ITEM ONE:

FANS: NFL FAVORITE SPECTATOR SPORT

Ask a sports fan – as the ESPN Sports Poll did in the first half of this year – which is their favorite spectator sport, and the answer will be, hands down, the NFL.  ESPN polled 11,859 fans ages 12-and-up to name their favorite spectator sport.  “Spectator” was defined as one who attends games, watches on TV, listens on radio, or reads about them.  The NFL was the favorite of 22.5 percent of the fans polled, followed by Major League Baseball (13.0), the NBA (10.1), college football (6.4) and college basketball (5.2).

ITEM TWO:

GIANTS KEEP POLICE KIDS IN THE PICTURE

Perhaps for one day, it took their minds off their loss.  “Team photo” day for the New York Giants was on September 29, when the club’s official photo of all players and coaches in uniform is snapped.  This year, some extra room was made for the shot – for 35 children of New York Police and Port Authority Police personnel who were missing in the World Trade Center ruins.  There, sitting up straight next to the likes of KERRY COLLINS and MICHAEL STRAHAN and smiling for the camera, were the sons and daughters of the heroes of the disaster site that is only eight miles from Giants Stadium.  The Giants took three versions of their team photo in honoring the police – one with all players wearing New York fire, police and Port Authority caps; another with players with the caps and the children; and a third with all family members and support personnel who accompanied the kids.  “It made me realize that what we do is important to them,” said Strahan.  At the end of every Giants Saturday practice, a player speaks to the team on the field after head coach JIM FASSEL does.  On September 29, Bronx-born safety SAM GARNES addressed his teammates – with all the youngsters and their families included in the group.       

ITEM THREE:

SCHNELLENBERGER’S OWLS 1 OF 10 COLLEGES TO START FOOTBALL

He has been a head coach in the NFL and took the University of Miami to a national championship in 1983.  But HOWARD SCHNELLENBERGER feels the most important role in his career is happening right now, as he starts up the new football program at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton as the school’s director of football operations and head coach.  The Owls (2-1 on the season so far) are one of 10 NCAA or non-NCAA senior colleges that have begun football programs in 2001.   Since 1990, 52 such colleges have either initiated or brought back football to their campuses.  Other colleges starting football programs this year include AVERETT, CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT, LOUISIANA COLLEGE, ROCKFORD, STILLMAN, VIRGINIA-WISE, and UTICA