Their Paths Keep Crossing and They Don’t Even Know It

Gerard Agostinello and his wife have jogged past the intersection in Amity Harbor, N.Y., for the past five years. But it wasn’t until last Wednesday that they looked up at the street signs and made an Olympian discovery.

“I said, ‘Look, it’s Harding,’ ” Gerard recalled. “And my wife said, ‘Look, it’s Kerrigan.’ ”

While Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan have been doing their best to avoid each other at the Winter Games, Harding and Kerrigan roads have been meeting for more than 30 years.

The street signs are half-buried in a snowbank, but Kerrigan clearly stands above Harding.

“Let’s hope it goes that way in the Olympics,” Agostinello said.

News at 10: While waiting for Judge Patrick D. Gilroy to emerge from the Clackamas County Courthouse, where Tonya Harding and the U.S. Olympic Committee reached a settlement last week, two Oregonians on mountain bikes approached a reporter, asking if she was still in the courthouse.

“Tonya’s not here,” the reporter replied. “She didn’t bother coming to court, just her attorneys.”

“Tonya?” the men asked. “We want to see Connie Chung.”

Trivia time: Who is the only college basketball coach to take four different universities to the NCAA tournament?

Taxing work: Spy magazine recently calculated how much certain athletes impact the price of tickets and merchandise through what it calls a Fabulousness-Added Tax. Among the findings:

“Doug Drabek: Earned $1.30 on every $12 Houston Astros ticket in 1993; won nine games and lost 18. Also choked away 2-0 lead to Atlanta Braves in ninth inning of Game 7 of 1992 National League Championship Series.

“Patrick Ewing: Earned $6.56 on top New York Knicks ticket in 1992-93; . . . usually AWOL during the big games.

“Bobby Bonilla: Raked in $1.05 on every $15 New York Mets ticket in 1993; led team to worst record in majors.

“Michael Jordan: Eked out a meager $1.40 from the low-end ticket and only $22.20 from the courtside seat; led the (Chicago Bulls) to three championships.

“Wayne Gretzky: Pocketed from 89 cents to $24.93 a head from L.A. Kings fans.”

Sign of the times: Philadelphia Phillies catcher Darren Daulton, in the first year of a four-year, $18.5-million guaranteed contract, might be distracted this spring when he is at the plate or behind it.

Daulton’s wife, Lynne Austin-Daulton, has filed for divorce and is seeking a “lump-sum alimony” of everything Daulton owns and everything the couple has acquired jointly since they were married in 1989.

The situation figures to be on Daulton’s mind. A restaurant chain has renewed an advertising billboard featuring Lynne Austin-Daulton on the center-field fence of the Phillies’ training stadium in Clearwater, Fla.

The Kidd is a natural: Michael Jordan won three NBA championships before he decided to give baseball a try. California guard Jason Kidd said he won’t be waiting as long.

Kidd, a sophomore, wants to play outfield, catch or be the designated hitter for the Bear baseball team when basketball season ends.

“This isn’t for fun,” Kidd said. ‘I take everything seriously. But I know people won’t take me seriously . . .

“I want to play baseball. Baseball comes way before the NBA.”

Trivia answer: Eddie Sutton, at Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma State.

Quotebook: Eric Hillman of the New York Mets, on saving for the future: “I haven’t invested my money yet. No CDs, IRAs, annuities. I don’t want my money to mature before I do.”