January 2011 Archives

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
A snow sculpture depicting Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu sacking and forcing a fumble by Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is on display at a playground in Boyce Park in Monroeville, Pa.

Highlights of the week ahead in sports, both here and afar:

MONDAY

NBA: Clippers vs. Milwaukee, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

As Luc Mbah a Moute will have it, these Bucks remain in flux. Start with Michael Redd, who blew out his left knee last January against the Lakers and still hasn't come close to making it all the way back yet. He's making $18.3 million this season -- the league's fifth-highest-paid player. Former Clipper Corey Maggette (who scored 29 points with 11 rebounds in a six-point OT win over Toronto on Friday) has been helping to carry the load with Andrew Bogut since Brandon Jennings broke is foot on Dec. 18.

TUESDAY

NBA: Lakers vs. Houston, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

The Lakers' 10-point loss against the 6-12 Rockets on Dec. 1 was one of those milestones in the season -- it was their fourth defeat in a row. So they followed it up winning eight of their next nine, with seven of those games on an extended road trip.

NHL: Kings at Minnesota, 5 p.m., Prime:

Can AEG president Tim Leiweke believe what he's seeing with these Kings? The 2010 Executive of the Year according to the Los Angeles Sports Council who's been busier trying to get a downtown NFL stadium built near Staples Center has only come out recently to say that the Kings aren't for sale. Does that mean they'll free up some money to bolster the Kings' lineup as the post-All-Star game stretch to the playoffs gets headed up? A wildly unpopular 10-game road trip that could end up re-solidifying the team's focus on a playoff run starts against the Wild, who have split the two previous meetings with the Kings, each taking a 3-2 decision that ended tied after regulation. The Kings are 10-13 away from home so far, one of just two teams in the five-team Pacific Division (along with Anaheim) that are below .500 away from home. The Wild is barely at .500 at home.

WEDNESDAY

College basketball: USC at UCLA, Pauley Pavilion, 8 p.m., FSW:

What plans do the Bruins have in ending a four-game losing streak against the Trojans? A premature celebration could be called for. "When the other team starts to celebrate with 40 seconds left, that's just kind of a slap in the face," UCLA center Joshua Smith said after watching that happen in the Trojans' 11-point win at the Galen Center on Jan. 9. "Don't get me wrong. They won fair and square. Nothing against them. But with 40 seconds left, you just let the clock run out, shake our hands and go celebrate in the locker room." Smith fouled out with just eight points and three rebounds in 22 minutes, trying to defend against the Trojans' Nik Vucevik (20 points) and Alex Stephenson (left, who had 13 points, 16 rebounds).

NBA: Clippers vs. Chicago, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

Newly-minted Eastern Conference All-Star starting guard Derrick Rose missed the second of two free throws with less than a second left that would have sent the Bulls into overtime against the Clippers on Dec. 18. Instead, it was a one-point loss, and Rose had 24 points (vs. 29 for Blake Griffin).

NHL: Kings at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m., Channel 13:

The Kings' 5-2 win over the Oilers a couple of weeks ago made it two in a row against Edmonton this season. The next two are in Oiler territory.

NHL: Ducks vs. San Jose, Honda Center, 7 p.m., KDOC:

Last meeting: a 1-0 Jonas Hiller shutout in early January.

THURSDAY

NBA: Lakers vs. San Antonio, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., TNT:

This challenge before the 11-day, seven-game pre-Grammy and All-Star break road trip might clarify any misconception about the Lakers' post-season intentions, in light of their 15-point loss to the Spurs back on Dec. 28, where Kobe Bryant was 8-of-27 shooting (and the team was 8-for-23 from 3-point range). DeJuan Blair (17 points, 15 rebounds) pushed the Spurs past a two-point halftime deficit into a five-point lead by scoring six points in the paint during a 4 1/2 minute span of the third quarter.

Golf: PGA's Waste Management Phoenix Open, first round, 1 p.m., Golf Channel:

Golf Channel cleans up on all four rounds, then recycles it for later viewing -- especially the highlights from the traditionally noisy No. 16 par 3. At least the energy generated for this event will be clean -- the tourney says all 125,000 kilowats of power will be "extracted, generated, and/or consumed without any significant negative impact to the environment" through wind power purchased by Green-E Certified Renewable Energy Credits or RECs from APS, Arizona's largest and longest-serving electricity utility.

