Lingerie Football might be good fit

Las Vegas, long the fringe-sports capital of the world, will have a new professional franchise next year. But this one might not be a bust.

The Lingerie Football League is adding a Las Vegas team for next fall. An announcement is scheduled for 3 p.m. today at New York-New York's Sporting House Bar & Grill.

It's the first franchise to come along that every member of the Review-Journal sports staff is eager to cover.

The league today will also release details about Lingerie Bowl VIII, to be played Feb. 6 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Team members from Las Vegas' yet-to-be-named franchise, including Strip singer Angelica Bridges, will unveil specially designed uniforms for the Lingerie Bowl.

■ MASCOTS GONE WILD -- The college football season had already been marred by the Ohio University Bobcat mascot's attack on Ohio State's Brutus Buckeye during a game in September.

There was more mascot mayhem last weekend, when it took two University of Cincinnati police officers to subdue the school's Bearcat after the costumed mascot refused to quit throwing snowballs into the grandstands.

M. Robert "Bobby" Garfield III, 22, of Montgomery, Ohio, was cited with disorderly conduct.

"He was throwing (snowballs) at the crowd and so, of course, people threw back and missed him and hit other people," university police Capt. Jeff Corcoran told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "The officer asked him to stop and he took exception to that."

At one point, Garfield shoved the officer and both of them ended up on the ground, Corcoran said.

That was a pretty cowardly move -- a Bearcat with a big padded head taking advantage of fans and police not wearing big padded heads.

No word yet on whether Bearcat's criminal conduct will prevent him from defending his title in the Capital One Mascot Challenge.

■ CORSO LOSES HEAD -- It's also been a tough year for human mascots.

Oregon State Police have recovered the oversized mascot head of ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso and cited two men on theft charges in the case.

The $5,000 prop used each week on ESPN's "College GameDay" show was reported stolen in Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday after the annual "Civil War" rivalry game between Oregon and Oregon State.

An Oregon State employee found the prop Monday near his home about 30 miles from campus.

State police said August Cuneo, 26, and Alexander Westerberg, 25, were cited Monday afternoon. Troopers said the two men formerly attended Oregon.

■ ONE-TRACK MIND -- For Keith Fitzhugh, a free-agent safety, the choice was clear. He chose working with trains over a job with the Jets.

Fitzhugh on Tuesday turned down an offer from the New York Jets to remain a conductor for the Norfolk Southern Railroad.

"I know every two weeks I'm getting a paycheck," Fitzhugh, who had training camp stints with the team the last two years, told The Associated Press.

COMPILED BY JEFF WOLF
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL