Cheap Seats

Good riddance, Shaq

PGA veteran Mark O’Meara hails from Orlando and is a regular at Magic games. Asked if he was going to sell his season tickets after Shaquille O’Neal bolted for the West Coast, O’Meara teed off on his former neighbor. “I think I’ll buy more,” he said.

Yo Adrian, find me a tomato can

“Rocky” still packs a punch - at the video store and in his old Philly neighborhood. A 20th anniversary gift set of the 1976 film and its four sequels has spent 11 weeks on Video Business magazine’s best-seller list.

And in South Philly, echoes of the film about a soft-hearted thumb-breaker who gets a title shot can be heard at the Passyunk Avenue gym, where boxers still answer the bell. Amid old fight posters, peeling blue paint, shadow boxing and rope skipping stands 38-year-old Jimmy Washington Jr.

Washington, 15-5-1 during his featherweight career, runs the gym along with his father. While Washington talks, two other ex-pugs oversee youngsters. Billy Scott and Roger Russell intently check out the action around them. Mention “Rocky” and you’ll get a lesson - about how the movies aren’t close to the real thing.

Or you can ask Sly Stallone, whose first choice to play his opponent in “Rocky III” was former heavyweight contender Earnie Shavers. That idea was KO’d when Shavers’ ring instincts took over during an audition and he knocked the wind out of Stallone with one punch to the arm.

In the featherweight announcing division …

When Olympic viewers complain about too many commercials, the people at NBC point out how the network has cut ads from 10 minutes per hour to 9.

Is that counting Ahmad Rashad’s air time? During a recent telecast of the U.S. women’s basketball team, the NBC “reporter” weighed in with this hard-hitting tidbit: “If the women win here in Atlanta, it should really help promote their new professional league, which starts play next summer on NBC.”

Now back to John Tesh at gymnastics.

A sucker for the draw play

What is it about Chicago that lends itself to tattooed athletes? First there was Dennis Rodman. Now along comes Bryan Cox of the Bears.

On the linebacker’s right upper arm is barbed wire with the inscription, “Me against the world.” On the shoulder is a rose with the name of his wife, Tonia.

On his left arm is a drawing of Cox in his old Miami Dolphin uniform, with the words “Tonia’s Freak Man.” On his left shoulder is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde drawing.

Time for a tea break; I’ll get the wicket

On a recent hit-and-run , the Detroit Tigers’ Brad Ausmus hit an RBI single on a pitch that had bounced in front of the plate. “I’ve only seen that in cricket,” Ausmus said. “I’ll probably get some offers overseas after they see the footage.”

The last word …

“I looked up there once and saw I had a beer gut, so I don’t look up there any more.”

- Drag racer John Force, after buying a bus with seven TV sets and a mirror ceiling above his bed

, DataTimes