the characters

I find myself distracted by the strangest things these days. In the PMBR problems, a large percentage of the characters are named after sports figures. I have such an encyclopedic knowledge of sports and sports history that it's a little distracting. Yeah, whatever. Here is a partial list of ones I can think of off the top of my head and by skimming through the book as I type this (you see a distinct California bias although it's not all California based):

Dykstra and Blackman (Len Dykstra, Wally Backman, mid-80s Mets)
Mantle, Mays and Snider (Hall of Fame baseball players)
Al Javis, owner of the Reno Raiders football team (Raiders owner Al Davis)
Al McGuire, president of a frat at Marquette (Al McGuire - Marquette bball coach)
Kent Stabler, a buyer of land (Ken Stabler - former Raiders QB)
Larry Browning, Kansas City University basketball coach (coach Larry Brown)
Joan Wooden, president of a college that tried to hire away Browning (John Wooden)
Jesus Alou (former baseball player, brother of Felipe and Matty)
Archie Cox, coach of the Whittier College Football team who cut "Dickie Nixon" (Archibald Cox and Richard Nixon)
Jay Johnstone, baseball card dealer (former pitcher Jay Johnstone)
Alan Page, who interviewed for a job with the law firm Mantle, Mays & Snider (Page is a Minnesota Vikings hall of fame defensive lineman and a Minnesota Supreme Court justice)
Y.A. Thrower and O.J. Rusher, bank robbers (Y.A. Tittle and O.J. Simpson, football players)
A battery between Martin and Jackson & Rizzuto was the prosecutor (Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin; Phil Rizzuto...get it "battery"?)

I've noticed a few references to things, too:

Wolfie's Liquor Store in Miami Beach (Wolfie's was a famous chain of diners in Miami Beach before it got cool)...i guess this is the only one I can come up with now.