Marketing Is a Dangerous Thing . . .

Someone called authorities Thursday after seeing a boy carrying something long and wrapped to Marshall Junior High of Clovis, New Mexico. The call prompted police to put armed officers on rooftops, close nearby streets and lock down the school. The drama ended two hours later when the suspicious item was identified as a 30-inch burrito filled with steak, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and jalapenos and wrapped inside tin foil and a white T-shirt.

In the meantime, more than 30 parents, alerted by a radio report, descended on the school. Visibly shaken, they gathered around in a semi-circle, straining their necks, awaiting news. After the lockdown was lifted but before the burrito was identified as the culprit, 75 students were pulled out of school.

The burrito was part of an extra-credit assignment to create commercial advertising for a product.


. . . And This Differs From A Typical Dinner Date How? . . .

A Rhode Island man solicited sex from an undercover officer Thursday night by offering a steak. The man, who works at a meat company, tried to strike a deal with the undercover officer. He didn't have any money, but he had a couple of nice T-bones sitting at home. He was arrested and pleaded innocent Friday in Providence District Court to a count of soliciting from a motor vehicle. He was released on personal recognizance.


It’ll Be a Travesty If He’s Suspended for This . . .

Antoine Walker of the Boston Celtics was questioned by NBA vice president Stu Jackson on Friday for grabbing a referee during an angry confrontation with Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal. Walker, who had 14 points and nine rebounds, was ejected following his second technical Thursday night after a hard foul on O'Neal with just over four minutes to go. O'Neal shoved Walker in the chest and grabbed his jersey, but no punches were thrown. During the confrontation, Walker grabbed referee Tom Washington by the arm in an attempt to move him out of the way.


Oh, Boy! More Football! . . .

Beginning in 2006, major college football teams will be allowed to play a 12-game regular-season schedule, the N.C.A.A. Division I board of directors decided yesterday. Although the proposal to add an additional game to the football schedule had been criticized for its potential to increase the cost of major college football, the N.C.A.A. president, Myles Brand, said the board's action should not be misinterpreted.

"I don't see it as a defeat, and I don't see it as a solution," Brand said in a conference call. "The season is not being elongated. The 12th game takes up a bye week."

Division I-A teams currently play 11 regular-season games, except in years when there are 14 Saturdays from the first permissible playing date through the last playing date in November. Teams were allowed to play 12 games in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, but until the N.C.A.A. legislation was approved by the board yesterday, they would not have been able to play 12 games again for several years.

The Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics came out against a 12th regular-season game before the board vote, as did the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, an alliance of faculty senates at major universities. "We have no evidence of the purported negative academic consequences of a 12th game," Brand said.