The Only Thing Growing Faster Is Earning Potential

From the Gallery column of the San Diego Union-Tribune: “He answers to ‘Boomer’ and it’s no mystery why. Jerry Sokoloski is 7-foot-3, 320 pounds. He’s also a ninth grader, who plays hoops for the Silverthorn Collegiate Institute in Toronto.

“His mom, Dorothy Jessop, says she’s been told Boomer has more growing ahead of him.

“ ‘The doctors have measured his joints and the knuckles of his hands and they predict he’s going to get bigger, possibly four inches, maybe six,’ ” she says.

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Trivia time: Who holds the Pacific 10 Conference bowl record for most yards gained rushing in a game?

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New member? Mark Kiszla speculating in the Denver Post on Colorado joining the Pac-10:

“And make no mistake, Colorado football Coach Rick Neuheisel is pushing the move . . .

“Although Neuheisel once turned down the opportunity to leave CU for the top football job at UCLA, he has never stopped California dreaming. He’s quietly pushing the Buffaloes to jump into the Pac-10 pool.”

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Need company? Marty Anderson, an employee of KEX-Radio in Portland, Ore., which carries the Trail Blazers, has camped out at a billboard that reads “SOS” (Save Our Season) since Nov. 3. He claims he will stay put until the lockout ends or the season is canceled.

Portland writers have suggested David Stern and Billy Hunter join him.

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Say it isn’t so: Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune passed out his annual “Bernie” awards for extraordinary achievements in sports in 1998. A sampling:

“The Claude Rains/Capt. Renault From ‘Casablanca’ Award--To the International Olympic Committee for expressing astonishment and shock that bribes had been offered and taken in the awarding of the Olympic Games to Salt Lake City.”

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Bear dilemma: Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times on the underachieving Bears:

“The easy part is firing [Coach] Dave Wannstedt. The hard part is dealing with the futile reality that Michael McCaskey, doofus-at-large, still runs the organization and would be hiring the next coach.

“Eliminating one symptom doesn’t cure the illness.”

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Shoe business: Jeff Gordon in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Nike chairman Phil Knight, blaming poor sales of his ugly, drastically overpriced shoes on the NBA lockout:

“ ‘I think the right way to look at it, if we were a fashion house, they’ve taken away one of our critical runways.’ ”

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Looking back: On this day in 1946, USC defeated Tulane, 20-13, in a final regular-season game before a crowd of only 25,000 in New Orleans.

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Trivia answer: Gaston Green of UCLA, 266 yards against Brigham Young in the 1986 Freedom Bowl.

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And finally: Dallas Cowboy cornerback Deion Sanders, commenting on his toe injury: “If you want to know how it felt, hit your toe with a hammer 10 times, slam it in your car door, break it backwards, then cover Jerry Rice.”