Cheap Seats

Sign of the times

The billboard along westbound interstate 94 in Clinton Township, Mich., Features the Detroit Lions logo, the surly visage of linebacker Stephen Boyd and the caption, “I stayed here to win.”

In your face, ex-Lion Barry Sanders?

Not at all, Lions marketing director Steve Harms said Tuesday. But he admitted: “In the aftermath of Barry’s retirement, though, I could see some people asking about that.”

Don’t say no to Nomo

While contending major league baseball teams scrambled for pitching ahead of the trading deadline, any of them could have had Hideo Nomo (9-3, 3.97) up to a month into the season following his release by the New York Mets and minor league stint for the Chicago Cubs. They can’t help but chuckle about that in Milwaukee, either.

“We’ll trade him back to New York,” manager Phil Garner said. “For Manhattan. Small transaction. No problem.”

Said Brewers general manager Sal Bando: “I’d like to think we were being smart, but the truth is we had nothing to lose.”

Al Davis thanks them

Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times asks: Did you ever notice that those people who proclaim all the benefits of a sports franchise to cities don’t have much to say about Oakland?

Oakland and Alameda County taxpayers will have to pump an additional $30 million this year into the Coliseum sports complex. This would make the taxpayers’ bill for the last three years $82 million.

The problem was Raiders seat licenses, which sold far short of expectations. On the bright side, the San Jose Mercury News notes stadium officials are “encouraged because the subsidy is lower than last year’s.”

Alameda County Auditor-Controller Patrick O’Connell told the Contra Costa Times that “unless fans start streaming into the stadium in unprecedented numbers,” Oakland and the county are expected to keep posting annual losses of $16-20 million.

Says Heisler, in closing, to his L.A. readers: “Now, who was it around here who wanted the Raiders back.”

Where’s Mia when you need her?

Commissioner Doug Logan of Major League Soccer has identified the culprit in his league’s embarrassing all-star game that drew only 23,277 in San Diego:

Himself.

“I don’t know if it was a good judgment to put it in a neutral site two years in a row, and once we put it in a neutral site, I probably should have found the resources to put five or six or seven of our own people in there to control the promotion of the game… . From my standpoint, I am not pleased with the way we promoted the game.”

Now if he can just find a way to explain the 0.8 TV rating. You should get that many viewers who left their sets on by mistake.

Lonely in Chicago

Chicago Bulls’ coach Tim Floyd, returning from vacation after Phil Jackson had hired away assistants Tex Winter and Frank Hamblen: “I was gone for 10 days. I decided I better get back or I’ll be coaching by myself next year.”

The last word …

“If we can’t sell the product the way it is, then let’s just give it a rest.”

- Mets pitcher Orel Hershiser on baseball’s latest marketing ploy, “Turn Ahead the Clock Day.”