The Tribe Spoke and Increased Ticket Sales

Here’s the latest in minor league promotional stunts: “Survive the Stadium.”

Eight contestants vying for a $5,000 prize lived at the New Jersey Jackals’ stadium in Upper Montclair for up to a week, with the contestants voted out, one by one, by fans.

The aspiring survivors subsisted on hot dogs and water, showered under a hose in the dugout and brushed their teeth with liquid soap from the restrooms.

Unreserved ticket sales spiked to about 1,500 from an average of 600 a game as fans clamored to vote contestants out of the stadium and send them home to warm showers and soft beds.

The winner: Vicky Logan, 38, of Roseland, N.J.

“I was totally surprised,” she told the Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. “I almost got voted out by two votes. It’s all about luck.”

Luck and hot dog tolerance.

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Trivia time: Which are the only two teams to score more than 60 points in an NFL postseason game?

Just memorize the playbook: New Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel believes it’s important his players know all the words to the alma mater, “Carmen Ohio.”

He’ll have them sing it to the band after every home game. He’ll also require freshmen to memorize the names, hometowns and majors of all their teammates, the Chicago Tribune reports.

What the Buckeyes will remember about Tressel is his win-loss record, of course.

“I know from growing up in Ohio that as long as you win every game, fill every seat and make sure every player graduates and doesn’t get into any trouble, you’ll be in good shape,” he said.

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Fly ball: Former major league catcher Matt Nokes is a player-coach with the minor league Schaumburg (Ill.) Flyers in the independent Northern League.

He loves teaching young players.

But he doesn’t have as much enthusiasm for the minor league mode of transportation.

So instead of riding the bus, Nokes--a licensed pilot--flies his plane to such remote spots as Sioux Falls, S.D.; Fargo, N.D., and Winnipeg, Canada.

Nokes credits flying for a batting average hovering near .370.

“I have not been on the bus yet,” Nokes told the Chicago Tribune. “I’m definitely more rested. I fly the fastest single-engine plane in the world. Our longest trip is to Winnipeg [856 miles], and I make it in less than three hours. The longest you make in the major leagues is five hours coast-to-coast, but that’s in an easy chair watching a movie.

“Instead of taking the bus, I get up and fly an hour and a half.”

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Trivia answer: The Chicago Bears defeated Washington, 73-0, in 1940, and the Jacksonville Jaguars eliminated Miami, 62-7, in January 2000.

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And finally: In the wake of convincing evidence Little League star Danny Almonte might be 14, Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe bemoans the corruption that has become a ritual in Williamsport, Pa.

“The 1992 Philippines team forfeited its championship for using ineligible players,” he writes. “I think the tip-off came when the World Series MVP was awarded a car ... and drove it home.

“When investigating suspicious Little Leaguers, check players’ equipment bags for wedding rings, car keys and shaving kits.”