February 2009 Archives

Pulling the list of names that we included in today's Top 10/Bottom 5 for the 17th annual best and worst of L.A. sportscasters for the play-by-play men (story linked here), who's your top choice?

Consider next year we may our first female .. the Dodgers may have narrowed their list down to candidates for the opening to do 40 road games this season, and Jeanne Zelasko was in the hunt.

By Jim Litke
The Associated Press

David Beckham is like that suit languishing in the back of everyone's closet. It was too expensive when bought and too flashy by half when you tried it on. Every time you've thought about wearing it since, you wonder what possessed you in the first place.

The difference is that getting something for Becks now won't be as easy as auctioning him off on eBay.

The 17th annual best and worst of the L.A. sports media has come to a February conclusion with the play-by-play list of Top 10 and Bottom 5 entries (linked here). The shortest month with the largest amount of reader viewing and response each year, and this is no different.

Thanks for the votes on the blog each week (the latest is coming up soon).

The play-by-play list has evolved into something a little different this year. Try picking between Vin Scully and Bob Miller each 12 months. Then throw in Jaime Jarrin.

There's three big fish in a very big pond. They smother the competition. So we tried to adjust to be realistic.

Beyond this, here are more media notes that has come through the inbox with some relevance:

== Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy are on the ABC call (Sunday, 12:30 p.m., Channel 7) for the Lakers' game in Phoenix. Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown and Heather Cox do Detroit-Boston at 10 a.m. as the leadin. Dan Shulman and Doris Burke do Cleveland-Atlanta on ESPN at 5 p.m. Sunday.

== Coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 of the World Baseball Classic actually begins at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 5 with Japan facing China in Tokyo (ESPN2, with Jon Sciambi and analyst Orestes Destrade). ESPN and ESPN2 combine for 23 games leading into the semifinals (March 21-22) and the final (March 23) at Dodger Stadium.

== The MLB Network's daily coverage of spring training games includes the Dodgers-White Sox game on Sunday (2 p.m.) from the new Glendale, Arizona field that they share.

== Dodgers' Hall of Fame Spanish-language broadcaster Jamie Jarrin will be honored with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Council of Los Angeles' Community Advocate's Award on Saturday at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Proceeds will help send more than 1,000 at-risk youth (ages 7-13) to camp this summer. More information: www.svdpla.org, or contact Sandra Gillard at 323-276-6083 or sgillard@svdpla.org.

== The seven-part series where Hank Haney tries to fix Charles Barkley's golf swing starts Monday, 6 p.m. on Golf Channel.

== Before NBC's coverage of the WGC Match Play Championship on Sunday, check out the Golf Digest Equipment Special with Brian Crowell and Dottie Pepper (Channel 4, 10 a.m. Sunday). Golf Digest's Senior Equipment Editors Mike Johnson and Mike Stachura also join in to try to demystify equipment for the average golfer by visiting manufacturers at TaylorMade, Adams Golf, Callaway, Cobra, Cleveland, Titleist, Ping, Nike and Bridgestone. It'll also reveal some of the sport's quirkier new products.

== Mary Carillo, Billie Jean King and John McEnroe will call live the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup event on Monday from New York's Madison Square Garden (HBO, 4:30 to 8 p.m.)

Petros Papadakis, whose polarizing affect made him both the best and worst of the readers' blog polls to determine the top and bottom sports-talk host as well as TV reporter/studio analyst, has again made it to the summit of the poll we've been running to determine your favorite TV game analyst (linked here)

But he's not quite the unfavorite.

Papadakis, who does USC or UCLA football for Prime Ticket when he's not on a FSN network contest, had 84 of the 272 votes as of Thursday night (31 percent) to lead the way for the favorites. Don McLean, who does UCLA radio and TV work, was second with 48 votes (24 percent). Our top choice, Jim Fox on the Kings' TV, was third with 48 votes (18 percent).

On the no-go list, it's the anti-King, Ducks analyst Brian Hayward, who drew the stink eye with 33 of the 145 votes so far (23 percent), just more than Papadakis (23 votes, 16 percent) and our worst, Steve Lyons on the Dodgers' TV, who had 15 votes (10 percent).

The Associated Press

Manny Ramirez, Ray Borque, Peter Gammons and the New England Patriots are among the 40,000 businesses, individuals and charities to have unclaimed money or property being held by Massachusetts.

The new list of unclaimed property issued Thursday by the state's Abandoned Property Division totaled $30 million in forgotten bank accounts, uncashed checks and contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes, the office of Treasurer Tim Cahill said Thursday.

The list includes 13 accounts over $100,000 and 32 accounts between $50,000 and $100,000.

Ramirez's agent completed the claims process last summer to retrieve a $10,000 Reebok Corp. check that had languished.

Gammons, who the treasurer's office said has almost $13,000 in unclaimed property, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he was surprised to hear about the money.

"But then," Gammons said, "I wouldn't be surprised if Manny had $7M out there."

Bourque had more than $2,200 in unclaimed property, according to the treasurer's office.

The Patriots were not aware of the unclaimed property. Team spokesman Stacey James said the organization would look into it.

The Abandoned Property Division has returned over $290 million since Cahill took office in 2003, the treasurer's office said. The database (linked here), built over several years, has more than eight million accounts totaling over $1 billion. The new names will be published in local newspapers around the state in March.

More of Jim Rome's pursuit of guys named Rex to have on the air on his syndicated radio show -- in L.A., on 570-AM -- and those who've arrived in full regalia so far this week (see last week's list at this link):

== Monday, Feb. 23, No. 8: Rex Kalamian, Sacramento Kings assistant coach (linked here)

== Tuesday, Feb. 24, No. 9: Rex Richards, former Texas Tech lineman and MMA super-heavyweight fighter (linked here)

== Wednesday, Feb. 25, No. 10: Rex Tucker, former Texas A&M and NFL offensive lineman with Detroit and Chicago (linked here)

==Thursday: Feb. 26, No. 11: Rex Ecarma, the head tennis coach at Louisville and part of the Kentucky tennis hall of fame (linked here).

== Friday, Feb. 27, No. 12: Scheduled: Rex Hadnot, Cleveland Browns offensive guard (linked here)

"You know 'Rex' is Latin for 'King,' don't you?" Rome reminded the listeners on Thursday.

You know "Rome" is HBO for a series back in '05 about a bunch of guys with swords and cool hats that look like the USC marching band and would have been one the favorite shows of Rex Reed (below) had the critic still been with us then? (linked here)

Jeff Lasky, play-by-play man of the Lancaster JetHawks, is the focus of the feature story that goes with the list of the Top 10/Bottom 5 rankings of those who describe the live game action for L.A. sports viewers and listeners. The 28-year-old Chaminade High grad works his springs and summers doing the JetHawks on radio and the Internet and his falls and winters in Bozeman, Montana, with the Montana State football and basketball teams.

And he doesn't make a fortune doing it, as you may imagine.

So why continue? Why not.

Read more about it tomorrow. Here's a shot of Jeff with Fred Willard during a JetHawks broadcast a couple of years ago. Yes, it's completely out of context, but if you get a chance to have him on as guest to do some play calling that we wish we could hear somewhere on a podcast, how do you pass on it?

Flip over to CNBC today at 6 and 11 p.m. for a show called "Newbos: The Rise of America's New Black Overclass," a one-hour documentary about how more young black multimillionaires are coming out of, all places, sports. As well as media and entertainment. And making a difference rather than just collecting a paycheck.

Reporter Lee Hawkins coined the term "Newbo" based on his forthcoming book with the same title.

Among those captured here are Torii Hunter, LeBron James and Terrell Owens. Their connection: They're "contradicting old-guard leaders who assert that Newbos offer little to the black community as a whole," as Hawkins said.

"Newbos exposes and chronicles the experiences and insights of these men and women as they move from relative poverty to fantastic wealth at a very young age," says the CNBC release. "Hawkins examines how the Newbos' unconventional paths to success have become blueprints for broader independence and entrepreneurship, and how this segment of black society has a disproportionately heavy influence over millions of people.

"Hawkins turns the spotlight on some of the nation's highest profile athletes and entertainers and asks them -- How exactly have they built their brands and their businesses? Does their fame and status insulate them from the problems of the broader black community? Do they feel they have a responsibility to the rest of black America? How important are social awareness and charitable involvement? What do they think about Barack Obama? Will they rise to the challenges and opportunities that accompany their wealth and fame or will they squander their clout in frivolity?"

Nothing new in Mannywood overnight? Not even eBay links to him selling off stuff lately in his garage?

Didn't think so.

Steve Mason mentioned on the radio yesterday on Ash Wednesday that, for the rest of Lent, he'd give up talking about Manny Ramirez.

Sorry. On L.A. radio, it's 40 more days and 40 more nights of raining frogs, or discussing Manny's slimy bailout plan.

Nor can the Dodgers seem to afford to let him hop away.

Scott Boras is in Phoenix talking to Dodger check-writers about his future. What if somehow the home-team Arizona Diamondbacks figured out a way to get Man-Ram to stay in the greater Phoenix area as a new player in the mix?

A wild idea?

I wouldn't put it past the franchise's 40-year-old CEO Derrick Hall, especially if it's a way to put a sting on the team he grew up watching -- the Dodgers.

I'm just catching up on a Fortune magazine story that came out recently about how MLB teams are battling the recession. Most of the focus in this piece href="http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/18/magazines/fortune/birger_baseball.fortune/index.htm">linked here) is how Hall, the future commissioner of baseball, has combatted the slumping ecomony with his own personal touch on running the team.

So how does a "middle market team" like the D-backs make green backs?

Hall is the king of customer service. And innovating marketing. And smarter spending. Stuff they teach you in Minor League Baseball 101 but no one listens to.

The story starts out showing how Hall contacted a season-seat holder almost immediately upon hearing her plight telling her he'd do whatever he could to keep her. She just emailed him. He replied within 10 minutes.

They worked out a deal where she could share seats with someone else in her section.

Hall left the Dodgers in 2004 when things got squirmy under new (Ballpark Frank McCourt) ownership. In the corporate world for one year, he jumped back in with the D-backs in '06 -- working in a city that actually has the lowest per capita income ($35,010) of any MLB town, the story points out.

With Hall's pragmatic guidance, the food and souvenirs are far less expensive that what other MLB teams slap on their patrons. Hall gives tickets away to local schools. He knows how to grease the wheels.

And he doesn't give overinflated contracts to big-ego free agents. Or their agents.

But under Hall's watch, why couldn't he figure out a way to make Manny fell at home in Arizona? For the right price, why couldn't 'Zona be a fall-back option, even a one-year pop at a salary below what the Dodgers are dangling. DHall would figure out how to make it work.

He'd have the Valley of the Sun wearing dreadlocks faster than McCourt could pull out his abacus and recalculate how much he'd lose in revenue.

The Dodgers have already decided to pick up a D-backs retread in second baseman Orlando Hudson. What's to stop Arizona from snatching a Dodger treasure right from under their NL West rival's nose?

DHall, you're on the clock. Show us the moneyball.

Comment here or at thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

Troy Ross, above left, and Hino Ehikhamenor will fight for a scheduled 10 rounds tonight at 6 p.m. on Versus, at the MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods (official link here)

The winner wins the latest series of "The Contender," hosted by Tony Danza.

Sorry, but that's about all the enthusiasm we can drum up for this reality series that, once upon a time, had more widespread interest and then became tough to follow as it bounced from network to network.

Rod Horrell and his wife owned Dream Dinners, one in West Hills and another in Camarillo. At the end of 2008, they lost the business. Then they lost their home.

Here's part of it:

The Dodgers' annual job fair, where it fills more than 500 employment spots -- ushers, security, maintence and food service -- runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Stadium Club and third baseline suites.

Candidates are asked to enter the Sunset gate to the parking lot starting at 9:30 a.m. to see what positions are available.

The Dodgers say they employ more than 3,000 workers on a typical game day.

Later -- March 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. -- the Dodgers will also co-sponsor a community job fair that brings in more of the public and private companies. Last year, there were about 4,000 people who were able to make contacts with companies such as Bally Fitness, Federal Express, Macy's, Coca-Cola, Sears, Primerica, USC and the U.S. Secret Service. More info at this link (linked here).

From ESPN's paper-shredding dept., the follow up to such classic you-make-the-call enterprises such "Titletown USA" and "Who's It":

Fans have voted Illinois' four sports greats - Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Ernie Banks and Mike Ditka - the most impressive quartet of sports icons representing each U.S. State, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, to be chiseled on SportsCenter's "Mt. Rushmore of Sports." Illinois received 28.6 percent of the votes, beating out the other four finalists - Pennsylvania, California, New York and Alabama.

The five-week series, which began January 18 with fan nominations on ESPN.com and concluded Tuesday with the live announcement of the winning state on the 6 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter, engaged fans with more than 300,000 entries nominating the personalities to represent the states/regions and voting online at different stages of the series. Final voting for the winner from among five finalists began Friday, Feb. 20, and ended Monday, Feb. 23.

How the fans voted:

Illinois: 28.6 percent took Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Ernie Banks, Mike Ditka

Pennsylvania: 25.5 took Joe Paterno, Mario Lemieux, Roberto Clemente, Wilt Chamberlain

California: 17.4 took Tiger Woods, John Wooden, Magic Johnson, Jackie Robinson

New York: 15.4 took Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, Joe Namath

Alabama: 13.1 took Hank Aaron, Bear Bryant, Bo Jackson, Willie Mays

Now is it time to play the Benny Hill theme music and move onto the next waste of time?

T-minus (whatever it is until 11 a.m.) for Tiger Woods' reentry into our golf TV box.

Can you feel it? It's like a heavyweight bout, waiting for the champ to come out of his locker room, the lights dim, the music blares ("Eye of the Tiger" seems appropriate) and wearing a glittering robe with the hood over his head, he emerges to the roar of the crowd.

Unfortunately -- or fortunately for golf -- Tiger won't have that kind of entrance today at the ritzy Ritz Carlton Golf Club just outside of Tucson for today's Match Play Championship (official site linked here). It starts a day earlier than most PGA Tour events because this is special -- the top 64 players, according to ranking, play head to head until it's down to the final two on Sunday.

Kinda like the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Which puts Tiger Woods in the UConn slot -- without coach Calhoun yelling at the gallery to get their facts straight -- and No. 64 Brendan Jones of Australia in the role of ... Slippery Rock. Maybe it's more like Whatsa Matta U.

Their match coincides with the start of Golf Channel's coverage today, lasting until 3 p.m. Or, if there's more drama, staying with it until past the end, plus interviews,analysis, re-analysis, more interviews, shot charts, FloBee informercials and a cooking show with Rachel Ray.

Tiger will walk the 18 holes that he didn't feel like walking at Riviera Country Club last week. Had he played in the PGA's Northern Trust Open, he'd have been on the hook for four rounds (probably), two at the embarassingly least. Here, in Match Play, he can go two rounds, play reasonably well, get knocked out and still have some dignity. After two days, half of the world's top 64 players are eliminated. There's no real shame in that. Tiger tucks his tail between his legs and goes back to his nuclear family in Florida.

Those who'll be most bummed are the guys at NBC. The network has the Saturday and Sunday coverage all planned around a Tiger sighting. The semifinals (11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday) and the 36-hole final (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) on NBC (supplimented with Golf Channel coverage) best have someone named Sergio, Vijay or AK in the final four or else that compelling golf competition thing is as luring as Scott Hamilton's Sequined Dudes on Ice special.

"He would not be coming back if he didn't think he was pretty darn good right now," said NBC analyst Johnny Miller. "He would not do it. I thought this was the perfect spot for him. He's probably thinking, 'Hey I can come back for the Match Play and scare these guys a little bit.' He's not here to test his knee, he's here to win this thing.

"If I was Tiger and I didn't want to tee it up to answer to a score and I was feeling pretty good, I'd try the Match Play because he can make a couple of doubles and still win your matches as long as you make a bunch birdies. This is a really good way to wet your feet if you're Tiger Woods ... you're not playing medal play and you're not answering to a score. Plus he has the intimidation factor going for him. It will be tough for Tiger to get to the weekend, but knowing Tiger he's probably ready, far more than ready."

As the coverman of this week's Sports Illustrated, Tiger Woods' return means that "people (can) escape their troubles by watching sports, and this is the biggest sports story we have going right now," said Tommy Roy, the executive producer of golf at NBC Sports, in that story. "He's so likeable in the way that he plays, it sucks you in."

Don't get caught in the ire of the Tiger this weekend if your name happens to pop up next to his in the bracket. Play your game and see how that works for you. Just don't cry like a schoolgirl when he's walking off the course after the 13th hole with a 6 and 5 victory. Or however the score these things. Stableford, right?

Will Woods be as sharp this weekend as John Calipari's Memphis Tigers, something of a threat like Oliver Purnell's Clemson Tigers, or smart enough like the players on Craig Robinson's Sydney Johnson's Princeton Tigers to walk off the course if there's some pain in that rebuilt knee?

Which school that uses the Tigers' mascot to you lean to in this scenario? Comment or email at thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

Reaction to yesterday's "Daily Dread" blog post (linked here) on how Mike Whitmarsh dealt with his demons will touch more than we care to think about. On many levels.

Rather than rant on about something else that really, is just about sports, an email I received from someone who seems to have benefitted from reading the post yesterday, which was turned into a column in today's South Bay Daily Breeze (linked here) and will be updated to appear in Wednesday's L.A. Daily News:

Very nice column. Very classy and touching. Thanks for writing it.

When I read about Whit last week I was taken back. One would think that a Gold medal winner, AVP champion, a nice house, seemingly no money worries with a wife - albeit
in trouble evidently - and two daughters would basically have the world by the tail.

If I had the chance to talk with him beforehand that is what I would have said.

But I am on the opposite end of the scale. I used to work in sports administration. Just turned 60. Haven't had a full time job in a year. Can't get a decent paying job worth my experience. I am "over qualified" for most. Others, i.e., young bucks, are scared because they think I'll take their jobs. Now applying for minimum wage jobs.

