[SoCal Pubbie]

Maybe. But I guess it might also be a misprint. I looked closely, and it looks exactly like the number 8 printed elsewhere. Hard to believe a smear loops down and up just like the curves of the number eight.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

But I guess it might also be a misprint.

Could be. They turn "Banta" into "Santa" later in the story. The AP writer must have had something besides football on his mind. Acutally I'm surprised at the number of typos I find in the Times. I would have guessed their world-class proofreaders would detect all but a small portion of errors. Not so.