Director Is Getting a Real Dressing Down

The closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics is going to be a drag.

Cross-dressing drag queens will be part of the show despite controversy the move has sparked. Ceremonies director Ric Birch called critics of the plan “right-wing reactionaries.”

Including the men who wear outlandish dresses, wigs and makeup in the closing ceremony is justified and a “part of one tiny section” of the event, a tribute to acclaimed Australian films that include the 1994 hit “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” Birch said.

*

Another view: The Rev. Fred Nile, a Christian Democrat politician, was opposed to including drag queens in the ceremonies and said allowing homosexual men to prance around dressed as women would be a national embarrassment.

“Drag queens do not truly represent our great Aussie culture at all,” Nile said.

*

Trivia time: What do Terry Donahue, Juli Inkster, Ken Venturi and Dick Vermeil have in common?

*

How’s that again? It sounds like Yogi Berra, but this really came from Fred Couples: “I’m playing as well as I’ve ever played, except for the years I played better.”

*

Confidence: When the Boston Red Sox sent Izzy Alcantara down to triple-A Pawtucket, the effervescent outfielder left autographed baseball cards for his teammates.

On some, he signed his name, “Alcantara, MVP.”

At Pawtucket, he responded with home runs in successive games. Maybe he knows something.

*

Reason enough: The St. Louis Cardinals rank fourth in the National League in defense. After a game in which they made four errors, Manager Tony La Russa commented:

“Even Sinatra had to clear his throat once in awhile.”

*

Life as a Yankee: Toby Harrah, bench coach for the Colorado Rockies, played 16 seasons in the major leagues, including one, 1984, with the New York Yankees.

“Everybody should play for the Yankees one time just so they get an idea what it’s really like, because everybody hates you,” Harrah said. “When I played for Cleveland and Texas, you were kind of hoping to win. When you got to New York you were expected to win.”

*

Baseball’s Barbies: Alexander Global Promotions of Bellevue, Wash., which has produced bobble-head dolls of San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds, ex-Minnesota Twin Kirby Puckett and others, had $6.5 million in sales last year.

The dolls have oversized heads but otherwise look just like the actual players--down to Bonds’ signature earring and Puckett’s stubble.

*

Catcher/pitcher: When catcher Brent Mayne became the Colorado Rockies’ 10th pitcher in a 7-6 victory over Atlanta on Tuesday night, he worked a scoreless 12th inning to become the first position player to win a game since Rocky Colavito won for the New York Yankees on Aug. 25, 1968.

*

Trivia answer: All attended San Jose State. OK, UCLA fans, don’t get agitated about seeing Donahue’s name among the Spartans. He played JV football there in 1962 before transferring to Westwood.

*

And finally: Sprinter Marion Jones was testing a new shoe for Nike when it fell apart during a race. Woody Woodburn of the Torrance Daily Breeze, says, “She should have been happy she wasn’t testing new Nike racing shorts.”