Now They Wish She Would Drop This Lawsuit

A woman who won a chance to catch footballs in Dr Pepper’s “Pepper Punt Payoff� at last year’s Big 12 championship game is suing the soda maker, alleging the balls were uncatchable.

Marlene Hoffman has filed suit in Austin, Texas, asking that the Dr Pepper Company pay $1 million, because footballs she was supposed to catch during halftime of the Texas A&M-Kansas; State game fell short of the 50-yard line.

Hoffman could have won $1 million for catching all three balls, launched from a machine that simulates punts, $250,000 for catching two and $50,000 for one.

“In the original contract she signed, it was stated the balls would land in the general vicinity of the 50-yard line,� the suit states. “At the rehearsal the day before, they got more specific and said she could expect the punts to terminate at the 50.�

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Add Pepper: Standing at the 50-yard line during the contest, Hoffman missed the first three balls that landed at the 44, 45 and 42. A fourth ball was launched and Hoffman caught it for $50,000.

“Dr Pepper gratuitously paid $50,000 to Marlene Hoffman in hope of appeasing her and the presumably skeptical public,� the suit says.

Mike Martin, a spokesman for the company, told the Austin American-Statesman, “About all I can share with you is that after the game we reviewed all aspects of what had taken place, and everything that took place on the field was within the parameters of the contest rules.�

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Trivia time Which are the only four NFL teams to have won 100 games in the 1990s?

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What about “Up With People?� Tina Turner will sing one of her best-known songs and a new cut as she helps kick off the Super Bowl in Atlanta next month.

In an interview with Hitmakers magazine, Turner said she will perform “Proud Mary� and “When the Heartache Is Over� during pregame festivities Jan. 30.

“I can’t play to America without performing ‘Proud Mary,’ of course,� Turner said. “It’s an affair with the fans and I think it’s good for those two songs to be played there, so I’m happy about it.�

Country star Travis Tritt, a Georgia native, also will perform during the pregame ceremonies. The NFL has yet to announce the halftime lineup. The league’s director of special events, Jim Steeg, said that pop group N’Sync has withdrawn from the halftime show because of a pending lawsuit.

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A real power forward: Julius Peppers looks out of place in a basketball uniform, but his football-player physique doesn’t hold him back on the court.

Peppers, a 6-foot-6, 280-pound defensive end on North Carolina’s football team, came off the bench to score seven points and grab four rebounds as the seventh-ranked Tar Heels beat Tennessee Tech on Sunday, 85-59.

“Julius Peppers is a very good athlete and very quick,� Tar Heel Coach Bill Guthridge said. “I think he’s very intelligent. He’s picked up things a lot faster than I thought he would.�

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Trivia answer: San Francisco, 113; Kansas City, 101; Buffalo and Dallas, 100 each.

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And finally: Philadelphia Flyer Coach Roger Neilson, after telling his boss, Bob Clarke, he must begin chemotherapy for bone marrow cancer: “If this treatment doesn’t work out, well, wherever I go it’s got to be better than Philadelphia.