Bronze Bodies and Gold Medals Are Perfect for TV

Beach volleyball is making its debut in the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Columnist Andrew Longmore of the Times of London explained why to his British readers:

“First, it is visual, which means that the women wear very little and the men have big muscles.

“Second, the United States will, in all probability, win two gold medals. They ought to: They have more sand than most countries, they invented the game (in California, 66 years ago, apparently) and they also have more teams than any other country.

“The United States, as host country, is allowed three teams. Every other country is allowed two in each of the competitions, men and women. That heightens the interest of NBC, the U.S. television network system, which has, in any case, narrowed down its coverage to just the home teams and can be guaranteed to glorify a home victory.”

Trivia time: How many professional heavyweight boxing champions have won Olympic gold medals?

One difference: Former Dallas Cowboy cornerback Mel Renfro will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, which brings up a comparison between Renfro and the current Cowboy cornerback, Deion Sanders.

“He is a lot like I was. We’re probably the same type as far as ability is concerned,” Renfro said, then added with smile, “I was a lot more physical than Deion. I would come up and hit and tackle.”

Looking back: Forty years ago today, Swaps set an American record of 2:38 1/5 in a 1 5/8-mile race at Hollywood Park.

Close shave: A total of 3,321 fans, including 28 women, had their heads shaved for Buhner Buzz Cut III on Tuesday at the Kingdome.

The promotion, patterned on the hairstyle of Seattle Mariner outfielder Jay Buhner, offered free admission to anyone who copied his cut.

Can you believe it? Second baseman Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs committed errors in consecutive games after going 59 in a row without a miscue.

Priorities: The Atlanta Braves will be on the road during the entire Olympics Games, but outfielder Marquis Grissom doesn’t think his teammates will be too interested in what’s going on at home.

“Knowing these guys,” Grissom said, “they’ll probably want to watch a golf tournament or some damn car race.”

Trivia answer: Five--Floyd Patterson, 1952, middleweight; Cassius Clay, now Muhammad Ali, 1960, light-heavyweight; Joe Frazier, 1964, heavyweight; George Foreman, 1968, heavyweight; and Leon Spinks, 1976, light-heavyweight.

And finally: The multimillion-dollar Olympic results system in Atlanta apparently has a mind of its own.

How else could you account for it awarding a track cycling world record to Australian Bradley McGee and then, later in the day, presenting the same accolade to Denmark’s Jan Bo Petersen.

That was one day before track cycling began.