BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 6 : EVERYWHERE, THEY HAVE TO FIGHT OFF FANS

Three members of the Dream Team made an appearance at the Joventut Pavilion to watch some boxing on their night off Tuesday, but the appearance of Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley caused such a stir among the crowd--and the boxers--that all three left before the only two highlights of the night, U.S. heavyweight Danell Nicholson’s bout against Paul Lawson, and the first Olympic appearance of Cuban world champion Felix Savon.

Instead, the three were brought back to a TV trailer to meet and sign autographs for members of the U.S. team. Johnson and Ewing promised Vernon Forrest, an avid NBA fan, that they would return Thursday night to see his preliminary bout.

Fans in the pavilion were disappointed by the players’ early exit. But at least one man went home happy. He picked up an empty potato chip bag from under one of the players’ seats, carefully folded it, and put it in his pocket.

* This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.