the big chill.(Sports) - The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)

Byline: NANCY ARMOUR

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- By NANCY ARMOUR

the associated press

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Break out the Day-Glo golf balls, hand-warmers and the winter rules.

Chilly temperatures and a brisk north wind made the Masters feel more like it was transplanted to Augusta, Maine. Spectators bundled up in their winter finest Saturday, and players dug out every last bit of clothing they had stashed in their golf bags. Henrik Stenson even teed off in a stocking cap - at 1 p.m., no less.

And he's Swedish.

'The only other time I remember the weather like this is when I'm here playing for Thanksgiving and Christmas,' said Charles Howell III, an Augusta native.

Temperatures at the Masters hovered around 50 degrees, with overnight lows expected to drop below 30. Add wind gusting to 25 mph and it felt like the low- to mid-40s .

That's a good 30 degrees below normal. It's not expected to be much better today , with a high near 57 and more wind.

So much for warm Southern hospitality.

'We looked out this morning and thought it was going to be beautiful,' said Simon Burgess, an Englishman by way of Portugal who was shivering in shorts and a light sweater. 'It's bloody freezing.'

The Masters is normally spring break for the golfing set - sun-splashed days that are warm, if not hot; a pleasant breeze that's the perfect complement to a pimento cheese sandwich.

Shirt-sleeves are the uniform for players, with maybe a light sweater vest for those trying to show a bit of style. Spectators wear shorts. The women come in skirts or show off their sundresses. While the golf is the main attraction, getting an early start on the year's tan doesn't hurt.

Rain can put a damper on things - the third round didn't finish until Sunday morning last year because of thunderstorms. But it's one thing to have muddy shoes, another to not be able to feel your feet.

'This seems like another tournament altogether,' said Rich Cheney of Rocky Mount, N.C., who was at his fourth Masters. 'Kind of British Open conditions.'

Players were layered in sweaters, wind shirts and jackets. There was even a mock turtleneck or two. The wind played havoc with almost every shot and made Augusta's already quick greens even slicker.

'Do I look like I'm out in my shorts and T-shirt?' Englishman Lee Westwood asked. 'When I got out of the house this morning, I said to (his agent), 'It's like walking out of the Old Course Hotel at the Dunhill Links.' It was that cold.'

For the spectators, the chilly conditions called for drastic measures.

Mike Misiak had on a T-shirt, turtleneck, sweater and a jacket. He wore black pants - 'to soak in the sun' - and tundra-worthy black gloves.

'This, I think, is a beautiful day,' Misiak said. 'My golfing weather is 40 degrees. I've golfed in snow 6 inches deep. I don't know what the temperature was, but probably below freezing.'

OK, but Misiak is from Tecumseh, Mich. He's a pro at this. Ditto for David Lewis, a high school golf teacher from Buffalo, N.Y., who was at his first Masters.

Lewis had shed his coat by midafternoon, though he did have on a sweater and turtleneck.

'I hang out at football games. I've been watching the Buffalo Bills for years,' Lewis said. 'I know better than to be cold. I can take stuff off. But if you don't have it, you don't have it.'

Which is why so many spectators looked as if they were wearing half the clothes in their closets.

More than a few people had on ear muffs and wool caps. One man had on a long, leather trench coat and a leather hat. A woman already wearing a sweater, heavy jacket, gloves and hat wrapped herself in a wool blanket.

One fan who had staked out a seat along the blustery No.7 fairway was hunched over, a hood over his head and his windshirt pulled up over that.

'Temperature-wise, it's not too bad,' said Cheney, who traded the shorts and golf shirt he normally wears to Augusta for thick corduroys, gloves, a shirt, sweater vest and windbreaker. 'But when you throw in the wind, it makes it really tough.'

At least the sun was shining. When the wind would die down briefly, it wasn't that bad. Not ideal, but tolerable.

For those who weren't prepared for the elements, though, the day was brutal.