FRIDAY

NBA: Clippers at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m., Prime:

Here's the first of 11 in a row on the road for the Clippers. Joe Johnson (29), Jamal Crawford (24) and Josh Smith (22) combined for 75 of the Hawks' 107 points in a nine-point win at Staples Center on Jan. 2.

SATURDAY

College basketball: UCLA vs. St. John's, Pauley Pavilion, 10 a.m., Channel 2:

The Bruins set this one up with the Johnnies before they hired Steve Lavin as their coach, and then agreed to make it a national telecast (hence, another ridiculous tip-off time). Wait a sec: Why doesn't UCLA play Notre Dame this season?

NBA: Lakers at New Orleans, 5 p.m., Channel 9:

The first of seven in a row on the road, back up against the team that leads the league in fewest points allowed per game. Put it this way: This season, the Hornets' 101.3 defensive rating means they give up 101.3 points for every 100 defensive possessions. A year ago, their rating was 110.1 -- meaning they've given up 8.8 fewer points per 100 possessions. Only one team has made a bigger improvement in that category over the last 35 years: the 1997-98 San Antonio Spurs.

NHL: Kings at Calgary, 7 p.m., FSW:

The Flames have been one of the league's hotter teams, and captain Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla (his real name) is a good part of that reason. Still, he's mentioned all the time in trade rumors with Philadelphia, Montreal and the N.Y. Rangers.

NHL: Ducks at Colorado, noon, Prime:

Peter Forsberg, attempting a return to the NHL at age 37 nearly three years after last playing with the Avalanche in the 2008 playoffs, has been skating with the team after arriving in Denver late last week. This could be his coming-back matinee party.

SUNDAY

NFL: Super Bowl XLV in Dallas: Green Bay vs. Pittsburgh, 3:15 p.m., Channel 11:

If the Super Bowl commercials seem to get a little more hairy this time around, blame it on the Steelers' Troy Polamalu and the Packers' Clay Matthews.
The former USC stars have done as much for their teams as they have for shampoo endorsements -- Matthews signed a one-year endorsement deal with Suave hair products recently, having asked for such a deal after seeing Polamalu enjoy his relationship with the Head and Shoulders folks.
You do what you gotta do for your 'do. Right, A.J. Hawk?
All that's left is for the Steelers' Brett Keisel to get some love for his outstanding beard.

NBA: Clippers at Miami, 9 a.m., Prime Ticket:

LeBron James (ankle), Dwayne Wade (wrist) and Chris Bosh (ankle) have been in and out of the lineup lately for the Heat, who suffered the 111-105 loss to the Clippers back on Jan. 12. Yet, without Eric Gordon, the visiting team has a much tougher road of it this time. And, there's the early wake-up call.

Kings Hockey Hall of Fame play-by-play man Bob Miller will be among the Class of 2011 inductees for the California Sports Hall of Fame's fifth annual ceremony in Ontario on Feb. 27.

Included with Miller will be Dick Vermeil, the former UCLA football coach and Super Bowl-winning coach with the St. Louis Rams (from Calistoga, and a San Jose State grad); Raiders Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Haynes, former WBC heavyweight champ Ken Norton (a native of San Diego), and three-time world boxing champion Tony Lopez (from Sacramento).

Former inductees include Magic Johnson, Jackie Robinson, Jerry West, John Wooden, Willie Mays, Reggie Jackson, Rafer Johnson, Deacon Jones, Eric Dickerson, Tommy Lasorda, Dan Fouts, Dave Winfield, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mike Powell, Tom Flores, Marcus Allen, Cheryl Miller, Jim Plunkett and Karch Kiraly.

Chick Hearn, Vin Scully, Jim Murray and Jim Hill are previous media inductees.

The California Sports Hall of Fame, created by former NFL running back Christian Okoye, provides scholarships to disadvantaged student athletes and hosts free athletic clinics for at-risk youth, featuring active and retired pro athletes and Olympians.

