Is There Any Gump-tion When It Comes to Fictional Heroes?

He is a favorite of millions of Alabama fans after scoring a big touchdown against rival Tennessee all those years ago. Who cares that he doesn’t exist.

Crimson Tide officials have spent hours answering questions about former football hero Forrest Gump, who according to the hit movie of the same name, played under Coach Paul (Bear) Bryant.

“We’ve had several people--more than several, really--call and ask,” sports information director Larry White said. “And this summer, while I was speaking to a number of alumni groups, it was the first question I got at several stops.”

Coach Gene Stallings was an assistant under Bryant about the same time Gump was supposed to have played for Alabama. Not long ago, the no-nonsense Stallings was asked about the nonexistent Gump.

“I wish we had him this year,” Stallings said.

Trivia time: Who is Carroll Hardy?

Oh, the shark bites: Last season, the San Jose Sharks were allowed to use San Jose Airport eight times after it had closed, for late-night/early-morning charter departures. Now, city officials want to grant the team and other users of the downtown arena a formal exemption to the curfew.

Not so fast.

“We like the Sharks as much as anybody,” said Russ McBrien, a leader of the watchdog group Citizens Against Airport Pollution. “The issue for us is, why do they have to disappear in the middle of the night? If the Sharks need to get out of town, they can catch a cab to (airports in) San Francisco or Oakland.”

Home and road teams that use charter flights like to leave immediately after games so they can get to the next city as soon as possible. That way they don’t have to wake up first thing in the morning, travel and then play.

Buffalo chips: Guess who’s talking about going to the Super Bowl again? The news is good this time, though. Fans in Buffalo aren’t even worried anymore about winning there.

“Everybody else is saying, ‘Oh, no, not the Bills again. Anybody but them.’ But I’ve got news. . . . We’re back,” said Ken Hyndes, a Bill fan from the Buffalo suburb of West Seneca. “I want that bonus game at the end of the season again. I don’t care if we win it or lose it.”

Said Arthur Lupia of San Diego, a Buffalo native and Bill fan: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try again.”

Trivia answer: Hardy was a career .225 hitter who on May 18, 1958, became the only person to pinch-hit for Ted Williams in the major leagues.

Quotebook: Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, on Karch Kiraly falling off the victory stand after teaming with Kent Steffes to win a volleyball championship: “Thus becoming the first athlete in history to celebrate by spiking himself.”