BLUE JACKETS APPAREL SET TO BUZZ INTO STORES ON TUESDAY

          NHL Creative Dir David Haney said that he "is aware
     that central Ohioans are having a hard time accepting the
     name" Blue Jackets for Columbus' new NHL team that will
     start play in 2000, according to Steve Wright of the
     COLUMBUS DISPATCH.  Haney, on the name: "It came down to
     some kind of terrific-looking bug that had all this
     ingenuity, was fast, industrious -- all these great
     attributes. ...[I]t's a near cousin to the famous
     yellowjacket."  Team officials are "well aware of the early
     negative reaction to the name" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 11/8). 
     Sportswear industry sources said the first shipments of Blue
     Jackets merchandise, set to go on sale Tuesday, "will be
     navy blue," with a "smaller quantity of steel gray shirts
     are also on order" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 11/8).