Commentary by Paul Daugherty
Enquirer columnist

ATHENS - The Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall is a ghost town. Very dark, mostly empty. Take away the garishly bright lights illuminating the ring, the place could be a movie theater. Maybe Peristeri is Greek for "go away."

ATHOC, the Athens Olympic Committee, already has pronounced the Games a ticket-selling success. It claims the 3.2 million tickets already sold surpasses the 2.7 million sold in Seoul in 1988, and equals sales in Barcelona 12 years ago. ATHOC says it has reached its goal of selling 183 million euros - about $220 million - worth of tickets.

So why do most venues look like a rain delay at Great American Ball Park?

ATHOC claimed the gym was 75 percent full for the women's team gymnastics final Tuesday night. They must have included phantom lords-a-leapin'. The lower bowl wasn't completely full; the upper deck was empty. And this was for a marquee event.

On Wednesday, 1,800 people jammed the 10,418-seat Helliniko Indoor Arena to watch a women's basketball doubleheader; another 2,547 somehow found seats in the auxiliary soccer stadium that seats 18,323, to see Iraq kick it around with Morocco. And the Greeks like soccer.

To be fair, sessions of men's basketball have sold out, especially those involving the Greeks and the Unites States. Swimming finals have drawn well. So have equestrian events and water polo. But daily attendance figures show the venues never more than 62 percent full.

Athenians go on vacation in August. Beach vacation? Or Olympic archery? There are sports that mystify them (baseball, softball, badminton, team handball) and sports they don't care about (almost everything else but soccer, weightlifting, sailing, track, volleyball, wrestling and water polo.)

"They don't have the massive sports awareness we do," says my friend Tom LeClair, who has spent the past 24 summers in Athens. "They don't watch ESPN at 2 in the morning when they can't sleep."

Tennis doesn't grab them. A woman working in the press village said to me: "My friend told me I should go to watch the tennis. Venus Williams is playing. I said, 'Who is Venus Williams?' "

The prices can be excessive. Tom's companion, AnnAliki Antoniou, an Athens native, puts the average salary in the city at about 900 euros a month, roughly $13,200 a year. Some tickets are bargains: LeClair paid 20 euros (about $22) for softball and 20 more for the basketball game between the Greeks and the United States. He paid 40 euros to watch tennis quarterfinals.

Other events, especially finals, are pricey: 300 euros for the men's basketball final, 140 euros for the men's soccer final, 90 euros for an evening session of track and field. Here's where I'm going the next three days: tennis, women's soccer, swimming, men's basketball, boxing, rowing and track. If I had to buy tickets for each event, I'd be lighter by at least 175 euros. If I got the best seats at each, the bill jumps to 435 euros. That's about $520, a lot of coin for anyone not named Sultan.

In early July, LeClair wanted to buy three tickets to water polo. The salesperson asked for LeClair's passport and driver's license. He had neither. He doesn't drive in Greece and he's not a tourist.

LeClair asked the guy in line behind him to buy his tickets. The man obliged. The woman asked him for his Greek national identification card and his home phone number. We are buying sports tickets here, not requesting a security clearance.

Once the man's identity had been established, he paid her for all the tickets. She gave him a receipt, he signed it and gave it back. She printed the tickets and gave them to him. We've had an easier time getting our driver's license renewed on a Saturday morning.

The boxing continues today through the 28th at Go Away Olympic Boxing Hall. Good seats are still available.

E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com