Ready for Hound Dogs in Super Bowl?

Promoting the city’s bid for an NFL expansion franchise, the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau bought national newspaper advertisements to list the advantage of putting a team in Tennessee.

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Among them: It is a Mecca for Elvis Presley fans, it offers terrific barbecue and “no other city in the world is mentioned in as many songs as Memphis.”

Wrote Glen Macnow of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “We sure can picture that hunk of burning love, (Commissioner) Paul Tagliabue, imploring NFL owners: ‘Never mind the TV-market size. Gentlemen, for the sake of good ribs and ‘Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again,’ we must place the new club near Graceland!’ ”

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Trivia time: Who were the Kansas City Scouts?

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R.I.P.: Gil LeBreton of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, on reports that the Minnesota North Stars are considering a move to Dallas, to the dismay of the Mavericks: “When they were kings of the winter roost and drawing 17,007 nightly, Maverick execs used to sniff that hockey would come to town only over their dead bodies. Lo and behold.”

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Overachievers? After the Mavericks lost recently to the Philadelphia 76ers, falling to 4-43, Coach Doug Moe of the 76ers said: “Their record is better than their abilities.”

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Low blow: Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post wrote of Dee Dee Myers, President Clinton’s press secretary: “Seriously, does Dee Dee strike you as a proper name for a press secretary? Dee Dee is a name for a carhop. It’s not even sophisticated enough for a bowler.”

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He can afford it: From Phil Rogers of the Dallas Morning News: “New Astro Greg Swindell, who attended high school in Houston, solved his ticket dilemma by leasing a 16-seat skybox at the Astrodome.”

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Quick draw: The Sporting News presented a World B. Free Award to free-agent guard Melvin Newbern of the Detroit Pistons, who waited all of 11 seconds to take a shot in his first NBA game--against the Houston Rockets. Newbern finished the game with 10 shots in 10 minutes, prompting one of the Piston announcers to observe: “Melvin must think he’s on a 10-minute contract.”

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Hey, it pays the bills: Tom Callahan of the Washington Post wrote of former NFL players Mike Adamle and Larry Csonka, who serve as announcers for the television show, “American Gladiators”: “Next to these guys, Joe Louis wrestling cartoon villains or Jesse Owens racing country-fair horses represented utter dignity.”

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We don’t make ‘em up: From Bob Curran of the Buffalo News: “We are hearing the ancient joke about the Bills moving to the Philippines, where they will be called the Manila Folders.”

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Trivia answer: An expansion team that joined the NHL before the 1974-75 season, the Scouts later became the Colorado Rockies and are now the New Jersey Devils.

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Quotebook: Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden, describing his role in an episode of “Evening Shade”: “Impersonating a football coach--that’s all I’ve ever done.”