More information: www.californiasportshalloffame.org.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A rider kicks up some dirt during a practice session prior to the Monster Energy AMA Supercross race last Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

Permission to revisit the Supercross / Dodger Stadium column last week, in a human moment:

See you at the Monster Truck rally in a couple of weeks. Or not.

== The original column, with the 900-plus comments still attached (linked here)
== The blog followup (linked here)

Photo courtesy of Rich Marotta
Rich Marotta, left, with Oscar de la Hoya and Tom Kelly on a boxing telecast in the 1980s.

Following up with more Q-and-A with Rich Marotta from today's column (linked here):

= On how the role of the colorman has evolved into someone who has to provide more analysis: "There are certain aspects of an analyst that make him stand out, just from sheer aspect of establishing an rhythm and chemistry with a partner. You need to have a feel about how much your partner needs to describe in a play and how much he actually does describe. What does the play-by-play man leave out? The colorman, to me, has been there to complete the picture, the whole picture -- the atmosphere, the scene, the fans, what some guy at the other end of the field is doing. It's painting a word picture of the whole situation.
"A play-by-play man describes the play; the colorman adds the importance of the whole picture. But sometimes,,a colorman will try to add and automatically talk about that play that was just described."

== On the Kings' broadcasts today with Bob Miller and Jim Fox: "There are a terrific team. Jim is really good at just about every aspect of being a colorman. He uses the technology -- he's the best ever at the Telestrator, be it local or national."

== On what he sees and hears from ex-athlete analysts today that is missing from what can be provided by a professional broadcaster: "Some of them are hung up on whatever the cliche of the day is. I can't believe someone will say: 'That's a catch he's got to make.' That was one of the main things I tried to avoid getting into that habit. Rule No. 1: Don't fall into cliches. I also made it a rule to be able to deliver an opinion which is good as long as its understood by the audience that it is an opnion and not a fact. And then there's preparation -- from a non-athlete, it's much more important to be prepared. I think when I prepped for a football broadcast, I did so out of fear. I was a total nutcase in trying to find all the aspects I could. A player will know Xs and Os, but they may fall down on other aspects like the history of the teams playing, or the personalities involved. That's what sets the good ones apart.
"Another pet peeve of mine: Not everyone learns the art of interviewing. And with a local telecast, that's often the role of the colorman. I still don't know why some can't interview on the air. That even happens to me now on boxing matches, I never understood why some made it so difficult to get in there and ask: 'Did you get hurt in the fifth round? How did the seventh round change for you? Where do you go from here?' It's almost tortue for some people to do that. Just ask the question that would normally come from the people who just watched and what they'd want to ask. And then listen to the answer -- that will often be where your next question comes from."

== On how he learned his craft at Cal State Northridge: "I got to do everything there -- work at the college radio station, to play-by-play, color, broadcast in a studio, do sports talk features, sports talk hosting. My roommate was (longtime broadcaster) Geoff Witcher, so think of what our conversations were like. He was often the partner on my broadcasts, and we learned how important it was to have a good relationship with each other on and off the air. I think I've always been pretty good friends with the people I've worked with and that chemistry really builds into the conversation on the air. It makes everything work better. When you feel comfortable enough with the people you work with, that comfort comes across on the air. That all works in a big circular manner."

== On advise he'd give to up-and-coming broadcasters who might want to try the analyst/colorman role: "The first thing is: Expect rejection, and be able to live with that. That's probably going to happen anywhere you go. Know your sport inside and out. Talk to players and see what they're talking about and thinking about so you think along with them. And really talk to the coaches -- have conversations with them without just being in an interview situation. Sit down and chat and learn more about the verbage of the sport to make it a more level playing field. Also see if you can carve out a niche in that area. See if you could do work in play-by-play as well as color. That was an advantage for me knowing both roles, to understand the rhythm of the play-by-play and know what his needs are.
"It won't be an easy role. It was easier for me to do it when i did it. But be willing to even be a third person in on a broadcast, to be entertaining, not overanalyze things. Complete the booth."

