Ole Miss coach didn't just take a bath on that one

Last Saturday's 31-30 upset of Florida notwithstanding, the Ole Miss football team still has some kinks to iron out.

Seems the players' victory celebration left Rebels coach Houston Nutt with a bloody nose.

"Lesson No. 1," wrote AP's Chris Talbott: "Hit the coach with the Gatorade, not the bucket."

Not that Nutt was complaining.

"They've got to get better at that," he joked. "I hope they get a lot of practice."

Cusser's last stand

Step aside, Lee Elia.

Twenty-five years after then-Cubs manager Elia unleashed a postgame tirade peppered with 50 profanities, Newcastle soccer manager Joe Kinnear — berating reporters whom he said had disrespected him — beat it by two naughty words Friday.

News flash

Key findings from the NBA's investigation into game officials:

• Tim Donaghy was the only referee involved with gamblers;

• Ed Hochuli might have missed one in the Broncos-Chargers game; and

• There wasn't indisputable video evidence to overturn Don Denkinger's World Series call.

Breaking waves

Florida surfer Kelly Slater, with another strong showing Friday in Mundaka, Spain, has clinched a record ninth world championship.

Win just one more plaque, and he'll be hanging ... nah, too easy.

Headlines

• At Fark.com: "Helio Castroneves and his sister now Dancing With The IRS."

• At SportsPickle.com: "CC Sabathia to pitch on three innings' rest."

Brew ha-ha

John Anderson, the baseball coach at the University of Minnesota, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press of his summer encounter with panhandler outside Yankee Stadium holding up a sign reading "Why lie? I need a beer."

"I told him I needed a beer, too, but they're $9.50 inside the stadium and I can't afford one."

One for the aged

A Rose Bowl game pitting Penn State's Joe Paterno against Florida State's Bobby Bowden — now that would be the Granddaddy of Them All.

Back to orange uniforms

Receiver Chad Ocho Cinco sees one big difference in the 11-5 Bengals of 2005 and this year's 0-4 version: a bad case of unarrested development.

"We have cleaned house and nobody is getting in trouble anymore — no DUIs, no arrests," he told AP. "Now we're getting ... whupped. I don't know. Maybe I should go out, have a drink, get in trouble."

Talko time

• Warriors coach Don Nelson, to the San Francisco Chronicle, on Corey Maggette's reputation as a one-dimensional player: "He's not a poor defender. He's like most pros. It's there. You've just got to get it out."

• Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, on the "Girls of the Big Ten" feature in October's Playboy: "Sure, they look good on paper, but are they as fast as the Girls of the Pac-10 and the SEC?"

• Ian Hamilton of the Regina (Sask.) Leader-Post, on AC Milan denying reports it had signed 9-year-old soccer phenom Edgardo Obregon: "A minor misunderstanding."

More pulp from O.J.

Exactly 13 years after he was found not guilty of double-murder charges, a Las Vegas jury convicted O.J. Simpson of armed robbery and kidnapping Friday.

Defense lawyers immediately vowed to appeal the verdict while O.J. begins writing his next book, "If I Didn't Do It."

Sideline Chatter appears Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Seattle Times. Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com