Doorknobs Made Salt Lake City an Olympic Lock

Mike Littwin of the Rocky Mountain News confessed that he didn’t have much interest previously in the Winter Olympic payoff scandal:

“But that was before I heard about the doorknobs. And now I can’t get enough.

“According to the latest report on the scandal, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SCHLOCK?) spent $673 on doorknobs to bribe IOC members to vote for a Salt Lake Winter Olympics.

“Doorknobs? Heck, if it’s me and I’m an IOC delegate on the make, I’m holding out for at least aluminum siding. Besides, how much does a doorknob go for these days, and don’t they have Home Depots overseas?

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Trivia time: Which are the only Pacific 10 Conference schools to win the National Invitation Tournament?

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The good life: Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News: “You gotta love those fringe benefits written into current jock contracts, like Mike Piazza’s luxury box at Shea Stadium and hotel suites for road trips.

“Geezers can remember when Joe DiMaggio requested to room alone on trips and Yankee management made the star himself pay the difference in hotel single and double occupancy rate.”

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All in the family: Terry Cummings of Golden State, in his 17th year in the NBA, has a son playing at a college in Wisconsin and another at a high school near Chicago. He told Bob Sakamoto of the Chicago Tribune:

“The greatest part about lasting 17 years in the NBA is that I get to watch my sons play and they get to see me play. Its not like some other kids who say, ‘My dad used to play in the NBA.’ ”

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A different gig: Comedian Jay Leno will get a new supply of one-liners when he drives the pace car at the start of the Indianapolis 500 on May 30.

Leno, host of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” is an automobile enthusiast who owns dozens of vintage cars and motorcycles.

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Come again? Barry Horn in the Dallas Morning News: “The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence has announced it is planning to raise funds in May with a National Aerobic Kick-boxing Marathon.

“Honest.”

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Integrity: Pat Sullivan of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that in the 1925 U.S. Open golf legend Bobby Jones penalized himself one stroke for a rules infraction and finished second by one stroke.

Said Jones: “There is only one way to play the game. You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.”

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Trivia answer: UCLA in 1985 and Stanford in 1991.

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And finally: New Jersey Net Jayson Williams, on whether he would risk a fine and retaliate against Atlanta’s Dikembe Mutombo for breaking his nose with an elbow:

“You think I want to give the NBA my money? I’m trying to put another pool in.”