If You Would Like to Arrange a Riot, Please Press Pound

Soccer hooliganism has gone high-tech. No longer is it enough to throw a challenge to meet under the stands after the game.

No punches were thrown when hooligans from rival German teams ran into each other before a game between Duesseldorf and Werder Bremen. Instead, they waited until after Duesseldorf’s 4-1 victory and arranged a brawl by cellular phone, according to police.

The rival rowdies converged on a bar, breaking windows, glasses, pool sticks and bar stools.

*

Trivia time: Who was the first black player selected No. 1 in the NFL draft?

Warming up: Before a race, Indy car driver Paul Tracy hops on a stationary bicycle and rides hard for about half an hour. His reason:

“I try to get my heart rate up to around 165 and then go and get into the car. After all, you don’t go out on the track with a cold engine, do you?”

*

No changeovers: Before the British Women’s Open, the Ladies Golf Union amended its eligibility requirements to stipulate that all entrants must have been “females at birth.”

Hey, hey, hey: From David Letterman: “Did you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade? The Fat Albert balloon sprung a leak and at the last minute was replaced by Yankee first baseman Cecil Fielder.”

*

Winners’ bracket: Of the 13 NFL games played Sunday and Monday, only the San Diego-New England game matched teams with winning records.

*

They’ll learn: In light of the current flap over NHL goalies wearing illegal oversized equipment, the New York Rangers’ Glenn Healy was asked if he knew of any who were playing with legal pads. “Oh, sure,” he said. “They’re all in the minors.”

*

Tough yardage: The New York Jets’ Adrian Murrell has run for 1,104 yards this season for a 1-12 team. The last time anyone gained more than 1,000 yards for a team that won only one game was Gale Sayers, who ran for 1,032 on the 1969 Chicago Bear team that finished 1-13.

*

Work ethic: Jerry Sloan, coach of the Utah Jazz, doesn’t believe in resting his players.

“They pay you to play,” Sloan says. “Taking players out of the lineup is bad for basketball. You think a guy working 8 to 5 every day is going to care if players making $3 million a year want to rest? It’s ridiculous.”

*

Cock-a-doodle-doo: The mascot for soccer’s World Cup, which will be played in France in 1998, finally has a name--Footix. It is a red, white and blue cartoon rooster--the symbol of the French national team.

*

Trivia answer: Ernie Davis, Syracuse running back, in 1961, by the Washington Redskins.

*

And finally: Atlanta Falcon quarterback Bobby Hebert apparently doesn’t miss departed quarterback Jeff George: “I think the two, three years he was here, his two best friends were one of the ballboys and a retired equipment manager.”