The rest of the media news of note:

== An update on ESPN's Stuart Scott (linked here)

== Bill Macdonald hosts the Lakers' first "Courtside View" telecast of the season tonight at 7:30 p.m. -- while Joel Meyers and Stu Lantz call the game on Fox Sports West, another version airs on Prime Ticket using as little commercial interruption and through the angles of different cameras and sounds of the game.

== ABC's Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy (with Lisa Salters) call the Lakers-Celtics game from Staples Center (Sunday, 12:30 p.m., Channel 7), the first regular Sunday afternoon broadcast for the rest of the season. Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown and Heather Cox are at the Miami-Oklahoma City game (10 a.m., Channel 7) preceeding the Lakers-Celtics.

== NBA TV's "24 Hours with Kevin Love" (Tuesday, 3:30 p.m.) lets cameras into him home as he talks about a day in his life -- on this day, as the former UCLA star preps for a game against Washington. A preview (linked here).

== Fox's Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick, Jay Glazer and Tony Siragusa handle the call on the NFL Pro Bowl back in Hawaii (Sunday, 4 p.m., Channel 11), a week before Fox sends everyone else to Dallas for the Super Bowl. Curt Menefee and Terry Bradshaw are also in Honolulu for pre-game duties.

== ESPNU has 10 hours of programming for prep football national signing day (Wednesday, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.), simulcast on ESPN3.com. Rece Davis and Lowell Galindo host it, with former Miami coach Randy Shannon joined by Tom Luginbill, Bruce Feldman, Robert Smith, Kirk Herbstreit and other recruiting gurus. Maybe more worthy of a TiVo set is the ESPNU re-airing "The Best That Never Was," a 30 for 30 documentary on Marcus Dupree, which airs from 3-to-4 a.m. on Wednesday, leading into the signing broadcast. The coverage of ESPNU's national signing day reairs Wedneday night at 8 p.m.

CBS College Sports has its seven hours of overcoverage starting at 7 a.m. with Tom Lemming and Rich Rodriguez, the recently ousted Michigan coach, and former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer. CBSSports.com and MaxPreps.com are tied into this production.

Prime Ticket airs its own high school signing day special (Wednesday, 7 p.m.), streamed on FoxSportsWest.com that will include Centennial's Michael Eubank, Serra's Marqise Lee, Servite's Troy Niklas and Lakewood's Torian White making their college choices live at noon.

== That sporting titan of MTV2 has the Eastern and Western Conference finals of the Lingerie Football League (Saturday, 3 p.m.) with 90 minutes of "live gridiron featuring the hottest female athletes playing full-contact football" says the press release. Your L.A. Temptation (4-0) faces the Chicago Bliss (3-1), followed by the Philadelphia Passion (3-0) meeting up with the Tampa Breeze (3-0). Both games are in Jacksonville with the winners meeting in Las Vegas on Feb. 6. Oh, the broadcasters? Tom Dore , a 7-foot-2 former basketball star at Missouri who also worked for the Chicago Bulls, and Sean Salisbury. Yes, that Sean Salisbury.

== The NFL Network has the Under Armour Senior Bowl (Saturday, 1 p.m.) for the fifth year in a row. Bob Papa calls it with Mike Mayock and Charles Davis, and Paul Burmeister and Stacey Dales on the sidelines.

== The Super Bowl highlight marathon on the NFL Network starts Saturday at 7 a.m. with Super Bowl I (Green Bay-Kansas City from the Coliseum) and goes through to Sunday at 12:30 p.m. with Super Bowl XLIV (New Orleans-Indianapolis).

== Versus' coverage of the NHL All Star weekend begins with the player draft (tonight, 5 p.m., that includes the Kings' Anze Kopitar, above) and the skills competition (Saturday, 4 p.m.) before the actual exhibition game (Sunday, 1 p.m.) from Raleigh, N.C. Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Charissa Thompson and Bob Harwood are on the call of the game, with Bill Patrick, Keith Jones and Brian Engbloom in the studio.

