Where's Jimmy? Rumor mill revs up

   Folks in New Jersey are reacting with 
their usual aplomb to the "news" that they 
are playing host to the sawn and cleavered 
remains of James "Elusive Jimmy" Hoffa.
   The November Playboy features an 
interview with a fellow named Tony the 
Greek, who says parts of Mr. Hoffa - perhaps 
all of them, save a lock of hair taken by 
one of his assassins - are imbedded in 
concrete at Giants Stadium.
   It has thoroughly chilled the official 
Meadowlands sports community, where all the 
people who answer the phones have been 
drilled extensively in the "no comment"
defense.
   They see it as just another grisly Hoffa 
rumor. Still, they're taking cover, 
visionless drudges, failing to see the PR 
potential in having Mr. Hoffa as an eternal 
spectator. (Though probably in a seat with 
an obstructed view.)
   Even the kids in the Columbia University 
marching band got into the spirit some years 
ago when they did a "Where's Jimmy?" 
halftime routine at the stadium. They formed 
up into an arrow and pointed themselves 
toward midfield.
   According to Mr. The Greek, however, the 
marching band was off target. He says Mr. 
Hoffa's bond with eternity was cemented in 
and around one of the end zones. 
   Some stadium regulars still insist Mr. 
Hoffa is among friends, beneath the parking 
lot, but Giants media director Ed Crokeo 
dismisses the Hoffa story as "just a myth 
that surfaces every few years." He has spent 
much of the week deflecting sick jokes about 
Mr. Hoffa being buried on "the ghoul line" 
and being "sacked in the end zone." And he's 
sure he'll see "some banner with an arrow on 
it" when the Giants take on the Phoenix 
Cardinals Sunday afternoon.
   End-zone ticket holder Joel Carnosso, who 
contends Mr. Hoffa is hardly a resurfacing 
rumor and, in fact, was responsible for the 
Larry Csonka goal-line fumble that cost the 
Giants an "in-the-bag" win against 
Philadelphia in 1978, is hoping for more 
than a few macabre banners: Perhaps a Dig 
For Jimmy promotion in which "we all get 
plastic shovels and metal detectors and take 
to the field at halftime."
   Meanwhile, The Associated Press is 
quoting "an official with the State 
Commission of Investigations in New Jersey"
as calling the Playboy story "possible but 
... improbable."
   Improbable, indeed. As every New Jersey 
schoolchild knows, Mr. Hoffa is in repose at
the Molly Pitcher rest area on the New 
Jersey Turnpike, where, in true Teamster 
spirit and shrouded in bituminous concrete, 
he holds up his end of the deceleration 
lane.