UPSET IN MAKING? U.S. SKIER MCGRATH WOULD GET RELIEF FROM TOP-10 FINISH.

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. — You’ve known and loved him in those Alka-Seltzer Plus commercials.

Felix McGrath stands in front of a mountain on a cold winter day, snow falling in the background, and explains how he pops those magic tablets in a glass of water when he gets all stuffed up and headachy.

It makes you want to run down to the drug store and stock up in case a mean virus hits.

“They auditioned about 30 of us,” said McGrath, 24, a slalom skier from Norwich, Vt., who was stuck in there between Spuds MacKenzie and Michael J. Fox during Super Bowl Sunday’s ad blitz.

“There was no script. They said to sound natural. I stuttered a lot and sounded stupid, so they picked me. I watch the ad on TV and I get embarrassed. That’s the end of my Hollywood career. It’s over.”

McGrath gets a different starring role this week in the Winter Olympics in Calgary. There’s no script here either. Just be yourself.

McGrath has performed well in the pre-Olympic auditions, better than any American skier, finishing in the Top 10 in three World Cup races.

If he can put together a couple of great runs in Calgary, McGrath could become the most famous Felix since a certain black cat.

“I don’t think winning a medal is very realistic, but I’ll go all out and see what happens,” he said.

“I want to keep things in perspective. These are the same guys I’ve been racing against all year in the World Cup, and I know I can finish in the Top 10, because I’ve done it before.”

Sunday McGrath finished third in the giant slalom behind Tiger Shaw of Stowe, Vt., and Troy Watts of Breckenridge, Colo., at the U.S. Alpine Championships.

It was sort of a plop-plop, fizz-fizz day for McGrath, who won this title last year.

“I wish I could ski a little better in the giant slalom,” said McGrath, who slipped from second to third place after the second run.

“My slalom is right where I want it to be, but my giant slalom has tailed off in the past month. Tiger skied a great race.”

Shaw, 26, from Stowe, Vt., won his fourth national championship in the giant slalom, adding Sunday’s title to those of 1983, ’85 and ’86.

McGrath will be the favorite in today’s slalom, the final event of the national championships.

Born Charles Francis Felix (“in case Felix didn’t work out,” his mother, Susan, said), McGrath has made great strides in a year. He was 71st in the World Cup overall standings in 1986-87.

“Felix is a born slalom skier,” said Harald Schoenhaar, the U.S. Alpine program director.

“He has quick feet and artistic movements that slalom skiers have to have. He has the experience, he just needed to get stronger. Now he belongs with the best skiers in the world. I’ve been waiting for this for two years.”

McGrath looks back to see how far he’s come, and knows how far he still has to go.

“I’ve skied as fast as I’ve skied before, and I’ve reached a new level,” said McGrath, who notched two sevenths in the slalom and an eighth in the giant slalom.

“But it’s hard to get to the next level. I feel comfortable in the Top 10 level, and now I’d like to reach the top five. Things have gone as I’d hoped this season. I’m certainly not disappointed.”

McGrath may never have reached his potential. As a promising junior skier, he was cut from the team after slacking off one summer. But the coaching staff decided to give McGrath another chance and took him on a European tour, where he climbed out of his rut.

“I would have gone to college and had four fun years of racing, got an education and I’d be working somewhere now, like all my high school friends,” McGrath said.

“But I’m glad it turned out this way. I feel fortunate.”

Felix means “happy” in Latin, and this Felix is delighted to have his chance in Calgary.

“Hey, this is great. I’ve never been to the Olympics before,” said McGrath, who will ski in the combined (downhill and slalom) before his slalom and giant slalom specialties.

“This may be my first and only Olympics, but that doesn’t matter. I’m going to be an Olympian, and that’s fantastic.”

— Mike Brown’s fight to make the Olympic ski team ended Sunday when the U.S. Ski Association appeals board rejected his plea to be reconsidered for a berth.

Brown said he would not take his appeal to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“I wanted to open some eyes so something like this will never happen again,” said Brown, who won the Super G and placed second in the downhill at the U.S. Alpine Championships after being left off the Olympic team.

“I didn’t expect the appeal to go through, and I don’t think the USOC wants any more controversy.”

The rejection, by chairman Dennis Agee and three other members of the seven-member board, was unanimous.

Brown, a seven-year veteran of the ski team, emphasized he had filed the protest reluctantly.

“It is very regretful it came down to my filing a protest,” he said. “That’s not my nature. But inconsistencies were thrown my way. I had to do it. I felt I had a very strong argument that I should have been chosen to the team.”

Brown charged the ski team coaches with miscommunication, saying he was urged to skip January World Cup races in Europe and rest his injured wrist. He said he understood his ranking as the No.1 U.S. downhiller would be guaranteed.

Originally Published: February 8, 1988 at 5:00 AM EST