Olympic Flame Isn’t All That’s Lighted Up

The Dodgers’ former public-address announcer, Mike Carlucci, who will work the Olympic baseball tournament, recently returned from Athens after working a baseball competition there.

Observed Carlucci: “Everyone loves to smoke. In fact, that is probably why things have progressed so slowly. Everyone is always on a smoke break.”

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Trivia time: Fifteen major leaguers have hit four home runs in a game. Who were the last two to do it?

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A silver lining: Connecticut basketball Coach Jim Calhoun, speaking Thursday night at the Harold Pump Memorial Foundation dinner at Universal City, talked about being diagnosed with prostate cancer last year.

“Getting up constantly in the middle of the night to relieve yourself may be a sign of prostate cancer,” he said. “But, for a coach, it may be a good sign. Jim Boeheim had prostate cancer and a year later he won the national title. I got prostate cancer last year and ... another title.”

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Critiquing the media: Bob Knight, a guest on FSN’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” on his relationship with the media: “I really, in no way, despise the media. What I despise are people who aren’t honest, people who don’t work at what they do, and there happens to be a few of those in the media.”

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No ringing endorsement: More from Knight on the media: “I have great respect for the written word, it’s just unfortunate that there are ... a lot of writers who don’t write as well as they think they do.”

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Cap caper: The U.S. women’s Olympic soccer team has changed its allegiance since Mia Hamm’s husband, Nomar Garciaparra, was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Chicago Cubs.

“We all threw out our Red Sox caps and now wear Cubs caps,” forward Abby Wambach said at a news conference in Athens.

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Essence of the trade: Of the deal between the Red Sox and Cubs, David Letterman said what the teams really swapped were curses.

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Versatile endorser: Among the logos John Daly has been wearing on his golf attire is one from TrimSpa and another from Dunkin’ Donuts.

Daly, who appears to be favoring the doughnuts over the diet pills these days, said of having such diverse sponsors: “It’s like having Miller Lite and AA.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1983, Hal Sutton, now the U.S. Ryder Cup captain, overcame three consecutive bogeys to win the PGA Championship at Riviera Country Club by one stroke over Jack Nicklaus.

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Trivia answer: Carlos Delgado of Toronto in a 10-8 victory over Tampa Bay on Sept. 25, 2003, and Shawn Green of the Dodgers in a 16-3 victory over Milwaukee on May 23, 2002.

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And finally: South Carolina Coach Lou Holtz, quoted in the Birmingham News regarding the sportswriter who gave Holtz’s team -- 5-7 in each of the last two seasons -- a first-place vote in an SEC preseason poll: “He probably voted with a crayon.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.