Love In The Afternoon At Skydome

An amorous couple in Room 43 of Toronto's SkyDome Hotel provided auxiliary entertainment during the Blue Jays' 8-7 extra-inning victory over Boston.

The scene was caught by many in yesterday's crowd of 31,188, with dozens of binoculars aimed through the room's open curtains.

When several Toronto players discovered that a local cameraman caught the passionate couple on tape, they made a beeline for the video room.

"It's a good thing they finished before the game ended or I don't think anyone would have seen the game," said Alfredo Griffin, Toronto first-base coach.

The tryst was interrupted by hotel security after about a half-hour.

The 348-room hotel has 70 rooms overlooking the field. Hotel patrons must sign a release stating they will not have sex in view of fans. Police can file charges if the rule is broken.

Three documented cases of couples having sex there during games prompted the suggestion the park be renamed Exhibition Stadium.

When in Cincinnati, hold the mayo

Ready for another Marge Schott story? Here's one from Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post:

"Last year, the Cincinnati Reds had a party for one of their front-office personnel. The buffet was mostly cold cuts and white bread. Schottzie 2, the enormous drooling St. Bernard owned by team owner Schott, started licking the bowl full of mayonnaise.

" `Marge,' said the wife of one Red, `Schottzie's gotten into the food.'

" `That's terrible,' Schott said. `That's expensive mayonnaise.'

"So Schott got a knife, stirred the mayo until the evidence - three big doggie tongue prints - disappeared. Then, Schott said loudly, `Come on, everybody, eat up!' "

They wrote it

-- Blackie Sherrod, Dallas Morning News, on Thoroughbred trainer D. Wayne Lukas: "The man could sell heat rash to a self-employed model."

-- Tony Kornheiser, Washington Post, on the risk of NBC's plunge into future Olympics, for which sites have yet to be determined: "Entire continents could disappear. Don't kid yourself. If it happened to the Southwest Conference, it can happen to Asia."

-- Mike Lupica, New York Daily News: "To become a television lightweight, (Turner Broadcasting's) Dick Versace would have to move up a couple of weight classes."

-- Allan Malamud, Los Angeles Times: "Thumbs up to the NCAA basketball rules committee for voting to put more emphasis on traveling and palming violations. The NBA ought to follow suit, except I don't think traveling and palming violations are in its rule book."

-- Buster Olney, Baltimore Sun, on Kevin Kennedy, manager of the struggling Boston Red Sox: "Kennedy wouldn't be the front-runner if you were placing odds on the first manager to be fired. Cincinnati's Ray Knight wins that prize."

They said it

-- Charles Barkley, Phoenix Suns, after emerging from a hyberbaric chamber, a unit that saturates the blood with oxygen to speed healing from injuries: "Now I know what it feels like to be an airhead."

-- Jeff Van Gundy, New York Knick coach, on Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls: "Every time you block him out, he elbows a guy in the face. I'm not calling him dirty - he's an aggressive, physical player. He's a nasty guy, and I think that's an overlooked part of his game."