The highlight of most Olympicparticipants might be winning an event.
    But LSU athletic director Skip Bertmanalways will remember his stay in the Olympic Village while coachingthe U.S. team in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
    Bertman said the village on the GeorgiaTech campus provided a view of life some Americans might neverexperience.
    ”When you go to eat, you’d be in a largecafeteria maybe 100,000 square feet and there’d be food from allover the world,” Bertman said.
    Some of the most interesting encounterscame on the tram ride to practice, Bertman said.
    ”We’d sit next to a handball player fromLithuania,” Bertman said. “Or a lady who’s a teacher from Nigeriawho worked for four years just to be where she is — has nomoney.”
    Bertman said the move towardprofessional athletes competing in the Olympics could take awayfrom some of the atmosphere. He said the U.S. basketball Dream Teamstayed in a hotel, missing the opportunity the amateur athletes hadto bond.
    The 1996 U.S. baseball team lost in thesecond game of the medal round to Japan, 9-3. But the team salvagedthe bronze medal against Nicaragua. Bertman said he did not receivea medal as a coach but still felt pride in the team’sperformance.
    ”I watched them, but coaches don’t getmedals or stand on the podium,” Bertman said. “I was just as proudstanding near [them] when they stood on the podium.”
    Bertman also coached on the 1988 U.S.team that won the gold medal in Seoul, Korea and the 1992 team inBarcelona.
    But a lack of interest in the no-nameplayers led the U.S. Olympic Committee to put minor league playerson the roster in 2000.
    ”I had 19 guys who are all in the bigleagues now,” Bertman said. “But at the time no one knew who theywere. We got no television coverage, no national or internationalcoverage.”
    Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager TommyLasorda coached a group of minor league players to the gold medalin Sydney.
    The U.S. team did not qualify for theOlympics this year even with professional players. Bertman saidhaving only a few games in the qualifying rounds of the Olympicsmade it hard to qualify.
    Bertman said a team composed ofprofessionals fails to capture the true spirit of the Olympics. Hesaid the Olympic committee is considering golf because of itsinternational appeal with professional players like Phil Mickelsonand Tiger Woods — a move for better television.
    ”They can sell that and make more moneyand that’s basically why I don’t like it,” Bertman said. “It’shappened whether I like it or not and that’s the way it is.”
    Olympic baseball now is played withwooden bats and professional players much like Major LeagueBaseball. But with the MLB season always in the last stride duringthe Olympics, it will never happen, Bertman said.
    ”The head of the Olympic committee knowshow great baseball could be on national television if Roger Clemenspitched or Barry Bonds was batting — then we’d get a lot ofattention,” Bertman said. “Obviously, they can’t do that. And [MLBcommissioner] Bud Selig has already said we’re never going to dothat. They’ll probably always be minor leaguers but never majorleaguers unless they’re just retiring at the right time.”