After 39 years and eight months of a spotless credit history my credit report is ruined and has cost me one job at least. I can't climb out via minimum wage jobs.

I've got no money left to pay rent this Sunday. No family. No pension. No where to turn. No future.

I am where Whit was but at the other end.

Sports teams are laying off employees just like everyone else. Nothing seems to be recession proof.

Many of us are literally at Whit's end.

Again, don't end it that way. Talk it out. Find a friend who'll listen more than talks and offers advice.

There are many services available at local churches -- free -- that deal with all kinds of emotional needs and have referral services.

Personally, I've been down that dark alley before. Almost hauntingly like the one Whitmarsh faced last week. A divorce that involves kids is horrible on many levels, no matter how "easy" it may seem.

It's not as simple as popping a couple of Prozac and feeling better.

Imagine the poor among us who've been knocked down even lower on the dignity chain because of all this.

Grind it out. Don't grind ourself out because of something that seems hopeless.

More comments and emails can be sent to thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com

In reference to Sunday's column on Loyola High players Jordan Gathers and Nick Lucenti (linked here), a followup to the blog posting we began last Tuesday (linked here), author Kyle Keiderling dropped a note to say he's coming out with a book this November called "Heart of a Lion: The life, death and legacy of Hank Gathers."

Keiderling wrote the 2005 book about the life story of Bevo Francis (linked here) -- who in the 1950s scored 100 points in a game twice for tiny Rio Grande College in Ohio.

Keiderling is also constructing a website -- www.hankgathersbook.com -- where pre- publication copies may be reserved.

And, yes, for those who remember -- a 1992 made-for-TV movie called "Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story" has been available on DVD (linked here). Nell Carter plays Gather's mom, Lucille, and George Kennedy plays Gathers' Philadelphia-based priest, Father Dave.

Less than three months after staging a grand ceremony to open the doors to his new Sports Museum of L.A., curator and collector Gary Cypres decided to close access to the public because of a lack of patrons during the recent turn in the economy.

The 32,000-square-foot museum, which opened on the Friday after Thanksgiving (story linked here), closed this last weekend and will remain so to the public until this summer, according to a message posted on its website (linked here). It had been charging $17.50 a ticket to adults and $11 to children aged 5-12.

A spokesman for the museum said Cypress was not getting the attendance he had hoped for -- it was open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday -- and the overhead costs, which included security, was too great to keep it operational on a daily basis.

Cypress still has the museum available to groups of more than 15 (with a reservation) and to private parties looking for stage fundraising events. The museum is offering refunds to those who have bought gift certificates.

The museum, at 1900 S. Main Street in L.A., contains about 10,000 artifacts valued at more than $30 million, including a T206 Honus Wagner trading card; balls from Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, including the last caught by Cleveland's Ken Keltner to end it; several unique Babe Ruth uniforms; Barry Bonds' 755th home run ball; the 1941 Heisman Trophy awarded to Minnesota's Bruce Smith; the original cornerstone from Yankee Stadium in 1923; the first balls used at Ebbets Field (1913) and Fenway Park (1912), and Gary Cooper's gray New York jersey worn when he portrayed Lou Gehrig in the movie "Pride of the Yankees"

We can't say we didn't see this coming. In early December, we ran across a story about the financial problems that the Sports Museum of American in New York was having (linked here).

Then came the news today: That museum decided Friday to close its doors, as well as shutdown its website, because of financial difficulties. A spokesman said the museum is in the process of "implementing an orderly process to ensure the safe return of all the artifacts." It opened in May, 2008.

Nine months ago, the museum that was the new home for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, reopened after it restructured its debts. It also houses the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center. Yet the museum was hurt by a $6 million construction cost overrun that ate into the its marketing budget.

Operational costs by individual operators of museums are too tough to manage. Most museums are owned by cities or counties, or have large fundraisers and memberships, to keep them sustained. A museum for sports is a fine idea -- that's what the Hall of Fame for baseball, football, basketball and hockey have found. But even they struggle with attendance and ticket pricing. They have to change to keep people coming back. The same exhibits in the same places work to an extent.

Cypress' hurdle is probably that he started a collection of sports memorabilia and never intended it to be a museum. It doesn't cover everything, and it's not really L.A.-centric. Cypress was hoping also to come up with some naming rights to the place. On top of all that, it's not in a place that's convenient to general public traffic. Had it found a home in L.A. Live, or at Staples Center, that might be much easier to access. Instead it's east of all that activity, in a part of downtown that may someday become revived as a business district, but right now sits in a somewhat destitute, run-down section near the L.A. Mart.

Cypress has had plenty of problems to date just to get this place open to the public. The shame is that even targeting this summer as a time to reopen can't be guaranteed.

A handful of Mike Whitmarsh's friends went ahead with plans to hook up last Friday and have some fun watching the PGA's Northern Trust Open event at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades.

Smoke some cigars. Have a few beers. Enjoy each other's company. Then head over to the Laker game.

Whitmarsh wasn't able to join them.

What his pals believe is an apparent accidental suicide messed up his plans. He was 46.

The obituaries about Whitmarsh (beach volleyball database bio here) will read that he was survived by his wife Cindy and two young girls. His friends will painfully admit one of the great players in beach volleyball history, who only turned to the sport at a relatively late age after his shot as a standout college basketball player didn't quite parlay into an NBA career, was in the process of getting a divorce. He had, in fact, just signed the papers grant it to his wife.

"We are all devastated by the passing of Mike," Cindy Whitmarsh said in a statement issued last week. "His family, friends, teammates and colleagues will miss him terribly. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time; it means more than we can express."

Mike Whitmarsh may have seemed OK on the outside. He wasn't OK on the inside.

Speculate about why Whitmarsh would choose to end his life -- and his friends have been struggling with that since hearing the news of it happening last Tuesday.

He seemed to have such a cool life. And such a legacy. Why would he want to end it? It made, and still makes, no sense.

This is from the LetsGoKings.com site, found among the photos taken by a fan during the Kings-Thrashers game on Monday at Staples Center (linked here) and note the amused girl in the background who's also snapping a shot of this from another angle:

By John Marshall
The Associated Press

Brian Deegan was home in Southern California when he got a call.

Jeremy Lusk, a member of Deegan's Metal Mulisha team, crashed at an event in Costa Rica, he was told.

No big deal, Deegan figured. Freestyle motocross is filled with hard crashes. Most of the top riders had been through their share; Deegan broke both wrists and his thigh bone in one, shattered a kidney in another.

This one was different.

We were preoccupied with many other things this week, and media-related stuff wasn't in the course guide so much. Maybe it was that President's Day sale at Circuit City that short-circuited our week.

You mean, it was a going-out-of-bidness sale? No wonder someone offered me a spool of cable with every beat-up floor model TV stand I'd purchase on that day. I just through the guy in the red shirt was being cool for a change and not making a hard sale.

While I go back to brouse through the DVDs and see how many more copies of "Who's Your Caddy?" I can get with this promo code, link over to these places to find more of what you may have missed along the way:

== The new ESPN Radio lineup in L.A. starts March 16, with more Mason and Ireland and no Tirico and Van Pelting Us With Rocks and Garbage (linked here).

== Tennis Channel, on the cutting edge of social justice (linked here).

== Golf Channel, on the cutting edge of proving Charles Barkley knows how to swing (linked here). Meanwhile, Sir Chuck admits to the 'Tard: I like to drink (linked here via this link at SportsByBrooks.com).

== Oh, how edgy: ESPN.com gives Lil Wayne a blog; he gives his arm an ESPN tat (linked here).

== How edgy is ESPNChicago.com, ready in April to be a stand-alone provider of all that is Chi-town sports? (linked here).

== Would we have to talk you off the ledge if you had to pay ESPN for the right to read Rick Reilly and/or Bill Simmons? (linked here). Why, because you're a free-downloader?

== ESPN's ombudsperson says, from her view, the Feb. 9 Gammons/A-Rod interview last week was hardly the makings of Frost/Nixon (linked here). She also notes: "Rumors of my departure have been premature. My term as ombudsman ends soon, by mutual prearrangement, but there will be a column next month, and if it is my last, I will say a proper goodbye."

== A guy at the Washington Post thinks women need more play-by-play opportunities (linked here).

== Sports Illustrated took the time to photoshop out Danica Patrick's tattoo from her backside before she was presentable to appear in the swimsuit issue (linked here and linked here). And they finally explain why (linked here).

== Tiger Woods' new family photo, one where the Swedecaublianasian makes its world debut (linked here).

== Fox may give NFL studio analyst Michael Strahan his own sit-com? (linked here) Why, because Terry Bradshaw passed?

== Here's a good rumor to spread around about an ESPN sideline reporter and a D-I basketball coach (linked here).

== More to know about CBS' coverage of the PGA event at Riviera Country Club this weekend (linked here).

== Neil Everett and Stan Verrett, get the boo-yah outta Bristol, Conn., ASAP. Your rent has come due in L.A. (linked here).

== We could retype out all the MLB Network and ESPN schedules for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, but it's easier to send you here (linked here).

Those listening to Jim Rome's syndicated sports-talk show (locally, KLAC-AM 570 from 9 a.m. to noon) understand what the headline above means.

Seven shows in a row that Rome has hosted (taking Monday off for President's Day) have included a guest named Rex. First, by accident. Now, through careful consideration and focus.

Starting a week ago on Wednesday:

== Wednesday, Feb. 11, No. 1:Rex Chapman (linked here), former Kentucky basketball great and NBA player now co-VP of player personnel with the Denver Nuggets. Knew more about Rome's stake in thoroughbred horses than the host seemed to.

== Thursday, Feb. 12, No. 2: Rex Ryan (linked here), son of Buddy Ryan, new head coach of the New York Jets.

== Friday, Feb. 13, No. 3: Red Hudler (linked here), the Angels' TV analyst and former big-leaguer, who has a new autobiography out called "Splinters" that's for sale on his Web site.

== Tuesday, Feb. 17, No. 4: Rex Walters (linked here), former Kansas basketball standout, played in the NBA, now coaching USF, a rival of LMU and Pepperdine in the WCC.

== Wednesday, Feb. 18, No. 5: Rex Lee (linked here), plays Ari Gold's assistant, Lloyd, in HBO's "Entourage"

== Thursday, Feb. 19, No. 6: Rex Peters (linked here), head basketball coach at UC Davis, a former Dodgers draft pick, Cal State Fullerton grad and Chapman University head coach. Not to be confused with Rex Chapman.

== Friday, Feb. 20, No. 7: Rex Hoggard (linked here), a senior writer for GolfChannel.com with the column "On Second Thought." He dropped the word "capricious" that had all the listeners impressed.

"Rex No. 8 is booked for Monday; I won't jinx it by mentioning it now," Rome said as he signed off today's show. "I'm focused on DiMaggio's streak. On Ripken's streak. On UCLA's streak. On the Lakers' streak."

Not part of the streak yet, despite listener suggestions:

== Rex Grossman, (linked here) Chicago Bears current backup QB.

== Wreckx-N-Effect, a swing hip-hop group from the early '90s (linked here)

Got a favorite Rex who'll work here? Comment, fool.

The USC basketball team's arrangement to have Daniel Hackett attend as a walk-on, with his father, Rudy, on Tim Floyd's staff as a strength and conditioning manager, apparently sends up a red flag to the whistle blowers at ESPN, who will investigate that as part of a Sunday "Outside The Lines" story on "Package Deals" in college sports -- where a college hires a recruited player's relative, former coach or associate in return for getting the player to sign.

The show (6 a.m. on ESPN/9 a.m. on ESPNEWS) says that "the NCAA has told ESPN that it is 'looking into' the Hackett arrangement. In 2005, USC hired Rudy as its coach. A year later, Daniel committed to USC. Since Rudy is a university employee, Daniel gets free tuition. And since he is considered a walk-on, USC does not have to use one of its 13 scholarships allowed by the NCAA.

Another part of reporter Darren Lyn's piece is on Kansas -- last year Mario Chalmers took Kansas to the national championship with his father, Ronnie, watching on the bench as director of basketball operations.

Says NCAA associate director of enforcement LuAnn Humphrey, quoted in the story as she's involved in the USC case (and speaking of "package deals" in general): "In the past, we have had a difficult time addressing that issue, but in the last several months since the formation of the basketball focus group we have tried to become smarter about the basketball recruiting environment. I think that snowball is rolling down the hill and we need to stop the bleeding."

After USC's win over Washington State on Thursday, Floyd offered a preemptive strike to the story (linked here):

"All I can tell you is that that bridge was crossed three years ago with the NCAA, with the Pac-10, with our compliance office and we have not done one thing wrong. As far as Rudy Hackett being at this university as our basketball coach, he was here a year before Daniel Hackett got here and he's far more qualified than 95 percent of the assistant coaches in the United States of America. He played in the NBA, he played on a Final Four team at Syracuse, coached and played in Italy and was highly recommended by the number one team in Southern California. (Pat Barrett, president of the AAU Southern Cal All-Stars) recommended him, I hired him and I'm very glad we did. That's all I got to say."

The cliche about seeing smoke and sensing a fire already turns to smoldering stench around the program that arose less than a year ago, when ESPN reported (story linked here) some funny business about how O.J. Mayo received money and gifts while on Floyd's USC roster for one season (remember those courtside Laker tickets from Carmello Anthony?). It caused an ESPN columnist, Pat Forde, to go so far as to say (story linked here) that the Trojans deserved a "death penalty" punishment soon.

But more related to this latest hunt, in 2006, Floyd caused even more eyebrows to raise when he got 14-year-old Dwayne Polee Jr. to verbally accept a scholarship before he had yet to play a high-school game at Westchester.

A year later, Dwayne Polee Sr. was named Floyd's new director of basketball operations.

A reverse package deal?

"I think he's more qualified than 90 percent of the assistants that come into college basketball based on his playing experience and what he can bring to the table for us at SC through his contacts in our area," Floyd said of hiring the 44-year-old Polee, a former high school legend at Manual Arts High more than 20 years ago before going to Pepperdine and playing for the Clippers.

The "package deal" situation isn't illegal by NCAA standards, just creepy. It should be investigated. Loop holes should be closed. Advantages that one program has over another need to be monitored and assessed.

And then what? Make the kid pay for the adults' missteps? That's what ends up happening. No wonder some may want to just bypass some of these tangled webs and go straight from high school to the NBA, which has its own set of land mines one must avoid.

What has Floyd done wrong here? Nothing, apparently. And everything, if you're the other 300-plus D-I basketball programs who hasn't already tried it and failed.

He's made it a family affair at USC, one more conspiracy theorists say grows like a sequel to "The Godfather." Another of his walk-on players is James Dunleavy, the son of Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy. Another of his walk-on players is J.J. Meyers, the son of Lakers play-by-play man Joel Meyers. Does that mean Floyd is laying the groundwork for even more hirings on his staff and broadcast team?

Does Oprah have a kid eligible yet?

And what do people out there make of Lil' Romeo sitting on the Trojans' bench (story linked here), where it's assumed he was only part of another "package deal" with star freshman forward DeMar DeRozan.

It only makes Percy Miller want to prove everyone wrong. And, at the same time, stay out of the NCAA's hyprocrical swipe at finding justice.

"One day I saw him wearing a warm-up suit and I told him I liked it," Floyd said in that story linked above. "He said, 'Coach this is my own line of clothes. If you want one, I could give you one.' "

You don't think there'd be even more NCAA folks on his tail if he accepted that gift?

Give us your take here or at thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

Our picks in today's 17th annual Daily News best and worst of L.A. TV and radio analysts -- hardly a surprise.

The Kings' James Charles Fox Esq.has the top spot, again, after ... we've stopped counting. It's gotta be at least eight years running.

The Dodgers' Steve "Psycho" Lyons goes low, again, for the Bottom 5. We may name the award after him.

But don't mind us. Make your own educated guess:

We're pleased to report the 11-year-old daughter of Angels TV analyst Mark Gubicza is on her way to a normal, healthy life after her recent surgery to try to prevent more seizures.

Rory Markas, Gubicza's broadcaster partner on the FSWest and KCOP Channel 13 games, knows far too much about brain surgery, having had his for a stroke last November, right before Ashley Gubicza had her proceedure.

And as you can see here, Markas, on the right looking like Jerry Doggett, and Gubicza know how to keep things light. This was during the Angels' '70s Night promotion last May. Gubicza looks as if he's going to help Starsky and/or Hutch make a bust. We fear that Rory actually had that stuff in his closet and didn't have to look more than a couple of minutes to decide how he was going to deck himself out that night.

The story in today's print editions (linked here) has the best and worst of the L.A. analysts, so there's no real surprises other than ... naw, there's no real shockers if you've seen the list the previous 17 years. A couple have unfortunately dropped off -- Mike Montgomery went back to coaching basketball at Stanford, so he's no longer doing USC games fo Prime Ticket, and Jerry Reuss' services are no longer needed with the Dodgers' radio team on the 40-game road package.

Some of the other things you'll need to know if you're trying to keep up with all that's out there this weekend:

== Rain forcast for Sunday may mess -- again -- with NASCAR's 2009 season. After Matt Kenseth won his washed-out Daytona 500 last week, the California Auto Club Speedway in Fontana takes on the AutoClub 500 on Sunday (Channel 11, 2 p.m.. Kenseth won the race in '06 and '07.
Chris Myers is the prerace host with Jeff Hammond and Darrell Waltrip. Mike Joy calls the event with Waltrip and Larry McReynolds, turning to the Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda and Matt Yocum in the pits.
Saturday, Fox has the NASCAR Truck Series' San Bernardino County 200 (Channel 11, noon), with Joy, Waltrip and McReynolds.

== NBC is using Paul Sunderland, Tim Daggett, Elfi Schlegel and Andrea Joyce to cover the American Cup gymnastics event from Hoffman Estates, Ill., (Saturday, 1-3 p.m., Channel 4).

