And He Didn’t Even Mention the Officiating

The Denver Broncos’ next game of note takes place in Australia when the Super Bowl champions play the San Diego Chargers in something called the American Bowl in Sydney on Aug. 8.

With that in mind, readers Down Under this week were given a preview of what to expect.

“A carnival of the flesh,� was the headline in the Weekend Australian on one of its stories from Miami. Writer Bob Lusetich called the Super Bowl “a weeklong orgy of excess, carnal and financial,� and advised: “Lock up your daughters, Sydney.�

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More daughters: Many Super Bowl visitors were interested in more than the football game. Far from it, pointed out Tom Sorensen in the Charlotte Observer, commenting on the spate of parties surrounding the event.

“People dress with elegance and daring, and many bring their children. Mainly it is fathers who bring daughters. The daughters are always blond, always wearing a tight dress and never older than 25. Nobody in Miami appears to have a son.�

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Trivia time: Why is polo called polo?

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Melbourne brouhaha: That spat at the Australian Open between eventual champion Martina Hingis of Switzerland and runner-up Amelie Mauresmo of France brought a quick response from columnist Richard Hinds in the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Hingis, whose idea of deep thought seems to be deciding to try on a black dress instead of a blue one on her daily shopping expedition, was naive and foolish when she said Mauresmo was ‘half a man’ because she had brought her girlfriend to Australia,� Hinds wrote.

“Hingis is 18, which is young to have developed such prejudices. Maybe she is just repeating what she reads in the newspapers. . . .

“Providing her physique is natural, Mauresmo should be the best thing to happen to tennis in years. Powerful and confident, her game has the substance that the women’s game sometimes lacks.

“And her choice of dinner companion? Does anyone really care?�

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Another flap: Those who mistakenly believe the drug problem has not reached deeply into all sports need only consider this:

The Swedish Carrier Pigeon Assn. last month had to expel two birds from its championship after both tested positive for cortisone.

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Trivia answer: The sport’s name derives from a Tibetan word, pulu, which is the willow root from which the polo ball is made.

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And finally: Denver might be atop the NFL heap once again, but Chicago Tribune columnist Bernie Lincicome remains unconvinced.

“The word dynasty does not spring to most minds,� he wrote, “even now that the Broncos are on a two-Super Bowl run because, for one thing, they only beat the Falcons, not an opponent as much as a breath of hot air.