Kansas football coach Mark Mangino is a hugely successful man. And Jayhawk fans are proud to salute him, wearing T-shirts that read “Our Coach is Phat” or “Our Coach Beat Anorexia.”

But the Kansas City Star notes that some KU players don’t laugh along with such weight-related slogans.

“I guess everyone has a different sense of humor,” Jayhawks linebacker Mike Rivera told the newspaper. “Some things are funny to some people.

“But sometime you have to think about what other people feel.”

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering if Orlando Pace will get through Rams training camp in one piece:

• Who could have possibly guessed that Claude Wroten would turn into the Next Anthony Hargrove?
• Can we all agree that the bullpen cannot be blamed for the Cards’ Wednesday night loss?
• Has Ned Yost calmed down yet?

THAT’S JUST MEAN

CBS funnyman David Letterman had this take on the alleged A-Rod-Madonna sex tape: “Apparently Alex Rodriguez likes taping that kind of thing. And here’s the weird part; he brought in Mariano Rivera to close.”

YEAH, WELL, HE HAS A POINT

BBCSport.com blogger Robbo Robson doesn’t want to hear American golfers whine about the blustery conditions at the British Open.

He wrote: “Just where do you think golf was invented? California, perhaps, where every day is the same day and the grass never changes and the bunkers are filled in with sand imported from the Outer Hebrides and . . . huge overstuffed Craig Stadler looky-likeys crowding onto golf buggies to save their withering pins from too much wear and tear?

“I swear to God, we’re only two generations from North American kids being born with casters on their feet.”

MORE ROCKET FUEL

Here is a news flash, from the New York Daily News:

“Country music singer Mindy McCready - whose 15-year, on-again, off-again romance with pitcher Roger Clemens has made her a player in the Rocket’s federal perjury investigation - suffered a nervous breakdown last week, and is seeking treatment, according to two sources close to the 32-year-old Nashville recording star . . .

“Sources told the Daily News two weeks ago that McCready had been making plans to appear on ‘Dr. Phil,’ the television talk show hosted by celebrity therapist Dr. Phil McGraw.”

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “It’s become obvious that Danica Patrick was born decades too late. I mean, just think what she might have done in roller derby.”

Rick Reilly. ESPN.com: “In one stretch this month, Alex Rodriguez’s name was on the front page of the New York Post eight days out of twelve. Paparazzi even followed him to Pittsburgh. Who knew life could (stink) at $27 million a year? Madonna once said, ‘I won’t be happy until I am more famous than God,’ but right now A-Rod is probably wishing she wasn’t—and that he’d gone into dentistry.”

Jerry Greene, Orlando Sentinel: “The FCC got stung when a federal appeals court threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 ‘wardrobe malfunction’ during the Super Bowl halftime show that exposed one of Janet Jackson’s breasts for less than a second. Hey, not enough! The FCC owes us an apology. Because it went nuts, we’ve essentially lost live television and Super Bowl halftimes have been reduced to AARP performances in front of rigged audiences.”

Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The signing of Marty Reasoner officially gives the Thrashers 27 fourth-line centers, a franchise record.”

Steve Rosenbloom, ChicagoSports.com, on Rex Grossman’s confidence: “Grossman said his mind-set is that he wants to be the best quarterback in the NFL. Me, too. And I want to be an astronaut and a heart surgeon and Mick Jagger.”

Kriegel again: “When exactly does Michelle Wie’s career take off? Really, now, the girl’s starting to make Kournikova look like Steffi Graf.”

MEGAPHONE

“I guess I’m lucky. Every time I get a little upset, the team reacts. But I don’t want to get a heart attack just to win a game.”

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, on getting after his team.