Atlanta

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- NBC's decision to pay an astounding $1.27 billion for the rights to the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2002 Winter Olympics answered the prayers of Games organizers in Sydney, Australia, and Salt Lake City.It also created a question: Did Atlanta organizers sell the TV rights to the 1996 Summer Olympics too cheaply?"You would have to think they did," said one USOC observer.NBC won the rights to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney with a bid of $705 million (plus a $10 million promotions package)

CHICAGO -- Tribune Co. said yesterday that it is selling Atlanta's WATL-TV to Gannett Co. for $180 million, its first transaction since announcing last week that it would unload at least $500 million in assets to help fund a major share-repurchase effort. WATL Vice President and General Manager Steve Carver, whose responsibilities within Tribune include oversight of Chicago's WGN-AM 720, said he will remain at the Atlanta TV station through the transition to its new owners, which needs regulatory approval.

ATLANTA --Two years ago, Saudia Muwwakkil, the director of communications for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, invited community leaders to discuss how to mark the 100th anniversary of a 1906 race riot in which mobs of whites descended on the city's black residents. The racial strife shut down Atlanta for four days and ended with the bodies of black men hanging from trees and streetlights. But of those Muwwakkil called, almost none had heard of it. The riot, so contrary to Atlanta's conception of itself as the progressive, racially harmonious capital of the New South, had been erased from the city's consciousness, left out of timelines and textbooks.

The Baltimore Bays open their 1994-95 season in the United States Interregional Soccer League on Nov. 5 against the Atlanta Magic, the defending USISL indoor champion. The Bays' home opener will be Nov. 12 against the Reading (Pa.) Freedom.The Bays play their home games at Du Burns Arena in Canton. Single tickets for all Bays games are $6.50, and all home games will be on Friday or Saturday evenings at 8:05.BAYS SCHEDULEDate .. .. .. ....OpponentNov. 5 .. .. .. at AtlantaNov. 12 .. .. ... ..ReadingNov.

ATLANTA -- With an emotional victory of unprecedented proportions, Atlanta yesterday morning gained the 1996 Summer Olympics and lost its reputation as an athletic Loserville.For years, this was a city that supported its professional teams with empty seats and emptier enthusiasm. The hockey team, the Flames, has been gone with the wind for years. The Braves, suffering through another pathetic baseball season, drew 3,473 on Monday night. The Hawks, perennial National Basketball Association underachievers, dumped coach Mike Fratello after last season.

* "This is not about money and all the stadiums we can build. It's about the values for which Olympism stands, and it shows we have learned our lessons about equality and fair play." -- Maynard Jackson, mayor of Atlanta* "I'm proud the Olympic Games will be back in the United States. We know they're going to host a terrific Olympics." -- President Bush* "We were expecting that the centenary would be for Athens, to renovate the spirit of the Games. But I think it was fair play, and we must respect the decision."

ATLANTA -- Argentina hadn't played men's basketball in the Olympics since the 1952 Games in Helsinki, Finland, losing to the United States by nine points.Talk about laying in wait.Argentina, a team that former Duke star Grant hill admitted last week he knew nothing about, proved to be the Dream Team's worst nightmare for more than a half last night at the Georgia Dome.When the United States woke up from its nearly 30-minute slumber in their Olympic opener, it pulled away to a deceptively one-sided 96-68 victory.

Scott Zolak may be picking the wrong time for a former Maryland quarterback to be going to Atlanta.Just three days after Maryland's Scott Milanovich lost his 1995 debut to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Zolak will make his first start this season for the New England Patriots today against the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome.In his fifth season, Zolak, who threw only eight passes last year, is getting his fifth NFL start because Drew Bledsoe has a separated shoulder.One of his first four starts was a 1992 game in Atlanta.

ATLANTA -- A few minutes after Navy qualified for a bowl bid by whipping Tulane in Annapolis last Saturday, junior safety Rashad Smith embraced senior linebacker and co-captain Clint Bruce."

ATLANTA -- Glen Davis is called "Baby Shaq" and sometimes "Baby Barkley," and the reasons are obvious. Louisiana State's center is 6 feet 9, 310 pounds. And that's a slimmed-down 310 pounds, Davis wants you to know. He's been on practically a starvation diet for a year, Davis said sadly. His world is lessened because he can't eat entire bags of cookies or KFC family buckets - he used to be a family of one when it came to the bucket - or three quarts of ice cream one after the other after the other.