And You Can Watch It on www.gross.com

Dr. Richard Steadman, one of the world’s leading sports surgeons, performed an operation Wednesday on the left knee of skier Kristin Nolen, and the operation was shown over the Internet.

“This is a common surgery for amateur and professional athletes alike,” said J. Tod Fetherling, president of America’s Health Network-Interactive. “By webcasting this and other surgeries, we are trying to educate the public about their medical options. But we are also demystifying the surgery process, allowing anyone with web access to see the magic behind the medicine.”

Next painful advance on the Internet: Watch Dennis Rodman remove all the rings from his body.

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Trivia time: Hal Newhouser, who died Tuesday, is one of only five players to have their numbers retired by the Detroit Tigers. Name the other four. Give yourself a bonus if you can also supply the numbers.

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Attention, Al Davis: The Italian government, in search of funds, has proposed selling off the Colosseum.

That’s right, the original one.

Think about it, Al. If it was good enough for the Christians and the lions, it’s certainly good enough for the Raiders and the Lions.

Unfortunately, those bloodthirsty spectators who rooted for the lions over the Christians are no longer around. They would have made perfect Raider fans.

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Pay attention, Chester: In his second season with the Raiders, defensive tackle Chester McGlockton, coming off the field after practice one day, walked up to his head coach, Art Shell, a former lineman and a Hall of Famer.

“Someone said you used to play,” McGlockton said.

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Stamp of approval: Comedian Jay Leno, after it was announced that Secretariat will be honored with a stamp: “That shows you how strange life is for racehorses. You win a race, you wind up on the front of a stamp. Lose a race, you wind up on the back.”

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In a class by himself: Quixall Crossett, a British horse, has been in 80 races without finishing first.

“What would be ideal,” his trainer, Ted Caine, told Total Sport, “is a race with four [horses] and four prizes. If he finds himself among 15 or 20, he doesn’t like it.”

Actually, it sounds like the ideal for Quixall would be a one-horse race.

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Huh? “Sure, I approach things from a woman’s standpoint,” Monika Suhnholz, general manager of the D3 Pro League Austin Lone Stars, told Soccer America, “but that doesn’t matter when you’re dealing with people.”

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Trivia answer: Charlie Gehringer (2), Hank Greenberg (5), Al Kaline (6) and Jackie Robinson (42). Newhouser’s number was 16.

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And finally: Jesse “the Body” Ventura, the former wrestler who has been elected governor of Minnesota, says that people shouldn’t think his leap from sports to politics is so startling. He pointed out that two former football players, Steve Largent and J.C. Watts, are members of the House of Representatives.

“I don’t see any difference between a football player and a wrestler,” Ventura said, “just that we have more talent.”