Toss Another Toxic Shrimp on the Barbie

Organizers of the Sydney Olympics have promised “the greenest ever” Games, but Sharon Beder, a university professor who lives near Sydney, takes issue with that.

In an article in Harper’s magazine, Beder calls Homebush Bay, site of the Olympic Stadium, “the [carcinogenic] dioxin capital of the world.” And Kronos Hill, near the Olympic Park, is “a petrified hummock of pestilent sludge.

“Here, hidden beneath three feet of topsoil and a few eucalyptus trees, lies a 60-foot-deep landfill so contaminated--with heavy metals, asbestos, lead, hydrocarbons, pesticides and dioxin--that before it was capped in 1995, workers were required to wear respirators and plastic suits just to get within thirty feet of it.”

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Trivia time: Tiger Woods is the defending champion for the PGA Championship next month. Who was the last winner to repeat?

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Quiet, please: Veteran wide receiver Cris Carter is optimistic about having second-year quarterback Daunte Culpepper at the Minnesota Vikings’ controls this season, except for one thing.

“He snores,” Carter said of his training camp roommate.

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The image: Newly unretired Reggie White may be a future Hall of Fame defensive end, but he was no different from the rookies when Jerry Simmons, the Carolina Panthers’ strength and conditioning coach, called for a run up the steep hill that overlooks the practice field in Spartanburg, S.C.

“When they told me we were going to run up the hill, I thought they were joking,” White said. “I was just glad I didn’t faint. I was worried I would and it would make it on the national news tonight.”

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Precedent: Are you listening, John McEnroe? Richard Lewis was ousted as director of tennis of the Lawn Tennis Assn. after Britain’s shocking Davis Cup loss to Ecuador.

Looking back: On this day in 1991, Montreal’s Mark Gardner pitched nine no-hit innings against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, but lost the game in the 10th when he gave up two singles and Darryl Strawberry singled in the winning run against reliever Jeff Fassero.

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What a feeling: Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Carlton Fisk, speaking of the plaque he received last weekend in Cooperstown, N.Y.:

“You’re able to see it, touch it, hold it, have pictures taken with it. But once it leaves your hand and goes to them, it’s on the wall forever--forever. Oooohhh. It gives me goose bumps.”

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Trivia answer: Denny Shute, in 1937.

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And finally: Pro wrestler Bob Orton Jr. claims today’s wrestlers show “too much concern about style, not enough substance.”

Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times translates: “They don’t fake ‘em like they used to.”