Morning briefing

These guys make a lot of cents

Sports fans in Pittsburgh are getting a double whammy thanks to a 10% alcohol tax that took effect Jan. 1 in Allegheny County, Pa.

That’s because beer prices at concession stands rose up to 14% because concession stand operators rounded all prices to 25-cent increments, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Penguins fans now pay $6 for a 12-ounce beer, up 14% from $5.25 before the price hike.

A 16-ounce beer’s new price is $7, 12% higher than the old $6.25.

And a 21-ounce draft beer rose 11% to $7.50, up from $6.75.

Aramark, which handles concessions and other services, calculated the new prices by tacking on 10% of the original price and then rounding up to the nearest quarter.

“We don’t deal with pennies. We go in quarter increments,” said James Carter, general manager for Aramark at the hockey arena.

Mike McDonald, Aramark’s district manager in Pittsburgh, said rounding up is a convenience for fans, who can return more quickly to their seats when they don’t have to fiddle with change.

“It would just lengthen the time to bring customers through and create more of a problem,” McDonald said.

Trivia time

Aside from playing in Pittsburgh, what do the Penguins, Steelers and Pirates have in common?

Sick feeling

Tom D’Angelo of the Palm Beach Post was in Minnesota on Tuesday night for a game between the Miami Heat (8-27) and the Minnesota Timberwolves (5-29), the teams with the two worst records in the NBA.

At one point during the Timberwolves’ 101-91 victory, a young fan sitting wearing a Dwyane Wade jersey behind the Heat broadcasters became ill and threw up on the back of analyst Tony Fiorentino’s chair.

“Of course, the youngster can’t be blamed for feeling queasy while watching his favorite team,” D’Angelo wrote.

Hot pants

The forecast for Green Bay on Saturday calls for a high of 28 degrees, so Seattle Seahawks kicker Josh Brown is going there prepared for the NFC playoff game against the Packers at Lambeau Field.

Brown told KIRO radio that he will be wearing heated warmup pants on the sidelines. The pants are equipped with battery-powered warmers for the calves, thighs and hamstrings.

He said that no matter how low the temperature drops, his legs will be 75 degrees.

Language of hate

A St. Louis-area town is considering a bill that would ban swearing in bars.

St. Charles, Mo., city officials will meet Monday to discuss the bill, which would also prohibit table-dancing, drinking contests and profane music.

That swearing ban sure could generate a lot of fines during Rams games.

Non-discriminatory policy

The PGA Tour distributed its anti-doping manual to players last month and included a list of all banned substances.

There is also a list of examples of medications that are permitted, such as antibiotics, hemorrhoid creams, muscle relaxants and vaginal preparations.

Wait, vaginal preparations?

“In the era of females wanting to perhaps play on the PGA Tour, our policy had to reflect that such products were permissible,” tour spokesman Ty Votaw said.

Gotta be the shoes

Nike will release the 23rd edition of the Air Jordan basketball shoes later this month, a milestone release because Michael Jordan wore number 23 for most of his career.

And there is talk that this could be the last release of the popular shoe, first released in 1985.

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Jordan said in an e-mail to the Associated Press.

Trivia answer

They all wear black and gold uniforms, making Pittsburgh the only U.S. city with three professional sports team that wear the same colors.

And finally

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten was among the co-vacationers that accompanied Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson to Mexico last week.

The paparazzi cameras caught some moments and Witten is seen shirtless in several of the photos.

“They weren’t trying to get my shot, for sure,” Witten said.

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peter.yoon@latimes.com