After Revolting Developments, Fun and Games

Now that even Juan Antonio Samaranch has admitted that politics and sports are inseparable, the Chinese government can get on with the business of using the Asian Games to showcase a kinder, gentler Beijing.

Monday, Reuters reported: “The grandson of China’s late Chairman Mao Tse-tung, who once said a revolution is not a dinner party, is waiting on tables at the Asian Games athletes’ village.”

The Wen Hui Bao newspaper said Sunday that Wang Xiaozhi, 18, a student at Beijing Foreign Affairs and Tourism Vocational School, volunteered with a group of classmates.

The paper added: “Every time as he finishes work he wipes the tables and windows of the dining hall. He gains praise from his classmates and the athletes.”

Add Asian Games: For Saturday’s opening ceremony, Beijing residents got the afternoon off. Most of them lined the streets, watching buses of athletes and official spectators on their way to Beijing Workers Stadium.

A construction worker who lives near the athletes’ village told United Press International: “Even if I could afford to pay for tickets, I couldn’t get hold of any. The event is for people with clout--not for ordinary people like me.”

Trivia time: Who holds the major league record for errors in a single day?

Accommodations on ice: All hotel rooms within a 35-mile radius of Albertville, France, site of the 1992 Winter Olympics, have been sold out. Games organizers are negotiating with the French Justice Ministry, hoping that staff workers will be able to stay at a low-security, 400-inmate prison under construction in nearby Aiton.

Big Red faces: Herbie Husker, the University of Nebraska mascot, might be partying beyond the limit these days. His picture appears on cans of beer distributed throughout the state.

Said Liz Karnes, a Nebraska alumna and co-chairwoman of the National Commission on Drug-Free Schools: “I just really felt it was an unwise decision.”

Bob Devaney, Nebraska athletic director, said the deal with the brewery would be discontinued if complaints continue. The promotion brought in $5,000 for the Cornhusker athletic department, which lost $1.8 million last year.

Devaney said that he hadn’t talked about the deal with Coach Tom Osborne, adding: “Coach Osborne, I’m certain, is not in favor of anything that has to do with the sale of alcohol.”

The heck you say: The Pasadena Star-News recently ran a correction on its prep football page:

“Pasadena Poly football coach Alan Karg was misquoted in Sunday’s (Sept. 16) editions of the Star-News. He was incorrectly quoted as using the word “hell.”

“ ‘I never used that type of language,’ Karg said. ‘I don’t use that type of language and I don’t expect my players to use that type of language. I don’t expect my players to use that type of language in practice or in games.’

“The Star-News regrets the error.”

Trivia answer: Ed Delahanty of Cleveland, with nine during a doubleheader July 4, 1890.

Quotebook: Minnesota Viking defensive coordinator Floyd Peters, on Chicago Bear running back Neal Anderson: “He’s kind of in a mold by himself.”