Boz Poster Still A Hit With Fans

Hollywood star Brian Bosworth may be washed up as a football player, a rebel without a Boz, but his fantasy poster continues to sell, more than a year after the Seattle Seahawk linebacker last played.

``We get requests, believe it or not,'' said Bob Porter, vice president of licensing at Costacos Bros., the Seattle company that produced the ``Land of Boz'' creation. ``We've gotten down to the point where we're pretty much sold out.''

Porter said the last wholesale order was received in July, when Bosworth officially retired from the NFL after failing a physical on his arthritic shoulders. But the poster should remain available on retail shelves for at least another six months to a year, he said.

The Bosworth edition, with about 400,000 sold, ranks near the top of the Costacos best-seller list, ahead of such posters as that for Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan and the Griffeys.

Costocos plans to save the final inventory of 1,000 copies. Said Porter: ``For when he makes that comeback.''

LAND OF RUFE?

-- In the first days after buying the Seahawks two years ago, Ken Behring beamed at the mention of Bosworth. In Bosworth's absence, who's the owner's favorite Seahawk? Behring wasn't saying as much, but in a recent conversation about Cortez Kennedy he brightened upon raising the name of another demonstrative linebacker.

``I'd love to have 20 Rufus Porters,'' Behring said. ``His spirit - he comes out and man, grabs you, gives you the sign. It's just that sort of thing that becomes contagious.''

BEHRING: FUTURE CAN WAIT

-- Behring seems to have adjusted his thinking in a variety of ways since becoming owner. Once enamored with the immediate prospects of the Seahawks, he now speaks more in the long-term about a club trying to climb back into the NFL elite.

Much has been made about the Seahawks' inexperience, with nine first-year players on the opening-day active roster. They are not the youngest team in the league, with Indianapolis (13), New Orleans (11), the New York Jets (11), Cleveland (10), New England (10), San Diego (10) and Tampa Bay (10) each having more first-year players.

But Behring backed the assertions of Chuck Knox and Tom Flores that the Seahawks are a young team and on the right track, with four rookies getting significant playing time: defensive tackles Kennedy and Eric Hayes, safety Robert Blackmon, and linebacker Terry Wooden.

``They're not making any more mistakes than we thought they would, and that means maybe we've got a future,'' Behring said. ``If we can have a draft next year like we had last year . . . we had so many holes to fill that we couldn't do it all in one year.''

LT FOR COMMISSIONER

-- Worried that Lawrence Taylor will ravage his Washington Redskins offense, Joe Gibbs pleaded with New York writers in a teleconference this week to print that he absolutely, positively considers Taylor ``the best single player we've faced.''

Can't have LT mad for today's game. Gibbs was trying to distance himself from an article in the Washington Times that noted how Taylor had one tackle in the New York Giants' 20-17 victory against the Redskins last season.

Said Gibbs, to a mystified writers' group: ``It's embarrassing to us and probably to Taylor for something like that to be written by somebody who obviously doesn't know much about football.

``To insinuate that anyone has found an answer for Lawrence Taylor, I want to make it very plain and I hope you guys print it.''

Paranoid as usual during Giants week, Gibbs also instructed staff members to patrol the bushes around the Redskins' practice field. Fans who approached the fence at the front of the park were escorted along.

AND SO NO ONE FORGETS . . .

-- From Minnesota General Manager Mike Lynn, who a year and two days ago made this statement: ``If we don't get to the Super Bowl while Herschel Walker is a member of the Minnesota Vikings, then we have not made a good trade.''

The Vikings are 8-8 with Walker, 1-4 this year. They were 11-5 in the 16 games previous to the trade with Dallas, which gained eight draft picks and five players in the deal.

Walker, in the final year of his contract, has not rushed for more than 89 yards in any game since his Minnesota debut. The Vikings, who gave away their top two draft picks in 1990, 1991 and 1992, do not have a first-round pick until 1993.

Says Lynn now: ``Sometimes you give up too much; sometimes you give up too little.''

UNHAPPY HUNTING

-- The word is out on Patrick Hunter. The Seahawk cornerback, who has one interception in five years and none since 1987, appeared antsy for No. 2 on game films the New England Patriots reviewed before last week's game. So Marc Wilson went long to Hart Lee Dykes for a 35-yard touchdown.

``The guy (Hunter) was jumping at a lot of underneath stuff,'' Dykes said. ``In the right situation we figured we could get the long ball. He bit on it, Marc laid it out and I was able to go get it.''

THE LOSS HURT

-- The dark side of Broncomania continues to open eyes and shut a few as well. Bothered by two drunken Denver fans last Monday at Mile High Stadium, a woman sprayed mace in the faces of the belligerent duo and another dozen or so innocent bystanders.

Meanwhile, in suburban Aurora, police arrested a man so distraught by the Broncos' 30-29 loss to Cleveland that he pointed a rifle at his wife, fired the weapon in his backyard, and held a four-hour standoff with a SWAT team. Lloyd Vincent Jenkins, 27, was jailed under $3,000 bond for investigation of felony menacing.

A police spokesman said authorities talked by telephone with Jenkins during the standoff, but did not raise the issue of the game.

DECORATING IN GREEN

-- So you've got a stadium and want to invite guests over, but just haven't gotten around to fixing it up. Call your local dome! With county approval of the $2.56-million project to re-carpet the Kingdome with separate artificial turfs for football and baseball, folks at the sweat palace have put the 120,000 square feet of old Astroturf up for sale.

Installation begins this month on the new baseball turf, and in the spring on the retractable, harder football surface. The Seahawks and Mariners had shared a single carpet since the Kingdome opened.

``Anyone interested can contact the Kingdome,'' said Carol Keaton, spokesperson for the stadium. ``We would like to sell the big pieces first.''

Tom Farrey covers the NFL and Seattle Seahawks for The Times. Some of the information was obtained from reporters around the country.