He bought own vote

Some people waited in line for hours to vote Tuesday. Lions defensive tackle Kelvin Pritchett? He did a little more than that, reports the Detroit Free Press.

Monday night, he flew to Florida, rented a car and stayed at a hotel. Tuesday morning, he got up, found his polling place and cast his ballot. Tuesday afternoon, he flew back to Detroit.

Just to be clear: The only reason he made the trip was to vote?

“Only reason,” Pritchett said.

He didn’t go to see friends or family or something?

“Went to vote and came right back,” Pritchett said.

Pritchett’s vote was one among millions, and he estimated it cost him $1,100 to $1,200 — a notable sum, even if he’s making $785,600 this season. But he thought it was that important.

“It was really, really special, because a lot of people have sacrificed their lives and gone to the extreme so that I would have the right to vote,” Pritchett said. “I feel like it’s just my duty as a man, as a black man, to do the right thing, and that’s to vote.

“A lot of people, they criticize the government and say they’re not doing the right things, and still they don’t go out and express themselves and try to make changes.”

Pritchett, 35, played for the Jaguars in 1995-98 and was registered in Jacksonville. He intended to get an absentee ballot, but a friend forgot to pick it up for him. So he had to do what he had to do.

“I think it’s a very expensive lesson,” Pritchett said. “My mom always said the best lesson’s a paid-for lesson, and I did have to pay for that. … Now I’m thinking about moving here permanently… so I don’t have to go to this extreme again.”

Big Bang theory

On the way to analyzing St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa’s dismal World Series record, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto took a brief detour:

“So Boston wins the World Series, eh? What next, Cal in the Rose Bowl?

“Oh, never mind, then. Anything is possible, including the Earth snapping off its axis and hurtling into the sun. Wouldn’t that just annoy Cal fans – the Rose Bowl, trumped by the planet melting.”

Wrigley has no pop

A groundskeeper found a rusted, hollowed-out shell of a grenade in the right-field turf of Chicago’s Wrigley Field, the Associated Press reported. The grenade was found Tuesday by a worker at the home of the Cubs. Police bomb investigators found the device to be harmless.

“It’s a dud, just like the Cubs were,” police spokesman Pat Camden said Wednesday.

Fired sale

Florida football coach Ron Zook was on borrowed time with a Web site devoted to the mission of his firing before he coached a game with the Gators.

Now, the site FireRonZook.com declared success with this headline on an old newspaper front-page print from World War II: “Victory.”

There was this notice below the massive victory headline: “Ron Zook Fired! Gator Nation Celebrates.” The site had one more happy note: “We are proud to announce the frz.com store will be having a Going Out of Business Sale!”

You’ve been warned

Pool player Jeanette Lee, explaining her nickname, “The Black Widow,” to the San Francisco Chronicle:

“They say I’m sweet and personable, but when I’m on the pool table, my demeanor changes. I lure in my opponents, and then I eat them alive.”