In Old Days, It Was Simply Valley State

The paper: Festive neon pink.

The format: A bookmark three inches by eight inches.

The letterhead emblem: A matador swinging his cape in a proud flourish.

The headline: “Cal State Northridge, Spoken & Written.”

The text: “We admit our name is confusing. So let’s set it straight officially and forever more.

“Athletically speaking, we’re: Cal State Northridge ‘Matadors’ (Notice there is no hyphen or periods, anywhere!)

“When referring to the university, here are the only ways we want to be recognized: I. Cal State Northridge. II. Northridge. III. Matadors. IV. CS Northridge.

Add Northridge: The rest of it:

“ NEVER CALL US: a. Northridge State. b. C.S.U.N. c. ‘Sea Sun’. d. CSU Northridge. e. Cal State University, Northridge. f. Cal-Northridge. g. Cal State. h. CSN.

“If a scoreboard or electronic message center cannot fit choices I-IV, please use N’RIDGE.

“Thanks for helping spread the CORRECT word on CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE.”

Trivia time: Which current NBA coach made the first three-point shot in league history?

Hitting the skids: The 10th annual Truckee Lions Sierra Sweepstakes Sled Dog Races won’t be held this weekend.

The event has been postponed until March 9-10. Like California ski resort operators, the Truckee Lions hope their racing ground, the Truckee-Tahoe Airport, has enough snow by that time to keep sled runners sliding.

Meanwhile, organizers will go ahead with one part of the event that is drought-proof: the howling competition, to be held at several sites this weekend.

Bob Hossfeld, race committee chairman, said: “We’ll be howling for snow.”

The mounting, sure: Russ Millard, a 6-foot-8 1/2 senior center for Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Washington High School, has committed to the University of Iowa.

Millard is good. At last count, he had three boards this season.

Backboards, that is. Shattered.

Millard’s most recent demolition came during the third quarter of a 78-73 victory over defending state champion Waterloo East. His other two were in practice.

Duane Kramer, Washington’s activities director, told Bob Denney of the Cedar Rapids Gazette: “Those boards are $700 apiece. There’s obviously something wrong in the mounting, because they come with a 10-year guarantee.”

All skate: Collectibles dealers must be circling above the dead body of the Albany Choppers like so many vultures. See them descend, picking out a jersey here, a helmet there.

Or as the Associated Press wrote: “And then there were two.”

The Choppers, until Thursday members of the International Hockey League, folded when the team was unable to find a buyer after a frantic month of searching.

Funny thing, Thursday was supposed to have been payday for the team’s nine players.

One of them, Joe Stefan, said: “Guys were making calls to their agents to go to other teams.”

Said Coach Dave Allison: “I’ll probably have to go home and find a real job.”

Trivia answer: Boston Celtic Coach Chris Ford, in Boston’s 114-106 victory over the Houston Rockets on Oct. 12, 1979.

Quotebook: Toronto Maple Leaf Coach Tom Watt: “Better teams win more often than the teams that are not so good. “