Get Set For Gov. Nature Boy

Pro wrestler Ric “Nature Boy” Flair wants to follow the lead of Jesse “The Body” Ventura, now Minnesota’s governor, and run for governor of North Carolina.

Flair, a 50-year-old platinum-maned star on the World Championship Wrestling circuit, said Monday on the “Live with Regis and Kathie Lee” TV show that he might run as an independent candidate.

“I’m putting together a team, and I’m going to take a shot at it,” Flair said after the show.

The subject arose when host Regis Philbin asked Flair whether he had ever thought about the governor’s job.

“Unofficially, I am going to run for governor myself,” Flair said. “This is the unofficial, official announcement.”

Flair, whose real name is Richard Fliehr, has lived in Charlotte since 1974.

This wrestler elects to recover

Stone Cold Steve Austin, the bad boy of professional wrestling, is recovering in a San Antonio hospital after undergoing surgery to correct years of head-butting, body-beating behavior.

Austin had surgery Monday at Methodist Hospital to relieve chronic pain in his neck, arms and legs. During the nearly three-hour procedure, surgeons removed bone spurs, or abnormal growths, from vertebrae in his neck.

After the procedure, Austin stood up on his own and attempted to walk a few steps, Youngblood said. He should be able to leave the hospital within the next few days, he said.

“He looks like the champ that he is,” said Dr. Lloyd Youngblood, the chief of neurosurgery. “He’s doing super.”

That wacky lassie, part II

If there are more camera-carrying fans than usual around Tiger Woods at this year’s British Open, blame Yvonne Robb.

She’s the 21-year-old woman who stripped to her bare essentials and ran onto the course at Carnoustie, Scotland, in July to give Woods a hug and a kiss.

The fact that a Scottish court fined her $160 for her romp and another $240 for helping a man sell photos of the moment to a newspaper has not deterred Robb.

This year’s Open will be played at St. Andrews and Robb promises, “I’m going to have to surprise you.”

An early sign of the apocalypse

On Jan. 12, 1991, Princeton routed Cornell, 164-71, in long-distance swimming even though the schools didn’t physically compete against each other.

The schools agreed to compete by phone because a blizzard made travel to Ithaca, N.Y., a problem. Each team swam in its own pool and the results were exchanged by fax.

The last word …

“We’re no longer an expansion team.”

- Cleveland Browns coach Chris Palmer, looking on the bright side after the final loss of his team’s 2-14 season.