SKIING / CHRIS DUFRESNE : This Rumor Didn’t Quite Make the Cut

Was Alberto Tomba dead? The butcher in Cortina, Italy, thought so.

At least that is what he thought he had heard on CNN International at 4 p.m. last Saturday.

The butcher was in his shop, doing what butchers do, when he heard something about Tomba in English on the American cable channel.

The butcher didn’t understand much English, but he heard what he heard.

His instincts weren’t totally illogical. Tomba, the Italian playboy-slalom skier, had last been reported in the Napa Valley of California on a wine-tasting tour. He had planned to drive to Vail for this week’s World Cup Finals.

Tomba likes wine. Tomba drives fast. A car wreck. Yeah, that had to be it.

The butcher called RAI, the Italian state television network, and asked if the agency had heard the news. The network called Resto Del Carlino, Tomba’s hometown paper in Bologna.

Soon, the rumor shifted into high gear on the information superhighway as panicked Italian journalists scurried for news about the possible death of the country’s most famous sports star.

James Dean, Italian style?

The Times received several international phone calls of inquiry last weekend.

But no, it wasn’t true.

Tomba is alive and well.

Tomba learned of the rumors last Saturday when he called his girlfriend in Italy.

“He was (mad) like hell,” said Antonio Volpe Pasini, a reporter for Tuttosport, one of three all-sports daily Italian newspapers.

Fortunately, the rumor was squelched before it made headlines.

“We downplayed it a lot,” Pasini said. “It was never on TV. Or on radio. Our readers didn’t know. It was more just a day of hell in the newspaper business.”

Tomba, winner of five Olympic medals, arrived here earlier this week, rested and prepared for today’s giant slalom race and Sunday’s slalom.

“Now, he’s laughing about it,” Pasini said of Tomba rumors. “But his father (Franco) is still mad.”

Tomba ignored reporters’ questions about the death rumors Thursday night at a sponsor’s pasta party, where he was paid $125,000 to sign autographs and toss spaghetti at Italian photographers.

The moral?

When it comes to journalism, some butchers are mere hacks.

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Add Tomba: There is a possibility that this weekend’s races will be Tomba’s last in North America. At a news conference Friday, the three-time Olympic gold medalist criticized next year’s World Cup schedule and said it might force him to skip a giant slalom next February at Aspen.

Tomba, 27, has dropped hints that he will retire after the 1995 season.

Though always subject to change, the World Cup schedule calls for only one technical race to be held in North America next year. Tomba does not ski downhill or super-giant slalom.

“Why should I make that long trip for just one race?” Tomba said. “I did that a couple of years ago when I went to Japan for one race, and I don’t want to make that kind of mistake again.”

Again, all eyes will be on Tomba this weekend. He isn’t having a great season in GS, ranking ninth, but has a strong hold on the slalom title with an 88-point lead over Austria’s Thomas Stangassinger, the Olympic slalom champion.

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Give Tommy Moe credit for not taking the first oil-and-lube commercial that came along after his gold-medal victory at Lillehammer.

The temptation to immediately cash in on his Olympic success must have been great, but the 24-year-old Moe has put all endorsement offers on hold until after the ski season.

“Then, I’ll pick and choose,” Moe said. “I’m not going on the rubber-chicken tour.”

Moe’s patience has allowed him to score four consecutive top-six finishes in World Cup races, including his first circuit victory at Whistler in British Columbia.

In the month after Lillehammer, Moe has only enhanced his worldwide skiing reputation and market value.

Moe has assembled a Denver-based management team, Moe Mentum, Inc., to sort through the possibilities.

“We’ve been inundated with calls from everybody,” said Shane Johnson, Moe’s manager. “There’s probably no one that’s not been in touch with Tommy. But we’re taking a slow, methodical approach.”