Fan Response in Houston Is Less Filling

The Houston Oilers are planning to leave town for Nashville. So what’s the fan reaction in Houston?

In a city of about 2 million residents, only 65 made it downtown Wednesday to show their support for the NFL franchise.

Think like owner Bud Adams, and that works out to one fan for every thousand seats in the Astrodome.

Trivia time: Who holds the NBA record for most steals in a game?

Hungry man: Winnipeg Jet center Mike Stapleton’s jaw has been wired shut since it was broken by a flying puck a few weeks ago. He’s getting nourishment through a straw.

Said Stapleton: “You wouldn’t realize how many commercials on TV have to do with food. You start to notice.”

Old material: Ohio State Coach John Cooper commenting on letting running back Eddie George carry the offensive load this season: “The ball is not very heavy.”

Succinct, but not original. Cooper borrowed it from John McKay, who used that response when as USC coach in the late 1960s he was asked to comment on the workload of O.J. Simpson.

Doves grounded: For the first time at a Summer Olympics since 1920, the opening ceremonies at next year’s Centennial Games in Atlanta will not feature the traditional release of live doves--or pigeons, as are sometimes substituted.

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games has been under pressure from animal rights groups not to use live birds in order to prevent a repeat of what happened at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when some of them perching on the caldron went up in flames as the Olympic flame was lighted.

Please sit still: The condition of stadiums in the American Football League in the early 1960s was not always first-rate.

Paul Maguire, a former Buffalo Bill player and now an NBC analyst, recalled, “Frank Youell Field in Oakland was an early erector set. If they’d had the wave in those days, that whole thing would have come down.”

What’s up, Doc?After filming a movie with Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny is sticking his ears into more NBA business.

Patrick Ewing of New York, Juwon Howard of Washington, Glen Rice and Muggsy Bogues of Charlotte, Bobby Hurley of Sacramento and Bryant Reeves of Vancouver are expected to be involved in promotions with Bugs, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote and other “Looney Toons” stars.

Substance abuse?John Crumpacker of the San Francisco Examiner wrote that “Rickey Jackson [of the San Francisco 49ers], the Gaylord Perry of defensive ends, was accused of loading his arms up with silicone, a substance that sends opposing linemen slip-sliding away” in last Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.

“An official gave him a once-over in the first half, then seemed to drop the matter.”

Trivia answer: Larry Kenon of San Antonio, with 11 against Kansas City on Dec. 26, 1976. Jerry West holds the Laker record with 10.

Quotebook: Dallas Maverick Coach Dick Motta on his team’s poor shooting from three-point range: “I have three-point shooters. I just wish I had three-point scorers.”