Cheap Seats

Now, do you have to rent shoes for a bowl game?

Most Decembers at Northwestern, the toughest chore has been deciding where the office Christmas party should be. This year, the athletic department found 30,000 Rose Bowl tickets in its lap with no infrastructure set up to sell them.

Most schools tie in the right to purchase bowl tickets with a contribution to the athletic department. Northwestern didn’t have the time to do that. In fact, Michigan sent down its business manager, ticket manager and football administrator to Evanston for a day to explain how this bowl business works.

Next fall, the Wildcats can return the favor and send the coaching staff to Ann Arbor for a day.

Is UMass ducking the Lord Jeffs?

There’s a college basketball team from Amherst, Mass., that is undefeated and ranked with the best in the country. And UMass is having a heck of a year, too.

Amherst College is 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in the Northeast Region of NCAA Division II. Trouble is, the Lord Jeffs share a zip code with the Minutemen, who are 6-0 and No. 2 in the Top 25.

“Back in 1989 we won the ECAC tournament and the two TV stations from Springfield had us on all the time, but of course that was before Cal came to town,” said Amherst coach David Hixon. “Since then you’d never know we’re 9-0 and that doesn’t bother me.”

Cal, of course, is UMass coach John Calipari, who Hixon calls “a terrific guy. I run into him at the bank during the summer when we both have camps and I always ask him to let me go first because I know his deposit is going to be bigger.”

The Minutemen and Boston College just resumed their longtime rivalry and the game all New England wants is UMass-UConn. But how about the “Battle of Amherst?” The schools haven’t played since 1960, when UMass won for just the 17th time in 43 meetings.

“We have the upper hand in the series,” Hixon said with a laugh. “Let him call.”

Brown out

Here’s how things have been going for the Cleveland Browns’ front office: Tim Goad’s interception of a Brett Favre pass several weeks ago has been officially changed to a fumble recovery after a review of films - meaning Goad is owed a $750,000 incentive bonus for his second fumble recovery of the season.

Strike up the band

Olympic swimmer Janet Evans’ parents are striking a sour note with the band at their daughter’s old high school.

Paul and Barbara Evans have asked a judge to halt early morning band practice at El Dorado High School in Placentia, Calif. The couple, who have lived next to the school for 24 years, say the band’s drumming has grown unbearably loud and exceeds the noise level of previous years.

“It makes me angry,” said senior Kaci Kaufman. “I played at a performance when Janet Evans was inducted into the Hall of Fame. It seems outrageous that her parents would reciprocate this way.”

The last word …

“On the next-to-last Sunday of the season, the Bears were blessed by Tampa and Bay, two better words for an ailing football team than anti and biotic.”

- Chicago Tribune columnist Bernie Lincicome

, DataTimes