Burgess shivered and chattered for 3 hours as he followed Westwood. As soon as Westwood was done, so was Burgess. He and a buddy headed for a restaurant to get some hot wings and warm up.

'I bought $700 worth of clothes yesterday, and they're all back at the house,' Burgess said. 'I should have brought it all out.'

CAPTION(S):

David J. Phillip/the associated press

The shopping basket sports car - for [pounds sterling]250; SCHOOLBOYS MAKE CLASSIC ROADSTERS FROM SCRAP. - Daily Mail (London)

Byline: RAY MASSEY

QUESTION: What do you do with a rusty Ford Escort, a leather handbag from Oxfam and a shopping basket?

Answer (if you're a pupil at Oundle): Turn them into a classic wind-in-your-hair sports car costing just [pounds sterling]250.

The public school, founded in 1556, has started its own production line using cannibalised parts to make the DIY vehicles.

So far 32 of the `LoCost Sevens' have been built, all uncannily similar to the classic Lotus 7 designed by the late Colin Chapman - hero to the school's head of motor engineering, Ron Champion.

`We are one of the few truly Britsh motor manufacturers left,' Mr Champion said yesterday. `It's effectively fallen to one of Britain's top public schools to be a last bastions of the British motor car industry.'

Now Mr Champion, 52, has written a manual revealing the Northamptonshire school's engineering secrets. It will be released today by motoring publisher Haynes at [pounds sterling]14.99.

It advises would-be car makers to scour scrapyards for a Mark I or Mark II Ford Escort with a good engine, gearbox, back axle and tyres. Body condition is immaterial. The school says it has never paid more than [pounds sterling]75 for a whole car.

The manual then gives full details of how to strip the Escort and turn it into a shiny new sports car.

Top tips include making the radiator grille from a discarded wire shopping basket, using [pounds sterling]2.50 bath sealant to fix the windscreen and making old leather handbags and coats into trim for the dashboard and gear-stick surround.

Once the car is complete have it inspected by a vehicle licensing centre, fix on the number plates, insure, MOT and tax it - then head for the open road.

Oundle's motor industry connections run deep.

Former pupil Rudolph Stahl designed the first Chrysler, while Charles Amherst Villiers created Malcolm Campbell's land speed record-breaking Bluebird and later designed the landing craft for Nasa's Mars exploration.

TOPCOATS, OUTERWEAR, RAINCOATS SELLING SHORT; CLASSIFICATION LINES BLUR WITH EVERYONE MAKING SHORTIE WOOLS, TECHNOS AND LEATHERS. - Daily News Record

Score one more for business casual.

Because of dress-down everyday, everywhere, the topcoat industry has morphed into a new total coat business that designer Joseph Abboud simply calls 'overwear.' This is for the many who snapped up something casual, comfortable and warm this fall to wear over a sport coat or sweater for work. They made shortie coats a smash.

Naturally, everybody wants a piece of the action. Wool dress coat specialists are doing their versions of short outerwear, rainwear and leather. At the same time, outerwear and rainwear companies are both into short, dressy wools, technos and leathers, and the early blast of cold weather made them all hot performers at retail.

And this is where the biggest changes are happening.

Kent Gushner, vice-president, tailored clothing, Boyds, Philadelphia, says, 'Today the line between outerwear and overcoats has blurred because of the dress-down movement. Obviously the guy who wore a suit to work bought the dressier wool overcoat; today he's buying sportswear because he needs an outerwear-type coat. Whether it's wool, nylon, techno, shearling or leather, they're all fighting each other. It's no longer an exclusive wool business.

'What used to be four or five classifications is now one with subsets and they're all performing well.'

But he points out that this has produced major changes in the marketplace with a much smaller number of specialists and more collection lines out of Europe now making coats. The retailer claims this has changed buying patterns 'and the new mentality is that the average store is selling the names in the coats, so companies like Zegna, Canali, Hugo Boss and Burberry are all benefiting.'

