Battles by the Bay Are Nothing New to Him

Willie Brown, the often-embattled mayor of San Francisco, obviously loves a good fight as much as the next guy. That’s probably why he was happy to attend a media event on the steps of City Hall the other day, helping promote tonight’s super-featherweight title fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Jesus Chavez.

Promoter Bob Arum gave Brown a full-length black robe. And as Brown donned the garment, he noticed the block lettering on the back. It read: DA MAYOR.

Brown howled and then vowed to wear the robe all day ... probably just in case a certain city councilman or two happened to show up.

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Trivia time: What was the last major title fight in San Francisco?

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Re-Pete performance: Think you can stay on the court with Pete Sampras? Hey, so what if he’s got a mere 13 Grand Slam titles on you?

Beginning Monday and running through Nov. 26, a 30-minute hitting session with Sampras at Arthur Ashe Stadium Court in New York is up for charity bids, to benefit the Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation. The auction will be conducted on AllStarCharity.com and bidding begins at $7,500.

The winning bidder also gets a two-night hotel stay in New York before the U.S. Open and two tickets to the first session, next Aug. 26. Sampras hopes to stay around a little longer.

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Yes, sir, Jesper: Jesper Parnevik will play in the Skins Game over Thanksgiving weekend, along with Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Colin Montgomerie.

Parnevik is a Skins Game rookie, but he thinks he will fit in nicely at the $1 million, 18-hole event.

“It should be right up my alley,” he said. “I do not want to say that I like to gamble, because gambling is illegal on the PGA Tour, but I love that kind of format.”

Note to Jesper: Yeah, and some of those pants you wear should be illegal too.

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But who’s counting? Golfing legend Gary Player, who turned 66 last week, does 700 sit-ups a day while holding a 50-pound weight. No wonder he’s so irritable on the course.

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Tattoo you: Sports marketing experts agree that we’re going to see more and more athletes wearing temporary body tattoos as advertisements.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, teams and sports leagues are going to have a huge headache over this issue, since athletes in some individual sports, such as boxers, runners, bodybuilders and tennis players, have already entered tattoo-marketing city. Yes, you can say it, the ink is dry on those deals.

Boxer Bernard Hopkins had a tattoo ad for Goldenpalace.com on his back for his Sept. 29 bout with Felix Trinidad at Madison Square Garden.

Hopkins said he is now offering tattoo space on his shoulders and legs, adding that he would listen to offers from all comers.

Said Hopkins, “Trust me, you’ll see one on my forehead.”

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Trivia answer: Gene Fullmer vs. Dick Tiger for the middleweight championship in 1962 at Candlestick Park.

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And, finally: According to an ESPN Sports poll of favorite NCAA basketball teams by region, the favorite team of respondents in the West was “None,” followed by No. 2 UCLA. Overall, “None” was No. 1, followed by Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky and UCLA.