31.   The only difference between Kubiak and Lewis, the black assistants said, is the color of their skin.

32.   The second assistant said a discrimination lawsuit would set back relations between ownership and black coaches two decades.

33.   The stairs are this way, the assistant says, or the elevator is around the corner.

34.   The Vikings assistants said the Arizona Cardinals requested permission to speak to Billick about becoming their offensive coordinator but were also rebuffed.

35.   While the matter might seem insignificant, some assistants said it is indicative of a caste system that clubs have helped perpetuate.

36.   Policy was not in his office, and his assistant said he was leaving town for a week along with team owner Al Lerner.

37.   An assistant said the owner was traveling to New York on Wednesday and was not available.

38.   Biologist and Harvard University professor Stephen Jay Gould has died, his assistant says.

39.   Bellow now teaches at Boston University, and his assistant said he would neither read the book nor comment on it.

40.   He was traveling and could not be reached for comment Tuesday, an assistant said.