Stephen Saft, CEO, Jacob Siegel & Co., a survivor in a tough dress coat market with the license for such designers as Lauren by Ralph Lauren, Jones New York and Bill Blass, among many, reports reorder business in the past two weeks has been 'spectacular after a good season. But the business is very different. Short coats, from 34 to 42 inches, are very strong and they're now 40 percent of our business. But the big surprise has been long 46- and 47-inch coats -- they're much stronger than we expected.'

Siegel, like other key makers, is no longer putting all its bucks into traditional wools. The company is doing water-repellent versions for all-weather coats and included is a reversible in wool to bonded polyester microfiber.

Picking up on the length story, Ian Selig, president, Mario Valente, which manufactures Burberry wool coats, says, 'There's no such thing as a coat company any longer. We have to provide a collection from blousons all the way down to 49-inch coats. Actually, it took several years for the original giaccone, or 36-inch Italian carcoat, to take off in this country. Now it's the casual model, while the 44-inch is the dressy coat.

'In fact, 40- to 44-inch coats are replacing the longer, 49-inch dressy coat. Shorter lengths are about 65 percent of our business.'

He also contends that the fabric assortment is just as broad and adds, 'We're not just in wools, but we now offer cottons, leathers, technos and Teflon finishes for all-weather coats. As far as our business, 36- to 40-inch wools are still our best items, and next year wool will be stronger than ever because stores haven't bought wools for the last year three years.

'Everybody went into this fall very cautiously and now they're buying as needed. We expect them to end this season clean.'

More on the state of the business from Carlo Quintiliani, president, Cardinal USA, who says reorders followed the cold weather East, starting in the Rocky Mountain states, then hitting the Midwest and finally the East Coast. 'What's happening is that the short coat has become a steady business. Both the 38- to 45-inch lengths were 60 percent of our initial bookings and the shorter length itself was a third of the business. It will end up at about a quarter of the season.'

He expects a repeat next season in a much broader range of fabrics to include more luxury as well as techno fabrics.

'It takes a little cold weather and the coat business is flying,' says an enthusiastic Joe Gordon, corporate senior vice-president, George Weintraub & Son. 'For a manufacturer like us with three different businesses -- suits, sport coats and topcoats, the mix we now have will help make up the shortfall we're finding in suits.'

Noting that 100 percent cashmere is 'on fire' in short and long coats, he says, 'We're not selling the wools we sold five years ago. There are many new blends, also techno fabrics, like bonded polyester microfibers, microfiber suedes, etc. These fabrics have put us into the outerwear business and we're also into leathers and suedes. We're in the total coat business and this includes raincoats.'

Robert Vignola, executive vice-president, wholesale, Burberry USA, says, 'Because of the new slimmer silhouette and shorter lengths, rainwear is now sportswear, especially in techno fabrics. The biggest development for us next fall will be the great expansion of our leathers and suedes as part of our growing made-in-ltaly London sportswear collection.'

Meanwhile, raincoat specialist Harvey Arfa, president of Gruner & Co., says the definition of his company has changed dramatically. 'Over the past year, short coats with more sporty details and special fashion features have gone through the roof. We once made two basic rainwear styles in one fabric and two colors.

'Today we have 35 fabrics ranging from cotton twill to high-tech bonded fabrics, wools and leathers. Our wool program has quadrupled and our new leather line looks very promising. And if this isn't enough, we add 15 new models every season to our DKNY line and the same number for Chaps.'

Barry Denn, chief creative director, Newport Harbor, says, 'Today you have to ask whether it's a topcoat, raincoat or outerwear. Rainwear has become outerwear and outerwear has become sportswear. That's where the market is. And to me, the fabric makes all the difference because there's a crossover. We have to provide a collection from blousons all the way down to 49-inch coats.

