No Worry About Tan Lines, but Just Don’t Get Sunburned

Todd Marinovich likes to surf as a means of escape. And when the crowds are down, he likes to really escape by surfing naked.

“I like to go down to San Onofre because there aren’t a lot of other surfers down there,” the Raider quarterback told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. “I can be out and there won’t be anyone in sight. That’s where I do some naked surfing. It’s a great feeling, getting up there (naked) in the breeze.”

Asked if he ever gets cold, Marinovich replied: “The water’s warmer down there. Maybe it’s because of the (nuclear) plant.”

No wonder: A survey of the U.S. public disclosed that its nine most memorable moments from the Barcelona Olympics all involved American athletes.

In the poll, conducted by New York’s Bruskin Goldring Research on behalf of F. Korbel & Bros. Inc., 17% of those surveyed said the most memorable moment was the U.S. men’s basketball team winning the gold medal; 15% said it was the attempt by the U.S. men’s volleyball team to win its third consecutive gold.

Next was Mark Lenzi’s victory in the three-meter springboard diving, 14%, and Gail Devers’ winning 100-meter dash, 13%.

Castroism: Cuban President Fidel Castro, on the U.S. men’s basketball team at Barcelona: “They did it to show off their supremacy and arrogance.”

Trivia time: Who was UCLA’s first track and field gold medalist in the Olympic Games?

First things first: Jerome Holtzman of the Chicago Tribune asked one of the red-coated guardians at the Baseball Hall of Fame what is the first question people usually ask when they enter the building at Cooperstown, N.Y., and was told: “I’m not being facetious, but the first thing they ask for is the bathroom.”

Improper etiquette? Michigan’s Court of Appeals will decide if insulting someone’s golf game injures his or her reputation.

At issue is whether a freelance writer who sued Denny McLain was damaged by remarks the former pitcher, now a radio personality, made on the air about his attire and his golf game.

Richard S. Havens sued McLain and WXYT-AM after a 1990 broadcast in which McLain said: “This guy lost more balls yesterday than any human being in the history of the game of golf.” McLain also said Havens wore what appeared to be swimming trunks on the golf course.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert J. Colombo Jr. dismissed the case last year, saying Havens’ shorts did look like a bathing suit and that Havens’ reputation was not hurt.

Batter up! The Colorado Rockies have already sold more than 24,000 season tickets, a record for expansion teams. Only the Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles have sold more.

Trivia answer: Cy Young in the javelin in 1952 at Helsinki, Finland.

Quotebook: Boston Red Sox coach Don Zimmer, on newcomer Billy Hatcher: “He’s not a great player, but he busts his tail, and around here that sticks out like a sore thumb.”