield.

Though seeing Nash's once-floppy hair in cornrows might take a little getting used to.

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