Next Thing You Know, They’ll Ask for Helmets

The main headline for a Page 1 story in Wednesday’s San Antonio News-Express read, “Pigskins in Style for Spring,” with a smaller headline underneath reading, “Division III schools get to use footballs during football practice.”

Say what?

It’s hard to believe, but in Division III, where there are no athletic scholarships and more emphasis is put on academics, footballs were not allowed at spring practice sessions.

“NCAA members voted earlier this month to permit the use of footballs during spring drills,” the newspaper reported.

Actually, not a bad idea.

Trivia time: Speaking of footballs, how many are being made specifically for the Super Bowl?

No love for gloves: CBS commentator Phil Simms was asked during a conference call about quarterbacks’ wearing gloves in bad weather. He said he’d worn them only four or five times during his career with the New York Giants, and only in severe weather.

“I can remember like it was yesterday,” he said. “Shoot, I threw some interceptions because of those gloves. I became a pretty good tackler because I was chasing guys down the field with the football.”

Pressure always there: Fox’s Troy Aikman, who, like Simms, was a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, was asked during another conference call whether the pressure would be off the Philadelphia Eagles’ Donovan McNabb if he were to finally win a Super Bowl.

“What you learn, and what I learned,” Aikman said, “is that after you win, the pressure doesn’t go away. You think you win one and just move on and not feel the pressure. Well, that’s just not the case.”

Survey says: A national survey from Circuit City, in which more than 7,500 people were polled, shows that 57% would prefer watching the Super Bowl on a big-screen TV, as opposed to 17% who said they would rather be at the stadium.

And the other 26%? They said they didn’t care about the game.

Name game: Caitlin is such a popular name among teenage girls that Reno Galena High, according to NevadaPrep.com, used a starting lineup of four Caitlins and one Kaitlin on Tuesday night in a 65-30 victory over Reno Damonte Ranch.

Imagine the confusion whenever Galena Coach Karen Friel called a starter by her first name.

Looking back: On this day in 1968, Elvin Hayes scored 39 points to lead Houston to a 71-69 victory over UCLA and Lew Alcindor, ending the Bruins’ 47-game winning streak. The game at the Houston Astrodome drew a regular-season record crowd of 52,693.

Trivia answer: Seventy-two footballs will be shipped from the Wilson football factory in Ada, Ohio, to Jacksonville, Fla., site of the Super Bowl on Feb. 6.

And finally: “If the Steelers and Eagles both make it to the Super Bowl, both would be from the same state, Pennsylvania,” points out Bret Lewis of KFWB. “My question: Would the governor, Ed Rendell, make a bet with himself ?”

*

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.