And leave the sloganeering to us:Our plea...

And leave the sloganeering to us:

Our plea for readers to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority find a more creative motto than its dull new “Travel Smart--Take Metro” theme is off to an encouraging start.

Some early returns:

* “MTA: Taking All of L.A. For a Ride for Years” (Dr. Marvin Silverman).

* “Don’t Be a Retro--Ride the Metro” (David Burkhart)

* “MTA: We’ll Probably Get You There” (Gary Bolen)

* “You Know Where to Take Metro, Don’t You?” (Phil Soinski)

* “What’s Your Hurry? Take the Metro” (Bill Shannon)

Finally, there was Bill Taylor’s Indiana Jones-type theme:

“MTA = More Terrifying Adventures.”

And you know what? Unlike the MTA, we didn’t have to put together a $700,000 ad campaign to come up with those snappy slogans.

IF ONLY IT WERE A PLANE TICKET: When Hillary Atkin of Santa Monica went to see the movie “Leaving Las Vegas,” she noticed that the abbreviated title on her ticket contained another suggestion--one that many Angelenos probably entertained during Tuesday’s downpour (see accompanying).

YOU THINK MUDSLIDES ARE DANGEROUS . . . : It’s bad enough to be stalled on rain-slick roadways. But drivers on the Artesia Freeway also were greeted by another substance Tuesday: a spilled load of steer manure.

JUMPING THE GUN: When we said the L.A. Marathon is this Sunday, that was bull, too. It’s actually two Sundays from now, on March 3. One more false date and we’ll be disqualified from doing any Marathon items.

SOUNDS OF SPRING: A Long Beach State baseball player made contact with a pitch and broke his bat during a game at Blair Field the other night. Players and batboys gathered around to look at the damage. After all, it’s not every day that an aluminum bat breaks in half.

Seems a bit early in the season for metal fatigue, doesn’t it?

WE’D RATHER NOT KNOW: Ever notice (we ask you in our best Andy Rooney voice) how scary the emergency procedures notices are on some conveyances? Here are two that we jotted down.

* On the Metro Red Line subway: “Do not take wheelchairs, strollers, bicycles or other bulky items into the tunnel when evacuating the train.” (It’s the evacuating-into-the-tunnel part that makes us nervous.)

* On many L.A. elevators: “Stay calm [in the event of a stoppage]. There is little danger of car dropping uncontrollably or running out of air.”

Running out of air? We hadn’t even thought of that.

miscelLAny While on vacation in a city outside Southern California, Jody Fox was undecided where to eat. He narrowed it down to three restaurants: Planet Hollywood, Frisco Bay and Chicago Pizza Pie Factory. And what Americanized city was he visiting? Paris, France.