Watercooler Stories

DAVID LETTERMAN EXPRESSWAY? NOT YET

For some time comedian David Letterman has been using his late-night pulpit to jokingly lobby for the naming of a major highway in his honor in his native Indiana. To be more specific, he thinks Interstate 465 in Indianapolis should be renamed the David Letterman Expressway. That would be a funny naming, since I-465 runs in a circle and essentially goes nowhere.

Now comes word the Indianapolis suburb of Lawrence has taken Letterman's suggestion to heart, renaming a suburban street as David Drive.

The street, formerly part of 59th Street, will be renamed in a section between Brooks Boulevard to Fort Harrison.

What that means is that the old intersection of Letterman Road and 59th Street will now be the corner of David and Letterman.

The intersection technically is within the confines of Fort Benjamin Harrison, a sprawling facility on the northeast side of Indianapolis. Letterman Road was named for a military hospital in San Francisco. And because there are no businesses nearby, no one will have to change their yellow pages ad with the naming of David Drive.

By the way, if you follow David Drive east from its intersection with Letterman Road you run into a fence.

ANOTHER UNIVERSITY PUT ON PROBATION

The NCAA says it has put the football program at the University of Colorado's main campus in Boulder on two years of probation. The reason, as reported on the NCAA's Web site, was recurring recruiting violations under a former coach, Rick Neuheisel.

The school will now be faced with deep cuts in scholarships. Additionally, the school submitted its own plan of self-imposed recruiting limits. Under the new plan, the school will reduce the number of visits by recruiters to prospective students from 61 to 51 per year.

Additionally, Neuheisel -- who is now the head coach at Washington -- has been barred from making off-campus recruiting trips until next summer for his new school.

In making the announcement, the national collegiate sports-governing body noted that Colorado did not properly monitor its sports staff to make sure that coaches and recruiters were adhering to national guidelines.

PLAYOFFS CAUSE TRAFFIC MESSES

Partly because of new concerns about security and partly because of an expected huge turnout, the city of Minneapolis has declared a huge no-drive zone around the Metrodome during league championship games.

In a plan presented to local media and explained in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, a wide buffer zone has been arranged. The plan is similar to new NFL restrictions on traffic around stadiums -- for fear of a truck bomber entering the congested area near arenas.

The rules will be in effect until one hour after the conclusion of each game.

The publication says that other similar closings of streets, though, have had a positive effect ... allowing people to get out of the stadium in an orderly fashion after games and more quickly clear parking lots and get home.

COLORADO OFFERED INCLUSIVE LONG DISTANCE

Phone users in Colorado have become the latest in the nation to be offered a plan that would replace per-minute in-state long distance rates with a flat monthly all-inclusive rate. The suggestion from Qwest, though, has many consumer advocates up in arms.

It could be months before the state's consumer regulatory board votes on the proposal, but the Denver Post says that some claim that people who use very little intrastate long distance would be penalized because they would have to join a program that would benefit people who are on the phone all the time.

Meanwhile, some members of state government have gone on record as saying they think the proposal is a bad idea for consumers, particularly elderly ones.

The situation is made complicated by the fact that several phone companies are now vying for business and, although they are in direct competition, have to interact with each other in order to switch calls from city to city within Colorado.