== The latest HBO Sports doc, "Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs. Carolina," debuts Monday at 9 p.m. with many replays. Among those interviewed to talk about the Blue Devils and Tar Heels' hoops rivalry are, of course, Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and Dean Smith, plus Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Charlie Scott, Larry Brown, Phil Ford, Mitch Kupchak, Grant Hill, Jay Bilas, Alaa Abdlenaby, Mike Gminski, Johnny Dawkins, Brian Davis, J.J. Redick, Jeff Capel and Christian Laettner. HBO's own Jim Lampley, a North Carolina grad, also puts in his buck-thirty-five cents.

AND THE CLOSING ARGUMENT:

== From The Onion Sports (story linked here):

Scott Boras Able To Get Manny Ramirez $20 Billion In Economic Stimulus Money

WASHINGTON--After a series of closed-door talks, Scott Boras, the agent known for representing the highest-paid players in baseball, set another record for the game's largest contract when he finalized Manny Ramirez's $20 billion agreement with the United States federal government on Thursday.

A clause in the contract states Ramirez could receive an additional $6 billion if he successfully saves the American auto industry.

It shouldn't take more than an unscientific poll that can be manipulated through an email blast to all the pals of an befuddled sports-talk show host/weekend TV sports anchor to make us admit we were dead wrong about the value of Steve Hartman to the Los Angeles media market.

After posting last week's poll asking readers to vote for their favorite and least favorite L.A. anchor/reporter/studio analyst (linked here), the results show ...

No, wait, there's been a change. So, never mind about that headline above.

Whereas Hartman did have the lead at one point Thursday afternoon, we now must reveal that as of 7 p.m. on this 19th day of February in the year 200-and-9, it's Petros Papadakis -- he of the Fred Roggin "Challenge" and Prime Ticket's "Gauntlet" -- who has surpassed Hartman, the sidekick on KCBS Channel 2 originally named SportsCentral, with 147 of the 374 posted votes (39 percent) for the best overall dude. Hartman has unceremoniously fallen to second with 29 percent. Jim Hill is a distant third with 15 percent of the votes.

Still, with that strong a showing, it must be true: Hartman is full of No. 2.

As for who garnished the most response to be king of the worst TV dudes? Again, it's Papadakis over Hartman, 34 percent (52 of the 153 votes) to a meager 12 percent.

Which means, in the two polls we've put up so far, Papadakis is both the best, and worst, sports-talk show host and TV studio analyst in all of L.A. He'll be on the ballot again, for game analyst, early tomorrow. Can he make it three-for-three?

If you know of his play-by-play talents, let us know. We can also include him on the final week's ballot.

Of course, the poll for this TV sportscaster poll isn't closed. It'll never be finished, for that matter. Meaning anyone still has time to mobilize the troops, Twitter the nitwits and scream from his rooftop until their hair plugs burst into an embarassment of flames.

After Golf Channel's first- and second-round coverage of the Northern Trust Open from Riviera Country Club today and Friday (noon to 3 p.m., repeated at 5:30 p.m.), CBS brings in its crew for the last two rounds (Channel 2, Saturday, noon to 3 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 3:30 p.m.)

Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo are in the big tower. Peter Oosterhuis calls at 17, Gary McCord is in his familar spot at the par 3 16th, with Ian Baker-Finch at the 15th. David Feherty and Peter Kostis are roaming the course for celebs sitting under Boggie's Tree or whatever other hot spots.

Says Kostis on Japanese teen sensation Ryo Ishikawa making his PGA Tour debut this weekend: "I have not seen him play in person and not many Americans have. It's the first time he is playing over here. He's going to be on stage as there will be a huge contingent of Japanese press following him around. Ishikawa is another in a long list of kids like Rory McIlroy and Anthony Kim who are the next generation who grew up with Tiger Woods as their idol. At 17-years-old, he was six or seven when Tiger came on Tour. It will be interesting to see how they react and play, and the style of play, especially since Tiger is their role model."

As for the performance of defending champion Phil Mickelson, Kostis says: "The only thing consistent about Mickelson's game right now is his inconsistency. Clearly he didn't put enough time in preparing in the off-season. It seems like he would have found some answers. He is changing equipment almost weekly and it's hard to really develop your golf swing when you always have different sets of iron and clubs in the bag. You need to pick something and stick with it."

Along with Mickelson, Kostis says he hopes to see Ernie Els and Vijay Singh -- "the staples of our Tour haven't played worth a darn this year" -- make some kind of move.

"We need some veterans to step up and challenge the young guys," Kostis said. "Kenny Perry did in Phoenix, but the big names have not showed up."

Rain may show up, as usual, on Sunday. Be prepared.

The A-Rod vernacular of the week seems to dance around the proper way to cycle in or out of Tic-Tacs as a means of strengthening your forearms, as well as your resolve, when it comes to avoiding a rush to judgment about what actually happened back in the day when the Texas Rangers threw all that money at the free-agent shortstop and made him and his fictional cousin do stupid things. Stuff they're not sure they can admit to, even though they've denied it in the past to other TV interviewers.

Couple that with an episode of "House" I happened to come across the other day (summary linked here), on USA Network, from season two in 2005. The story is about a pro bike rider who falls over during a race, caused a huge pileup, and he's taken to the hospital unconscious. House immediately though the guy was doping, and would lie about it, so he'd never figure out what really caused his condition. One of the doctors thinks the guy may have cancer -- so the cyclist's manager goes to the press with it in hopes of gaining sympathy, knowing there's more to it than that. House figures out the truth. We won't spoil it for you.

The name of the episode, appropriately, is "Spin."

Spin forward to this weekend as we try to get our padded seat around this bike race that's heading our way. Listen ... can you hear it?

Lance Armstrong is living strong again. He's already shouted down a reporter named Paul Kimmage, a former cyclist who has ridden in the Tour de France and is now writing for the Sunday Times of London, who accused him of setting the sport of cycling back years by his appearance in this week's Tour of California (tour site linked here). That was a week ago, before Stage 1 in Sacramento. Kimmage called Armstrong as the "cancer" returning to the sport. Armstrong said Kimmage wasn't worth the chair he was sitting in. NPR's Tom Goldman did a great job reporting that story last week on "Morning Edition" (linked here, listen to the 4-minute piece). A-Rod's name comes up in this story somehow.

How will Sir Lancelot be received around here? The cancer survivors, like Tim Bruno here in Fresno, have shown their support in many ways so far.

Today, the pack cruises from Visalia to Paso Robles. It starts at 10 a.m. and ends about 4:30 p.m. Follow it live on Versus (site linked here).

Friday, it's Solvang, where Stage 6 is a time trial in a place that's kind of home turf for the Austin, Tex., native, to train out here.

During Stage 7 on Saturday morning, he'll be in the pack going from Santa Clarita to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Then it's onto Stage 8 to finish it up on Sunday. And then we'll get an even better way to gauge whether he's in any shape to challenge again for the Tour de France title this summer.

The other day I asked Phil Liggett, the TV voice of the sport and about as recognizable to cycling as Dick Button is to figure skating, how the Tour of California actually ranked on the world stage of cycling. He put it in the top five, just ahead of the Tour of Switzerland, with the Tour de France obviously No. 1. Then, in his Trevor Denman South African accent, he rattled off a couple of other races that I didn't quite catch before he got to ranking this nine-day, 800-mile event that's only a couple of years old now.

Pretty quick jump on the fast track of cycling's radar, I'd say. With or without the Armstrong factor. There's enough of the world's top names included with current leader Levi Leipheimer, Italy's Ivan Basso , George Hincapie and the return of Floyd Landis, stuck in 37th place as we pedal forward from this point.

But with Armstrong in the loop, already it's a must-at-least-pretend-to-be-interested thing to follow, either on TV (where most of it is live) and in the rest of the existing media.

Liggett calls the Armstrong factor "debatable," but he was at the Tour Down Under in Australia last month and witnessed the record turnout.

"It was unreal, they were beside themselves," Liggett said of the Aussies, which, in that part of the world, we're not sure how the gravity affects one being beside oneself, or if that's even possible with the South Pole so close by.

Although Armstrong currently resides in fourth place, about 30 seconds off the lead, the only real news he's made was by stupidly allowing his bike to be stolen early on. We can already see this shaping up into a sequel to "Pee-wee's Big Adventure."

Maybe Lance meant to do that.

Next stop, the Alamo.

Grease up your opinion of where this race fits on L.A.'s sporting landscape this weekend at the Daily News poll, and give your comments here or at thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

The Loyola of L.A. boys basketball team (school site linked here) takes its 20-5 record into the first round of the Division II-A playoffs as the No. 3 seed, playing a home game tonight at 7:30 p.m. against J.W. North of Riverside, sporting a less-than-impressive 7-20 mark and tied for seventh in the Big VIII.

Take a look at the photo above of coach Jamal Adams' Cubs team.

Standing on the far left, No. 23 ... Jordan Gathers. A 6-foot-3 junior guard, one of the top players on the squad.

Seated near midcourt, No. 31 ... Nick Lucenti. A 6-foot-2 junior swingman coming off the bench.

A while back, the two may not have known much about their one degree of separation connection to one of the most memorable stories in college basketball history. They do now.

Gathers is the nephew of the late Loyola Marymount basketball star Hank Gathers, who 19 years ago next month died (story linked here) during a WCC tournament game at LMU. Jordan's dad, Derrick, a Cal State Northridge grad, is Hank's brother, but really doesn't see his son play much in person, living on the East Coast. Jordan's mother, Leaha, has a strong bond with him. Both live here in Los Angeles.

Jordan was born after Uncle Hank's passing and never knew him.

Lucenti is the grandson of former Loyola Marymount basketball coach Paul Westhead, who was Gathers' coach on the tragic night.

This is a photo of Westhead, left, at an NCAA press conference in 1989 with Gathers, third from left, flanked by teammates Corey Gaines and Jeff Fryer.

Westhead's daughter, Monica, is Nick's mother, and the family lives in Manhattan Beach. Westhead, who coached the Lakers to their 1980 NBA title, guided the Phoenix Mercury to a WNBA championship two seasons ago and recently an assistant to P.J. Carlesimo with the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder until ownership wiped out the coaching staff a few months ago, lives back on the Palos Verdes Peninsula with his wife, Cassie.

Nick was born after the whole legal mess that evolved from Gathers' death -- the family filed a $32.5 million lawsuit on behalf of Gathers' then 8-year-old son against the university, coach Westhead and the team trainers.

The Gathers' suit included an allegation that Westhead induced Hank's doctors to reduce Hank's dosage of Inderal -- a medicine used to treat his irregular heartbeat. Westhead then sued the Gathers' family lawyers for $1 million in defamation after Bruce Fagel of Beverly Hills blamed Gathers' death on Westhead.

"I still feel deeply the loss of Hank Gathers, and that's something that's not easy to have diminished," Westhead said in 1991 after filing his suit. "But the recent court actions and comments specifically by Bruce Fagel have really attacked my personal integrity and I just made a decision that I cannot allow that to go unnoticed."

Westhead was eventually dropped from the family lawsuit two years later. The scars lasted much longer.

We remember this whole legal process to be almost as tragic as Hank's death, that lawyers stepped in and tore apart the relationships that bonded the Westhead family with the Gathers family and led to even more allegations that were really the result of such an emotionally-charged incident.

In 1991, Shelley Smith of Sports Illustrated wrote this piece on the legal aftermath (linked here). In 2000, Daily News columnist Steve Dilbeck did this story (linked here) on the 10th anniversary of Gathers' passing, which previewed a retirement ceremony at LMU where Hank's No. 44 jersey -- as well as Bo Kimble's No. 30 -- were put up for all to see.

Earlier this season, the Loyola high team traveled back to Georgetown, in Washington D.C., to play in a tournament. Jordan Gathers' grandmother, Lucille -- Hank's mom -- came over to see him play. So did Jordan's dad, Derrick.

Nick Lucenti's father, Rob, made the trip with the Cubs' team. Lucille recognized him from those days in court long ago. She saw Nick. She saw Jordan. She saw them playing together. She cried. She talked to the two boys after the game and let them know a little bit more about what happened.

"I saw Lucille in the stands with Derrick at halftime we embraced," said Rob. "The first question Lucille asked: 'How is Paul.' All three of us -- Lucille, Derrick and myself -- were overjoyed to see each other. Lucille could not get over how much Nick looked like Paul. After the game Derrick, myself, Nick and Jordan took a picture together, one I will not forget. Lucille hugged the boys. Again, I am sure there were a lot of memories running through our heads, the boys were focused on their task at hand. But again, in the back of their minds, they know the connection."

That's trainer Chip Schaefer , who now works for the Lakers, trying to revive the 23-year-old Gathers on the LMU floor that night. Paul Westhead stood just a few feet away, watching the life slip out of one of his favorite people. Many remember the aftermath of that -- LMU had a surreal run in the NCAA tournament, getting all the way to the Elite Eight before losing to eventual champion UNLV. More try to forget the other residue of that incredible event.

Westhead now attends his grandson's games and sees how Jordan and Nick are pretty good friends, for being almost two different kinds of people from two very different backgrounds. Jordan has the pressure to perform with a famous name, having been on the varsity team since his freshman year. Nick is the kid who loves to surf, a "lunch pail guy," according to his dad, noting the difference between Jordan's star potential and his son's role-playing ability.

"The great thing about kids," Rob Lucenti says, "is Jordan and Nick's first connection is they are teammates and the special connection they have is unspoken but they both know it's there.

"I speak to Jordan and Nick a lot about Hank. Mostly about Hank's tenacity as a person. Hank never even thought of giving up on anything. It's funny when I told them the story of Hank going for 46 or 48 -- I can't remember -- against Shaquille O'Neal and LSU. They were in awe. I told Jordan and Nick the fact that Hank went up against two 7-footers that day, Shaq and Stanley Roberts. It didn't matter it was another day at the office for Hank."

For the record: On Feb. 3, 1990, a month before he died, the 6-foot-7 Gathers scored 48 points and had 13 rebounds in LMU's 148-141 overtime loss at LSU. O'Neal, a freshman, had a triple-double: 20 points, 24 rebounds, 12 blocks. Roberts had 21 points and 12 rebounds. Kimble had 32 points and 12 boards. LSU's Chris Jackson had 34 points and 9 assists. Most amazing that day -- Gathers hit 8 of 11 free throws. (see the box score linked here). The game is still talked about, for several reasons (story from USA Today in 2008 linked here).

Next season -- when it'll mark the 20th year of Hank's passing, and Jordan and Nick are in their senior year -- this story may become even more poignant. But for now, embrace the fact these two kids have completed a circle of life, where basketball has brought their families back together again. To a place where they should have been all these last two decades.

Comment here or email to thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

When ESPN announced a while back that it was moving its 10 p.m. PT/1 a.m. ET edition of SportsCenter to the new facilities in L.A. Live across from Staples Center, the question would be: Who'd be the lucky dudes who'd be hired to staff it.

Meaning, no more late nights in Bristol, Conn., and a nice slot in the Pacific Time Zone to work, and then go out and get hammered at the ESPN Zone they've just built.

Neil Everett and Stan Verrett, your Disney cruise ship has come in.

ESPN said today those two anchors will relocate starting in April.

With all ESPN good news, of course, comes a caviat.

"In addition," the press release continues, "Stuart Scott, who has been one of ESPN's most prominent studio anchors for 15 years with roles on SportsCenter, and the network's NBA and NFL coverage, will also be hosting a select number of shows throughout the year from Los Angeles, including the premiere on Monday, April 6."

They couldn't leave well enough alone. Had to send Mr. Boo-Yah out to cristen the launch.

Steve Anderson, ESPN executive vice president, news, talent & content operations, said in the release: "One of ESPN's strengths is the breadth and depth of our lineup of commentators, and we're fortunate that Stan and Neil, longtime SportsCenter veterans, were interested in making the move to Los Angeles."

Be honest. Who wasn't interested in the move?

"Both are terrific writers with an energetic and entertaining approach. We're very pleased to have them as our late SportsCenter team and to lead this new, important effort."

ESPN's new facility will have three production control rooms, two master control rooms; eight craft edit suites, a music room, a voiceover room and two studios totaling more than 12,300 square feet. Why not just hold the Grammy Awards there next year?

You've heard the promos on 710-AM -- "Mason and Ireland" voted best sports talk show in L.A. by the Daily News.

We could take all the credit. But that's just not our style.

Nor do we assume our endorsement got the show an extra hour.

Yet, starting March 16, the new lineup for KSPN-AM (710) will move Steve Mason and John Ireland from its current 1 to 4 p.m. slot to 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., which thankfully overlaps more of what KLAC-AM (570) is offering as alternative "Loose Cannon" pablum programming from noon to 4 p.m. each day.

The 710 lineup to be:

== 3-7 a.m.: Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic (syndicated, simulcast on ESPN2) ... This adds an additional hour.
== 7-11 a.m.: The Herd with Colin Cowherd (syndicated, simulcast on ESPNU) .. Again, an additional hour.
== 11 a.m.-3 p.m.: Mason & Ireland (local)
== 3-7 p.m.: Dave Denholm and Brian Long (local)
== 7-10 p.m.: ESPN Radio News Block (syndidated; but most nights from Oct. to May, interrupted by Lakers games)
== 10 p.m.-2 a.m.: "AllNight with Jason Smith" (syndicated, broadcast live from the new 710 studios across from Staples Center)
== 2-3 a.m.: SportsCenter AM (syndicated)

That's at least eight hours of L.A.-specific programming, or eight more than the main competitor at 570-AM, and still more than the Angels' owned KLAA-AM (830).

KSPN program director Larry Gifford said the decision was made based on many factors including the popularity of Mason and Ireland, recent changes in the marketplace, some shifting of network talent, the move to new studios at L.A. Live, and the recent acquisition of the Lakers play-by-play rights beginning in the fall.

KSPN moves into its L.A. Live studios on March 2. The facility will be also used to air ESPN's late-night SportsCenter (11 p.m.) starting April 6.

