IOC Decision Was All Greek to Athenians

Melina Mercouri, the actress-turned-politician who helped lead Athens’ bid for the 1996 Olympics, might not have been on the losing side, after all.

Mercouri, a candidate in the city’s mayoral election in October, was quoted in Greek newspapers Saturday as saying: “If elected, I will seek Athens’ candidacy to host the Olympics in the year 2000. I have the feeling that the whole of Europe will support us.”

Even though Atlanta won the right to hold the XXVI Olympiad, 100 years after the modern games began in the Greek capital, Mercouri rationalized that in the year 2000, the Olympics would be entering their third millennium. (The ancient Games began in Greece in 776 B.C.)

Said Mercouri: “In a moment of great outrage, I said (in Tokyo) that Coca-Cola has won over the Parthenon. There were omissions and minor errors, but Athens’ presentation was worthy.”

Trivia time: Who holds the major league single-season record for home runs by a pitcher?

Tools of impertinence: When San Francisco Giant catcher Steve Decker stopped a ball in the dirt Friday night, Dodger announcer Vin Scully couldn’t resist saying: “That’s a case of block and Decker.”

Icy relations: Memo to hockey fans who dreamed that the Montreal Canadiens’ two-week trip to Scandinavia and the Soviet Union would promote peace and understanding: Dream on.

Ten players, seven of them Canadiens, were ejected from last Tuesday’s game in Moscow against Central Red Army. Fans pelted the visitors with litter, including one vodka bottle.

In the aftermath, Serge Savard, Canadien managing director, told The Gazette in Montreal: “I wouldn’t advise any team to go. . . . Going there didn’t do much to prepare us for the regular season. The traveling did nothing for us. It hurt us. The frustration and the accommodations left us mentally tired.”

Add hockey: Savard said that the Soviets gave the Canadiens’ traveling party only 50 tickets per game, instead of the 100 promised. Worse, the group was delayed at customs Wednesday, and officials confiscated jars of caviar from luggage.

Said Canadien center Denis Savard: “They put us through hell. The 15 days were a waste.”

Now you know: From Associated Press: “A famous 19th-Century canoe racer, Nathaniel Bishop, once cruised from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico in a paper canoe.”

Up to here: Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Sun now dreads each approaching Sunday. On Friday, he wrote:

“Everyone’s in a quandary, wondering what aspect of the life and times of Atlanta Falcon Coach Jerry Glanville will the battling network pregame shows dabble in this week. How about something on what young Jer and his fellow hellions did for excitement on Halloween?”

Add Glanville glut: The October issue of Esquire offers an eight-page ramble, “Jerry Glanville’s Unbuckled Ego,” by Mark Kram.

Of Glanville’s tenure as Houston Oiler coach, Kram wrote: “Big Harvey Salem used to think Glanville was too inhumane, too cruel. He took to calling the coach Billy Jack.”

Said Glanville: “I went to the movie. No resemblance. I’d never take off my boots to kick somebody in the mouth.”

Trivia answer: Wes Ferrell of Cleveland, with nine in 1931.

Quotebook: Lou Brock, on whether he will be there when Rickey Henderson breaks his all-time stolen base record: “I would like to attend the game when the record is broken, but that depends on my schedule.”