And if Bears Need a New Name, They Can Be the Gary Players

As part of a $500-milion development, Gary, Ind., is proposing to build a 75,000-seat stadium to attract the Chicago Bears.

The site is adjacent to an industrial wasteland that includes 57 storage tanks and a cleanup facility.

Across the street from the proposed site is Truck City, where mechanic Bill Manoski offers this slogan: “Move the Bears to Gary, Murder Capital, U.S.A., or we’ll kill you.”

Al Capone couldn’t have said it better.

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Trivia time: Which is the only high school to have produced two Heisman Trophy winners?

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Counterpoint: NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has said that the Coliseum is not acceptable as a future home for an NFL franchise.

It was quite acceptable for 91,368 fans who watched Saturday’s UCLA-USC game.

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Stoic media: Philadelphia Flyer center Eric Lindros, talking to reporters after watching seven games from the press box because of an injury:

“I mean, you guys are boring. I guess you’re not allowed to cheer or whatever, but that’s no way to watch a hockey game.”

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Culinary tip: A public address announcer for a Jacksonville, Fla., minor league hockey team had this advice to fans after two deceased octopuses sailed onto the ice:

“For the fans who are throwing the octopus, we have no problem with you doing that. But before you bring them out, please boil them ahead of time so they don’t stick to the ice.”

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Trivia answer: Woodrow Wilson in Dallas--Davey O’Brien, Texas Christian, 1938, and Tim Brown, Notre Dame, 1987.

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Quotebook: NBC’s Paul Maguire: “The Kansas City Chiefs remind me of my golf game. Whenever I get a par, it doesn’t say on the scorecard how I got there, just that I got there.”