This Season Snowballed to Extreme Duration

Tenney Mountain, a resort in Plymouth, N.H., today will shut down the SnowMagic system that has coated a slope with snow for the last two months, despite 90-degree temperatures.

The system, being used for the first time in this country, freezes the water into crystals and then shoots them into the air. Typical snowmaking equipment requires temperatures below 28 degrees to operate.

But if you missed this year’s “ski season,” don’t fret. Summertime winter sports soon may be coming to a place near you.

“It’s definitely a first,” said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Assn. “You’ll probably find some folks that are interested if they determine it makes financial sense.”

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Trivia time: Who was the only player to win the Heisman Trophy twice?

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Party on! The Big Ten took the second (Wisconsin), third (Indiana) and fourth (Illinois) spots in the Princeton Review’s list of the country’s top party schools, but they all finished behind Colorado, which showed great consistency in its party-hearty approach.

The school was cited for the “third-highest usage of marijuana, fourth-highest use of hard liquor and 11th-highest usage of beer on any campus.”

You know, Rocky Mountain high and all....

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Super ruling: The Houston Chronicle called it a “bow to the expected Super Bowl crowd” in a report on U.S. District Court Judge David Hittner’s decision to delay jury selection for the criminal trial of Lea Fastow, the wife of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow.

Hittner postponed the original Jan. 27 date to Feb. 10. The Super Bowl is set for Feb. 1.

Fastow has pleaded not guilty to a six-count indictment charging her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and filing false tax returns. Her husband has pleaded not guilty to nearly 100 counts of fraud and other charges.

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Going real deep: Detroit first baseman Dmitri Young doesn’t expect the highlight of the pre-All-Star game exhibitions to be much of a show in 2005 at pitcher-friendly Comerica Park.

“I can’t wait to see that home run derby,” he told the Detroit News. “Somebody’s going to win it with three.”

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Over the top: One NFL publicist got carried away with the league’s revived offense in 2002. Noting that games averaged the most points (43.3) in 19 years and that quarterbacks posted an all-time high in completion percentage (59.6), the unidentified public relations person wrote: “If Charles Darwin had seen the NFL’s first 83 seasons, he may have tossed his pencil in delight and cried, ‘Great Gridiron Evolution!’ ”

Someone is in for a short career if the NFL believes in a survival of the wittiest theory.

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FYI: In a recent Sports Illustrated poll, major league players voted Philadelphia’s Larry Bowa baseball’s worst manager.

Maybe, but look who the Dodgers are chasing in the National League wild-card race.

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Trivia answer: Ohio State’s Archie Griffin in 1974 and 1975.

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And finally: Mike Downey in the Chicago Tribune: “California’s big problems are a terrible power shortage and too many grossly overpaid workers in key positions. And that’s just the Dodgers.”

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-- John Weyler