Is Stanford Band Ready to Disband?

People won’t soon forget that memorable day in 1982 when the Stanford band came onto the field during the final seconds of the annual Big Game against California, just before the Bears scored the winning touchdown with a five-lateral kickoff return.

But the irreverent student-run band may soon be conducted off the field in favor of an outfit that marches to a more conventional drummer.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of changes,” said football Coach Dennis Green, who prefers the kind of band that wears uniforms, plays fight songs and pays attention to the game.

Students have run the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band since 1963, when its members doffed their traditional uniforms and switched to red blazers, rock ‘n’ roll rhythms and unorthodox halftime formations.

The band has in the past been banned from games, barred from national television and ordered to clear halftime shows with the university’s administration.

“We’d love to sound better, be funnier and get along with the football players,” said Jesse Dorogusker, the band’s student director. “What confuses me is, during basketball we do almost the same thing, and they really like having us there. We have a lot of fun and support them. But something different happens at football, and I’m not really sure why.”

Classy Babe: His name is stricken from the record books, replaced by Roger Maris as the new single-season home run leader; his hometown is again expected to snub a campaign to name a stadium after Babe Ruth.

How would the Bambino have reacted if he were around today?

“He’d probably rather have a cigar, hot dog and beer (not necessarily in that order) than debate the decisions of (Commissioner Fay) Vincent or the Maryland Stadium Authority,” wrote the Baltimore Evening Sun’s Jim Henneman.

Trivia time: What NFL player carried the ball the most in 1990 and how many carries did he have?

Foot is on other shoe: The world is watching Jimmy Connors, the tennis player. But there are those who are more concerned about his feet.

Take those at Converse, with whom Connors has a contract that runs through 1993.

They have got to be fuming over the fact that Connors has been making his remarkable U.S. Open run in a pair of Nikes.

Rebuffed: Even burglars don’t want anything to do with Bobby Hebert.

The Saint quarterback, whose holdout last season angered New Orleans football fans and who was booed as he led his team to victory on opening day last Sunday, was snubbed during a recent robbery.

About $12,000 worth of shirts, jerseys and shoes were stolen from a local sporting goods store. Left behind were a rack full of black jerseys emblazoned with gold No. 3s. Hebert wears No. 3.

“The only thing we know about the criminal is he’s not a Bobby Hebert fan,” store owner Gordon Dumont said.

Hot property: Eric Lindros continues to anger the people of Quebec, who according to Reuters “have not been this mad since Mohawk Indians threatened last summer to blow up one of the biggest bridges in Montreal.”

The French-speaking province is in an uproar over the refusal of the 18-year-old Lindros, the hottest prospect in hockey, to play for the Nordiques unless the team pays him $2.6 million a year. That would make him second in the NHL only to Wayne Gretzky of the Kings, who makes $2.9 million.

A Quebec carriage driver reflected popular opinion: “We’ll get our chance to insult him back. I’d like to see him bombarded by tomatoes.”

Not forgotten: It has been 13 years since Woody Hayes coached the Ohio State football team and four years since he died. But they still tell stories about Woody in Columbus.

Hayes once got a call at home from a local brewery, telling him that one of his linemen had toured the facility and was making an extensive sampling of its product.

Hayes went to the brewery, found the player and firmly suggested: “Come on, son, let’s go home. They can brew it faster than you can drink it.”

“Yeah, coach,” the player replied, “but I got ‘em working nights.”

Trivia answer: Earnest Byner of the Washington Redskins, with 297.

Quotebook: Mark Higgs, the Miami Dolphins’ 5-foot-7 running back, on being a small man in a big man’s game: “It’s hard for defenders to see me when I’m behind the big linemen. And it’s a lot harder for a guy 6-6 and 300 pounds to get a good hit on me because he’s so high, and I’m low.”