Bobby Bowden Apparently Not the Right Kind of Santa

A less-than-jolly Santa Claus at a Jacksonville, Fla., mall told a 6-year-old boy and his brother they wouldn’t get any presents if they were University of Florida football fans.

When Santa saw the children’s mother wearing a Gator sweat shirt, he said, “Santa Claus doesn’t like Gator fans. . . . Santa Claus wishes that Florida State would beat the Gators in the Sugar Bowl.”

When she told Santa he was being rude, the red-faced chief elf retorted: “Lady, if you don’t like it, you can get (the children) off (his lap).”

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Add Santa: The boys’ father, who was videotaping the visit, told Santa he didn’t like his remarks.

Santa jumped from his chair and allegedly thumped the father’s chest with his finger and said, “You want to do something about it, right now, pal? Right here on stage?”

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Trivia time: The Penn State-Oregon meeting in the Rose Bowl will be their second in a bowl game. When was the first?

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Meet Mrs. Claus: Tonya Harding, in her first public performance since the Winter Olympics, will skate Friday on a suburban Portland rink dressed as the wife of Santa Claus.

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Tough sell: Charger radio commentator Jim Laslavic, on the crowd of 48,152 at the Meadowlands for Sunday’s game against the Jets: “These fans are so disinterested in this game they can’t even muster up a good boo.”

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Serious stuff: The leader of a Rio de Janeiro soccer fan club was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the shooting death of a member of a rival group during a brawl between fan clubs in January.

Mauro Ribeiro de Paiva, 21, vice president of the Young Fans of Botafogo, was found guilty of killing Andre Pereira Batista, 14, a Flamengo fan club member.

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Bad label: Denver’s Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, after being fined by the Nuggets for missing a workout: “I miss one practice and I’m labeled like Dennis Rodman.”

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Hail the Ducks: Oregon’s appearance in the 1995 Rose Bowl game--its first in 37 years--will be noted with a special postmark featuring the Fighting Duck mascot and the Rose Bowl logo.

The U.S. Postal Service is making the postmark available beginning today for 30 days at the University of Oregon Bookstore.

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School first: Bill McCartney is leaving as coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, but he has advised Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam to pass up the NFL draft and return for his senior season at Colorado.

“I believe all that money doesn’t make you happy,” McCartney said. “I believe experience is what you draw your greatest delights from.”

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Trivia answer: Trivia answer: The 1960 Liberty Bowl, won by Penn State, 41-12.

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Quotebook: Coach Jim Moore after his Catlin Gabel girls had beaten Columbia Christian in an Oregon prep basketball game, 115-4: “It was a really big win for us. It was a morale booster.”