Little Beloit College isn't about to be intimidated by the NFL.

The league sent a letter to Beloit President Victor Ferrall asking the Wisconsin school to change its team logo after NFL officials noticed it looks a lot like the logo belonging to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

No way, Ferrall replied, saying that Beloit, which has fewer students (1,200) than the NFL has players, plans to stick with its plucky pirate.

Athletic Director Ed DeGeorge said Beloit's Buccaneers have used the logo since the early 1980s, when he chose it from a book while ordering decals for the football team's helmets. The NFL's Buccaneers joined the league in 1976.

"I wasn't really paying any attention," DeGeorge said. "My view is that there are a lot of problems in the world, and this isn't one of them."

Still pretty

Parkinson's syndrome has slowed Muhammad Ali, but the former heavyweight champion called his illness "a blessing."

"I always liked to chase the girls," he says in the Jan. 13 issue of People magazine. "Parkinson's stops all that. Now I might have a chance to go to heaven."

His illness has left Ali, 55, with slurred speech and has slowed his movement. But it hasn't robbed him of his wit. When asked what his plans are for the future, Ali, a Muslim, said:

"Go to Mecca, pray five times a day and stay pretty."

Almost-magic touch

The Florida Panthers were honored when the Los Angeles Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal, at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., to get treatment on his sprained ankle, visited their locker room last Saturday and wished them luck. It must have worked - they trounced the L.A. Kings 5-0.

"He Kazaamed us," Florida goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck said. Asked if he returned the favor by giving O'Neal any advice on free-throw shooting, the 5-foot-8 Vanbiesbrouck laughed and said: "He palmed my head."

They said it

-- Ron Wolf, general manager, Green Bay Packers, on the upstart Carolina Panthers' rapid rise through the NFL ranks: "A person should crawl before they walk. They didn't even have to walk. They're strutting."

-- Sean Jones, Green Bay defensive end, on his desire to make it to the Super Bowl: "Next to God and family, it would mean everything. Those are probably the three most important things in my life right now. And depending on the day of the week, the order changes."

-- Henry Bibby, USC basketball coach, when asked about high-school recruiting: "We're not just competing against colleges, but we're also competing against the NBA for the top kids."

-- Dale Brown, who recently announced his retirement effective at season end as LSU men's basketball coach: "Retirement can either be a rocking chair or a launching pad. I choose the launching pad."

-- Marvin Washington, New York Jets, reflecting on the team's 1-15 season: "It's hard to imagine. It's even harder to go through. It was a long season in October, so you can imagine what it was like in November and December."

Compiled by Chuck Ashmun, Seattle Times