Sideline Chatter: Billick, Belichick — what's your name again?

Here's another good reason not to wear a hoodie at the airport:

Brian Billick — working NFL games as a Fox analyst since being fired as Baltimore Ravens coach in 2007 — says fans waiting for flights frequently mistake him for a certain guy coaching in New England.

"If they lost, first they get it wrong, they think I'm Bill Belichick," Billick told The San Diego Union-Tribune. "They call me Coach Belichick and they say, 'Hey, you've got to come coach our team.'

"And then we talk about what needs to be done and it's, 'Ahhh, you're as screwed up as the guy we got now.' "

Road scholars, not

"The Detroit Lions have not won a road game in almost 26 months now," noted Jack Finarelli of SportsCurmudgeon.com. "To put that in perspective, Milton Bradley has played for four different baseball teams in the past two years."

Instant repay

The NFL has fined Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco $20,000 for jokingly flashing a $1 bill at an official during a replay challenge in last week's game against the Ravens.

On the bright side, though, Pacman Jones volunteered to bring enough Hefty bags to hold 20,000 George Washingtons.

Cruel & Unusual Dept.

Napa County will not press charges against Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable over his meeting-room dust-up with an assistant coach.

"The district attorney apparently felt that, as coach of the Raiders, Cable is being punished enough," reasoned Dan Daly of The Washington Times. "Then again, what are the odds the DA could have gotten a conviction from 12 jurors wearing Darth Vader masks?"

Fleaing felon

Leo, the yellow Labrador retriever belonging to Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, has been declared "dangerous" and must wear a muzzle and special tags, a hearing officer ruled in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Namath declined to comment upon exiting the courtroom, as did Suzy Kolber's schnauzer.

Talko time

• Greg Cote of The Miami Herald, on the significance of last Saturday's Alabama-LSU game: "That's when the fans who hate Nick Saban were cheering against the fans who don't hate Saban yet but will some day."

• Jim Armstrong of The Denver Post, on why Claude Monet — born 169 years ago Saturday — would've been an NBA sensation: "Always scored big in the paint."

• Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair, when asked which player he most resembles: "Who you gonna compare me to? Everybody else got ACLs."

• Chris Ferrell of The San Antonio Express-News, on why there's a Broadway play — "Lombardi" — based on the football-coaching legend: "Because nothing says 'Vince Lombardi' like show tunes and dancing girls."

CSI: Knoxville

Knoxville police say at least one of three Tennessee football players charged with attempted armed robbery did it dressed in Vols gear.

With apologies to Steve Spurrier, apparently you can't spell "busted" without UT, either.

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