Poor Dale Earnhardt Jr. The Nextel Cup driver said the S-word on live television the other day, and NASCAR threw the book at him.

Nineteen months earlier, Roy Williams uttered the same word on live TV — probably in front of a larger national audience than Earnhardt — and received a pay increase.

OK, Williams did not receive a pay boost for using the S-word, but eventually he did sign a contract to become North Carolina University’s basketball coach for more money than he had been earning at Kansas.

To jog your memory, moments after Syracuse had edged KU, 81-78, in the 2003 NCAA championship game, CBS reporter Bonnie Bernstein asked Williams about the UNC coaching vacancy.

Visibly perturbed, Williams shot back: “I could give a s— about North Carolina right now. I’ve got 13 kids in that locker room that I love.”

Later, Williams said he regretted uttering the S-word, and he never was fined by the National Association of Basketball Coaches or the FCC and certainly not the NCAA, which has better things to do, like stack the gold and platinum bars its receives from CBS for rights to the Final Four.

But the six-letter acronym that governs big-time auto racing nailed Little E who, when asked how it felt to win at Talladega, remarked: “It don’t mean s— right now. Daddy’s won here 10 times.”

NASCAR’s bosses fined Earnhardt $10,000 and docked him 25 points in the Nextel Cup standings.

If there’s a moral to the story, it may be this: If you coach basketball at North Carolina, try to avoid driving race cars.

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Purple Patina: Now that we’re in Kansas-Kansas State football week, I hope the Governor’s Cup still exists. For all I know it has become petrified with a purple patina. But seriously, folks, I can’t think of anything the Kansas University football players would enjoy more than Gov. Kathleen Sebelius presenting the trophy to them after Saturday night’s game.

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Let’s Pause: Speaking of the KU-KSU game, let’s take a moment to remember Thermus Butler and Marvin Mattox, the two Kansas football players who prevented two ignominious losses to the Wildcats.

In 1966, Butler kicked the lone field goal of his college career to forge a 3-3 tie and prevent Kansas from losing to a woeful K-State team that would finish the season with an 0-9-1 record.

And in 1987, Mattox blocked a late dead-on KSU field goal attempt that enabled Kansas to salvage a 17-17 tie and avoid a loss to terrible K-State team that would wind up with an 0-10-1 record.

That 3-3 tie in ’66, incidentally, generally is regarded as the worst football game ever played in the Sunflower State. The 17-17 tie was called the Toilet Bowl. Then again, I can’t imagine the 0-0 tie in 1923 provoking many joyous outbursts.

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Big Difference: Even hidebound traditionalists who believe a university’s home games should always be played on campus couldn’t blame Kansas University soccer coach Mark Francis for moving last Friday’s match with Texas Tech to Topeka’s Hummer Sports Park.

Francis cited the threat of lightning from a passing storm for delaying the start three hours and he opted for the lighted, artificially surfaced facility in the Capital City. There may be better soccer venues than Hummer Sports Park, but it makes the Jayhawk Soccer Complex look like a goat ranch.

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Wait ‘Til 2006: Those of you who have already plunked down or will fork over $65 for a ticket to Saturday night’s KU-KSU game can rationalize the high cost by assuming the ticket price will be at least $75 when the Wildcats visit again in 2006, at least $85 in 2008 and perhaps hit the triple-digit plateau in 2010.

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Border Brouhaha: Now that the Border War, the heated sports rivalry between Kansas and Missouri, has been renamed the Border Showdown, it makes you wonder if Lawrence’s West Junior High will change its nickname to the Showdownhawks.