FAVORITE JUMP: TRIPLE SAL-COW

From the Got Lost in the Translation Dept.: According to the printed placard at the White Ring figure skating arena, one rinkside media seat is reserved for the “New York Dairy News.”

Quipped New York Daily News reporter Filip Bondy, who is here to cover Olympic figure skating, not Japanese cheese production: “We milk the news for all it’s worth.”

FLAG IS HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS

Canadian freestyle skier Jean Luc-Brassard, among the favorites for the gold medal in men’s moguls, advanced to Wednesday’s finals in seventh place, out of 16 qualifiers.

Luc-Brassard blamed his poor showing on having to carry the Canadian flag during the opening ceremony the day before the men’s moguls preliminaries.

“It was not the performance I was expecting,” said Luc-Brassard, who finished fourth in the final. “It was a beautiful honor to carry the Canadian flag, but it was a mistake to do it so close to the competition.”

THAT’S WHY THEY’RE CALLED TUBE SOCKS

With more than 8,000 journalists having flown in to cover the Olympics, Nagano has virtually run out of hotel rooms for visiting spectators.

Rooms can be found outside the city, but getting to the various Olympic venues and back can be difficult, with many trains cutting off service at 10:30 p.m.

For those fans determined to find housing in Nagano, there are a couple of remaining options:

* “Capsule” hotels, which provide guests with their personal sleeping capsules--narrow, hollow tubes barely big enough for one sleeper. Male guests--women are not permitted--crawl into their tubes and, with remote control, the tube retracts into a wall, morguelike, with oxygen pumped into the chamber.

* “Love” hotels, usually rented by the hour, are offering Olympic overnight “specials.” You can book a room for the night, provided you check in no earlier than 11 p.m. and check out by 7 a.m.

Beyond that, there isn’t much. Pup tents, in this weather, are not advised.