Once a Whale, He Streamlined Into a Dolphin

Miami Dolphin defensive end Rich Owens, now a svelte 275 pounds, recoils at the memory of the seven or eight meals a day he was forced to eat two years ago when the Washington Redskins tried to turn him into a 300-pound tackle.

“I’d get up about 6 in the morning, have a bowl of oatmeal and a piece of fruit and go back to bed,” he said. “I’d wake up a couple of hours later and go have a real breakfast. I’d eat again around 1 o’clock--a couple of sandwiches. Then a few hours later I’d have something light.

“And I’d have three dinners. I’d eat at 8, again at 10, and again at 12 before I went to bed. Those were usually sandwiches, two or three at a time.

“You can imagine my food bill. I got so sick of eating. . . . I’m glad to be someplace where I don’t have to be big.”

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Trivia time: Which college had the most players in the NFL last season?

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Not a swift move: A thief picked the wrong suitcase to try to steal at the airport in Seville, Spain, and then tried to outrun the world’s fastest man, Maurice Greene.

The luggage belonged to Larry Wade, one of the American track stars arriving for the world track championships this week.

The hurdler was waiting for Greene to finish a TV interview when he saw a man lift one of his suitcases and hurry away. Wade chased him and so did Greene, who holds the world record in the 100 meters (9.79 seconds).

The man was caught, the news agency Efe reported.

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More luggage: It could have been worse for Seville’s airport thief. He might have had Oakland Raider linebacker K.D. Williams in pursuit.

Williams, 26, couldn’t stick with a team in 1997-98 and instead worked at a Tampa, Fla., airport. “Being a skycap taught me more about respect and discipline than anything,” he said. “It was like, now I’m out of football and I have to live the straight and narrow. . . . It taught me that when I got my chance, I had to put everything into it.”

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Still packing ‘em in: The old Cleveland Municipal Stadium now rests at the bottom of Lake Erie, its concrete rubble turned into three artificial reefs, all teeming with smallmouth bass and other underwater life.

“At this spot two years ago, you might have sat here all day and you wouldn’t catch anything,” said Andy Emrisko, a boat captain and fisherman.

In other words, just like the Browns when the stadium was still above water.

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Quick exit: Formula One driver and two-time world champion Michael Schumacher, recovering from a broken right leg suffered at Silverstone in England two months ago, hopes to compete in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sept. 12.

First, however, he has to pass a test. The Ferrari driver will not be allowed to race again until he can prove he can climb out of his car in less than five seconds.

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Trivia answer: Florida State, with 41.

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And finally: Columnist Jim Litke of the Associated Press recalls Nick Kypreos of the New York Rangers visiting the White House after a Stanley Cup victory and trying to track down where his paycheck was going.

“I want to find out who this FICA guy is,” Kypreos said, “and how come he’s taking so much of my money.”