'And they're interchangeable. We're putting outerwear and topcoat fabrics into rainwear and vice versa. How about a rain blazer in water-repellent wool? Or a barn coat in a microfiber blend that's also a raincoat? Or a 40-inch Amaretta sueded bonded microfiber polyester topcoat?'

As far as Ralph DiBenedetto, executive vice-president, Crown Clothing, is concerned. 'Anything goes today when you're talking lengths, from 34-inch giaccones to cover a sport coat down to 45- and 48-inch coats. Now the 34-inch outerwear coat is sportswear and the 36-inch length in a water-repellent nylon is rainwear.'

Like many in the market, he feels the real challenge will be to give this growing mix of coats the right retail real estate. 'Does it belong in sportswear or in the clothing department? Most department stores are putting these coats between clothing and sportswear because clothing buyers are now treating them as a new all-inclusive classification that can stand on its own.'

Adds Saft at Jacob Siegel, 'For the most part, the tailored clothing buyer buys topcoats and rainwear, and then there's the combined sportswear and outerwear buyer. As the lines between the three get grayer, it will make sense for the store to have one buyer rather than several competing for the same customer.

Leather bombers fly out of stores. (sales of leather bomber jackets) - Daily News Record

NEW YORK -- Call it the comeback kid.

Despite all the confusion and predictions of doom and gloom -- and there's a lot of it out there in outerwear departments -- the leather bomber jacket has people talking again. And reordering. It even has some in a quandary.

'We are a fashion store, so I didn't want to buy the basic bomber at all this season,' said Ben Bublick, co-owner of and buyer for the family-owned The Hang Up Shoppes and The Man Alive, with 24 stores in Michigan.

'But some customers, apparently, still consider it fashion. It's been the real surprise this year. You just can't kill it,' said Bublick.

Many had predicted the demise of the bomber last year with the exception of discount stores, who had good runs with bombers last year. But the trend at discount stores has only pickep up steam this year. And, perhaps unexpectedly, this promotional style, along with zip-outs and toggle coats, is helping other retailers to put some shaky outerwear business on a firmer foundation.

Though generally not the rule, some stores have gone back into the market to look for reorders to bombers. 'We've been chasing around for the last month or so to try to get more bombers in,' said Tom Tomechko, outerwear buyer for Carlisle's, an 11-store chain based in Ashtabula, Ohio. 'That commodity is basically driving our business.'

Vendors claim they are already getting some '92 orders for bombers, and several said they had placed some quarter-million-dollar orders for bomber leathers last week.

Still, the outerwear market is on a consumer spending roller coaster. Two weeks ago, the weather was cold, and promotions worked well to loosen pockets. But last week, the weather warmed up again, and consumers stayed home, said retailers.

'You always feel that somehow, once the weather really turns cold, people will rush out to buy coats,' said Janet Franklin, a buyer for S & K Famous Brands, a 120-unit chain based in Richmond, Va.

Franklin said leather bombers had begun to do well, but that there were no clear indications to necessitate reorders at this point.

'With the new three-quarter-length jackets we have, I thought business would be better, but outerwear is still a major purchase, and I don't know if people are willing to spend that much. They are making do with last year's coats.'

Aside from leather, there are bright spots. S & K has also done well with wool bombers and lightweight outerwear and three-in-one jackets.

J.C. Penney, too, has begun to see some pockets of business. 'Sales have generally picked up over the past few weeks,' said Jeff Coate, outerwear buyer.

'We got a cold streak, and that pushed out business from some big losses to some small gains. Down parkas have started selling, zip-out basics have done well and wool has performed better, although that's still only a small percentage of the total,' said Coate.

'It's still a tough business, but at least I'm encouraged. If this trend continues, we should go from potential disaster to an okay year.'

Best sellers for other retailers include longer-length down-filled coats and anything in leather with a sports logo, said retailers.

And one store reported improved sales with a new type of outerwear -- the heavy sport jacket.

