Pan-Am Games Didn’t Bowl Anyone Over

The Pan Anonymous, er, Pan American Games just concluded in Winnipeg, Canada, without many people in the United States realizing they had even started. But the Games should have had a mass appeal in at least a few ways.

Among the sports contested were those hoping for acceptance to the Olympics: water skiing, bowling and roller sports.

“I always tell our guys: ‘The best thing about your sport is everybody can do it. The worst thing about your sport is everybody can do it,’ ” said Marc Whitney, press officer for the U.S. bowling team.

Such is the attraction/dilemma for roller skating, which brings to mind people gliding along Venice Beach on a Saturday afternoon.

“True,” concedes Maxine McKenzie of Canada’s roller sports, “but how many times do you see a highly trained athlete going backward down the street with a boom box on his shoulder?”

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More Olympic dreams: The organizing committee for the 2004 Athens Games has proposed adding water skiing to the lineup. Of course, it has also asked the IOC to consider fin swimming, which involves racers donning a mermaid-like tail.

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Trivia time: What the last team Ty Cobb played for?

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The Lion sting: John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, on the timing and the handling of Barry Sanders’ retirement: “The Lions deserve better. William Clay Ford is one of the NFL’s better owners. He made Sanders a multimillionaire many times over. Bobby Ross may not be the second coming of Vince Lombardi, but he did win a national championship at Georgia Tech and take San Diego to a Super Bowl.

“What makes Sanders’ exit stink is the way he thumbed his nose at his team. He missed the mandatory mini-camp with no explanation, and Ross fined Sanders because he was under contract. He refused to respond to Ross’ pleas in the off-season. Ross called Sanders 10 times and left messages. He wrote Sanders four letters.

“Sanders never responded to anything Ross did. Before the draft and free agency, Ross wanted to know if he should seriously think about replacing Sanders with another running back. Sanders thumbed his nose at his coach. Now, the Lions are left with backs named Ron Rivers and Sedrick Irvin.”

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Not sugar coating things: NASCAR driver Ernie Irvan is sponsored by M&M;’s, so the paint scheme on his car is dotted with pieces of the candy. On the right side is one of the characters, Blue, looking anxious.

“Well, he should be nervous,” Irvan said. “He’s the one closest to the wall.”

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Trivia answer: The Philadelphia A’s.

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And finally: It was quite a week for the San Diego State baseball program. Lost in the excitement over Tony Gwynn getting his 3,000th hit was another Aztec, Mark Grace of the Chicago Cubs, getting No. 2,000 four days earlier. It didn’t come with the same glamour as Gwynn’s well-chronicled achievement, but it was very impressive in at least one way: Grace was a 24th-round draft pick.

“I was never supposed to get one hit in the big leagues,” he said.