Not the Usual Starting Blocks for Carl Lewis

Sprinter Carl Lewis is about to appear on billboards across Europe in an unusual pose: poised as if to start a race and wearing, of all things, a pair of red stiletto heels.

The photograph is part of a new advertising campaign by the Italian tire company Pirelli. The slogan for the ad: “Power Is Nothing Without Control.”

“The message is that, no matter how good you are, you can be let down without the proper equipment,” a Pirelli spokeswoman said. “This will remind drivers all over Europe of the importance of using the right tires to ensure better safety on the road.”

Sure it will.

Trivia time: What is the oldest UCLA track and field record?

That’s show biz: Jim Leyland is widely respected as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but in 1984, Houston General Manager Dick Wagner decided against hiring Leyland, then a coach with the Chicago White Sox, because he didn’t like the way he dressed in an interview.

“They wanted Johnny Carson,” Leyland said, “but he wasn’t interested.”

Absentee: From Tom Weir of USA Today: “Just for the record, was Tonya Harding’s non-invitation to the White House bash for Winter Olympians the first issue she hasn’t filed suit on?”

Cold: Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe doesn’t sympathize with Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who complained recently about officiating in the NHL, among others things.

“Some advice for Mario Lemieux,” Dupont wrote. “Just play, baby. And the emphasis is on ‘baby.’ ”

Shrewd investment: David Letterman on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s visit to Wrigley Field in Chicago to throw out the first ball:

“At one point during the game, she was getting a hot dog and a Coke. She passed a $20 bill down the row to the vendor. She got back $500.”

Hook hitter: Heavyweight Michael Moorer, training for Friday’s title fight with Evander Holyfield, on why he would have made a perfect Detroit Piston:

“I’m a pretty good basketball player. I can knock guys out on the court as well as I can in the ring. I’ve been keeping busy playing a little ball in between sparring.

“I play a pretty bad game of horse. You should see my hook.”

Superwoman: Gabrielle Reece, the 6-foot-3 supermodel and professional beach volleyball player, on dating:

“Most men wouldn’t approach me on a romantic level,” she told Sun magazine. “Too difficult. Imagine a woman who first of all is physically as big as them. And then they have to deal with the element that I’m a pro athlete. It’s a strange role reversal.”

Trivia answer: Bob Day’s mile time of 3:56.4 set in 1965.

Quotebook: Eric Hillman, the New York Mets’ 6-foot-10 pitcher, when asked whether he liked basketball: “No. The ball is too big, and there’s no chance of a rainout.”