He's no longer a spring chicken, but he hopes to gather no moss

Just call it a Chicken Mick nugget.

The San Diego Chicken credits the Rolling Stones frontman for keeping him clucking in this, his 35th season, though the pioneering sports mascot is limiting himself to 50 minor-league stops these days. He did 250 gigs a year in his heyday.

"The performing is not the problem," Ted Giannoulas, 55, told The San Diego Union-Tribune. "But waking up in the morning after a game is a little tougher, there's no doubt. And the flying is not as fun as it used to be.

"But then I see Mick Jagger. He's 62 [actually 65], for crying out loud, and he's the best he's ever been. What an inspiration. I look at him and say, 'Why can't I keep going?' "

Vote early, often

A Diamondbacks fan got the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a weekend game because he punched out 50,000 All-Star ballots.

Best guess is he's an absentee voter from Chicago.

Beware of SWAT team

Dallas Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki says he still hasn't talked to his former fiancée, pregnant with his child, since she was jailed on a host of outstanding charges and he learned of her shady past.

"I'd sure like to be a fly on the wall for THAT conversation," wrote Ray Buck of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "... as long as President Obama wasn't around, of course."

You go-go, girl

Michele Suszek, the women's winner of Saturday's Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon, is a professional go-go dancer in the Denver suburb of Westminster, Colo.

Thus giving a whole new meaning to training at high altitude.

Glove Story

"If going from Madonna to [Kate] Hudson is any indication, A-Rod's making steady improvement playing the field," wrote Kevin Gleason of the Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald-Record. "Heck, at this rate he'll win a Gold Glove."

It'll be a hot seller

Scientists in India say they've developed an anti-riot hand grenade spiced with Bhut Jolokia, one of the world's hottest chili powders.

Golf greenskeepers immediately dubbed it The Carl Spackler Gut Bomb.

Talko time

• Dan Daly of the Washington Times, after owner Ted Leonsis' NHL Capitals took a Swedish center with their first-round draft pick for the third time in four years: "There's only one conclusion we can draw from this: Ted really likes to shop at Ikea."

• CBS's David Letterman, among his top 10 hints you might be too fat: "When you get on a scale, it says, 'One at a time!' "

Cold Cash Dept.

Whoever buys the Phoenix Coyotes will assume $224 million in liabilities, bankruptcy documents revealed, including an obligatory payoff to one Mr. Gretzky to the tune of $9-plus million.

Or as hockey economists call it, the mother of all Wayne checks.

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