'We put money into sweater coats and blazers, and that added an additional boost to our outerwear department. We started off the season with these and added the coats later,' said Pat Scaccia, outerwear buyer at Bigsby & Kruthers. 'Short wool blousons have been doing well, and 3/4 lengths are good.

GREEN BAY MISSION SURPRISING SUCCESS THE PREDOMINANTLY WHITE REGION HAS EMBRACED REGGIE WHITE NOT ONLY AS A STAR FOOTBALL PLAYER, BUT ALSO AS AN IMPORTANT VOICE FROM THE BLACK COMMUNITY.(Sports) - The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI)

Three years ago, Reggie White was trying to decide what to do with the rest of his NFL life.

The Hall of Fame-bound defensive end was the crown jewel of the league's first true free-agency class and was being courted by nearly a dozen teams.

Owners wined and dined him. They flew him around on their private planes. One gave his wife a leather coat. They promised to make him rich beyond his wildest dreams.

But White insisted his decision wouldn't just be about money. The ordained Baptist minister, then 31, said he wanted to go someplace where he could win a Super Bowl. And he said he wanted to go someplace where he could serve the inner city.

He told us God ultimately would tell him where he was supposed to go. But when it turned out to be nearly all-white Green Bay, more than 90 miles from the nearest inner city, and a football team that had made just one playoff appearance in the last 25 years, well, it seemed as if White's wallet had spoken to him a lot louder than God.

The four-year, $17 million marriage with the Packers was greeted with heaping amounts of skepticism. But three years later, we are finding out that God works in very mysterious ways.

Since White's arrival, the Packers have earned three straight playoff invitations and are being picked by many preseason publications to make it to the Super Bowl this year.

Maybe even more remarkable than the Packers' turnaround has been the unique relationship that has developed between White and the people of Green Bay.

This predominantly white community has opened up its heart to this black man of God. When he speaks, they listen. And the subject seldom is football. He gets daily requests to preach. Not just in Green Bay's churches. But in its schools and in front of its civic organizations.

They have opened their wallet to him, too. When White's Inner City Church in Knoxville, Tenn., burned down earlier this year, Green Bay residents contributed more than $150,000 to help with the rebuilding.

``I've never been affected by a whole city and a whole state of people like I've been affected by the people of Green Bay and Wisconsin,'' said White, who broke down and wept at the news conference to announce the contributions.

``When I signed with the Packers, I didn't know what it was going to be like here. I didn't know exactly why I was here or what was going to happen here. Preaching up here . . . sometimes people don't want you preaching in schools. Organizations don't invite you because they know you're going to preach.

``Yet up here, non-Christian organizations have invited me to preach. They've invited me to go into schools and share my heart. And they're not offended by it.

``To me, it's like God said, `OK, Reggie. I'm going to send you to Green Bay. The reason I'm going to send you to Green Bay is because the people there are going to respond to you unlike anybody else ever will. They're going to respond to your vision. They're going to respond to the things that you say. They're not going to be sarcastic about it. They're going to believe what you say.' These people have touched me and (his wife) Sara. We feel like this is our home. We feel like this is our state. I feel like I've been treated better here than anywhere I've ever been.

``That's not meant to disparage the people of Philadelphia. When I got ready to leave there, thousands of people stood out in JFK Plaza and asked me to stay. But I've never felt that a whole state of people care about me like they do here.

``We love these people. And we're going to do things soon to show them how much we appreciate what they've done and the love they've shown.''

One thing White would like to do for them soon is win a Super Bowl. The Packers came close a year ago, winning the NFC Central Division title and making it to the NFC Championship Game before they were derailed by the Dallas Cowboys.

``This is the best chance we've had since I've been here,'' White said. ``Maybe it'll be the best chance we'll have for a while, I don't know.

``We did some things to help ourselves during the off-season. Now, it's just a matter of us just going and doing what we need to do. If (quarterback) Brett (Favre) plays the way he played last year (league most valuable player) and our defense is more consistent than it was last year, I think we'll win it all.''

