These Runs for Border Involved Burgers

Some people will go to any lengths to get a decent hamburger. In soccer player Paul Ince’s case, he went all the way to Switzerland.

Ince, a former England international who counts Liverpool and Manchester United among his former clubs, was playing for Inter Milan in Italy at the time. He told FourFourTwo the story in the magazine’s December issue.

“We used to live on Lake Como, which was about 10 minutes from Switzerland and 30 minutes from Milan,” Ince said. “There was a McDonald’s just over the border, so when we fancied a burger it was quicker going to Switzerland than Milan.

“I had to take my passport to get a Big Mac!

“To begin with, I got stopped by customs officials at the border all the time, who checked my car and thought it was strange I kept going over. But after they realized what I was doing, they used to just wave me through.”

Just call it a drive-through burger jaunt.

Trivia time: Which famous sports figure was known as “the Bald Eagle?”

Why not? Because every college football team seems to go to a bowl game these days, Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times asks, “Why not Washington?”

“After all,” he wrote, “the Huskies (1-10) beat San Jose State (2-9), which beat Rice (3-8), which beat SMU (3-8), which beat Tulsa (4-8), which beat UTEP (8-3), which beat Fresno State (8-3), which beat Kansas State (4-7), which beat Nebraska (5-6), which beat Big East champion Pittsburgh (8-3).”

Rope a dope: Boxer Vitali Klitschko’s recent victory over Britain’s Danny Williams in Las Vegas stirred a lion that Klitschko, the WBC titleholder, might better have left undisturbed.

Paying attention to the bout was former world heavyweight champion and fellow Briton Lennox Lewis, who retired last year after defeating Klitschko.

“Watching it stirred something inside me,” Lewis told England’s Press Assn.

“I’m only nine months from being fully fight-fit, and seeing what happened to Danny made me want to step in.

“I wanted to tap him on the shoulder and say, ‘Sit down, mate. Let me take over and finish it for you. Let me show you how it’s done.’ ”

Canine teeth: Folks in New England are “buying Red Sox dog bones for their furry friends,” said Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe.

Does that mean last season’s champions will be next season’s chew toys?

Now they’re the Bs: After recent trades by Oakland, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ray Ratto notes, “The A’s five starting pitchers had 62 wins last season. The projected 2005 rotation had 25.”

Trivia answer: Hall of Fame horse trainer Charlie Whittingham.

And finally: “Word is, Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart would prefer to go back to college rather than run the risk of being drafted by the Dolphins,” says Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald. “He might prefer to work for free, in other words, than be a millionaire crash-test dummy.”