Conditions Aren’t Best, but They Like View

Reporting on the tourist scene at the Olympics, Thomas O’Toole of the Scripps Howard News Service found his own set of heroes and heroines--ordinary folks who have displayed the Olympic spirit simply by getting to, and getting around, in Barcelona.

At the soccer venue, O’Toole discovered Jay Unston Jr. of Jupiter, Fla., and his son, Jay III, with an American flag draped over their seats. Unwilling to pay the cost of a Barcelona hotel room, Unston and his son are renting a travel trailer on the beach for $50 a night.

“The only problem we have is the water at the beach is a little cold,” the elder Unston told O’Toole. “We’re used to the water in Florida. But the beaches are all topless, so that makes up for it.”

Add tourist: The Games are merely a small part of a three-month European vacation for Katheline Friedman of Pittsburgh, who decided to make the trip after being laid off from her job as an architect. She is in Barcelona with a friend, Tricia Murray.

According to O’Toole, the two women have already experienced one magical Olympic moment--meeting Charles Barkley in a bar and watching him give a 60-year-old beggar the Spanish equivalent of $10.

“She stuffed it down her bra,” Friedman said. “Barkley couldn’t believe it.”

Trivia time: What NFL quarterback has the worst record of any starter in the league?

Won’t hog it: When he was a Texas Ranger coach, Toby Harrah would ride a large motorcycle to Arlington Stadium. But now that he’s managing the team, he travels to the park by car. Something to do with image, reports Jim Reeves of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.

What a deal: Listing reasons why the Olympic TripleCast might be worth the money, Todd Phipers of the Denver Post noted: “It’s the only place you can watch Don Criqui.”

Olympic fact: There are 710 tons of fruit available for residents of the Olympic village in Barcelona, including 155 tons of apples and 110 tons of oranges.

Olympic rant: Writes Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press: “From a small, simple ritual that featured one race and a prize of an olive wreath, the Games have evolved--if you can call this evolution--into TripleCast, a $125 act of stupidity in which the American couch potato can watch everything from water polo to the modern pentathlon minute by minute, day by day, on his cable TV. Even Zeus couldn’t handle that. I don’t care if they all ran naked.”

What a guy: After failing elsewhere in the NBA, Derrick Chievous is trying to make it with the Portland Trail Blazers, for whom he played in the recent Rocky Mountain Review at Salt Lake City.

Is hustling for a roster spot a humbling experience for Chievous, once a first-round draft pick of the Houston Rockets? Apparently not. Contacted recently by the Houston Chronicle’s Eddie Sefko, Chievous said: “You know I don’t give interviews.”

Dressed for success: The expansion Colorado Rockies have yet to play a baseball game,but already they rank ninth among the 26 major league teams in apparel sales to the public.

Trivia answer: Jeff George of Indianapolis, whose record in two seasons is 5-22.

Quotebook: Penn State football Coach Joe Paterno, after receiving a glowing introduction from ABC college football analyst Dick Vermeil at the Big 10 Conference kickoff luncheon: “After that eulogy, the least I should do is drop dead.”