Tennis Channel has become the Protest Channel.

The Los Angeles-based network decided not to televised as planned this weekend's Sony Ericsson Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships in protest of the United Arab Emirates' refusal to grant an entry visa to WTA player and Israeli citizen Shahar Peer (her official website linked here).

Said Tennis Channel chairman and CEO Ken Solomon in a statement today:

"Unfortunately the event will exclude a single player who has been blocked from entering the country due to her nationality. This is despite her having qualified for the competition via her on-court performance and current ranking. Tennis Channel recognizes that this exclusion has been made by state authorities and neither the tour nor tournament directors themselves. However we also honor the role and proud tradition that tennis has always played as a driving force for inclusion both on and off the courts. Preventing an otherwise qualified athlete from competing on the basis of anything other than merit has no place in tennis or any other sport, and has the unfortunate result of undermining the credibility of the very nature of competition itself."

In today's New York Times (linked here), Solomon also said: "This is an easy decision to come by, based on what is right and wrong. Sports are about merit, absent of background, class, race, creed, color or religion. They are simply about talent. ... If the state of Israel were barring a citizen of an Arab nation, we would have made the same decision."

Solomon said that Tennis Channel would carrying the tournament next year if Peer were granted a visa.

Organizers of the event said today (story linked here) security fears were behind the decision to bar Peer, and it could happen again when the men's play begins next week when Israeli doubles specialist Andy Ram hopes to be in the draw on Sunday.

In a media-related story, the Wall Street Journal Europe decided to drop its sponsorship of the tournament because of the visa issue with Peer (story linked here).

Updated: Monday, 2 p.m.

What's tougher to fix, Charles Barkley's public image or his golf swing?

TNT announced today that Barkley will return from his leave of absence and be back on the air Thursday night during its NBA coverage.

"From the beginning, Charles recognized that he used poor judgment. He took full responsibility and apologized for his actions," said David Levy, President of Turner Sports, in a network statement. "We look forward to having him back in the studio, where Charles will once again share his opinions, insights and humor with colleagues Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith. Collectively, they entertain a huge group of loyal fans that tunes into the NBA on TNT each week."

TNT is showing San Antonio-Phoenix (5 p.m.) and Boston-Utah (7:30 p.m.) Thursday, with the "Inside the NBA" scheduled from 10 to 11 p.m.

Barkley was arrested Dec. 31 in Scottsdale, and his leave began Jan. 9. Police said the 45-year-old NBA Hall of Famer had a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit in Arizona.

The TNT studio analyst missed the network's coverage of All-Star weekend in his hometown of Phoenix.

Meanwhile, in another Barkley-related note involving him swallowing his pride, the Golf Channel announced today that its reality show "The Haney Project" will start a seven-episode series on March 2 at 9 p.m. that involves golf instructor Hank Haney trying to work on Barkley's golf swing.

Barkley agreed to doing the show last summer, and taping began in August.

"Charles' swing is so recognizable, but for all the wrong reasons," said Haney. "He's a great athlete and extremely dedicated to working hard to get better. But I've taught more than 50,000 golf lessons, and this will be the biggest project."

It's been in the NBA game summaries now on nearly all Internet sports sites for some time now -- on each player's line of minutes played, FTA-M, rebounds, assists, etc., is a category for plus/minus, just like in the NHL. It measures how effective the team is performing when that player is on the court. A high plus number doesn't necessarily mean he's scoring a lot of points. It's just that the team is playing better than the other team -- maybe because of his passing ability, his defense, his chemistry with those on the court. The larger the minus number, the bigger the liability. In theory.

Sunday's NBA All-Star Game boxscore (linked here) may be a bit of a skewed look at how this stat worked, but Kobe Bryant, for example, had a +24 during the game when he scored 27 points in 29 minutes. Shaquille O'Neal, off the bench, and starting guard Chris Paul had a +21. Maybe the three of them could have shared the MVP instead just the first two.

Starting West center Yao Ming had a -2 in his 12 minutes -- the only West player with a minus number in the 146-119 victory, which seems nearly impossible to achieve.

The interesting part is to see who, on the other team, did the West exploit the most. Not starting guard Dwayne Wade had a +8 in 27 minutes, pretty incredible for a game that ended with his team losing 27 points. Allen Iverson had a +1 in 16 minutes, and he only scored 2 points. Kevin Garnett had a 0 in 19 minutes, meaning the 12 points he scored were offset by 12 by the West.

The other two East starters -- LeBron James (-14) and Dwight Howard (-16) were a combined -30 with a combined 55 minutes. That's kind of strange considering Howard had three blocks and nine rebounds.

The biggest holes in the East defense -- reserve point guard Devin Harris, a -31 in just 17 minutes. And that includes his six points, plus an awkward landing on Maria Shriver when he went after a loose ball (pictured here). Compare that to another reserve East point guard, Mo Williams, who had a +1, also in 17 minutes. See the difference?

Shooting guard Joe Johnson had a -28 in 22 minutes, which explains 0 points, 5 turnovers, 0 steals, 0 assists and 0 rebounds. You'd have thought that East power forward Rashard Lewis would have been worse than a -11, since O'Neal exploited his size advantage to pick and roll on him for a lot of the second and fourth quarters. But in his 21 minutes, Lewis also had 8 points. Paul Pierce's -19 was also pretty glaring.

Yes, it was only an exhibition. A closer test to how a player performs statistically for his team on a regular basis can be used with an ESPN-created formula (linked here) that goes -- PTS + REB + 1.4*AST + STL + 1.4*BLK -.7*TO + FGM + .5*TGM -.8*(FGA-FGM) + .25*FTM - .8*(FTA-FTM). It equals to James leading the league (49.8) by a larger margin (3.5) over second place Wade than they are in simply the points category (where James currently leads by 0.2 a game). The NBA.com page also has a ranking of player efficiency (linked here) that also shows James leading.

We probably did more homework on the Internet this week, turning in term papers and taking an endless amount of pop quizzes at the Media Learning Center (soon to be an Annex if we get the right funding).

Among that is:

== A look back at all the bad stuff we wrote about KTLA's Damon Andrews (linked here), and that was before we found out Thursday that he leaving town to work for Comcast in the Bay Area.

== SI's Jeff Pearlman is creeped out by this year's SI Swimsuit Issue (linked here).

== SI's Jeff Pearlman also has a problem with Peter Gammons not defending Selena Roberts in the A-Rod story, and it goes back to when Gammons didn't defend him while interviewing John Rocker (linked here). The blog entry's headline: "Peter Gammons is the Larry King of sports" ... says it all. Gammons responds to Deadspin.com (linked here). New York's Newsday Philip Bondy also has a problem with Gammons' lack of defending Roberts (linked here). Roberts defended herself on Dan Patrick's radio show (linked here).

== The New York Times claims it was about to break open the A-Rod story as well before Roberts, its former employee who happens to be working on a book about the Yankees star, cracked the case (linked here).

== ESPN Radio's Scott Van Pelt had to sit out a show because of his five-minute rant against MLB commissioner Bud Selig, and we hate reporting this because it makes him sound like he's been wronged and First Amendent, etc. But the self-proclaimed SVP has to answer to someone. He apparently apologized directly to Selig for his diatribe (it's above) and now we find out that ESPN and MLB.com had a big announcement to make this week as well, so his commentary was completely ill-timed. (linked here)

== Another Oklahoma State coach has a problem with what he's saying on TV ... this time, it's caught on audio, and he's sorry (linked here).

== A 48-year-old sportswriter in Grand Rapids, Mich., had a high electric bill because it seemed to spike every 12 hours. Now we know why: He didn't use enough weed killer on his, ahem, lawn (linked here)

== Why did J.A. Adande give up his "Around the Horn" spot to Lil' Wayne? To show more of his street cred, and ensure he'd win for a change:

== Charles Barkley's return to TNT ... not this weekend (linked here) And more on TNT's coverage from Phoenix (linked here)

== Fox has a new cartoon. About a gopher. It's related to NASCAR. Your kids should not be allowed to watch it. (linked here).

== ESPN has all summer to figure out whether Jamal Anderson will come back to its "First Take" studio show (linked here). And does the time that the former Atlanta Falcons' running back spent at ESPN really define his career? (linked here)

== KFWB has its Angels deal; Prime Ticket has its Dodgers' schedule figured out (linked here).

== The play "McGuire," written by Dick Enberg, finally arrives in Southern California -- April 9-12 in North Hollywood (linked here)

AND FINALLY:

== KNBC Channel 4's Fred Roggin has issues with the music used during commercial breaks (linked here).

The next important question she asks a coach on the sidelines, courtside or in the dugout at a Little League game will be the first.

Yet, as a cultural media icon, Erin Andrews' stock continues to soar despite all natural checks and balances in the system of good taste and fine dining. The only disappointment is her Wikipedia entry is hardly worthy of her achievements in cyberspace (linked here).

ESPN's mam-nificent microphone holder won her second consecutive Playboy Sexiest Sportscaster of the Year award in reader online voting this week (linked here). If she ever decided to pose for the men's entertainment periodical, the Internet could very well crash under its own URL. Porn sites would be shut down for three days, and eBay would be auctioning off 8x10 signed photos of the stuff from the editor's cut.

Then there's a piece circulating about what Erin would like for Valentine's Day -- not candy, you stupid stalker, but flowers (linked here).

A year ago, Andrews won The Big Lead's 2008 third annual Cultural Tournament (linked here) -- that's taking 64 culturally important things from that point, from "God" to "Mike Lupica's ego" to "Barry Obama" to the "Cloverfield Monster" and having them play off in a bracket. Andrews was an eighth seed before she beat "The Office" in the semifinals and outlasted Jessica Simpson in the final. For '09, let's see if she's got the goods to defeat Michael Phelps' bong, planes that land in the Hudson River and Blagojevich's bangs.

The Power of an Erin Andrews Mention on Any Sports Blog feels like the days when Cindy Margolis claimed to be the Queen of the Internet, the most searched and downloaded and uplinked and ... whatever ... woman on the planet. And, in the grand scheme of our creator's sense of humor, Andrews is falling into that Margolis rabbit hole. It's an upside down world of seeing just how many pictures you can find of her eating a submarine sandwich on the sidelines, wearing a tight pair of pants at Pauley Pavilion, or giving some little wide-eyed kid a chance to brag to his friends that he talked to someone on TV who his dad really thinks is hotter than mom by a bazillion.

If Andrews approachs you during a game to snatch a bite of pizza and "share the sugar," your life could be complete:

We'll see where this train wreck takes us. For that, we keep linking and thinking there'll be an end to this in a very ugly manner. Where have you gone, Jill Arrington? She won the first Playboy Sexiest Sportscaster Poll in 2000, which SI called the season's second-most discussed survey, after the presidental election.

Think about where Arrington's career went when you surmise where Erin's will be in eight years.

Don't be a boob. Respond here or at thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

Reading today's media column to see our picks for the Top 10 and Bottom 5 (linked here) is not mandatory before making your own selections ...

Just don't vote Michael Eaves the best, OK?

And if you want to write in Newy Scruggs ... sorry...

The follow-up to today's Part II of the 17th annual Best and Worst of L.A. Sports Media/the TV anchors (linked here) and a feature on KTLA's Damon Andrews come these media notes that are worth something to someone:

== Verne Lundquist and Clark Kellogg call CBS' coverage of the UCLA-Arizona basketball game from Tucson on Saturday (10 a.m., Channel 2).

== "Real Sports" with Bryant Gumbel (Tuesday, 10 p.m.) comes back with a profile on skier Bode Miller by Jon Frankel, a sit-down with former U.S. figure skater Tonya Harding by Bernard Goldberg some 15 years after her famous "incident," and a story on the Dec. 31, 2008 death of Robbie Tolan, the son of former big leager Bobby Tolan, who watched his son shot by police in Bellaire, Tex., after he was wrongly suspected of stealing his own car. Gumbel does that last story himself.

== CBS has its usual crew up at Pebble Beach for the PGA's pro-am, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m., (Channel 2). Gary McCord will have interviews at the 17th tee with amateurs such as Bill Murray, Huey Lewis, Ray Romano, Kevin James, George Lopez, Greg Kinnear, Andy Garcia and Peyton Manning during Saturday's coverage. CBS heads down to the L.A. PGA Tour stop next week at Riviera.

== Fox trots out Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds for its 51st running of the Daytona 500 (Sunday, 11 a.m., Channel 11). Chris Myers, Jeff Hammond and Waltrip have the prerace coverage which includes a Fox-created cartoon, "The Advertures of Digger & Friends," to promote its character that ... we're not even sure where that's going. Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes, Krista Voda and Matt Yocum patrol the pits.

== Saturday's AMA Supercross from Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego will get an hours worth of airtime Sunday on CBS (Channel 2, 9 to 10 a.m.)

== Bob Papa, Max Kellerman and Lennox Lewis handle HBO's "Boxing After Dark" card on Saturday (10 p.m.) with Alfredo Angulo-Richardo Mayorga, Sergio Martinez-Kermit Cintron and Nate Campbell-Ali Funeka from Sunrise, Fla.

== Stuff to TiVo:
- The new HBO show, "Eastbound and Down," on a roided out former minor leaguer with Will Ferrell, debuts Sunday at 10:30 p.m. (check this link)
- The SI Swimsuit show airs tonight, 8:30 p.m., TNT.
- The NFL Network has a 21-hour retrospective of Brett Favre's career with five of his greatest games, starting Saturday at 6 a.m.

== From the Onion Sports:

AND THE CLOSING ARGUMENT:

== Golf Channel announced this week a 10-year partnership to be the exclusive cable channel for the LPGA starting in 2010. In this time of strange economic times, the network says it has established the LPGA as "as the only stand-alone women's professional sports association in the United States to receive a rights fee agreement for domestic broadcast coverage." Almost every LPGA Tour event in the U.S. will have Golf Channel coverage, including the entire cable package. It will also carry one major event, international feeds of overseas events and early-round coverage of tournaments that are committed to other over-the-air networks. This year's Golf Channel already has 12 LPGA events, including the LPGA Championship in June.

It's a nice step forward for both the network and the league. By the way, whatever happened to an all-women's sports channel?

When we tried this a year ago, Petros Papadakis garnered the most votes for both the best L.A. sports-talk host.

Why would that trend change?

In the poll we put up last week (linked here), Papadakis, who now does a syndicated show for Fox Sports Radio heard from 4-7 p.m. on KLAC-AM (570), drew 32 percent (174 votes) of the 543 total votes for the best host.

Runner-up Dave Smith of KLAA-AM (830) got enough friends (or perhaps himself) to vote 167 times and finish with 31 percent of the vote. A distant third was Papadakis' co-host, Matt "Money" Smith with 50 votes (19 percent), whom he shares a billboard with around town that somehow doesn't have PETA protesting.

On the worst poll, about half as many readers voted -- 272 -- with Papadakis taking 22 percent (59). That edged out Dave Denholm of KSPN-AM (710), who had 19 percent (52 votes). Smith's morning partner at KLAA, Roger Lodge, was third worst with 11 percent (30 votes).

A year ago, Papadakis got 67 of the 395 total votes (16.9 percent) for the best sports-talk host of L.A., ahead of Joe McDonnell (60 for 15 percent) and Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton (14 percent).

You still want to keep voting? Click yourselves out.

Tickets are on sale for a four-day presentation right after the NCAA basketball tournament of the Dick Enberg play, "McGuire," a tribute to the legendary Marquette basketball coach and NBC college basketball analyst Al McGuire.

The El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood (5269 Lankershim Blvd., 818-508-0281) will host the event April 9-12, with actor Cotter Smith (pictured here) playing the part of McGuire.

Heidi Mueller-Smith directs it.

The first three nights are at 8 p.m. with the final day at 3 p.m.

The show debuted on the Marquette campus in Milwaukee in 2005 to sell-out audiences. It also has played at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Hofstra University, and North Coast Rep in Solana Beach.

McGuire, who coached Marquette to the 1977 NCAA title over North Carolina, saw a resurgence in his popularity when he teammed with Enberg and Billy Packer on NBC. McGuire died in 2001 of a blood disorder at the age of 72. (his Wikipedia bio here).

As his broadcast partner for 10 years, Enberg used his experiences with McGuire to write the inspirational play, allowing McGuire to tell his story in his style.

Tickets sell for $45 in the center and $35 on the sides at www.elportaltheatre.com.

== A review of the play from Sports Illustrated (linked here)

Let's keep it simple here:

Network: TNT
Event: NBA All-Star Game
Site: Phoenix

First off:

A doubleheader tonight:
Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Chris Webber in the studio at 4 p.m.
Miami at Chicago with Dick Stockton, Mike Fratello and David Aldridge at 4:15 p.m.
Boston at Dallas with Marv Albert, Doug Collins, Reggie Miller and Cheryl Miller at 6:30 p.m.

From the Best and Worst of L.A. Sports Media, the list of Sports TV Anchors/ Reporters/Hosts/Studio Analysts over the last few years:

2005:
No. 1 in the Bottom Five: KTLA Channel 5's Damon Andrews:

We're trying to cut him some slack, since he's new to the market, but until he learns about the fine line between clever and cornball, all he does it waste the two minutes alloted between Hal Fishman's rambling rants and the rerun of "Friends." Got so bad they even added a drum riff to his final attempt at a joke the other night. For this, they gave up Tony Hernandez?

2006:
No. 3 on the Bottom 5: KTLA Channel 5's Andrews:

We kid you not: last year, he was given a regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-TV News Directors Association. You gotta be wondering if Hal Fishman is thinking to himself as Andrews does his jargon-filled scripts: What the heck is this kid talking about?

(We weren't the only ones taking a shot at Andrews. The late Ron Fineman, on his critique of local TV media, had this mention that year as well, linked here).

2007:

Horrible Mention (at the bottom of the Bottom 5): KTLA Channel 5's Andrews.

2008:

Honorable Mention (at the bottom of the Top 10): KTLA Channel 5's Andrews.

