NBA players can see eye-to-eye with this referee

Players don't give this referee much guff.

D-League whistle-blower Kevin Cutler — at 6 feet 8 and 270 pounds — is well on his way to becoming the biggest ref in NBA history. The former Long Beach State forward has already worked a few NBA games, and believe us, they've noticed.

"The guy is a specimen," Wizards forward Antawn Jamison told The New York Times. "I didn't yell his way too quickly."

Added Wizards center Brendan Haywood: "There wasn't a LeBron James type of player back in the day. Now you got to get a LeBron James type of referee."

As for the Ed Hochuli of hoops, well, he's taking it all in stride.

"I've been called Hightower, from 'Police Academy,' " he said. "I had a player — I can't remember who, offhand — made the comment that 'It feels good to talk to somebody at eye level.' "

That's snow biz

Vancouver, B.C., picked a bad time to have its warmest winter since 1937, so now organizers are having to truck in snow to stage this month's five-ring circus.

Is it too late to move the Winter Olympics to, say, Washington, D.C.?

Uneasy rider

"New USC coach Lane Kiffin has received a commitment from a 13-year-old, seventh-grade quarterback in Delaware," noted David Thomas of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "Although NCAA investigators already are looking into reports that the kid has been spotted riding a new bicycle."

Talking the talk

• Joe Biddle of The Tennessean, on the frenzy leading up to college football's letter-of-intent day: "Punxsutawney Phil came out of his burrow two days before and had seven scholarship offers within five minutes."

• Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, with one possible reason the Mets moved last year's third-base coach, Razor Shines, to first: "Shines played 68 games with the Montreal Expos and never scored a run."

• Rocket Shane Battier, to the Houston Chronicle, on the final games before the All-Star break: "This is trap time. People are dreaming of Mai Tais and margaritas and girls in bikinis."

• Broncos Hall of Fame QB John Elway, to The Denver Post, on why he never wears his Super Bowl rings: "They're way too big. You can't put your hand in your pocket when you have it on."

Paging Foster Brooks

Seattle rated a "C" — 64th overall — when Men's Health magazine ranked America's 100 drunkest cities. Actually, we were sailing along with a sparkling A-minus until September, when the Seahawks sent the city on a four-month binge. By the way, Fresno, you're (urp) No. 1.

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