ON THE EDGE: The CSUN football program,...

ON THE EDGE: The CSUN football program, which almost got sacked in 1992, is on the ropes again. Lower enrollment, a poor economy and quake damage have left the athletic department with a projected deficit of $700,000 for 1995-96. . . . Getting rid of football would be a quick fix, but some worry it could hinder overall fund raising. A special report on the program begins on C1.

NO EXPOSURE: CSUN administrators are trying to get to the bottom of why Playboy magazine was once again taken off campus bookstore shelves. In 1984, feminists persuaded the bookstore’s governing board to remove sexually explicit magazines (B6). . . . Playboy, however, is still available in the campus library.

GOOD TIMING: Birmingham High football coach Alan (Chick) Epstein, above, knows how to make an exit. He’ll coach his last game Friday, and it’s some game--Birmingham vs. Bell for the City Section 3-A Division championship (C8). . . . Epstein, the golf coach for 28 years, will spend much of his retirement on the links. He occasionally plays with former student, ex-U.S. amateur champ Mitch Vogues.

BURBANK BASH: Want to lunch with the Fonz? You may get a chance if you attend a fund-raiser tonight in Burbank. Proceeds from items to be auctioned go to the Burbank Police Officers Assn.’s Catastrophic Injury and Illness Fund. . . . Besides lunch with Henry Winkler, you could win tickets to “Seinfeld.” The event is organized by actress Marlee Matlin and her husband, Detective Kevin Grandalski. Call (818) 842-1133.

LIKE FATHER: Sinatra was a big smash in the Valley on Tuesday. No, not that Sinatra. Rather, it was his son, Frank Sinatra Jr., who performed at a sold-out Moonlight Tango Cafe in Sherman Oaks (F1). . . . Junior doesn’t mind sounding like his dad: “Why shouldn’t I be delighted to carry on his tradition?”