Even we can't wait to see where the leaner, cleaner Andrews fits on the 2009 list, which comes out Friday. Yes, this is a photo of the same guy above, if you haven't been watching the KTLA 10 o'clock news for the last couple of years.

He'll be the focus of the feature story we've done, so pay attention to how someone can go from bottom to top in five not-so-easy steps... or at least change one reporter's opinion about his work.

(Unfortunately, he's on vacation this week. His last day before taking the rest of the week off was Monday, when we caught up with him at the KTLA studios. That night, the 10 o'clock news was pre-empted by that slow-speed car chase -- more than a full hour, so the sports report on A-Rod's steroid admission, etc., was furloghed.)

Some more background on Andrews, the 41-year-old Cerritos native:

KFWB-AM (980), which was the Dodgers' flagship station from 2003-07, announced its deal to be an affiliate of the Angels, carrying the KLAA-AM (830) call from Rory Markas, Terry Smith, Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler for 110 games on weekdays, as well as the postseason.

The move was necessary for the Angels after it was apparent the 50,000 watt signal out of Orange County for KLAA was dropping down to about 20,000 watts after dark and failing to penetrate much of Southern California.

The other part of the partnership calls for all the CBS Radio owned and operated stations in L.A. -- KFWB, KNX-AM 1070, KROQ-FM 106.7, The Wave 94.7, Jack FM, K-EARTH 101 FM and KLSX-FM 97.1 to take over in-game commercial ad sales.

"The ability to provide fans unprecedented coverage throughout the Greater Los Angeles market has been a priority for us," said Angels president Dennis Kuhl, who runs the radio side as well. "This partnership with KFWB and the CBS Radio family is an important one for our respective sponsors and advertisers, but more importantly, for our fans throughout the Southern California region."

Said CBS Radio senior VP and marketing manager Dan Weiner: "When the opportunity presented itself to have one of baseball's most exciting franchises as featured content on KFWB it was a move we could not resist. KFWB has been built on its commitment to delivering the best in live local programming, including news, traffic, weather and sports, and the addition of a standout Los Angeles organization to our lineup accurately reflects our mission. At the same time, we're also in the unique position of being able to continue to provide coverage for those listeners seeking information on local issues, and all the news from the day's headlines on our other news station in the market, KNX 1070, during game broadcasts.

Meanwhile:

== Prime Ticket will have 100 Dodger games this season, with the rest to be picked up by KCAL-Channel 9 or by national providers Fox or ESPN. It starts with the April 6 Monday Opening Day from San Diego. High definition plans will be figured out as the season draws near. Vin Scully's 60th season begins, and for roadies east of the Rocky Mountains, Steve Lyons will work with a yet-to-be named play-by-play person. There will be some on-air tryouts during the team's spring training telecasts.

We'll find out more later today about a discrimination lawsuit that Elgin Baylor has filed against the NBA, Clippers owner Donald Sterling and president Andy Roeser, according to Baylor's attorney, Carl Douglas.

If it goes anything like previous discrimination lawsuits against Sterling, he best get his damage control people lined up ASAP.

In stories we've read, Baylor contends his termination as the team's GM after 22 years had to do with his race and age, aside from the fact he was "grossly underpaid ... never earning more than $350,000." Some may say that, considering how the team performed, Baylor was somewhat overpaid.

But the hook to this suit, which doesn't have a monetary value listed for what Baylor is seeking, hinges on whether Sterling's racist "vision of a Southern Plantation type structure" for the Clippers really existed.

Do you doubt it for a second?

Without making this sound like an infomercial, breaking up your SportsCenter story on the latest athlete gone bad, here's the contents of an email we received recently that would have been easy to cynically delete and pass off as a bunch of do-gooders starving for some publicity. For some reason, we want to believe it has a purpose, meaning and focus on getting things done right. Read it yourself:

"Athletes behaving badly." It's become an all-too common phrase among sports pundits. But what about the professional athletes who are giving back to their communities? Whether or not their efforts on the field or court have made them household names, each day they're making a positive impact on the world by not only dedicating time and energy to their athletic training, but also to the people around them.

Since Athletes for Hope (website linked here) was founded, its mission has been to educate every athlete, not just the mega-stars, about philanthropic opportunities. AFH strives to connect athletes with charities that best fit their passions and objectives, and believes in recognizing the efforts of these athletes. The AFH roster continues to grow at a rapid rate, which is proof that there are many professional athletes who want to spread a sense of optimism, rather than negativity, and work together towards a greater good.

Here's a recent example:

On Jan 17, Mia Hamm and husband Nomar Garciaparra hosted the second annual Celebrity Soccer Challenge at the Home Depot Center in Carson. The game brought together actors, musicians, athletes, media personalities and sports leader to raise funds for Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Mia Hamm Foundation. Two teams - FC Mia and Nomar United squared off in front of and enthusiastic crowd. At halftime, patients suffering from leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases were introduced for the first time to their bone marrow donors. All fans were encouraged to register for the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.

On February 5, Steve Blake, AFH member and point guard for the Portland Trailblazers, participated in a fundraiser for the Children's Cancer Association (CCA), an organization that works towards enhancing the quality of life for children with serious illnesses. While traveling on the road with the Trailblazers, Steve called in to the 28-hour radio-thon with the hope of inspiring listeners to either make donations, or get involved with children at the CCA. Steve donated game tickets, a signed jersey, and shoes helping the on-air auction raise almost $263,000 and counting. Steve is also in talks to become a "Chemo Pal Celebrity Ambassador," in which he would host a special event for the CCA children.

==Looking Ahead: AFH is hosting a star-studded panel at this year's 2009 Sportaccord convention in Denver, Colorado on March 25. AFH Founders Andre Agassi and Andrea Jaeger will be featured panelists on the topic of "Sport & Philanthropy - The Value of Giving Back." Sportaccord is an annual convention that offers the sports community an opportunity to come together and exchange knowledge and develop ideas.

Also taking place in March, AFH will present before the Association of Tennis Players (ATP) Tour University at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. AFH's CEO, Ivan Blumberg, will use the meeting as an opportunity to discuss the importance and benefits of athletes becoming involved in philanthropy efforts. AFH previously presented at the University and as a result, 19 players joined the AFH roster.

==About AFH: Athletes for Hope is a 501(c) (3) charitable organization created by a few very successful athletes of exemplary character who have a deep commitment to charitable and community causes. Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning and Cal Ripken, Jr. founded Athletes for Hope to Pass their Passion for philanthropy to others.

You've got the weblink. You know who's involved. Download the organization's "gameplan." And now you've got a list of "good" athletes. Until they go bad? They're only human. And they aren't as self-promoting as this may seem. This comes from a public relations company that's paid to inform the media, and public, about their network of resources. Maybe some of the real "bad" athletes may want to check this out. You know who you are. Post your comments here or send them to thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

The Kings' 4-3 overtime win at the New York Islanders tonight capped a 4-1, five-game road trip, meaning the youngest team in the NHL (25.318 years of age average) has won seven of their last eight away from Staples Center.

But they're not the only L.A. team that may wonder if it's really wise to come home so soon.

The Lakers, of course, just finished a 6-0 road trip. The Clippers, while just 2-5 over the last two weeks away from home, still made huge strides in getting their roster back in order, with Zach Randolph, Baron Davis and Marcus Camby back in the starting lineup.

The usually hated Grammy hiatus is over, and each tennant of Staples Center earned high grades for their effort and intensity away from home. We'll look more at it in tomorrow's piece.

Before Magic Johnson tries to sell you on the benefits of taking another road trip -- to San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino (just 67 miles from Staples Center!) -- we'll leave you with this look back at how the Lakers, Clippers and Kings have fared over their Grammy break over the last few years:

Lakers:
2009 (Jan. 30-Feb. 8) -- 6-0, increasing their record from 35-9 to 41-9
2008 (Jan. 31-Feb. 13) -- 7-1, increasing their record from 28-15 to 35-17
2007 (Jan. 30-Feb. 11) -- 3-5, decreasing their record from 27-17 to 30-22
2006 (Jan. 29-Feb. 8) -- 2-5, decreasing their record from 23-19 to 25-24
2005 (Feb. 6-13) -- 1-4, decreasing their record from 24-20 to 25-24
2004 (Feb. 1-11) --4-3, increasing their record from 27-16 to 31-19

Clippers:
2009 (Jan. 30-Feb. 9) -- 2-5, decreasing their record from 10-35 to 12-40
2008 (Feb. 1-11) -- 3-4, decreasing their record from 14-29 to 17-32
2007 (Feb. 2-12) -- 2-5, decreasing their record from 23-22 to 25-27
2006 (Jan. 31-Feb. 8) -- 4-2, increasing their record from 25-16 to 29-18
2005 (Feb. 3-23) --1-9, decreasing their record from 22-23 to 23-31
2004 (Jan. 30-Feb. 18) -- 3-6, decreasing their record from 19-24 to 22-30

Kings:
2009 (Jan. 31-Feb. 10) -- 4-1
2008 (Jan. 29-Feb. 12) -- 4-4-1
2007 (Feb. 3-13) -- 2-3-2
2006 (Jan. 30-Feb. 8) -- 0-4-2
2005: Lockout
2004 (Jan. 31-Feb. 16) -- 2-3-2-2

Appearing on the MLB Network's "Hot Stove" show that airs today at 4 p.m. and again at 7 p.m., Dodgers owner Frank McCourt talked to Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds about this, that and the other thing.

This, being Manny Ramirez: "Well, hopefully we are going to sign him soon. That is certainly our intention. You know Manny had a tremendous impact on L.A. and made great contributions to our run at the end of last season. I've seldom seen a situation like his with our fans. I mean that love affair was tremendous. It's our intention to try and bring Manny back. We've tried to do that, been unsuccessful to date, but that doesn't mean we are going to stop trying."

That, being Alex Rodriguez: "We're in a new era now. We have new testing, we have new rules that everybody has bought into, and it has cleaned up the game. It sent a message to kids that you don't do this. Don't take steroids. They're not good for you. You don't need to. So I think the playing field has been leveled again but it's the past that we continue to have to deal with on a daily basis."

And the other thing, Joe Torre's book: "Well, Joe is a well known figure in baseball and I think his transition to L.A. has been a great one. We had a very successful season last year. I think he is very comfortable there and we're certainly very comfortable with him. The book was something that was in the works prior to the time that we made our deal with Joe. Having said that, in our contract with Joe there is a confidentiality provision that he can't be writing a book about the Dodgers or our team, so that was very important to us. Not because of the book, it's because we have that with all of our uniform personnel."

As to whether Torre needs to address the book with his current players, McCourt added: "I think that is something Joe has to work out with our players. Joe has a tremendous amount of respect and good will that has been built up over years and years and years with players and I think that is going to serve him well in this situation. Joe is a very good communicator. He is very direct with people. He is very good with players and I think he will have a conversation but I suspect that conversation will be between him and the players."

Freestyle motocross racer Jeremy Lusk , a gold medal winner at the 2008 X Games at Home Depot Center in Carson, died of head injuries two days after crashing while trying to land a backflip in competition in Costa Rica. He was 24.

He had surgery in a local hospital to relieve swelling on his brain, but his condition worsened and he died Monday night, Metal Mulisha, his riding group, said Tuesday.

Lusk (a link to his official website here) was injured Saturday night when he failed to complete a full rotation while attempting a Hart Attack backflip and slammed headfirst into the dirt.

Lusk crashed in almost identical fashion in the freestyle semifinals at the 2007 X Games but was not hurt (video below):

He had a successful 2008 season, winning Freestyle gold at the X Games and silver in Best Trick when he landed the first double-grab Hart Attack backflip. He won a bronze helmet in Freestyle at the Moto X World Championships in his hometown of San Diego.

Lusk, who lived in Temecula, is survived by his wife, Lauren.

More on ESPN's X Games site: (linked here) and (linked here).

The Associated Press

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Mike Holder understands that Travis Ford is a passionate coach who puts his all into basketball games. That's no excuse for the type of vulgar language that Ford directed at one of his players, even in the heat of the moment.

"That's when it's more important to be calm, cool and collected -- unflappable," Holder, Oklahoma State's athletic director, said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "That's what leadership is all about."

Ford went on a radio show to apologize after a courtside microphone caught him calling guard Obi Muonelo a "(expletive) idiot" in the final minute of the Cowboys' 78-67 loss at Kansas on Saturday. Ford's muffled voice could be heard on the ABC national telecast after Muonelo turned to jog upcourt, and Ford was able to get his attention by yelling the profanity at him.

When Muonelo turned around, he was able to help trap Kansas' Sherron Collins in the backcourt for a 10-second count and a turnover with 45.4 seconds left.

It was "an unfortunate incident, something that I regret, no question," Ford said Monday on WWLS-FM "The Sports Animal."

Big 12 spokesman Rob Carolla said Tuesday that the incident was viewed as an "institutional issue" and the Big 12 would not be getting involved. Holder said he didn't notice the profanity while he was watching the game on television, but it was later brought to his attention and he met with Ford.

This game of H-O-R-S-E, disguised as a game of title-sponsor G-E-I-C-O, that TNT (no hyphens) is going to stage at the upcoming NBA All-Star weekend in Phoenix (2 to 4 p.m. Saturday) has announced its list of competitors paid participants:

== O.J. Mayo, the former USC one-and-done star with the Memphis Grizzles.

== Joe Johnson, the Atlanta Hawks star (who used to play in Phoenix) and is in this year's All-Star game.

== Kevin Durant, the Oklahoma City Thunder dunker who was last season's rookie of the year.

No, it ain't Magic vs. Bird vs. MJ, is it?

Larry Bird Vs. Michael Jordan McDonalds Commercial - Click here for funny video clips

Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Chris Webber will do the "call." But what may be more interesting is a one-hour special hosted by Reggie Miller (4-to-5 p.m.) called "Slam Dunk Theatre." Not sure more specifics about it, but it leads into the All-Star Saturday Night contests (5 to 8 p.m.), and then the actual exhibition (Sunday, 5:30 to 8 p.m.)

You can find all kinds of spin after the A-Rod's Madonnaesque "True Confessions" tour got underway on Monday. Read pages 7-13 in today's Sporting News (linked here) for commentary by John Feinstein, Will Leitch and Fay Vincent -- there's a cool threesome I'd like to join for a round of golf. Each has a unique take on how this plays out.

They're allowed to go off about this.

Meanwhile, what's bothering us most?

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he wants Manny Ramirez back with the Dodgers.

"I hope they sign Manny. He was a spark plug, and not just with his hitting but his attitude," Villaraigosa told The Associated Press in an interview Monday. "He provided a spark plug for the team -- a winning kind of attitude that was missing and I hope he does sign on."

President Barack Obama sounds as if he needs some Prozac, thanks to Alex Rodriguez.

"I think it's depressing news on top of what's been a flurry of depressing items when it comes to major league baseball," Obama told reporters at a White House nationally televised press conference Monday, after the Yankees third baseman admitted he used substances that were later banned by major league baseball from 2001-03, confirming a Sports Illustrated report that he failed a drug test. "And if you're a fan of major league baseball, I think it tarnishes an entire era, to some degree. And it's unfortunate, because I think there are a lot of ballplayers who played it straight.

"What I'm pleased about is major league baseball seems to finally be taking this seriously, to recognize how big a problem this is for the sport, and that our kids hopefully are watching and saying, 'You know what? There are no short cuts, that when you try to take short cuts, you may end up tarnishing your entire career, and that your integrity's not worth it. That's the message I hope is communicated."

The message communicated to us: Politicans have too much time on their hands if they're commenting publicly about baseball issues.

Villaraigosa might end up doing what the mayor of Pittsburgh resorted to recently (linked here). Mayor Luke R. Ravenstahl officially changed the name on his office door to Luke R. Steelerstahl right before the AFC title game when the Ravens faced the Steelers.

How does Villaramirez sound to you, Man-Ram? Not so bueno.

Obama need not fret about the state of the game because of steroid use. His predecessor, George H.W. Bush, former managing general partner of the Texas Rangers, was big on cracking down on those who used illegal substances. He talked about in his State of the Union address in 2005.

So, he ran the Rangers from 1989 to 1994. A-Rod joined the Rangers in '03. But he joined the franchise just at a time when it was pretty heavy in the steroid-use culture (linked here).

Looks like this is just another example of a Bush mess that's left for Obama to clean up.

OK, gotta run. "Hardball with Chris Matthews" is coming on. I need more white noise on this subject.

What's your take? Comment here or email us at thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

Unless something drastic happens between now and TNT's coverage of the NBA All-Star game, the perfect scenario for Charles Barkley to return to the cable network in his hometown of Phoenix this weekend won't happen, according to several sources.

Barkley faces a DUI from a Dec. 31 arrest and was given a leave of absence last month when test results showed he had a blood-alcohol level at .149, nearly twice the legal limit of .08 in Arizona.

The Sports Business Journal reported that a TNT spokesman said Barkley's leave will continue through the All-Star weekend, despite the fact the network draws its best rating and it would be a natural time for Barkley to resurface.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me to give him some time off to get his legal matters straight and to get his personal life in order," Turner Sports president David Levy told SBJ. "The question is, when is the right time to bring him back? There is no magic answer to that. It's just a gut feel."

ESPN.com is reporting that a source said TNT, while it waited for results of the blood test, considered suspending Barkley if the results showed his blood-alcohol content was over the legal limit.

So bottom line: There's no date picked for his return to "Inside the NBA." Or for how he's going to talk his way back in.

"We haven't really thought about it, but I'm sure Charles will have something to say," Levy told the SBJ. "What's really nice is that he's had so much support from a lot of people in this challenging time for him. He's humbled a little bit."

The TV career status of ESPN2 "First Take" NFL analyst Jamal Anderson, the former Atlanta Falcons running back who was arrested early Sunday on felony charges of cocaine and misdemeanor marijuana possession, will probably be determined after the legal system takes its course of action, the network says.

"He is not currently on our schedule to work," said ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz. "We will announce a decision closer to next season."

