Who Says Men Won’t Watch the Olympics?

Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune on sports he’d like to see in the Winter Olympics:

* “Full-Contact Figure Skating: The dream matchup in this new event would be Sasha Cohen, who reportedly bumped into competitors on purpose during warmups at the U.S. nationals, against Tonya Harding, skating’s gift to the women of Cell Block C.

* “The I Hate Brian Billick Ski Jump. Sick of Billick’s ego and mouth, competitors tie up the Baltimore Raven coach, strap him to a pair of skis and push him down the ski-jump run.

* “Trash the Hotel Room. The U.S. men’s hockey team takes on Metallica in a first-round matchup.”

*

Trivia time: Which city has played host to the most Super Bowl games?

*

Airing it out: Jeff Gordon in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Michael Jordan will want to reach a divorce settlement with his wife, Juanita, ASAP, because our nation’s supermarket tabloids are on the case.

“If you don’t like M.J. for whatever reason, then you can rush out and buy the Globe (MICHAEL JORDAN’S SECRET SEX LIFE), the National Enquirer (MICHAEL JORDAN’S MISTRESS TELLS ALL) or the Star (WIFE’S OWN STORY).”

*

It’s been said: Louisville basketball Coach Rick Pitino, commenting to the Louisville Courier-Journal on Cardinal forward Jospeh N’Sima’s faulty free-throw shooting this season: “I’m a coach who’s a big believer in execution. And when I watch him shoot free throws, I want to execute him.”

Pitino may have borrowed this quip from the late John McKay, who, while coaching Tampa Bay, was asked about his team’s execution and replied: “I’m all for it.”

*

Positive spin: Some NHL stars reportedly aren’t eager to come to Los Angeles for the All-Star game, but Edmonton goalie Tommy Salo is looking forward to it.

“I’m looking at it as a holiday,” he said. “I’m taking my wife for the weekend. All I have to do is play for 20 minutes and dig five or six pucks out of the net.”

*

Who is he? Bill Conlin in the Philadelphia Daily News: “Andy Reid is one of the strangest strangers we have had in this strange town.

“The Eagles’ nondrinking, nonsmoking, noncussing, noninsulting coach could be a space alien walking among us.”

*

Recount: Michael Ventre of MSNBC.com: “Because they play at Enron Field, this might be a good time for the Houston Astros to claim their record in the postseason is the result of accounting errors.”

*

Looking back: On this day in 1995, the San Francisco 49ers routed the San Diego Chargers, 49-26, in Super Bowl XXIX in Miami.

*

Trivia answer: New Orleans, the site of this year’s game, with nine.

*

And finally: Writing before Sunday’s NFL playoff games, Greg Cote of the Miami Herald predicted runaway victories for Pittsburgh and St. Louis: “[The] Super Bowl host city, New Orleans, is called the ‘Big Easy’ because the two NFL teams that will be there are going to win this weekend’s games big, and easy.”

Big and easy, huh? The New England Patriots beat the Steelers and the Rams had to sweat out a 29-24 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Mal Florence