After the Game, This Fan Moved to Head of Class

Time out took on a new meaning for Pittsburgh Steeler fan Eric Nutter last week.

Eric, 10, wore a Steeler jersey to Western Reserve Middle School on Cleveland Brown spirit day and found himself banished to a classroom corner by his teacher.

And that was before the Steelers humiliated the Browns, 43-0, in their season opener Sunday.

His punishment didn’t last all day though. After about two hours, Eric took off his jersey with Kordell Stewart’s number on it to wear a Cleveland Indian T-shirt for gym class. He kept the baseball team shirt on for the rest of the day, and was allowed to place his desk back in its usual position.

So what happened this week? Officials at the school in Norwalk, Ohio, 50 miles southwest of Cleveland, apologized to Eric.

Apology accepted, but Eric skipped school anyway Wednesday for a television interview in Cleveland.

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Trivia time: Who is the all-time major league leader for consecutive .300 batting seasons?

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The quiet man: Gil LeBreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Dallas Cowboy receiver Raghib “Rocket” Ismail, who scored the winning touchdown Sunday against Washington on a 76-yard pass play, but doesn’t talk to reporters:

“This just in--’Rocket wins the first, then takes the Fifth.’ Silent film at 11.”

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Savvy chicken: The third interception off scrambling Tampa Bay quarterback Trent Dilfer was the crushing blow in Sunday’s 17-13 loss to the New York Giants.

“We’d say he was running around like a chicken with his head cut off,” Martin Fennelly of the Tampa Tribune said, “but out of curiosity, when I got home last night I cut the head off a chicken, and it still didn’t throw the football.”

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Expert analysis: ESPN’s Joe Theismann, during the Browns’ 43-0 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night: “You gotta score to put points on the board.”

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Come again? Comedy writer Jerry Perisho: “The National Hockey League’s exhibition season opened Saturday night. Immediately, Hillary Clinton proclaimed she loved the Rangers.

“She says she’s loved hockey for years and thinks it’s the most exciting sport ‘especially in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter.’ ”

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FYI: David Mack, who was recently sentenced to 14 years and three months in federal prison for robbing $722,000 from a Bank of America branch, was the NCAA 800-meter champion in 1982 while competing for Oregon.

He also won the 800 in the Pacific 10 Conference meet in 1980, ’81 and ’82.

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Trivia answer: Ty Cobb, with 23.

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And finally: Ron Rapoport in the Chicago Sun-Times: “Missed communication can happen to anyone, I suppose, but Notre Dame’s real sin against Purdue is the way it kept going back to the huddle while the clock was ticking instead of calling plays at the line of scrimmage.

“And now that the Irish have shown they can’t either protect a lead in the last two minutes or take one, isn’t it time to consider the possibility that Bob Davie just might not be a very good coach?”