A Light Look at Changing Nicknames

Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News takes issue with some college team nicknames. A sampling: “Wisconsin Badgers: Insulting to Mexican Americans from the Laredo border checkpoint to Taco Bell in downtown Madison.

“Badgers? I don’t have no Badgers. We don’t need no stinking Badgers. New nickname: Wisconsin Miller Lite.”

Add Conlin: “Niagara Purple Eagles: Sounds as if that name was conjured up during a night of boozing at a wings bar after a Bills game. New nickname: Fighting barrels.”

Trivia time: Who are the five former USC players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

Lenny is off base: Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle: “I take issue with columnists and fans who salute (Lenny) Dykstra for having the courage to speak his mind and deviate from the script written for the players by union leader Donald Fehr.

“That’s like praising an ax murderer for having the courage to speak his convictions. Lenny sold his union brothers down the river. Fortunately, many of them own expensive yachts, thus making the trip a relatively dry one.”

What, no Sidewinders? A name the team contest for a proposed major league expansion team in Phoenix is under way. Fans may select from one of five names--Arizona Coyotes, Scorpions, Diamondbacks, Rattlers, or (gulp) Arizona Phoenix.

Or, they can write in their own nicknames. Suggestion: start writing.

A new racket? Is Martina Navratilova trying to emulate Michael Jordan? The all-time winningest tennis player is interested in pursuing a baseball career with the Silver Bullets, the women’s professional baseball team.

Navratilova, 38, will get a one-person tryout in March. Obvious position: designated hitter.

Growing minority: Sandra McKee in the Baltimore Sun: “Remember the phrase, You’ve come a long way baby? These days it can be applied to American-born players in the NHL.

“When the league first began keeping statistics on such things in 1967-68, only 2% of the players in the game were born in the USA. This season, the percentage has grown to 17.9, which translates to 117 of 652 players.”

Clip and save: George Foreman in USA Today: “The day Mike Tyson gets out, any of the top five fighters wouldn’t have any trouble with him. You can’t stay in shape in jail.”

For what it’s worth: The recent women’s world indoor pole-vault record of 13 feet 7 1/4 inches by China’s Sun Caiyun would have earned a silver medal in the men’s event in the 1928 Olympic Games.

Looking back: On this day in 1941, Joe Louis knocked out Gus Dorazio in the second round at the Convention Hall in Philadelphia, retaining his world heavyweight title.

Trivia answer: Morris (Red) Badgro, Frank Gifford, Ron Mix, O.J. Simpson and Willie Wood.

Quotebook: Robert Parish of the Charlotte Hornets on the league’s tattoo epidemic: “Sort of like the bald-head look--it’s catching.”