Football Player Doesn’t Believe He Has Been Throne for a Loss

Ricky Logo could have been King, but instead he is only a captain.

Logo, a 5-foot-11, 295-pound senior guard for North Carolina State, chose an education over the throne of American Samoa. The royal position became vacant with the death last January of his grandfather, ruler for 30 years.

As the youngest grandson of the high chief, Logo, 22, is the heir, as dictated by tradition. However, when he chose to remain with the Wolfpack, as captain of the football team, his uncle became ruler for life.

“It really hits me when I’m alone,” Logo told USA Today. “I wish I could be there. It bothers me a lot. But I can’t put myself down. . . . I have to keep going.”

A mouthful: Mark Smith of the Baltimore Orioles’ minor league affiliate in Hagerstown, Md., probably thought that comments made to his hometown newspaper in California wouldn’t reach the folks in Maryland.

Smith told the Pasadena Star-News that “the joke around (Hagerstown) is if you can find a girl with a full set of teeth, you have to marry her.”

Not only did a Hagerstown paper pick up his remarks, but the franchise, in good humor, scheduled “Area Dentists Night,” cutting admission in half for those with dentures and offering concession discounts for those with a full set of teeth.

Trivia time: On this day in 1929, Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run. Against whom did he hit it?

Olympic mail: The U.S. Post Office says it delivered more than 32,000 post cards to U.S. athletes in Barcelona as part of its Sign, Seal and Deliver program.

The men’s basketball team got the most--2,250 cards. Michael Jordan got 800.

Floridians sent the most: 1,000, and Maine and Alaska sent the fewest: 10.

One in three cards was written by a child.

Add Olympics: The U.S. team has a party to attend today. Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

About 550 athletes and coaches are scheduled to attend a White House reception and picnic hosted by President Bush, most of them arriving on a charter flight from Barcelona.

Dodger blues: Two Dodger fans have come up with a fight song for the team, “Just Think Blue.” One of the two, lyricist Arthur Hamilton, was responsible for “Cry Me a River.”

Frequent fliers: The San Francisco 49ers will lead the NFL in miles this season. The 49ers will fly 40,606 miles, nearly 5,000 more than their closest competitor, the Houston Oilers. The Detroit Lions will fly the fewest, only 10,688.

For what it’s worth: Football analyst Danny Sheridan, making his Playboy debut in the September issue, predicts that the Philadelphia Eagles will defeat the Houston Oilers in Super Bowl XXVII at the Rose Bowl. The Raiders are picked to make the playoffs as a wild-card team.

What a country: Peter May of the Boston Globe, commenting on the salary structure of the NBA, particularly in light of the Orlando Magic’s recent offering of about $55 million to Shaquille O’Neal and Stanley Roberts: “Pretty soon the NBA is going to be like Haiti, where 2% of the players own 99% of the team.”

Trivia answer: Willis Hudlin, at Cleveland’s League Park. The homer was Ruth’s 30th of the year, but it wasn’t enough as the Indians won, 6-5.

Quotebook: Hubert Mizell of the St. Petersburg Times, after watching the U.S. women’s gymnastics team win a bronze medal: “They’re all going to celebrate by eating a corn flake.”