Cheap Seats

It’s a start, at least

Chan Ho Park’s legend in Korea just keeps growing.

The Los Angeles Dodger pitcher signed an agreement worth $895,000 to endorse computers for a South Korean company, the largest such contract awarded in that country. This will give him total endorsement income of about $2.9 million, more than 10 times the $270,000 he will make this year pitching for the Dodgers.

“Chan Ho deserves all this,” agent Steve Kim said. “He’s a national hero.”

Sorry, Chan Ho. You’re making chump change compared to Michael Jordan’s $40 million per annum.

Tell it like it is

Before a New Orleans Saints exhibition game, coach Mike Ditka was relaxing on the bench when a woman leaned over the wall and asked for his autograph, saying, “My son is afraid to ask you.”

“He should be,” Ditka replied as he stood up and signed.

We weren’t aware that Jim Harbaugh’s mother lives in New Orleans.

Couch potato investment scheme

For about the price of courtside Chicago Bulls season tickets, a fan could sit on Michael Jordan’s sofa in a room decorated with his wallpaper.

Michael Evans, who recently purchased Michael Jordan’s Highland Park, Illinois, residence, decided to auction off the furniture and other goods Jordan left behind.

Among the more than 40 items being auctioned off Oct. 8 are an Italian leather couch, which will start at $15,000, a goat-skin dining table starting at $7,500 and such less glamorous possessions as rolls of wallpaper, said Steve Wilneff, president of Henway Sports & Specialties, which is conducting the auction.

Wilneff wouldn’t speculate on how much he expected the auction to bring, although he said it could become an event.

Please don’t ask how much toiletry items sold for.

Give this guy an ‘A’ for analysis

Baseball teams now give No. 1 draft picks million-dollar deals, but the history of one of the first of the new bonus babies, New York Yankee left-hander Brien Taylor, shows it’s no sure bet.

Taylor got $1.5 million in 1991, has had surgery on his left shoulder and, in his first three starts this season at Class-A Greensboro, gave up 15 earned runs in 10-2/3 innings, walking 17.

A few months ago, Taylor was at the Yankees complex in Tampa, Fla., watching reporters follow Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu.

“I look at him, what he’s going through right now,” Taylor told the New York Times, “and I know. I say, ‘Man, he’s got a long road ahead of him. It’s just the beginning. If only he knew.”’

And if only you had some talent, Brien.

Hey baby, it’s not easy being so obnoxious

Cory Paus is one of the hottest prep quarterbacks in the Chicago area, but he says he would rather become a sports broadcaster than play in the NFL. You have to like his attitude.

“I don’t want to be as annoying as Dick Vitale,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The last word …

“Headache, run down, sniffles. I think I’m going to be pregnant because those are the same symptoms my wife’s having right now, except she’s throwing up.”

- Colorado Rockies outfielder Dante Bichette, showing his caring, sensitive side.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo