And How Could We Forget 1992 at Albert Ville’s Place?

The Lilly Hammer Winter Games are due to open on Saturday. All of 35 people are expected to turn up.

Don’t confuse the Lilly Hammer Games with the Lillehammer Olympics, which begin on Feb. 12 in southeastern Norway, even though a lot of non-Norwegians think the names sound the same.

A pronunciation mistake was the reason 49-year-old Lilly Hammer decided to hold her own Olympics in the western Norway village of Ulvik on the Hardanger fjord.

When International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch announced in 1988 that Norway had been picked as host of the 1994 Winter Olympics, he pronounced the winner as “Lillyhammer.”

The correct pronunciation is Lill-uh-hammer.

Add Lilly: “When he made the announcement, he got the name of the town wrong, but he said my name perfectly,” Hammer said. “So I had no choice. I had to host the Olympics.”

Hammer, who runs a small bed-and-breakfast in the summer resort town of 1,200, added: “We have a relay of one torch bearer who will light the flame for our Olympics.”

Trivia time: How many of the 16 Indy car races last year were won by American-born drivers?

Zone of their own: Former UCLA basketball coach Larry Farmer, the coach of the Kuwait national team trying to get into the Olympics, was asked what world zone the Kuwaitis are in.

Said Farmer: “What zone are we in? Well, you’re in the Twilight Zone if you think we are going to get into the Olympics.”

Unfair advantage: Looking for that little pick-me-up? Try the secret potion used by China’s record-breaking runners, available soon at a supermarket near you.

Ma Junren, China’s flamboyant coach, sold the formula for his “Elixir of Life” to a Chinese health food company for $1.15 million. A company spokesman said it hoped to sell the potion abroad, including the United States.

Asked what the potion contained, Ma said: “It’s secret. Some kind of Chinese herbs and medicine.”

Old folks: Immediately after Auburn had beaten Alabama to finish the football season undefeated, the Tiger campus was a mess of streamers, toilet paper and what not. When asked about the celebration by a visitor, a freshman explained, “It wasn’t us, it was the crazy alumni.”

To which Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Sun noted, “They take their NCAA probations seriously down there.”

Trivia answer: Two, Danny Sullivan at Detroit and Al Unser Jr. at Vancouver.

Quotebook: Outfielder Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins on receiving the Branch Rickey Award for community service: “If it wasn’t for Branch Rickey bringing in Jackie Robinson, giving him a chance to play in the major leagues, I wouldn’t be standing here.”