White spent much of the off-season flying around the country trying to raise money to help rebuild the Inner City Church and the more than 50 other predominantly black churches in the South that have been destroyed by arson fires in the last two years.

Before the ICC fire, little national attention was paid to the church burnings. But White has changed that. He got the National Council of Churches involved. He accompanied national black leaders to Washington when they met with Attorney General Janet Reno about the fires.

He has appeared on talk shows to discuss the church fires and make appeals for contributions. He has tapped the NFL and its players. Through the NFL Players Association, he has asked his fellow players to contribute their dues rebate checks, which are about $5,000, to a fund to help rebuild the churches.

``Through NFL charities, the league gave $25,000,'' he said. ``I'm going to write the commissioner a letter soon about donating some more for some other churches. We probably won't start getting the money from most of the players until we start the season. But a lot of them are already coming to the plate. Brett already has given his $5,000. (White's friend and former Eagles teammate) Eric Allen gave his $5,000.''

Before the Olympics started, all of the members of the Dream Team agreed to donate the $15,000 they each would receive for winning the gold medal.

White wishes more prominent athletes and entertainers would help him raise money.

``I wish more would stand up and help,'' he said. ``The Dream Team has made a step toward that. But I wish more guys would be a voice, more people in leadership, both black and white, would be a voice for this cause.

``I need them to help come to the rescue now. I'm not going to be able to be as much of a voice now as I was during the off-season. I'm afraid that with me backing out because of the season, that things are going to slow down and it'll be another situation where America forgets. That's why I'm hoping that somebody can come and carry it on for me.''

Does he have anybody specific in mind?

``Somebody asked me if there was anybody I could think of in any profession that could be a voice, who would that be,'' White said. ``My first reaction was Charles Barkley. Charles will say what's on his mind. I talked to Charles before he left for the Olympics and was sharing a little bit of what was going on. I hope to talk with him about it more in the next few weeks.''

White's ability to galvanize support for rebuilding the churches has made it more apparent than ever that God's post-football plans for him likely will go beyond a local ministry.

There has been a void in black leadership since the death of Martin Luther King and many think White will be the man to eventually fill it.

Evangelist R.V. Brown has predicted White will become ``the black Billy Graham.''

``He is emerging as a national (black) voice,'' the Rev. Mac Charles Jones, of the National Council of Churches, recently told The Sporting News. ``He has the opportunity in the days to come to offer some bold leadership.''

Said White: ``To make a difference, you've got to be out in the forefront. I think God has thrust me in the forefront. He's spoken to me about what he wants me to do.

``I'm not interested in being a prominent figure for the purpose of being well-known. I'm more interested in seeing what I can do to help people, both black and white.

``My heart and my concerns are for people. I'm not interested in fighting other people's agendas. In some ways, I'm getting caught up in other people's loops, other people's mistakes. Because other people think I'm coming and trying to take something away from them.

``The only agenda I have is winning people to the kingdom and seeing people's lives change for Jesus.''

At 34, White isn't quite ready to put football in his rear-view mirror yet. He is entering the final year of his four-year contract, but hopes to sign a three-year extension sometime this month.

Despite his advancing age, he sees no reason that he shouldn't be able to match or surpass his 12 1/2 -sack total of last season.

DEPARTED XFL DIDN'T DELIVER SLEAZE OR SIZZLE.(SPORTS) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: PAUL FARHI Washington Post

The demise of the XFL will undoubtedly be hailed by some as a small victory against the lapping tide of vulgarity. This was, after all, supposed to be professional football dressed up as coochie show, engineered to touch the inner mook in every male over the age of 12. Columnist George Will dourly predicted, back in January, that the much-hyped league presaged ``a further coarsening of the culture.''

But the failure of the XFL teaches the opposite lesson: It wasn't sleazy enough.