The 36-year-old Anderson, a Woodland Hills native who went to El Camino Real High and Moorpark College, was arrested with another man at the Peachtree Tavern in Atlanta's trendy Buckhead district. Redmond said a second man, whose name was not immediately available, also was arrested. An off-duty officer working in security at the club alerted police that both men allegedly had powder cocaine in their possession, and that Anderson also had a suspected marijuana cigarette in his pocket.

Anderson was released from jail on Sunday night on a $6,000 bond.

And the Grammy for Best Arena Tour by a Group of Large Sweaty Men ...

Los Laker Dudes. Edging out the usual Coldplay Clippers and Kings of L.A.

It's a shame, really, that the Grammy Hated Hiatus -- which forces the Lakers, Clippers and Kings to hit the road for about two weeks -- has ended. Although the USC band members made it for their performance with Radiohead (above), some interesting names scheduled to be at Sunday night's shindig were no-shows for their song-and-dance, we see.

Maybe they figured out the best thing for their careers was not to be in attendance at Staples Center. It's worked some wonders for the three teams that were forced, without being in police custody, to spend time away from that LA Live appendage.

From today's column on how the Single-A Lancaster JetHawks are moving forward as a Houston Astros affiliate with new owners Larry Lyttle and UCLA grad Jeff Katofsky (linked here), some more Q-and-A with Lyttle, the former Hollywood TV and Internet producer who is currently involved in a made-for-HBO movie based on the Washington Post's series in 2008 that won a Pulitzer Prize for public service on the mistreatment of veterans at Walter Reed hospital.

On how he describes himself at this point of his career -- someone with a Masters degree in Journalism, a long career in TV production, an attempt to run a comedy Internet site and a recent run helping to run the media end of the political campaigns of Joe Lieberman (for his 2004 presidental campaign) and Phil Angelides (for his 2006 California governor campaign):

"Maybe I'm a jack no trades. I stopped working in the TV business four years ago and always wanted to leave it like Sandy Koufax, not like Willie Mays -- on top. Then I decided I had to fashion a second career. I wasn't going to stop working. That was not profound. I wasn't opening a restaurant. I realized I wanted to own a team, and it's all like being in local television, getting eyeballs. It's all grass roots here."

On how the JetHawks were the choice to start with on his business career, rather than teams in Redding, Penn., or Montana that he had looked at:

"Jeff (Katosfky) found the deal and introduced me to it. We looked at a lot of teams, but having one just outside of L.A. was a great appeal to me. Living in the Palisades, it's just an hour and 10 minutes to get there -- it's virtually next door. It's a substancial franchise that has made money. It became a perfect storm."

==On whether the decision to buy a team in these economic times is really wise:

"One could say yes and no. On the yes end, when you consider this is a supply-and-demand business, you learn in Economics 101 about a fixed supply -- in this case, there are 162 teams affiliated with Major League Baseball with long-term contracts. Now what's the demand on the buying end? It's like a piece of real estate. It was probably cheaper to buy now than two years ago. On the flip side, we anticipate some financial bumps. This is affordable family entertainment. If the McCourts are selling $350 seats (at Dodger Stadium), I'm gulping hard. I think this could be a short-term issue. It you believe in the sancity of the country and commerce, you like to think we're smart to get on the front of this instead of the back end. We're trying a lot of outreach on the political and grassroots end. It's difficult for a team to survive unless there's community outreach, especially with a recession affecting local advertisers. All the economists tell us not to retreat, but to step in as people need goods and services."

==On despite all the business aspect to buying a minor-league team, is there some romance in it as well pulling him in:

"Not in my case. There's nothing emotional. It's a quantative assessment with a qualitative judgement. It's not about bragging rights for me at some dinner party. I do love that part of the game, though. I remember once renting a home in the Cape Cod area and seeing a Cape Cod League game. I was telling my wife that before I retire, I'd like to be the comissioner of the Cape Cod League. It's the most idealic setting, like seeing Rockwell with a sketch pad. There is a certain romanticism and innocence about minor-league baseball that doesn't exist in the major leagues. That is really such a hard-end business. The Dodgers can actually bring in $1 million in cash on some nights. No this is very thought out. The backdrop of minor-league baseball is just icing on the cake."

From left: Previous JetHawks ownership VP Brad Seymore; previous team owner Peter Carfanga and son Pete, new JetHawks owners Jeff Katofsky and Larry Lyttle, and team general manager Larry Thornhill.

The Lancaster JetHawks, now the Houston Astros' single-A affiliate in the Antelope Valley, changed ownership recently -- the Carfanga family sold its lot to Larry Lyttle and Jeff Katofsky.

Katofsky, an Encino-based real estate mover-and-shaker, has the baseball experience. He and his family are principal owners of the Angels' Rookie League Orem Owlz in Utah.

Lyttle brings Hollywood.

A former TV executive producer who recently sold off his stake in a comedy website, says he's concentrating 100 percent on minor-league baseball ownership. From his Pacific Palisades home, with his two young kids, he's focused on making the JetHawks a profitable proposition.

Lyttle talks about his new vision for the team in Sunday's Daily News column.

Read up more on the background of him, and the sale:

== From a story on MinorLeagueBaseball.com (linked here)
== A recent profile on Lyttle in the Palisadian-Post (linked here)
== The Lancaster JetHawks updated ownership bios (linked here) but don't be fooled by the LeBron James reference.
== The JetHawks' announcement of the ownership change (linked here)
== The Orem Owlz ownership bios (linked here)

Gee? No, GE, the company that owns NBC, which just did the Super Bowl and has the Pro Bowl this weekend.

We channel our inner "Kung Fu" at the Media Learning Center -- this week, sponsored by G, which we think now means Gatorade. What has it taught you now, grasshopper (without a G-string):

== Bob Costas is one step closer to becoming commissioner of Major League Baseball -- he's an official employee (linked here). And Joe Buck, one step closer to telling Tim McCarver to "f--- off" (linked here)

== Don't write anything mean about Alex Flanagan, or else you'll have to face the wrath of getting your self promoted on Keith Olbermann's MSNBC show (linked here). Watching her, in that Farrah Fawcet get-up, reciting F. Scott Fitzgerald was almost erotic on Super Bowl Sunday. We say: Do it again, next time, on Notre Dame football.

== Why didn't Olbermann stick up for John Madden when the Wall Street Journal thought he was using funny math? (linked here). You got an answer, Whinney?

== Speaking of Danica "Math Doesn't Suck" McKellar, do you find her long division better suited for your tastes than Phoebe Cates and a carrot stick? (linked here)

== In the world of sports literature, Joe Torre was a tell-aller long before "My Yankee Years" -- ask Jim Bouton (linked here).

== And there's nothing more scary than seeing ... this book, with Torre writing the foward? (linked here)

== Don't get burned by ESPN2's hot stove, kids (linked here) Hopefully, news will break and whatever taped segments they have are out the window.

== Steely McBeam is happy to erect a shrine to the NFL Network, considering how many times they'll replay a short-attention-span version of Super Bowl XLIII (linked here)

== How'd you do at our Super Bowl NBC BINGO? (linked here)

== Does the winner of TNT's H-O-R-S-E during NBA All-Star Weekend get his picture on John Madden's horse trailer? (linked here)

== No new updates on just how many watched Super Bowl XLIII, but surely, Faith Hill, NBC and Neilsen are cooking the books even as we type (linked here). And how many people in Tucson had their Super Bowl interrupted by a pizza delivery -- here's the pizza, and here's the pepperoni (linked here).

== Kobe Bryant don't like him some dog poop. Especially if he tracked it in from Colorado (linked here).

== ESPN The Magazine wants The New Magazine (linked here)

== ESPN The NBA Commercial won't be doing any more "fist kiss" (linked here). Why? It offended a big group of ... people.

== ESPN The Soccer Honks won't get the English Premiere League games (linked here and linked here)

== ESPN The Network is ripe for parody, thanks to a new Onion Sports video feature:

Tom Coughlin Retires From Family To Spend More Time With Team

== At one Wisconsin paper website, Pittsburgh's last touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII didn't count (linked here)

== Would it kill celebrity journalist Larry Fitzgerald Sr. to get a copy editor who at least knew how to spell the names of the Arizona Cardinals players? (linked here)

== Just what the public wants/needs: A bigger National Signing Day for high school football players (linked here)

== Vin Scully, the pope's on the phone (linked here).

AND FINALLY:

== NBC says Bruce Springsteen's Super Bowl XLIII halftime show drew 112 million viewers, most since Michael Jackson's 113 million in 1993 from the Rose Bowl.

That's the last time we want to see Springsteen and Jackson mentioned in the same sentence. This is why Springsteen refused to play Super Bowl halftime shows for so long, OK? You want to go back to "Up With People," people?

One more look at "Boss Time" from the Super Bowl halftime show that simply kicked major rear end (as did the camera man at the end of a Springsteen slide on "10th Avenue Freezeout") (linked here

Go ahead, try it at home:

That "Daily Dread" we did on Kobe Bryant's 61-point game at Madison Square Garden earlier this week got us to wondering how the old Forum on Manchester and Prairie in Inglewood was holding up. We hadn't seen it since ... we passed by it on the way to a funeral at the nearby bone yard?

Maybe that was appropriate. It's seems awfully dead around the old Lakers and Kings landmark home base, bordered on the East by Kareem Court, which also leads into Inglewood Cemetary. Not that anyone could have seen that coming once Staples Center dragged everything downtown at the turn of the decade.

We know it's still owned by The Faithful Central Bible Church (site linked here), which still lists having 10 a.m. Sunday services at the former arena. But according to the official Forum website (linked here) it looks like they also have ... we're not even sure.

Back in the day, we rode our bike over there. That wasn't such a crazy idea back in the day, growing up in nearby Hawthorne and having a shrine like that practically in your backyard. We'd pass by it on the way to playing a high school basketball game against Inglewood or Morningside, thinking how lucky they had it. That's when Byron Scott was playing at 'Side and admits to sneaking in (as we did) to see all that was going on back in the place's hey day -- concerts, especially. Never forget seeing Springsteen, Tom Petty, even Rick James there. Yes, the Super Freak. For free.

First thing to note is it's still that stupid color blue.

The original Brown Derby brown that used to be all over it, on the original building, was painted over when Jerry Buss sold title sponsorship (one of the first of its kind) to Great Western Bank. Which used blue as its primary color. Then the bank went under. The Great Western sign remained for many years afterward. Now, you can see it's been pried off all signage around there. Finally. Pretty tacky looking, eh?

The electric marquee doesn't advertise the Harlem Globetrotters, or the circus, or the rodeo, or even an indoor soccer game. It's stuff like ... well, take a look. It also flashed something about Foreclosure Prevention Fair in Pacoima this weekend.

Seriously.

Here's more:

Don't snooze and lose with today's Top 10/Bottom 5 of the L.A. sports talk-show guys (sorry, no girls). Here's the link (linked here)

You have our bias opinion. What about yours?

THE BEST:

THE WORST:

Again, using today's media column as a starting point (linked here), some reaction to today's L.A. sports-talk landscape from two who lost their gig recently on KLAC-AM (570), Tony Bruno and Tim Cates.

Bruno and Cates continue to do a show together, based in the Culver City Westwood One studios, that is available on XM-Sirius satellite as well as syndicated to 20 markets -- just not L.A.

Bruno: "This is why I chose syndication over local back in '92 when I went to ESPN and then Fox. L.A. is a sad story because the stations change shows so often, listeners don't get a chance to grow with a show.

"I think there are only a handful of markets where 'local-only' works and that's Boston, Philly and probably New York. Locals stations like WIP and WEEI dominate and the second stations are hoping just to get a piece of the pie. In lesser sports-crazed towns like L.A .and Phoenix, there are three or more stations trying sports talk. Why? Probably because there's little left to do on AM and it's cheaper to just take syndicated programming instead of paying local talent, which also is very sparse.

"Sadly, a person with my credentials also suffers in this new radio economy because places like Sporting News don't want to pay talent and try to compete by getting those third stations who don't have ESPN or now being force-fed Fox Sports Radio programming.

"Too bad Clear Channel didn't have this edict in 200 when I move to L.A. to start my life over and try to build Fox Sports Radio. Then, Clear Channel stations could do whatever they wanted and my show suffered. Now, they are being forced fed to stations who gut the local talent and create cheaper radio.

"It used to be 'the best show won.' Now with the politics of the business, a show like mine will be kept off stations who want a better product and won't be able to choose me over the other offerings which don't come close to my quality. My rep takes a hit because those who don't know what's really happening will see that I'm off the air in L.A. again after four months and will assume I failed when it couldn't be farther from the reality.

"My show is doing well. Content Factory is a small radio company run by radio people, so I'm happy. They even just put up a snazzy web-site (linked here)."

Cates: "I was blindsided by the news (of the layoffs two weeks ago). I had been with KLAC for 12 years. It's hard to leave a job I loved and co-workers that had become like family to me. It was sad to see L.A. sports talk radio change from one day to the next. That local sound, local feel and local bond that sports fans had with their local L.A. hosts is gone. Now, L.A. sports fans have to share the same airwaves with the rest of America when they want to talk Lakers, Dodgers or Manny. Hopefully once the economy bounces back, so will sportstalk radio in L.A."

From today's media column (linked here), and following up a previous blog entry (linked here), Joe McDonnell -- a six-time No. 1 host in the annual poll we started nearly 20 years ago, and our "host of the decade" for the 1990s --has his takes on:

Q: What's the trick, as a programmer, to making a local sports-talk lineup work?

McDonnell: "My philosophy when I was programming the early days of KSPN was to make it almost like a soap opera, make people want to come back the next day to see what's going on. We had good things going there, and why changes were made still boggles my mind to this day. We were going in the right direction. When my contract ran out at KSPN (in 2005), our ratings were going up. They had to pay me two ratings bonuses going out the door. If you leave it alone and let the people work, it will happen."

Q: So what works these days in L.A. local radio?

McDonnell: "Look, I've been doing this 33 years, and here I am almost five months without a job. Maybe I don't know, but then you have a situation at KLAA that's exactly what no one wants to see. They have a chance to be a real player but they have have no with no clue what they're doing. They have non-radio people running it. It's one guy doing two shows a day. That's just minor-league radio."

Q: How do sports-talk show hosts make themselves relevant in today's media market? Can the medium of radio still be the intimate relationship between host and listener, or is it challenged by the relationship now between listener and computer?

McDonnell: "Radio is at a crossroad, but it's not a dying medium and it can remain viable. The only problem radio may face is the content going more away from local and adding more syndication. If they do that, it's the end of the radio audience. You can say you're doing a show from L.A., but if it's not about L.A., what does it matter? You can just go to the Internet and get what you want.

"Opportunities have narrowed, and I think it says something with someone of my pedigree isn't on the air. I know I'm not done, and I won't be one of those people stuck in another decade who refuse to change. I was one of the first to start using the Internet over 10 years ago. There's a way today to do an Internet show and be successful, and people will listen not just on their computer, but cellphone, iPod, even wristwatches. Without a doubt, the Internet is the future, as more cars are made with broadband connections. I'm not walking away from AM or FM radio. I still love it and expect to have a job soon. There are many options."

Much ado aside from the annual relaunch of the Best and Worst of L.A. Sports Media (linked here). The rest of the world exists on:

== You ain't gettin' John Madden on a bus to Hawaii, so Al Michaels will be joined by Cris Collinsworth on NBC's coverage of the Pro Bowl (Sunday, 1:30 p.m., Channel 4). Andrea Kremer and Tiki Barber (whose brother Ronde is in the game) also earned the flight to Honolulu (next year, Miami!) as NBC has this meaningless exhibition for the first time in 35 years (maybe not willingly). NBC promises at halftime, Michaels will talk to Madden from his undisclosed home in Northern California. And as if it matters, all six QBs -- Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Jay Cutler and Kerry Collins -- no Brett Favre? no wonder Madden didn't go -- will wear microphones during the game as well as two defensive players to be determined. Wow, almost like the XFL.

By the way, that's N.Y. Giants punter Jeff Feagles trying on a vintage leather helmet during an NFC practice this week. He wears that in the game, we're watching for sure.

History note: The last NBC broadcast of the Pro Bowl was on Jan. 20, 1974 from Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City when the AFC, coached by Madden, defeated the NFC 15-13 on five Garo Yepremian field goals. That musta been compelling TV.

== But when you think Pro Bowl, you gotta think professional bowling, and Fountain Valley, the only Southern California stop for the Lumber Liquidators PBA. ESPN has the aptly named Denny's Dick Weber Open -- free grand slams for eveyone! no? -- from the Fountain Bowl out there in Orange County (Sunday, 10 a.m.) with a total prize of $181,000. Which can be converted to S&H Green Stamps.

== As for Super Bowl XLIII: The NFL Network repeats the Pittsburgh-Arizona game in its entirety -- complete with halftime show -- Sunday at 5:30 p.m. We'll refrain from giving away the ending.

== Alex Solis and Mike Smith are two of the jockeys featured in an Animal Planet 12-episode series, "Jockeys: Win Or Die Trying," that premieres tonight at 9 p.m. Billed as a documentary-soap opera, the show follows seven riders -- including Chantal Sutherland, Joe Talamo, Jon Court, Aaron Gryder and Kayla Stra on and off the racetrack. Since Smith is dating Sutherland (pictured) -- the only female jockey to race in the recent Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita -- they're the focus of the first episode -- she's leaving her family to move to Southern California so she can be with Smith and try to elevate her career. More info (linked here)

== Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy do the Lakers-Cavs game from Cleveland for ABC (Sunday, 12:30 p.m., Channel 7). It's the back-end of a network doubleheader, following San Antonio-Boston at 10 a.m. (Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown). Stay tuned to the KABC-Channel 7 post-game show (3 p.m.) where reporter Curt Sandoval has a special story about Valencia High's basketball team and how it has dedicated its season to David Stroud.

