COMMENTS & CURIOSITIES:

And now, a word from our sponsor, sort of. Three commercials this week for three events, all fun and one for a very good cause.

We’ll start with that one, which is Costa Mesa United, the community group that is building a new stadium and sports complex at Estancia High School.

Tomorrow is the group’s 3rd Annual Mesa Verde Classic Golf Tournament at Mesa Verde Country Club, which makes sense.

Yes it’s late, but there is still time to get out there and play one of the premier golf courses you will ever play, with check-in and registration tomorrow at 8:30, a shotgun start at 10:30, lunch, après hacking reception with both a silent and live auction.

Plus, our very own publisher, Tom Johnson, will conduct a clinic on converting birdies to bogies using the three-putt method. Anyone who drives Placentia has seen Jim Scott’s dream of a stadium stretching skyward, finally, thanks to Costa Mesa United and their supporters.

Everyone knows the importance of youth activities, sports and otherwise, but do you know what happens to kids who don’t have them? They become politicians — that’s what, and nobody wants that. Every little thing you need to know is at www.costamesaunited.com.

The next event is the 2nd Annual Newport Beach Restaurant Week, which starts on this very day, Jan. 20, 2008 A.D., and runs until Jan. 24, which is actually five days, which is like a week but not exactly.

If you are a certified foodie or just love dining out or the last time you tried to cook something it did not end well, this is your deal.

Virtually every restaurant of note in Newport Beach is participating, from Amelia’s to Zov’s. Each eatery will offer a prix fixe menu for lunch or dinner or both for the price of — drum roll, please — $15 for lunch and either $20 or $35 for dinner.

Am I making myself clear? We’re talking about first-cabin restaurants here like, well, The First Cabin at the Balboa Bay Club, offering three course dinners for $35. Is that possible? I don’t see how, but they’re doing it. At these prices, I say make a day of it.

Grab some pals, have a couple of $15 lunches, two $20 dinners then finish with a $35 dinner. What could it hurt?

Not only are The Arches Grill and The Arches on the Bay participating, but mention this column and Dan Marcheano will autograph your forehead, no additional charge.

You can find a complete list of participating restaurants at the Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau website — www.visitnewportbeach.com.

The third event is the Orange County Business Council’s Annual Dinner, Jan. 29 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.

On the unlikely chance that you don’t know about OCBC, it is the voice of Orange County’s business community — from great big businesses that get cover stories in national magazines to little businesses that print notepads or take photos of adorably cute babies.

This year’s OCBC dinner is called “The Road Ahead” and will offer predictions, projections and prognostications on the economy in 2008, so I assume they’ll be serving a lot of wine.

But what really caught my eye was that the keynote speaker is the always informative, sometimes controversial but never ever dull, George Will.

You know who he is, of course — syndicated columnist, national political pundit and regular on ABC News’ “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, who has the best hair but the longest name in American politics.

George Will likes to play the curmudgeon, but he is also very funny in my opinion. I knew I liked him when I read the title of his first bestseller, “The Pursuit of Happiness & Other Sobering Thoughts.”

Most people consider him a conservative voice, but he really is an equal-time tormentor of both the left and the right.

What you may not know is that he is also one of the most respected baseball scholars in the country and therefore a commentator after my own heart. He has forgotten more about the game than most baseball fans ever knew.

Two quotes from a 1990 interview with USA Today illustrate his diamond-obsession: “All I remember about my wedding day in 1967 is that the Cubs lost a doubleheader.”

“People say we should be paying our nurses more. I agree. But don’t blame Don Mattingly that we’re not paying our nurses more.”

I’m not sure what we’ll find out about the economy at the OCBC dinner, but I guarantee that you’ll have something to smile about by the time George Will returns to his seat. For tickets or more information or both, go to www.ocbc.org.

And there you have it. Everything you need to know about the youth of America, great dinner values and underpaid nurses. So many events, so little time. I gotta go.

PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs Sundays. He may be reached at [email protected].