Signs Of The Apocalypse

JANUARY 24, 1994

To prove she was tougher than the Houston Oilers and their brawling assistant coach Buddy Ryan, Chiefs fan Chris Russert challenged anyone at her engagement party to trade punches. Lee Walters took the dare and knocked her back with a punch to the cheek. She then broke his nose. Walters is her fianc�.

APRIL 4, 1994

In response to scuffles between opposing players at several recent high school basketball games, the Marmonte League in Southern California has outlawed postgame handshakes.

JUNE 6, 1994

After a 40-year-old woman marathoner was killed by a mountain lion in the Sierra Nevada foothills in April and the lion was later shot by wildlife authorities, a fund for the cat's cub had raised, as of last week, $21,000 ... while a fund for the woman's two children had raised only $9,000.

JANUARY 23, 1995

A man in Troy, N.Y., has received a U.S. patent for a table- or wall-mounted mechanical arm designed to give a sports fan watching a game alone on television a high five after an exciting play.

MARCH 6, 1995

Twenty-six cheerleaders at Stratford High in Goose Creek, S.C., took part in an intrasquad shoplifting contest while they were in Florida for a cheerleading competition.