== Set the alarm: Kevin Harlan and Clark Kellogg call UCLA's basketball game against rival Notre Dame (Saturday, at the ridiculous tipoff time of 10 a.m. at Pauley Pavilion). A-teamers Bob Dekas and Bob Fishman produce and direct it.

== That early start is a result of the network also covering the last two rounds of the PGA's Buick Invitational from Torrey Pines (Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 3 p.m.) with Jim Nantz, Nick Faldo and the usual suspects who will keep reminding us about what happened there in the U.S. Open a year ago, when the network wasn't there.

== Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds ramp up Fox's NASCAR coverage from Daytona for the Daytona 500 qualifying (Sunday, 10 a.m., Channel 11). On Saturday (5 p.m.), they'll also do the Budweister Shootout from Daytona International Speedway.

But even more bitchin' is that ESPN has "an original interview" -- that's how they classify them now? -- with ever-hyper-cool-Nazi- pretending-actor Tom Cruise during today's edition of "NASCAR Now" (ESPN2, 2 p.m.), where he talks about filming "Days Of Thunder" back in 1990 (he was Cole -- no relation to Dick -- Trickle back then).

A quip from Cruise before he jumps on the couch: "You know it's just...it's just America. It's something about driving in a car. For me as a kid growing up, I always wanted to race cars. I came up with the idea to make this movie about NASCAR, it's just a piece of America and these icons who were there in the beginning and created this sport, you just see our history through time, our love affair with the automobile. It's a very unique kind of racing that feels very American. Rubbin's racin', you know."

You can almost hear Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby sayin' it the same way. With better actin'.

== Motor sports writer Louis Brewster reports that NHRA and ESPN agreed to an extension that will give the network exclusive rights through 2016. The two have been partners since the 2001 season. In 2009, same-day coverage of qualifying and finals will be shown on ESPN2 for all 24 events in the series.

ESPN program manager Joe Marcello said the sport has shown "wonderful growth" and is among the "best values and sports on our network."

However, he acknowledged that the current economic status could result in less advertising. He also said the current lineup of announcer Paul Page and analyst Mike Dunn are solid and there are no current plans to go live.

"Our biggest challenge is the time between rounds and the oildowns," said Marcello.

== In what Golf Channel calls "a first-of-its-kind documentary," the network presents "Uneven Fairways," produced in partnership with Moxie Pictures, that shows an era "when honor and fair play took a backseat to segregation, revealing the story of the little-known, but rich history of the African-Americans who had the courage to stand up for their rights and pave the way for future stars of golf."

It's hosted by avid L.A. golfer Samuel L. Jackson, based on the books "Uneven Lies" by Pete McDaniel and "Forbidden Fairways" by Calvin H. Sinnette.

"Charlie (Sifford) (pictured here) has told me of some wild stories of things he had to endure," says Tiger Woods in the documentary. "He is the Jackie Robinson of our sport."

Set the Tivo for Wednesday, 9 p.m. with several replays.

== Prime Ticket has dedicated Tuesdays to Dodgers this winter, and while we missed out informing you about a replay of the 1965 World Series game 7 last week, this week's offering is Game 1 of the 1988 World Series against Oakland and that walk-off home run we can't seem to remember very much of lately (7:30 to 10 p.m.)

Coming up:

Feb. 24: World Series Game 5 vs. Oakland (Hershiser's clincher)
March 3: 2004 NL West championship clicher vs. San Francisco (Steve Finley's grand slam)
March 31: Dodgers-Padres from Sept., 2006 (Back, to back, to back, to back).

== Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire do NBC's NHL coverage of Detroit-Pittsburgh (Sunday, 9:30 a.m., Channel 4). The network also announced, in its flex scheduling, it will do Philadelphia at the N.Y. Rangers on Feb. 15.

== ESPN2 will carry the 2010 World Cup qualifying match between the U.S. and Mexico on Wednesday (4 p.m., from Columbus, Ohio). JP Dellacamera and John Harkes call it with sideline reporter Pedro Gomez.

== AND THE CLOSING ARGUMENT:

From The Onion Sports (linked here):

Polamaluesque Puppy Dominates Puppy Bowl

SILVER SPRING, MD--His long black hair flowing behind him as he threw himself around, across, and over the field at Animal Planet Stadium in his trademark reckless, acrobatic style, 9-week-old puli Troy Pupamalu dominated Puppy Bowl V Sunday by relentlessly hurling his body into squeaky-ball carriers and punishing adorable downfield retrievers with torrents of blindside licks.

At the conclusion of the two-hour contest, which was won by everybody for the fifth straight year, Puppy Bowl organizers honored Pupamalu with the Most Valuable Puppy award for causing five fumbles, recovering three lost plush footballs, and returning a bouncy hedgehog toy for an 80-yard touchdown. Long known for his physical play, Pupamalu was fearless in his pursuit of intimidating pit bull mixes, larger and fluffier dogs, and his own tail.

When Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton (not his real name) ironically accepted the top sports-talk host award last week at the annual Southern California Sports Broadcasters ceremonies, most of remarks weren't so much of thanks, but of a plea for help. Minus the tin cup with pencils and a sign: "Will Talk For Food."

"I will tell you that radio free agency is surely not like Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira," said Hamilton, a former 570-AM employee who recently left the San Diego-based 1360-AM sports-talk station, according to the story on LARadio.com. "It is pretty tough. . . . There's an awful lot of good people out on in the streets. There are so many influential people in this group, sometime this week, pick up the phone and call one of these guys that's out in the streets and tell him you're thinking of him."

Joe McDonnell answered his phone on the second ring earlier this week.

"I've always looked at myself as the voice of L.A.," he said when I asked him about the last 33 years of his career in the city as a sports-talk show host, focusing on the last five months where he's been out of a job. "I'm a fan lucky enough to have access to people in all parts of the sports world.

"Whether people like me or hate me, they know I get the information and I tell them what I feel is the truth. If they don't agree, that's fine. That's what's supposed to happen. I'm asked all the time if I think I'm missed (on the air today). I think so. I'm hoping I don't have to leave L.A. for my next job. I can't picture that happening. I didn't burn any bridges. It's just tough being patient. Honestly, this is the first time in my career I've had to apply for jobs. I've always had people come to me. Not that I'm above it, it's just weird."

Friday, we'll get more into with Big Joe (his website linked here) about his views of the landscape of today's syndicated-squashed L.A. sports-talk -- and more to cause some chatter, our 17th annual best and worst of L.A. sports-talk hosts, as well as a lists of local sports radio newscasters and syndicated sports-talk shows.

Thanks again for all the imput. More can be emailed to thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

I guess in this business, everything is cyclical. Who's to say next year that KLAC won't come up with a deal to carry the Dodgers if KABC decides to get rid of it, and then switch back to more local talk.

One of the first shows that the new MLB Network decided to make a staple of its programming -- in fact, the name of the first show when the channel debuted on Jan. 1 -- was "Hot Stove."

It's one of those campy phrases that sports writers liked to use in the good, ol' days to describe sitting around a hot stove -- as opposed to a cold one -- and talking about baseball in the winter months when it was dormant, hoping it could speed up the arrival of spring training.

Wonder where ESPN2 got the idea to televise a "Baseball Tonight" show called "Hot Stove Roundtable" -- Friday, 5 p.m. -- having Karl Ravech sit around with Peter Gammons, Tim Kurkjian, Buster Olney and Steve Phillips for an hour, just shootin' the horsehide. No suits and ties. Just a bunch of experts expounding on their sport.

Too hot for one network to claim ownership of, apparently.

Like what Matt Vasgersian, Matt Williams, Dan Plesac, Sean Casey, Barry Larkin and some other ex-big leagers do on a daily basis over at MLB.

Wonder why John Kruk isn't in on that discussion on ESPN? What do ex-players know?

Bob Costas out, Joe Buck in.

What the Buck.

HBO Sports just announced that Joe Buck will start a sports-talk show beginning in May, a live town-hall format that will go four times a year, on whatever subject he wants to address.

Remember, like Costas used to do, before he left the network earlier this week to join the MLB Network?

"I am flattered and beyond excited that HBO has given me this opportunity," said the 40-year-old Buck, who will of course stay at Fox as their lead man on NFL and MLB games, as well as any fishing shows they decide to concoct. Buck had been trying to pitch a talk show -- not so much sports, but general Leno-type stuff -- to Fox, but it never got off the ground.

Too late. He's in.

"With HBO's track record, production quality and rate of success, there is no more desirable home in sports. I hope to create something fresh and unique for the network that truly showcases all I can do. And I hope to get Larry David's cell phone number someday."

Rick Bernstein, the executive producer of HBO Sports, said the network will "craft the series to showcase Joe's character and personality."

Snarky. Irreverent. Like Dennis Miller?

Before this week, the greatest literary reference ever made about Joe Torre was by Jim Bouton in his ground-breaking classic 1970 diary "Ball Four."

From May 28:

"Jim Pagliaroni joined the club tonight and is going to be a welcome addition. He was describing a girl that one of the ballplayers had been out with and said, 'It's hard to say exactly what she looked like. She was kind of a Joe Torre with tits.' This joke can only be explained with a picture of Joe Torre. But I'm not sure any exist. he dissolves camera lenses."

Oh, wait. Another Torre reference, from Aug. 27:

"A lot of times during the exhibition season you change your clothes in the hotel because there are no clubhouse facilities. So you go down to the lobby in your shower slippers, carrying your spikes in your hand. On this day (back in spring training), we're told Joe Torre of the Cardinals swears, his roomate, already leaving with spikes in his hand, picked up a girl in the corridor and in a matter of moments, had talked her into his bed. The quote from Torre: 'The last thing I remember seeing was my roommate screwing this broad and all he had on was his baseball socks and shower slippers.'"

Oh, do tell, Big Joe. If only "The Yankee Years" promised to be that entertaining.

The latest link between the former Yankee pitcher Bouton (a link to his official site) and the former Yankee skipper Torre came last week, when Bouton defended Torre's right to breach whatever "clubhouse sanctity" is left.

"What's the big deal? It isn't as if Joe Torre is revealing things that people didn't know," Bouton told the New York Daily News (linked here). "... Why in the world anyone is still talking about the sanctity of the clubhouse is beyond me. Baseball and the Yankees should feel lucky that this book is generating so much attention in January... there is no job hitting a ball with a stick unless a lot of people are convinced it's important ... Books are going to be written. Therefore, don't act like a jerk."

Bouton was the first of many to cross an imaginary line between player confidentiallity and a best-selling book (linked here), and he wont' be the last.

Torre may be acting like the biggest jerk this week, promoting his new book, "The Yankee Years" so much that he must be passing outsted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich in the green room of every major TV show these last few days.

Wednesday, it was Torre on with ESPN's Hannah Storm and "Late Show With David Letterman." (see the clip above, where Letterman takes a shot at the co-author's photo). Today, a piece he taped Tuesday with Bob Costas airs on the MLB Network, helping Costas launch his new show.

Yet, from those who have read it -- and we admit, we now have it but haven't made enough trips to the restroom to pour through it like we may have with Pete Rose's "My Prison Without Bars" when he finally copped to gambling (linked here) -- there's a consensus that, because co-author Tom Verducci writes of Torre in the third person and lays it out as if he's the observer of all this, there's nothing really for Torre to tell all to. Verducci tells the story, not Torre, if truth be told.

If that makes any more sense than anything else.

So, after we read it, and after you read it, and after David Wells learns to read, let's get together and start our own square-table discussion of what's really between the covers of Torre's why-can't-he-let-it-go tome.

You got a read on this situation? Comment or email at thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com. As for the MLB Network highlights of the Costas Q-and-A that airs today at 5 p.m., but they really aren't that much different than anything else we've been reading/hearing/smelling from Torre's excerpts/interviews/aftershave. But read them if you must:

Dodgers third base coach Larry Bowa appears on the MLB Network's "Hot Stove" show today (4 p.m. first airing, with many repeats) and talks about ... stuff...

Like, Manny Ramirez:

"It's not my money. Mr. McCourt is the owner of the ballclub and I am sure they have their reasons why they wanna give him one, two, three ... whatever if they give him something. I do know that a four-year contract in my opinion would be too much for Manny in the National League. American League is a different story. He is a DH. But when you get 37, 38 years old playing everyday in left field, it's tough to justify a four-year contract even though he is a great hitter."

Bowa also talks about:

(Above: The All-American Rejects sing their song, "Change Your Mind")

We're not even sure how it's supposed to be spelled.

De-commit.

Decommit.

Neither is Google when you try to find out which headline is more accurate:

Chicago Tribune: "ND hit with another decommit" (linked here)

USCPlaybook blog: "Vontaze Burfict to De-Commit, Headed to ASU" (linked here)

Orange County Register blog: "UCLA football: DE commit wavering"
(linked here)

That last one, we get it. Or, maybe we don't.

We're committed to finding out why high school football recruits can't make life easier on themselves by committing to college programs early, only to have other coaches see that as a challenge and then try to get them to change their minds.

Anyone with a teenager knows that kids are stressed out, and this new wave of second-guessing only makes the acne problems more prolific. Student-athletes wonder if maybe they should have waited until today to finally reveal their choice, because they're learning that the earlier they let their decision go public, the opposite happens -- other school recruiters start coming after them with even a greater blitz.

That's just backward. But, look, it seems to be working. So why should these competitive coaches stop doing it? Where's their incentive when there's no punishment to pay?

Hence, the influx of the de-commit. However you want to spell it.

It spells trouble.

Brian Dohn's UCLA football story in today's edition (linked here) has this quote from Rick Kimbrel, a Western Region recruiting analyst for Rivals.com (oh, man, it's come to job titles like this): "I've never seen this amount of de-commits, hoping from one school to another. I hope this isn't the birth of something out of control, but my instincts say it could be."

The last birth we saw get out of control happened last week in Bellflower. The mom is now fielding interview requests from around the nation. She's about to be famous for being famous. And she could make a bunch of money from personal appearences, endorsements, book sales. Oh, and for having eight kids in one gestation period. From a sperm donor.

Wait'll those six boys get to a point 18 years from now and they're trying to figure out which college football program to play for. Mom may wish she de-committed on that withdrawl when she had the chance.

Read through Ramona Shelburne's column on UCLA's recruiting strategy (linked here) as well as one on why committing to programs today isn't so much a two-way street any more (linked here). She quotes one of our favorite guys on the subject, Marc Isenberg, author of "The Student Athlete Survival Guide" (linked here), another must-read for those kids who aren't sure how to make heads or tails over this whole process any more. Also read Isenberg's comments on why he thinks National Letter of Intent Day should be abolished (linked here).

"Despite trying to get along with people from the college athletic world, I am already getting some backlash from my position," Isenberg wrote in an email this morning. "Many believe abolishment or even modification of the NLI will lead to anarchy.

"I am not suggesting a free-agent market for college athletes, but the NLI has features that are patently unfair to athletes and, worse, cause discontent and regret."

The only regret that those who follow USC's stellar program is if coach Pete Carroll didn't get all the top recruits he'd been trying to lure in, including this all-everything linebacker from Hawaii, Manti Te'o, who's got everyone waiting around Heritage Hall for his phone call today

The headline on Scott Wolf's USC football recruiting story today (linked here) says: "Even with decommitments, USC could still end up with nation's top-rated recruit class"

And that's the bottom line to this tail-chasing mess. De-commit all you want. Or decommit. Or de-evolve. As long as you have that top recruiting class, that's all that seems to matter at the end of the play.

Commit to sending an opinion on this, either here or at thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

It's on Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
Then Thursday, 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Then Saturday, 12:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
And Sunday, at noon, 7:30 p.m., 10:30 p.m. and ...

Maybe it's not the entire game, but the "NFL Replay" coverage on the NFL Network takes all those long replay delays out and makes it a tight, 90-minute format so you can watch that Pittsburgh-Arizona game until you've become Steely McBeam.

Thanks as well to the BigLead.com, for linking to Norman Chad's review of the NBC broadcast in the Washington Post (linked here) as well as his chat (linked here), which should be read over and over and over.

Especially this line:

If the pregame for the Last Supper were this long, Judas would've left and grabbed a chili dog at Wienerschnitzel.

As should this lead that the Denver Post's Woody Paige crafted from Sunday's game (linked here). Pure poetry. One that will make Steely fully erected after reading.

Thanks to AwfulAnnouncing.com (linked here)

All that slam dunk contest ducking and skills competition fears have been replaced by TNT's announcement today that it will add the game of H-O-R-S-E to its programming lineup during the NBA All-Star Game weekend in Phoenix next weekend.

The H-O-R-S-E game will air live during TNT's two-hour "Inside the NBA" (Saturday, 2 to 4 p.m.) with participants to be determined. Following that is the usual All-Star Saturday stuff of ... stuffs.

The game will take place on a 45x50-foot court next to the network's new NBA on TNT Rig (above), which is the host set. It can seat about 120 people in the stands. Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Chris Webber will call the event (sorry, no Charles Barkley back yet ... not officially).

It's the usual game: Three players will establish the playing order. Once a shot is made, the next player tries it. He misses, he gets a letter. There's a 24-second clock. Pick your poison. No dunks. And no do-overs.

Yesterday, NBC sent out a release (linked here) calling Super Bowl XLIII the third-most watched event in TV history, and second to last year's game. Today, NBC sends along this new memo, with some more creative number crunching somewhere along the way (going beyond the Top 56 markets and actually including everyone in the head count for this consensus:

Super Bowl XLIII is now the most viewed television program in U.S. history with a total audience of 151.6 million viewers, according to official national ratings data released today by Nielsen Media Research.

"It's always incredibly satisfying to amass large audiences, but this television record simply reaffirms the power of the Super Bowl and the National Football League," said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. "Everyone associated with the NFL should feel a great sense of pride in this accomplishment and in providing a day of enjoyment to American families - especially those who are struggling in these difficult times."

