She’s Well-Heeled for a Storybook Finish in Sydney

Bob Baum of the Associated Press, writing from Sydney: “If this is Marion Jones’ Olympic fairy tale, the slippers are ready.

“Not glass exactly, but clear, extremely expensive plastic. Actually, they’re just half-shoes. No heel. Jones doesn’t need one because her heels never touch the ground when she’s sprinting.

“It is touted as the lightest track shoe ever--3.5 ounces--and the first without a heel.”

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Trivia time: Five players hold the NFL record for touchdown passes in a game with seven. Who was the first?

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Snail’s pace: San Diego Padre broadcaster Ted Leitner on the legal and political flap that may stall construction of a new Padre ballpark:

“Only in San Diego [could this happen]. . . . I’ve referred to San Diego as Gotebo, Okla., with a beach. I apologize to Gotebo, Okla. They actually have political leadership there.”

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Curious fact: Blackie Sherrod in the Dallas Morning News: “Before George Musso, the old Chicago Bear, died recently at 90, he claimed a rare distinction, the only living soul to play against two U.S. presidents.

“George was a lineman at James Milliken (Ill.) in a 1929 game, against Eureka College, which had a 175-pound center named Ronald Reagan. And in a 1935 all-star game, Musso lined up against a center from Michigan, Gerald Ford.”

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The speculation is on: Claire Smith in the Philadelphia Inquirer, on Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, whose Nittany Lions have a 1-3 record:

“It has long been believed that the 72-year-old Paterno will be allowed to coach as long as his health allows. But a few more disasters like the loss to Southern Cal, Toledo and longtime patsy Pitt will guarantee a fast-forward on the speculation about how old is too old.”

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Impossible: Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post is bored with the Dream Team’s domination of Olympic basketball, although she says:

“Ray Allen can look like Michael Jordan if you squint your eyes very tight and pretend that China is Utah.”

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Still hungry: PGA Tour player Hal Sutton, on Tiger Woods: “The thing I admire most about [him] is he can sign a $100-million deal today and wake up tomorrow with the same desire to be the best in the world.”

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Sample it: Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle: “With eight world records set and another equaled in the first three days of Olympic swimming at the Homebush Bay aquatic center in Sydney, it’s clear: The pool is juiced.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1935, the lowly Boston Braves lost their major league-record 110th game en route to 115 losses.

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Looking back again: On this day in 1911, Cy Young, 44, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0, for his 511th and final major league victory.

No other major league pitcher has won more games. He was a 20-game winner 15 times during a 22-year career, and he had 30 victories in five seasons.

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Trivia answer: Sid Luckman of the Chicago Bears against the New York Giants on Nov. 14, 1943.

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And finally: Oakland Raider Coach Jon Gruden insists that he is not under any more pressure than normal from owner Al Davis:

“I feel pressure when I go to Walgreen’s, wondering if I got the right size diapers for my 3-year-old. Believe me, when my wife gets on me, that’s pressure.”