– On the go: Bo Jackson took time from his 0-for-7 start with the White Sox to be in a Nike shoot Wednesday in Oprah Winfrey`s Harpo Studio. The piece he filmed there will be used later in a larger project for the shoe company.
– Narrow escape: Plans for the 10-team Professional Spring Football League will be announced in early October. Chicago was to be part of the picture, according to a league spokesman in New Jersey, but now it doesn`t appear we`ll have a team. The PSFL`s Ed Vallenbergs said attempts to secure a location in Soldier Field or Comiskey Park had failed. He said Soldier Field wouldn`t be available because of soccer commitments. White Sox officials told him a football field wasn`t feasible for their facility. When asked whether Northwestern`s Dyche Stadium was a possibility (it isn`t), Vallenbergs wanted to know whether Evanston was close to Chicago. (This league already could be in trouble.)
– Planning ahead: Good news for Cubs manager Jim Essian. He made the cut. Essian`s on the preliminary list of guests just released for the seventh annual Cubs Convention Feb. 7-9 in the Hilton & Towers. Shawon Dunston isn`t. Harry Caray will be honorary chairman.
– On the record 1: The muddled Olympic basketball picture (Will Michael Jordan play? Can Isiah Thomas and Jordan co-exist? Can the USOC afford to keep Chuck Daly in new suits?) will sort itself out as the Games approach. That`s the prediction of Pan Am coach Gene Keady. ”I think patriotism will win out,”
said Keady, who spoke Wednesday at a Purdue Club of Chicago luncheon. ”I think you`ll see all the big names there in the end. But I wouldn`t be surprised if someday you don`t see the whole format back to all college players. I mean, how do you deal with a player making $2 million who might break a foot? That`s a tough nut to crack.”
– On the record 2: Keady was making his first appearance in Chicago since coaching the U.S. to a bronze medal in the Pan Ams. The Boilermakers coach also had scheduling news for alumni: Purdue will be playing an exhibition game this season against the same Cuban nationals he coached against in Havana.
”It was scheduled before the Pan Ams,” he said. Keady also hinted that the Big 10 school could be closer to renewing a series with Notre Dame. The two schools, only 90 minutes or so apart, haven`t met in basketball since 1966. Said Gene: ”I have an assistant assigned to write Notre Dame every year for a game. He`ll do it again. I think maybe this year, with the new man (John MacLeod) in there, they might say yes.”
– New recruit: De Paul basketball coach Joey Meyer has been named to the advisory board of the Sporting Club at Illinois Center. It`s part of a tradeoff arrangement between the club and the university, according to a club spokesman. Maybe Meyer will have advice on how the facility can recover from the Chapter 11 it just filed.
– Real pressure: Too bad Miami of Ohio and Ball State couldn`t have tied when they played each other last week. Redskins coach Randy Walker, a former Northwestern assistant, and Cardinals coach Paul Schudel are Miami grads. Watching the game that day in Oxford, Ohio, were Weeb Ewbank, John Pont, Ara Parseghian and Bo Schembechler-all former Miami coaches. The Redskins won 15-7.
– Short stops: Ex-Bulls great Bob Love, noting that the Nordstrom department store chain that employs him will be opening a second store here, is hinting he could be moving back to Chicago from Seattle. Love is a guest on Post-Newsweek Cable`s ”Teresa Gordon Show” Thursday night. He talks with Gordon about overcoming a speech impediment that prevented him from making such appearances as a player. . . One angle to Saturday`s Indiana-Notre Dame game: Maybe the outcome will decide which coach, Bill Mallory or Lou Holtz, gets first dibs on John Cooper`s job at Ohio State. Both Mallory and Holtz have deep Ohio roots. . . The A.C. Nielsen Co. regularly will measure out-of- home TV football viewers this season. The NFL wants to learn-and you get three guesses why-how substantial audiences are in hotels, restaurants, sports bars, etc. In a special 1988 survey, an estimated 2.7 million extra viewers were found for a Bears-49ers game on Monday night.
– Better ideas: Wonder if Bill Wirtz has second thoughts about bringing the Canada Cup to the Stadium. The games promise to be first-rate action, but fans aren`t exactly breaking down the doors. The advance ticket sale for Saturday`s date with the Soviet Union is about 9,000. It`s 6,000 for Monday`s game with Team Finland. Team Czechoslovakia might`ve been a better draw than the Finns. For one thing, there`s a sizable, loyal Czech population in the west suburbs. For another, Blackhawks goalie Dominik Hasek, a Czech, is on the team. Of course, maybe we`d have more hockey fans in Chicago if there were games on free TV.