MOST VIEWED TELEVISION PROGRAMS IN HISTORY (total viewers):
1. Super Bowl XLIII: 151.6 million (NBC 2009)
2. Super Bowl XLII: 148.3 million (Fox 2008)
3. Super Bowl XXVIII:144.4 million (CBS 2004)

The total audience of 151.6 million viewers tops the previous Super Bowl record audience of 148.3 million viewers by 3.3 million viewers (Super Bowl XLII, Giants-Patriots, Note: total audience measures viewership for all or part of a broadcast).

MOST-WATCHED SUPER BOWLS (average viewers):
1. Super Bowl XLIII: 98.7 million (NBC 2009)
2. Super Bowl XLII: 97.5 million (Fox 2008)
3. Super Bowl XXX: 94.1 million (NBC 1996)
4. Super Bowl XLI: 93.2 million (CBS 2007)
5. Super Bowl XXVII: 91.0 million (NBC 1993)

The average viewership of 98.7 million is tops in Super Bowl history, beating last year's game by 1.2 million viewers (97.5 million). NBC now owns two of the top three and three of the top five most watched Super Bowls of all-time, with Super Bowl XXX third on the list with 94.1 million viewers and Super Bowl XXVII fifth with 91.0 million viewers. (Note: P2+ measures average viewership per minute). * The M*A*S*H finale in 1983 averaged 106 million viewers and total audience figures for the program are estimated to be 122 million viewers.

What is it they say about numbers and a French prostitute: You can pretty much make 'em do whatever you need done. In this case, it's taking the nebulous "total viewers" number -- which means counting anyone who even caught six minutes of the broadcast -- lumping them all together for a grand total of what'd you'd pay for gas a year ago. As for "average audience," The "average audience" that's where Sunday's game passed last year's game now, when it didn't yesterday for some reason. We're going back to our peanut butter and jelly sandwich now.

The MLB Network announced today that Bob Costas has not only been added to its expanding roster of broadcasters, but he'll interview Dodgers manager Joe Torre today for a piece that will air on Thursday at 5 p.m. after its coverage of the Caribbean World Series. The new show is called "MLB Network Studio 42 with Bob Costas."

What it also means is that Costas has cut ties with HBO so that MLB Net is his exclusive cable channel home. He'll stay with NBC, of course, where his bread is buttered on all of its sports events.

"Bob Costas was a terrific addition when he joined HBO Sports eight years ago, providing us with a distinct and unique presence," said HBO Sports chief Ross Greenburg. "Television is about change and we respect Bob's decision to move to the MLB Network. We are very proud of the work Bob did at HBO, and we wish him well in his new endeavor."

"In addition to being one of the preeminent sports broadcasters of his generation, Bob also cares very deeply about the game of baseball," said MLB commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "We're glad to reunite him with the game he loves most and look forward to the exciting television he and MLB Network will create together in the years to come."

"I'm especially enthused about the type of programming we'll be able to create at MLB Network, a mix of historical pieces, documentary-style programming, interviews and play-by-play -- all the things I most enjoy, and it's all baseball," said Costas.

Highlights from the February/March issue of Complex magazine that arrives on newstands next Tuesday:

== On his past regrets:
"I wouldn't have been as naïve. I would've paid more attention to what was going on. I never read the press, never watched TV. The only thing that mattered to me was playing the game, and I was kind of oblivious to everything else that was going on outside of that."

== On whether it matters now to read the press:
"Well, it does from the standpoint of making sure that your image is what you are, you know what I mean? Because that's something that I take stock in and that I care about. So from the standpoint of making sure you have a team around you that supports you, making sure that if somebody doesn't like you they don't like you, and not what they say you are. That's something I've had to adjust to."

==On the one private failure that keeps him up at night:
"Dogshi**? Like, I hate dogsh**. I have a dog and I do not clean the crap outside. It's a phobia. It drives me crazy. You wake up in the morning and you think, Damn, this big 'ol German shepherd probably just took a crap outside in the yard, and I gotta wake up and go pick it up. That is something that keeps me tossin' and turnin.' Does that qualify?

==Does that make you a neat freak?:
"Not necessarily. I just don't like dogsh**. But the thing that really keeps you up at night all the time, my wife as well, is our kids. It's always you thinking, Are you raising 'em the right way? How are they doing?"

Kobe Bryant may go down in NBA lore and remembered all around these parts in souvenir T-shirt lore straight from the Team LA stores for the night he dropped 81 on the, ahem, Toronto Raptors in a game at Staples Center three years ago. You got one of 'em, right? Good times.

Put it away. The 61 he had last night at Madison Square Garden is much more historic, important ... for the ages.

Staples Center is the La Brea Tar Pits stumbling into the Laugh Factory; Madison Square Garden is the Guggenheim taking a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park to meet Carnegie Hall.

And how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice your cross-over dribble, 3-point shot and free throws.

When the KCAL-Channel 9 broadcast started to put up graphics in the third quarter showing the all-time Knicks opponents' record for points scored in MSG, the name at the top: Michael Jordan, 55. Jordan was also at 50.

As soon as John Ireland interviewed Spike Lee, who reminded everyone of the historic importance established by Jordan dropping "double nickels" on his Knicks (that was in 1995), you could sense the buzz that, in a New York minute, something special was happening.

But then, after Bryant passed 55 and headed into the fast lane, there was some confusion: Who had the highest scoring game in the fabled arena's history? Patrick Ewing? Walt Frazier? Meadowlark Lemon from the Harlem Globetrotters?

Bernard King was king of the Garden, with a mere 60 on Christmas Day, 1984. Of course, the Knicks lost that one, too.

So even after Kobe blazed past Jordan, there was more work to do. The stars were aligned -- Andrew Bynum was out, it was a key game in a six-game road trip, the Knicks love to run with the new system put in by new coach Mike D'Antoni. Spike Lee, Mariano Rivera, John McEnroe were there. The greatest stage in basketball was set.

And Kobe, who even sat out his customary few minutes of the fourth quarter, making it seemingly possible that he wouldn't return to the game because the Lakers had a double-digit lead, added to the drama by returning and then going after the mark.

Note, this version of Madison Square Garden -- No. 4 if you're counting -- has only been open since 1968. It's the oldest building left in the NBA since everyone's scrambling to find bigger and better facilities. It smells of history, no matter how '68 seems like only yesterday to some of us. It was unbelieveable.

And do you believe him when, after being asked by Ireland if he knew he surpassed the MSG record, that Bryant said he didn't know all those standards fell because of his night? You gotta believe someone (like Phil Jackson, the former Knick and Jordan's former coach) knew. That's all that mattered.

Sixty one in New York. That used to mean Roger Maris' single-season home run record. Now it means the night Kobe Bryant lit up the Knicks.

Score some points with us and comment on this, or email me at thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com.

Five members of the Los Angeles Catholic community -- including Dodgers Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully -- will be honored at the 2009 Cardinal's Award Dinner on Friday at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland. The dinner raises money to benefit early childhood education at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood.

That's Cardinal, as in Cardinal Roger Mahony, born in Hollywood and the first native Angeleno to hold the office of Archbishop of Los Angeles when he was promoted in 1985. He was created Cardinal in 1991.

In a story about Scully's recognition in a recent edition of The Tidings weekly Catholic newspaper, it's pointed out that he attended Catholic school all through college (Fordham University) and he's a parishioner of St. Jude Chuch in Westlake Village.

"To have a strong faith influence growing up gave me direction, ground rules, like you learn in sports," Scully told the newspaper. "Today, if people ask me for advice on how to live, I say, 'Follow the 10 Commandments; you won't be in bad shape and you'll sleep a lot better.' And as you get older, I think your faith grows, especially the more you appreciate what has been given, and what could be taken away at any moment."

AP Photo/St. Petersburg Times, Dirk Shadd

I whole-heartedly support those who question whether the officials got that penultimate play in Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII called correctly -- especially after all those NBC replays we had to endure through the extended contest suddenly stopped when the game was ultimately on the line.

Did Kurt Warner really fumble the ball away, or was he in the motion of passing and should have been given just an INC and had one more throw to the end zone?

What does that photo above seem to indicate? That it's not as clear cut as the officials seemed to make it.

I immediately though the latter, first live, and especially after an NBC replay showed what I thought I saw on the first live take. Surprisingly, neither Al Michaels nor John Madden raised a dispute. My notes has Michaels saying: "It looks like a fumble .. his arm is hit as it is coming forward as the ball is coming out." What?

Exactly. There's some confusion. The officials seemed to quickly dismiss the incomplete pass reversal and allowed Pittsburgh to run the final play and end the game. Maybe NBC wanted things wrapped up ASAP to get "The Office" on the air before the parties broke up at home. In the sudden stop to the game, all Michaels could say, after a pause was: "Pittsburgh is the first franchise to win six Super Bowls."

NBC's Alex Flanagan, in her best demure Farrah Fawcett impersonation, didn't get Warner to commit one way to another in the post-game interview, even with those bedroom eyes staring at him.

Jim Rome had NBCSports.com's Tom Curran (blog linked here) on his syndicated radio show this morning, and Curran confirmed our conviction that the end of the game got away from the officials and it steamrolled into a Pittsburgh party before the conclusion should have come about.

Why aren't more readers/viewers/TV talking heads discussing this play?

UPDATED: Monday, Feb. 2, 5 p.m.

NBC reports a 42.1 overnight rating and 65 share for the Neilsen response to Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII coverage. That's actually a bit down from a year ago -- New England-N.Y. Giants did a 44.7, for obvious reasons. Yet, in 18 of the last 20 Super Bowls, it's had an overnight rating of 40.0 or better.

It's ratings gold.

Total viewership turned out to be a 95.4 million average and a 147 million total, making it third-most watched TV broadcast in history, behind that 1983 CBS series finale of "MASH" (106 million) and last year's Super Bowl XLII on Fox (97.5 million).

The highest-rated game remains the 1982 San Francisco-Cincinnati contest (Super Bowl XVI) -- 49.1 -- thanks to a blizzard that locked up most of the northeast. A sunny day in Southern California... that didn't help locally. L.A. only had a 35.3 rating and 63 share.

The top markets for overnight ratings (noting L.A. didn't make the Top 25 cut):

1. Pittsburgh: 53.6/79
2. Norfolk, Va.: 52.6/72
3. Jacksonville, Fla.: 50.6/71
4. Buffalo: 50.4/68
5. Richmond, Va.: 49.3/67
6. Tampa, Fla.:49.2/70
7. Ft. Myers, Fla.: 48.1/68
8. Cleveland: 47.7/69
9. Phoenix: 47.5/80
10. Indianapolis: 47.4/65

11. Nashville: 47.2/66
12. Washington D.C.: 46.7/70
13. Columbus: 46.5/67
14. Orlando: 46.4/66
15. Memphis: 46.3/63
16. Philadelphia: 46.2/65
17. New Orleans: 45.7/63
18. Knoxville: 45.2/58
19. Baltimore: 45.0/63
T20. Denver: 44.7/76
T20. Las Vegas: 44.7/68
T20. Greensboro: 44.7/63

T23. Charlotte: 44.6/63
T23. Greenville: 44.6/60
25. St. Louis: 44.5/69

Inhale ... hold it ... hold it.... hold it...

Michael Phelps sure can hold his breath a long time. Dang.

Had Bob Costas not mentioned 10 minutes into Sunday's Super Bowl pregame show that Phelps issued an apology for smoking marijuana last November in South Carolina -- and apparently it was NBC's job to damage-control this thing, since it has some territorial rights to the champion swimmer's life story based on its coverage of his eight-gold-medal exploits at the most recent Summer Olympics in Beijing -- we're not sure this would have even been on our radar until, say, Tuesday.

The story could be in today's papers, but it would have sunk to the bottom of the pool of headlines and photos from the Super Bowl coverage. So thanks, Bob, for not sending up a smoke screen on this one.

Now, what's the collateral damage for the Human Bong?

First, none of this happens unless there's the British tabloid News of the World (linked here). It offered this as the lead paragraph:

"THIS is the astonishing picture which could destroy the career of the greatest competitor in Olympic history."

That's the beauty of the tabs. Over the top.

So Phelps did what he had to do in a perfect PR world: Nip it in the cannabis bud immediately, saying he was sorry. Really sorry. Sorry, mostly, that someone took the photo and just now decided it was worth releasing.

Another of the gotcha, victimless crimes that those of supreme athletic stature have to be aware can and will be used against them in the court of public opinion.

As the story on the matter in today's New York Times points out, Phelps' admission is "unlikely to effect his swimming eligibility, it could affect the millions of dollars he has secured in endorsement deals." So he'll pay the price. Or maybe not.

We'll see how long this takes to inhale, then blow over. If one really wants to hold a grudge against a 23-year-old kid, point back to the fact that he had a DUI when he was 19. Surely, the women on "The View" who are in L.A. this week will hash it out this morning, give him a major scolding then cut to Whoopi Goldberg holding up another photo of him in a tight Speedo and a goofy smile on his face. That's spinning the story forward, rastawoman.

Considering Phelps love of the water, it's no surprise that a bong was used here instead of a straight-up blazing joint. Does it help his performance in the pool? In 1998, Gary Hall Jr. was suspended three months by FINA for testing postive for marijuana. No proof if any swimmer testing positive for weed really is guilty of performance enhancing. We'll have to have Congress take up the matter. Before Phelps misremembers anything that really happened that night.

Got an opinion to blaze on this? If you're not comfortable leaving a comment here, email it to thomas.hoffarth@dailynews.com. You're in our wit-less protection program as far as we're concerned.

The Associated Press

PHOENIX - A Tucson television station says its broadcast of the Super Bowl was interrupted for some customers by about 10 seconds of pornographic material.

KVOA-TV in Tucson posted a statement on its Web site late Sunday (linked here) saying the only viewers who were able to see the material were those who receive the channel through Comcast cable.

KVOA says it will investigate the incident and that the game was sent out from the station without interruptions or pornographic material.

Comcast spokeswoman Tracy Baumgartner confirmed that the company's standard feed was interrupted during the Super Bowl, although she said its high definition feed was not.

Baumgartner said engineers are investigating.

The interesting part of this story is the account in the Arizona Daily Star (linked here). It pinpoints the incident with three minutes left in the game, right after Arizona went ahead in the contest and appeared to have it won. Premature celebration? Then there was a viewer said they didn't even think twice about what she was watching because she just thought it was another wacky Super Bowl commercial (USA Today blog link on this here). Is that what we've come to?

== Steve Martin is on "Late Night With David Letterman" to promote "Pink Panther 2." (Channel 2, 11:35 p.m.) Oh, and so is Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger.

== NFL Network will likely replay Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII ... just don't know when yet.

== ESPN Classic has a replay of the four-plus hour Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer Aussie Open final (today, noon to 45 p.m.). It aired live on ESPN2 very early Sunday morning.

== ESPN2 has Bob Knight joining Brent Musburger and Nancy Leiberman in covering the Tennessee-Oklahoma women's college game today (4:30 p.m.) as Vols coach Pat Summitt attempts to pick up her 1,000th career victory.

Sure, he could have done two songs instead of four to fill that impossible 12-minute window halftime window at Super Bowl XLIII. He could have closed with "Born To Run" instead of squeezing it, truncated and all, between "10th Avenue Freezeout" and "Working On A Dream." And switching the lyrics of "Glory Days" to get football terms in there ...

But any sniff of Bruce Springsteen is worth three hours of (fill in the blank), and those who stood and watched at your Super Bowl party when he and the E Street Band were onstage in Tampa tonight, but talked while the Steelers and Cardinals were playing the actual game, is testimate to the power of The Boss.

As he requested, they stepped back from the guacamole, put down the chicken fingers and cranked up the TV set.

Thanks to SportsByBrooks.com (linked here) for his exclusive on the Springsteen play list, revealed more than an hour before the game's kickoff (you coulda won your Super Bowl pool).

And also thanks to NBCSports.com (linked here) for putting up additional video links from Bob Costas' interview with Springsteen, where he even suggests that Cold Play may be a good encore to the Super Bowl halftime show next season.

Enjoy the Associated Press photos we snatched up from the performance before he went to Disneyland (we only wish we had one of the cameraman who got plowed over by Springsteen during a slide across the stage on his knees):

Beat your head against the TV screen all you want, but, barring a trip to the ER, it's really not the best way to fully enjoy today's broadcast of the Super Bowl. You could try one of them there drinkin' games -- every time John Madden says "Boom," you gotta take a shot of Wild Turkducken? Naw, that's far too cliché. And an insult to Brent Musburger.

But maybe it's just some simple old-school thinking that will drown out all the NBC bells, whistles and 3D glasses. We'll take a cue from the halftime act: We're working on a dream. What if everyone had a bingo card and everything that came out of the flatscreen was in play. Make it a competition. OK, take a swig of beer every time you put a nickel over the space on the card.

Winner gets Springsteen's new CD. Or an extra heap of guac...

Either go to this link (linked here) or print it out below:

Something to mull over while awaiting the opening kickoff today ... from the NBC NFL archives, so if there are any mistakes, it's on them (and me, for not correcting it)

Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa will mark the 16th broadcast by NBC, equaling CBS for the most Super Bowls broadcast by any network. Here's a look at all the Super Bowls that NBC has covered over the years:

Super Bowl I
Jan. 15, 1967
Green Bay (NFL) 35
Kansas City (AFL) 10
Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles
Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman, Charlie Jones

NBC and CBS both broadcast the first Super Bowl ever played as the NFL's Packers defeated the AFL champion Chiefs behind the passing of Bart Starr, the receiving of Max McGee, and a key interception by all-pro safety Willie Wood. Green Bay broke open the game with three second-half touchdowns, the first of which was set up by Wood's 50-yard return of an interception. McGee, filling in for ailing Boyd Dowler after having caught only four passes all season, caught seven from Starr for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Elijah Pitts ran for two other scores.

NBC producer Ted Nathanson arranged to have as big a TV set as could be found mounted in the mobile production truck. He trained a camera on the screen, occasionally zooming in and beaming that tighter shot over the air. The confused CBS crew apparently couldn't figure out how NBC managed to get its "exclusives."