ONLINE: The World Cup's official site, www.france98.
com, took in 50 million hits on its opening day, or about
570,000 user sessions. On June 15, when both the U.S. and
England played, the number increased to 59 million and
660,000. Check-ins have come from 170 countries so far,
with fewer than half coming from the U.S. -- a figure in-
line with TV viewership (COMPUTERWORLD, 6/22 issue)....S.F.-
based Quokka Sports' Total Sports coverage of the '97-98
Whitbread Round The World Race at www.whitbread.org
registered 768 million hits since the race began on
September 21. Fifty-three percent of the hits came from
Europe, while 30% came from the U.S. and 10% came from
Australia and New Zealand. Site sponsors include Tandem,
CompuServe, Kodak, Marimba and Rodes (Quokka Sports).
NOTES: NFL analyst Sterling Sharpe signed a multi-year
extension with ESPN (ESPN)....Turner Sports' Kevin Harlan
and Hubie Brown, along with the 76ers' Marc Zumoff, will be
the announcers for TBS's basketball coverage at the Goodwill
Games (Turner Sports)....In N.Y., Phil Mushnick notes that
One-On-One Sports radio host John Renshaw made disparaging
comments about ESPN's Stuart Scott's eye condition during a
recent show. Mushnick: "Particularly disturbing [is] that
in One on One's quest to 'entertain' sports fans, these
kinds of calls are allowed on the air without being clipped
via the seven-second delay" (N.Y. POST, 6/26)....Ted Turner,
asked if he is the "driving force" behind NBC/Turner's plan
for a new pro football league: "I don't think that's true at
all. I think GE and NBC are just as enthused as we are"
(USA TODAY, 6/26)....USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke gives kudos to
Peter Vecsey for his work at the NBA Draft, noting that he
"scored on most draft picks and trades" (USA TODAY, 6/26).
