QB who Scrabbles best will win Super Bowl

Letter rip, Seahawks.

Blogger Matt Sussman of futonreport.net is predicting a 21-20 Seattle win in Super Bowl XL on Sunday — by virtue of the Scrabble values for the last names of rival quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck and Ben Roethlisberger.

The QBs with the higher Scrabble value, Sussman pointed out, are 6-1 in this year's NFL playoffs.

Undo the Hokie-Pokey

First it was quarterback Marcus Vick in the Gator Bowl, and now it's Deron Washington in a basketball game against Duke, making it two Virginia Tech players in just 24 days who have been suspended for stomping a fallen opponent.

School officials, though vowing to put their foot down on this one, refused to cave in to critics' demands that the stanza, "You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out," be stricken from the Hokies fight song.

Looks good on paper

Anucha Browne Sanders, the former team executive who has accused Knicks president Isiah Thomas of sexual harassment, also claims Thomas wouldn't let Knicks players do promotional appearances, forcing her to use life-sized cardboard cutouts instead.

"In other news," wrote Mike Downey of the Chicago Tribune, "I hear the cardboard Knicks beat the real ones 101-99."

Super bawl

Michael Strahan, whose Giants lost to the Ravens in 2001, and Rodney Peete, whose Panthers lost to the Patriots in 2004, were commiserating over their Super Bowl losses on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."

• Strahan: "Hey, we both got those second-place rings."

• Peete: "Yeah, but we didn't put Trent Dilfer in the Hall of Fame."

Talking the talk

• Shaquille O'Neal, to The Associated Press, after his Miami Heat lost to Phoenix: "We can't shoot ourselves in the foot all the time. We're not going to have any toes left."

• Times desk editor Joshua Beach, on center Michael Olowokandi's endorsement possibilities now that he's been traded to the Celtics: "Doesn't that make him C's Kandi?"

• Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, on the NFL advising fans to be wary of counterfeit Super Bowl tickets: "First clue: Does it say the Lions are playing?"

Camp report

Penn State's Joe Paterno, 79, has been voted Walter Camp Coach of the Year for the third time by his fellow coaches.

Voters, no doubt, remain impressed that JoePa's 354-117-3 record includes a 4-2-1 mark against teams coached by Walter Camp.

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