For This Guy, They Should Have a Quarter-Tonner

While Japanese sumo wrestling grand champion Akebono was waiting to stage a segment for “48 Hours” on CBS television with figure skater Tara Lipinski recently, he got hungry.

So Akebono, who weighs 516 pounds, hustled the CBS crew out the door at the Olympic practice facility in Nagano, Japan, and up to a drive-through window at a nearby McDonald’s--without a car.

When he placed an order for 15 hamburgers, the manager came out to explain he needed a car. Then, when the manager realized to whom he was talking, the order was quickly filled.

*

Trivia time: How old was Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie when she competed in her first Olympic Games in 1924?

*

Suspicious: NHL players will be well-versed on the extensive list of banned over-the-counter drugs during their competition in the Olympic Games.

Said Tampa Bay’s Rob Zamuner: “I was even worried about the poppy seeds on bagels; they’ve got opium in them or something.”

*

Sure you are: The Dallas Mavericks’ Dennis Scott, passed over for the NBA’s all-star weekend three-point shooting contest: “I’m not a percentage shooter. I’m an impact shooter.”

Said Maverick Coach Don Nelson: “Sounds like a guy shooting 37%.”

*

Fidgety: Denver Nugget forward Joe Wolf, on singing with a band at a Denver nightclub: “I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I think I looked like a poor imitation of Joe Cocker.”

Short memory: A spokesman for Los Angeles Councilman Nate Holden, an active proponent of bringing the Raiders back to L.A., called The Times sports department and asked when was the last year that L.A. had a professional football team.

It didn’t take much research since it was 1994, when the Raiders and Rams last played here.

*

Belittling a Bronco: Denver cornerback Darrien Gordon, who used to play for the Chargers, wants to make his permanent home in San Diego.

Said Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune: “Hope there’s a good roof on it. He sure can’t cover anything himself.”

*

Might beat them too: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Tennessee women’s basketball team is averaging 13,558 spectators a game.

The Lady Volunteers are outdrawing the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors and Clippers.

*

Trivia answer: Henie was only 11. She finished eighth then, but was the Olympic gold medalist in the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Games.

*

And finally: Sandy Alderson, president of the Oakland Athletics, talking at an A’s Fan Fest held recently at Jack London Square in Oakland:

“We made $40,000 selling our 1997 uniforms. . . . We made an extra $5,000 selling our 1997 players.”

The Athletics finished in last place last season in the American League West.