== CBS, which extended its rights deal with the PGA through 2019 this week, starts its season with the Farmer's Insurance event from Torrey Pines with third- and final-round coverage (Saturday and Sunday, noon to 3 p.m.). Jim Nantz starts his 26th year overall covering golf for CBS, with Nick Faldo (in his fourth year) as the lead analyst. Ian Baker-Finch, Gary McCord, David Feherty, Peter Kostis, Bill Macatee, Verne Lundquist and Peter Oosterhuis join in -- and will be at Riviera Country Club in four weeks for the Northern Trust Open.

Golf Channel's coverage continues today (noon to 3 p.m., replayed from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.) and it will replay CBS' coverage on Saturday and Sunday (6:30 to 8:30 p.m.). Davis Love III has agreed to be miked up during Golf Channel's coverage.

== CBS' coverage of the four event on the AMA Supercross tour from Oakland airs on a 12-hour delay (Sunday, 9-to-10 a.m., leading into the Duke-St. John's basketball game, Channel 2)

== NBC has seven hours of coverage from the U.S. Figure Skating championships (Saturday, noon to 3 p.m. and 9-11 p.m. both delayed; Sunday from 1-3 p.m. live) with Tom Hammond, Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic, Tracy Wilson and Andrea Joyce.

== ESPN says it has sorted out the rest of its MLB midweek broadcast pairings -- Sean McDonough will do play-by-play, with Aaron Boone and Rick Sutcliffe on Monday night games; Dave O'Brien will be teammed with Nomar Garciaparra on Wednesday nights.

AND FINALLY:

== Responding to an overwhelming demand, the World Fishing Network, which describes itself as "North America's only 24-hour fishing lifestyle television network," has come out with a mobile app for iPhone and iPad users that "enables anglers to record every detail of every catch within seconds of reeling" in a fish. It goes for $2.99 now, up to $4.99 after the special offer ends.

AND (ALMOST) FINALLY:

== ESPN.com ombudsman Don Ohlmeyer says it in his final column after 18 months on the job (linked here): "Some might misunderstand the fact that my every comment has not been a scathing, blistering indictment of network miscues. That might be because, after 40 years in the business, I have an appreciation of the intricacies and difficulties of what ESPN is trying to accomplish. There is plenty to criticize in Bristol, but in some respects I marvel at how well the company presents its product on so many varied platforms. The sheer magnitude of the undertaking today makes any other production operation seem puny by comparison. ....

"There are some reassuring thoughts about ESPN I'd like to leave you with. The people behind the products care deeply. Do they listen to the complaints from the audience? Yes, they do. Do they take them seriously? My experience over this term says again, yes they do. Will they address concerns? They will if they think they have merit and it doesn't run counter to some other goal the company seeks to accomplish. So, are your communications important? Absolutely! "

AND (REALLY) FINALLY:

From episode 3 last week of the "Onion Sports Dome" on Comedy Central (Tuesday nights, 10:30 p.m.):

David Crane/Daily News Staff Photographer

Rich Marotta, right, with SCSB president and Kings play by play man Bob Miller at Tuesday's ceremony.

Rich Marotta, the former colorman on the Kings, Clippers, Raiders and Express who has become one of the authoratitive voices in the boxing broadcasting world, enjoyed a day to shine in front of family and friends when he was inducted into the Southern California Sports Broadcasters' Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

Kelly once told him as they were doing L.A. Express games: "He said, 'Let me call the play and I'll get out of your way and you say whatever you want. I've listened to you on the Raiders broadcasts and like what you say and I want to hear it, too.'"

Bob Hope, Annie Savoy, Donald Fehr, David Wells and Curtis Pride are part of the eclectic group of new 10 candidates for the 2011 election for the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals.

The 50-name ballot was released by Terry Cannon, the director of the Pasadena-based non-profit organization. The top three votegetters by members of the Baseball Reliquary (who begin casting ballots on April 1) will be enshrined on Sunday, July 17.

For starters, it's not the Bob Hope you're thinking of -- the one-time owner of the Cleveland Indians who was far more famously a comedian. This one is a veteran publicity director with 40 years of experience to rose to prominence during Henry Aaron's pursuit of Babe Ruth's lifetime home run record in 1973 and '74. Hope shepherded the slugger through the intense media blitz that preceded the event. During owner Ted Turner's early reign, Hope contrived a memorable series of promotional events for the lowly Braves, including his most famous (and most sexist) stunt, the 1977 Wet T-Shirt Contest.

