They Roll Out Doormat, Not Welcome Mat

Don’t expect the Raiders to go running back to Flagstaff, Ariz., for any more scrimmages with the Phoenix Cardinals.

The workouts were marred by fighting. Rain forced the teams to practice at times on artificial turf in Northern Arizona University’s Walkup Skydome. Adding insult to injury, Flagstaff Mayor Chris Bavasi presented a Kachina doll to Raider Coach Art Shell at a reception and said it was good to see “Oakland” in town.

Wrote Lloyd Herberg of the Arizona Republic: “Shell looked ready to walk out, but stayed.”

Ordinary people: Several U.S. Olympians who train with University of Houston track Coach Tom Tellez, including Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell, have been staying in a roped-off compound of three homes in the Barcelona suburb of Caste de Fells. Security guards patrol the compound, but Tellez’s athletes might wish they had chosen to stay somewhere a little more peaceful--the Olympic village, perhaps.

“Everyone in the neighborhood knows who is there,” U.S. sprinter Michelle Finn, who dates Burrell, told Larry Guest of the Orlando Sentinel, “and they stand outside the ropes shouting, ‘Carl Lewis! Carl Lewis!’ ”

Trivia time: Quincy Watts became the second USC runner to win an Olympic gold medal in the 400 meters. Who was the first?

Gut check: According to the event’s public relations department, 1,829 rackets were strung during last year’s U.S. Open tennis tournament. Jim Courier led all players with 54.

Politics as usual: When Otis Nixon of the Atlanta Braves leaped over the outfield fence to take a game-winning homer away from Andy Van Slyke of the Pittsburgh Pirates recently, it marked the second time that Van Slyke lost an apparent home run on such a catch. The other outfielder to rob Van Slyke was Claudell Washington.

Said Van Slyke: “Get the presidents out of the game. If I come up and Joe Carter’s out there, I’ll give up.”

Political football: Expect to see the name of the football coach at tiny Osceola (Ark.) High School on a lot of bumper stickers, signs and buttons this fall. The coach’s name: Clinton Gore.

All-American Troy: Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman is a pickup truck kind of guy. And not just any pickup truck.

“Day in and day out, I’ll take an American pickup truck,” he told the Dallas Morning News.

His favorite model? Easy.

“The GMC Z-71 off-road, short-bed, side-step truck.

“You can take it right over the curb without worrying about damaging the fender.”

Trivia answer: Mike Larrabee at Tokyo in the 1964 Olympics.

Quotebook: Aikman, giving his opinion of Tokyo, where the Cowboys played an exhibition last weekend: “It was everything I didn’t like about Los Angeles to the 10th power. It makes L.A. look like Henryetta, Okla.”