He Performs With a Song in Broken Heart

They staged the World Cup of tenors Saturday night as a sendoff to the World Cup of soccer.

Amid the ruins of Rome’s Baths of Caracalla, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti sang a benefit concert.

Pavarotti closed the program with “Nessun Dorma!” (“Nobody Sleep!”) from Puccini’s “Turandot.”

An avid soccer fan, Pavarotti was miserable last week when Italy lost its semifinal game to Argentina. “My heart is bleeding,” he said.

The aria he sang Saturday closes with a crescendo of “Vincero, vincero, vincero!” Translation: “I shall win!”

Trivia time: In 1930, what team did Argentina defeat to reach the final of the first World Cup tournament?

Banter by the Bay: When Jose Canseco signed his $23.5-million contract, San Francisco Giants first baseman Will Clark said, “Let that jerk over there have all the fun he wants.”

Last week, Canseco said he couldn’t wait for Tuesday night’s All-Star game.

“I’m looking forward to taunting him,” Canseco said. “They gave you $4 million, you hear me, boy? I’m making a million (a year) more than you are, you big, overrated, three-toed sloth with no arms.”

Point guards R us: After the Atlanta Hawks drafted Michigan’s Rumeal Robinson, team President Stan Kasten said: “There are a lot of possibilities open to us. A number of teams have taken note of our surplus of point guards. We are the one-stop shopping mart for point guards.”

Working class hero: Friday, New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner finished his two-day, nine-hour testimony before Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent at a New York law firm. Thursday, he had made his exit in a freight elevator. Friday, he tried to sneak out through a side entrance.

Several truck drivers spotted him and shouted, “Go Steinbrenner!”

“At least I’ve got the truck drivers on my side,” the owner said.

Add Steinbrenner: From Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun: “Let me get this straight. George Steinbrenner finally said something nice to Dave Winfield and he got fined $225,000?”

Fast lane: Sprinter Ben Johnson’s two-year ban for illegal steroid use runs out on Sept. 24. Carl Lewis, when asked about the possibility of a match race with the fallen Olympic 100-meter champion, said it would be a lucrative event but it needs to be arranged soon.

“Getting up to 10 million (dollars) shouldn’t be that difficult,” Lewis said. “You can sell the European rights and the world rights, and if it were held at, say, a 60,000-seat stadium like Seville, Spain, it would be a sure sellout.”

X’s and olives: Ricardo Giusti, a member of the Argentine soccer team, was describing his coach, Carlos Bilardo.

“Once, Bilardo was eating a pizza,” Giusti said, “and he turned it into a soccer field to describe some tactical plan.”

Using toothpicks for goal posts and olives for players, Bilardo absorbed himself in strategy and left the pizza uneaten.

Dressed for speed: When the Indiana Pacers begin the 1990-91 NBA season, their uniform will have a V-neck and a gold triangle down the right side of the top. The fabric will be mesh. Their gold color will remain, but the royal blue will be changed to navy blue.

It’s a major revision, but that figures. The designer is Florence Griffith Joyner.

Trivia answer: The United States.

Quotebook: Philadelphia Phillie clubhouse attendant Frank Coppenbarger, when new dirt was delivered to Veterans Stadium: “All of the old dirt was on Lenny Dykstra’s uniform.”