Jenner Has Dope Sheet on Status of Olympics

Bruce Jenner, former Olympic decathlon champion, believes that concern about doping is the Achilles’ heel of the Olympic Games.

Speaking on “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” he said, “They are doing the right thing to try to control doping in the Olympics. We are the only sports organization in the world that seriously tests athletes and all we get out of it is a black eye. That is the big media issue.

“You have 10,000 athletes there and two or three get caught, but that two or three are the ones who get all the media attention.”

More Jenner: Known as the “World’s Greatest Athlete” after setting a world record in 1976, he said, “The title that goes along with it does not help your golf game. Being the world’s greatest athlete just does not get it done on the golf course.”

Trivia time: UCLA plays New Mexico on Christmas Day in the Las Vegas Bowl. What do coaches Ed Kezirian of the Bruins and Rocky Long of the Lobos have in common?

Happy days: Miami Dolphin defensive standout Jason Taylor has his reasons for praising teammate running back Ricky Williams.

“We are able to sit around so much now,” he said. “In years past, we were not used to that. We get to sit around and watch him run up and down the field and eat up the clock.”

Social note: Anna Smashnova, who has one of tennis’ most descriptive names, will start the new year with a new one.

According to www.tennisweek.com, the 16th-ranked player has married her coach, Italian Claudio Pistolesi, and will be known as Anna Pistolesi when the 2003 WTA rankings are announced.

That’s our Roger: “Roger Clemens has only one request if the Yankees trade him,” writes Alan Ray in the San Francisco Chronicle. “He wants to end his career throwing at American League batters.”

That hurts: Here’s a joke making the rounds in Phoenix about Jake Plummer, the beleaguered Cardinal quarterback.

Question: “How do you keep Jake Plummer out of your backyard?”

Answer: “Put a goal line around it.”

Odd(s) reasoning: Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post thought Miami’s Ken Dorsey should have won the Heisman Trophy. He wrote:

“Dorsey is 38-1 in his career as a starter. Nobody has those kinds of numbers. That’s a higher percentage than Saddam Hussein has in ‘elections.’ ”

Trivia answer: Both played in the short-lived World Football League.

Kezirian was an offensive lineman for the Southern California Sun and Long was a safety for the Detroit Wheels.

And finally: Otto Graham, who quarterbacked the Cleveland Browns to seven championships in 10 years, is 80 now and lives on a golf course in Sarasota, Fla.

But he had to give up the game because of arthritis in his hands.

He told Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he quit when his wife Bev started beating him.

“Now she plays golf to get away from me,” he said.

-- Shav Glick