Seeking a Lasting Relationship? Try Being America’s Sweetheart

Mary Lou Retton hasn’t won a thing since the 1984 Summer Olympics. As for Dorothy Hamill, you need to visit the archives to find her moment of triumph--the 1976 Winter Games.

Yet the two golden oldies rank as the most popular athletes in the nation, according to an Associated Press poll on 809 athletes.

Other findings:

Most unpopular athlete--Mike Tyson, easily outdistancing Pete Rose, John McEnroe and Jose Canseco.

Most unpopular team owner--Surprise! George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees.

Most popular current women’s tennis player--Martina Navratilova.

Most popular active men’s tennis player--Andre Agassi.

Most popular current athletes in basketball, football, baseball and hockey--Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Nolan Ryan and Wayne Gretzky, respectively.

Best-known athletes--Muhammad Ali and Babe Ruth.

Most popular baseball manager--Tom Lasorda.

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Trivia time: Contrary to earlier reports, Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonds are not the first father-son combination to have been tossed from a major league game. Who were?

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Say cheese(y): Since 1986, fans at Buffalo’s Rich Stadium have been treated to a version of the 1960s hit song, “Shout,” every time the hometown Bills scored.

No longer. The Polaroid company purchased the rights to the song last summer and now wants the Bills to pay an annual fee of up to $10,000 for use of an altered version of the tune.

The team shouted back its answer: No!

“My Lord, this may seem like chump change to a firm like Polaroid, but what they were asking for this year was more money than is in my entire budget,” said Marilyn Singer, whose advertising agency oversees the Bills’ account.

Polaroid didn’t seem to care.

“You lost the Super Bowl three times, maybe you should have gotten rid of the song,” said Joanna Hughes-Brock of Polaroid’s advertising and marketing department.

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Ace man: Some play golf an entire lifetime and never make a hole-in-one. Stephan Ostlind, who began playing only four years ago, recently aced the par-three, 135-yard hole at the Oskarshamn Golf Course in Sweden.

Ostlind, by the way, plays golf with one arm.

“I have never regarded myself as disabled,” Ostlind, 36, told the Associated Press.

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Trivia answer: Bill Ripken and Cal Ripken Sr. of the Baltimore Orioles were ejected from the same game on Sept. 11, 1990.

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Quotebook: Dallas Cowboy defensive tackle Leon Lett in Sports Illustrated on his fumble at the Buffalo Bills’ goal line during Super Bowl XXVII: “One guy told me that thanks to me, he lost the money he was going to use to have a back yard pool put in for his kids. Another guy told me I cost him the $150 he was going to use to take his family on vacation. I’m thinking, ‘Where were you going to take them--the movies?’ ”