• The Lakers saw the movie Lincoln as a team Thursday night and Kobe Bryant kidded that half his teammates were surprised by the ending because they didn’t know Lincoln had died. I don’t wanna say the Lakers are dumb, but the other half wondered if he was named after the car.

• The Marlins announced their first spring-training game is Feb. 23. So you have only 11 more weeks to create those angry, vitriol-filled signs that the club will order confiscated.

• The baseball winter meetings ended in Nashville without much happening of note other than all of the other club owners getting together and agreeing none of them liked Jeffrey Loria.

• Yankee Alex Rodriguez will miss the start of the MLB season and teammate Derek Jeter could, too. Both are trying to recover from being really old.

• Canes women’s basketball was 6-1 and No. 23 before Saturday, and men’s team is 5-1. It isn’t enough to make a UM fan forget about that self-imposed football bowl ban, but it’s a noble effort.

• Answer: The Ravens’ Terrell Suggs was ordered to turn in his seven guns, including an AK-47, after a domestic-abuse complaint filed by his wife. Question: You don’t think the murder-suicide involving the Chiefs’ Jovan Belcher hints at a dangerous gun culture among athletes, do you?

• NBC’s Bob Costas preached for gun control following the Belcher tragedy, then a day later said it was a mistake to do so. That-a-way to be righteously wishy-washy, Bob!

• The NFL is considering abolishing kickoffs. Evidently the question in the room was, “What’s the silliest, most extreme thing we can do to make it seem like we care about players’ safety and health?”

• FIU football coach Mario Cristobal turned down overtures from Pitt and Rutgers before being fired this week by athletic director Pete Garcia, who never got the memo about loyalty being a reciprocal thing.

• Local thoroughbred racing has moved from Calder to Gulfstream. You can always tell because the casino is full of horses playing the slots between races.

• NASL’s Fort Lauderdale Strikers want a new soccer stadium. They averaged 3,615 fans in the old stadium. Sounds like the Strikers don’t need a new stadium as much as they need new fans.

• Someone told me John Huh

• Cubs manager Dale Sveum was accidentally shot with pellets by Robin Yount on a hunting trip. [Your dusted-off Dick Cheney punchline goes here].

• Dennis Rodman was ordered to pay $500,000 in back child support. If only he’d swayed the court with a better excuse than the exorbitant cost of tattoos and body piercing.

•  Parting thought: The Marlins traded shortstop Yunel Escobar to the Rays for a minor leaguer in yet another payroll cut, but don’t think the club isn’t in the holiday spirit. I hear they’re having an employee turkey giveaway. Each Marlins employee must bring in a turkey to give to the owner, Ebenezer Loria.

Visit Greg’s Random Evidence of a Cluttered Blog daily at MiamiHerald.com and follow on Twitter @gregcote.