Beckham's old BMW takes one ex-owner for a ride

John Pearson was feeling pretty good about selling off David Beckham's former BMW for about $30,000 two months ago.

That is, until the same sports car subsequently sold for more than five times that amount — nearly $170,000 — after sparking a 140-bid frenzy on eBay.

As Pearson, a businessman from Nottinghamshire, England, told The Sun of London: "I'm pretty annoyed. If I'd have known I would never have let it go for that price. You just have to learn from these things.

"I suppose the person who sold it to me is none too chuffed either. It's a bit like winning a small Lottery jackpot and losing the ticket."

After all, he said, car dealers he'd talked to had told him the 1997 BMW M3 convertible — which Beckham originally bought for about $80,000 — was worth no more than $23,000 now. "I will follow my own instincts in the future," Pearson told Agence France-Presse, "and I've written those BMW dealers off my Christmas list, that's for sure."

Talk to the animals

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who co-founded the Animal Rescue Foundation in Walnut Creek, Calif., in 1990, swears by the little critters.

"If baseball players were as neat to be around as the pets," La Russa told the San Francisco Chronicle, "I'd probably do a better job of managing."

Revisionist history

That 55-19 drubbing by USC is already being acclaimed the worst bowl experience in Oklahoma history.

Or second worst, if you count the Dust Bowl.

A riveting tale

We thought Greg Cote of The Miami Herald was just kidding — but it turns out maybe he wasn't — when he penned on the eve of Tuesday's Orange Bowl:

"Trojans tailback LenDale White said his injured ankle improved overnight because of the prayers and healing touch of coach Pete Carroll's wife, Glena.

"In an unrelated story, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops mysteriously has been turned into a toad."

Talking the talk

• Comedian Argus Hamilton, on owner Arte Moreno renaming his baseball team the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: "The home runs should be flying. You know the Angels won't be testing for steroids if they want to fit all that lettering onto one shirt."

• Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, on former slugger Jose Canseco's pronouncement that acting is now his passion: "Jose plans to star in an action film. He'll play a superhero who deflects bullets off the top of his baseball cap."

• Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, after watching those Trojans pass-catchers make even difficult grabs look routine against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl: "Are the Rams happy that the Seahawks don't have receivers with USC-caliber hands?"

• Syndicated columnist Norman Chad, on Tony Siragusa, Fox's corpulent NFL sideline commentator: "Siragusa always looks like he's about to say something interesting. And then he opens his mouth."

It's a Rome run

Orioles pitcher Sidney Ponson, facing a possible 4-1/2 years in prison in his native Aruba if convicted of terrorizing beachgoers with his Jet Ski, ought to seek asylum in Italy.

In other words, Aruba-derci