League founder Vince McMahon, who made a fortune shredding the envelope of good taste, promised that the new league would offer copious bad behavior and general rudeness. Certainly, McMahon's instincts for pandering to the overheated passions of 14-year-old boys -- effectively, the XFL's core viewer -- were not in question. He had perfected the formula at the World Wrestling Federation, whose oiled behemoths and scantily clad amazons were the natural analogues of the XFL's running backs and cheerleaders.

So McMahon promised gladiatorial spectacle. He promised babe-gawking. He called the NFL an ``over-regulated, antiseptic league'' populated by a bunch of ``pantywaists.'' The XFL, he declared, would be different: ``When the quarterback fumbles or the wideout drops a pass, and we know who he's dating, I want our reporters right back in her face on the sidelines demanding to know whether the two of them did the wild thing last night.''

If polite opinion was outraged, so much the better. In marketing, this is known as ``segmentation,'' zeroing in on your potential customers by driving off everyone else.

In practice, however, the XFL never was able to shoot low enough. There were no soap-opera story lines, no off-field intrigues. During sideline interviews, the XFL's players had little of interest to say. (``It felt good. It felt real good,'' was as much insight as most players could muster.) The ``all-access'' cameras in the teams' locker rooms -- an interesting innovation, in theory -- proved rather dull as well.

The players and coaches, serious professionals all, eventually seemed to resent McMahon and NBC's belabored efforts to transform them into ``characters.'' The most interesting and honest of these sideline encounters occurred in the third week of the season when Rusty Tillman, a former NFL assistant coach turned XFL head coach, wheeled on a pesky cameraman and barked, ``Get outta my face!''

As for the cheerleaders, they quickly became irrelevant. Blame it on the leather trench coats. Even McMahon wasn't cruel enough to make his writhing babes strip to their hot pants and push-up bras in the dead of February in Chicago. Even revealed in all their glory, they weren't showing anything the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders haven't for 20 years.

With all the attitude and peripheral embroidery a weak imitation of professional wrestling, the XFL was stuck with being a football league. And a surprisingly plodding football league at that.

Despite incessantly promoting its own violence -- Jesse Ventura, the moonlighting Minnesota governor who served as an XFL color commentator, was especially eager to do so -- the bone-breaking quotient of XFL games proved a good deal less than the NFL's. It actually had to be -- the XFL's players were smaller and slower than the NFL's, and by definition weren't athletic enough (or maniacal enough) to make an NFL team.

The XFL's announcers (Ventura again) tried to mask this by stressing the league's quirky rules, such as a prohibition on fair catches. What they didn't mention as often is that these rules actually worked against excessive contact. The ``no fair catch'' rule promoted long runbacks instead of disabling tackles because the kicking team was required to give the punt returner a 5-yard ``halo'' in which to field the ball. Similarly, the XFL allowed pass defenders to ``bump'' the receiver in the open field -- until McMahon and NBC realized that this all but eliminated the kind of offensive fireworks that football fans love.

Turin landmark makes moviegoing an extreme sport - Chicago Sun-Times

TURIN, Italy -- Inside the Mole Antonelliana, the city's biggestlandmark, the Museo Nazionale del Cinema offers one bizarreexperience after another.

Watch David Lynch's 'Eraserhead' from a toilet seat. Stare up atromantic classics such as 'Dr. Zhivago' -- or the treacly 'LoveStory' -- while reclined on a red chaise.

Included in the price of admission (about $10) is the chance tostar in 'The Matrix,' smack in the middle of Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as they do that very smooth, slow-motion, too-cool-for-words strut.

Granted, it's not Olympic downhill, but while the Winter Games aregoing on across this northwest city and in the Alps behind it, thereare plenty of tourists looking for a little non-sports culture.

The National Cinema Museum leaves patrons awe-struck over itsgorgeous architecture, luminous lighting and six floors ofhistorical, visual innovations from shadow puppets to Sophia Loren.

The entire experience is a bit like lying on your couch andfinding yourself plopped into the middle of a Federico Fellini movie.

He's here, too. Laminated copies of scripts from his movies occupyone exhibit. Photographs of Fellini taken on various sets areseemingly everywhere. There is an entire shelf of videos for sale inthe gift shop, from Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in 'LaDolce Vita,' to '8oe,' with the aforementioned Italian leading manand French co-star Anouk Aimee.

In the museum, there are more than 9,000 artifacts -- anappropriately impressive collection for a city that is the birthplaceof Italian moviemaking. But a lot more fun than simply looking atthings are the interactive shows.

Like being able to walk into 'The Matrix,' thanks to a videocamera that superimposes your image onto a movie screen, where it isflanked by Neo and Trinity in all their black-shades-and-black-leather-duster-coats glory.

On a recent afternoon, a young Italian man donned sunglasses, benthis knees, wiggled his hips and tried to mimic Reeves.

His girlfriend doubled over with laughter, then dutifully held upa cell phone camera to take his photo.

Up next were two young French boys whose heads barely reached theknees of Moss and Reeves. The children scrunched their faces, squaredtheir shoulders and did their best to seem tough. Then they collapsedin a giggling heap.

There's also a lot of memorabilia, including props, film camerasand an ample black bustier worn by Marilyn Monroe in several films,next to a Mexican-silver-and-abalone bracelet inscribed 'To Marilyn.Love, Frank.'

Frank who? Visitors aren't told.

The headscarf and flowing muslin caftan worn by Peter O'Toole in'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962) is mounted behind glass, with a quotefrom the actor on its comfort: 'I practically turned into atransvestite! I thought I'd end up running around in a nightie forthe rest of my days!'

Particularly striking is the 'Bombetta di Charles Chaplin,' ablack felt bowler with a frayed satin headband that came from actressGloria Swanson, who claimed that the diminutive genius gave it to herhimself.

At 549 feet, the Mole Antonelliana is Europe's tallest brick-and-iron building. Inside is a central courtyard with five mezzaninesringed by solid wood banisters. Sounds bounce from points along thevaulted walls -- the unmistakable nasality of Woody Allen's voice;the clacking of a screenwriter's typewriter; Orson Welles whispering'Rosebud.'

A succession of video monitors display scenes from some of thebest-known films in movie history.

On one, Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara flounces up Tara's grandstaircase while Clark Gable's Rhett Butler stares without shame atthe backside of her hoop skirt; on another, Humphrey Bogart tells animpossibly beautiful and dewy-eyed Ingrid Bergman that their littleproblems don't add up to a hill of beans in German-occupiedCasablanca. Besides, they always will have Paris.

Mole Antonelliana -- literally, Antonelli's Vast Structure -- wascommissioned in 1862 by Jewish scholars as a synagogue. ArchitectAllessandro Antonelli proposed a very big and very extravagant, houseof worship. Six years later, with the structure not even half-done,he ran out of money. Ten years after that, he finally persuaded cityelders to let him finish.

By then, it was well on its way to becoming a white elephant, anduncertainty abounded about the building's stability because of thearchitect's reputation for eccentricity and cutting corners.

For most of the 1900s, it was ignored. In 2000, after a massiverenovation, the cinema museum, the only one of its kind in Italy,moved in.

Its new home is breathtaking. A glass elevator pierces theinternal courtyard. Sleek, black pulleys raise it to the rafters,then gently drop it back.

Another glass lift takes visitors all the way to the top of thedome's spire, which affords a 360-degree view of the city and thestunning Alps that backdrop it.

Lavinia Farnesi is a volunteer with the International OlympicCommittee and attends college in Milan. Her college friend, SalvatoreVinci, also is a volunteer and she has accompanied him to the museumbecause he wants, more than anything, to be a film director. LikeFellini.

'For me, cinema is everything. Inventing stories is ...'

He wrings his hands, struggling to find the perfect description.He settles on 'wonderful.'

How do they like the museum?

'Very, very nice,' he says.

How about the toilets?

Long pause.