Savoy, the sashaying acolyte of the Church of Baseball in director Ron Shelton's romantic comedy "Bull Durham," has become a popular culture icon. Susan Sarandon, once banned from appearing at the Baseball Hall of Fame because of her "political" views, played the role of the baseball-, poetry-, and sex-loving Annie who spent each season tutoring a fledgling player in the mysteries of baseball, love, and life before sending him out into the world.

Fehr, who succeeded Marvin Miller and Ken Moffett as head of the Players Association, presided over the rocky negotiations between baseball labor and management from 1985 to 2009. During his tenure ,Fehr steered the union through lockouts, player strikes, basic agreement tiffs, drug-testing efforts, expansion and television revenue issues, and the notorious collusion case of the mid-1980s in which the union emerged victorious over then-commissioner Peter Ueberroth and a cabal of owners.

Wells, who ended his 21-year career as a member of the Dodgers, was known as the rambunctious, voluble and talented southpaw known as much for his Ruthian training regimen -- booze, brawls, and babes. He became a fan favorite in New York, once pitching a perect game, and another time once wearing an original Babe Ruth cap on the mound.

Pride, when he debuted with the Montreal Expos in 1993, was the big league's first deaf player since 1945. He ended up playing 12 seasons with eight teams, the last three season with the Angels (2004-06). He received the Tony Congliaro Award in 1996, presented annually to an MLB player who best overcomes adversity. He's currently the head baseball coach at Gallaudet University.

Former knuckleball pitcher Wilbur Wood, former Providence Grays manager Frank Bancroft, Society for American Baseball Research founder Bob Davids, former troubled Chicago Cubs shortstop Charlie Hollocher and Kansas City Monarchs founding owner J.L. Wilkinson are also on the ballot for the first time.

Meanwhile, Glenn Burke, the former Dodgers gay centerfielder who died of AIDS at the age of 42 in 1995, is also back on the ballot after an eight-year absence.

The other 39 eligible candidates (with years on the ballot in parentheses):
Eliot Asinof (8)
Steve Blass (2)
Chet Brewer (12)
Charlie Brown (4)
Jefferson Burdick (2)
Helen Callaghan (8)
Charles M. Conlon (10)
Dizzy Dean (11)
Ed Delahanty (8)
Bucky Dent (3)
Hector Espino (2)
Eddie Feigner (11)
Lisa Fernandez (11)
Rube Foster (13)
Ted Giannoulas (9)
Eddie Grant (2)
Jim "Mudcat" Grant (7)
Pete Gray (13)
Ernie Harwell (8)
Dr. Frank Jobe (9)
Charles "Pop" Kelchner (4)
Effa Manley (13)
Conrado Marrero (2)
Dr. Mike Marshall (6)
Tug McGraw (8)
Fred Merkle (5)
Manny Mota (4)
Phil Pote (9)
Vic Power (3)
Dan Quisenberry (5)
J.R. Richard (12)
Rusty Staub (6)
Chuck Stevens (3)
Luis Tiant (9)
Fay Vincent (10)
Rube Waddell (13)
John Montgomery Ward (5)
Maury Wills (2)
Don Zimmer (7)

For more info on the Shrine of the Eternals, contact Cannon at P.O. Box 1850, Monrovia, CA 91017; by phone at (626) 791-7647; or by e-mail at terymar@earthlink.net.

Thank you, I believe, is the proper response to all the emails, comments and phone messages that have been posted and left following the recent column (linked here) on Dodger Stadium yielding its facility to last Saturday's AMA Motocross and an upcoming Monster Truck show.

Thanks, as well, to those who have been provoked to participate in what has become an unintentional sociological experiment into how people today consume, digest and respond to the media.

Apparently, since many voices needed to be heard on the subject, today's technology has made that easier. Admirably, many signed their names to their opinions.

My ultimate regret is that the point I tried to make was lost in the noise this created. The focus of the story was to point out that of the many uses the stadium could undergo, it's a shame that a place considered to have one of the best baseball diamonds in the country would be buried by tons of dirt -- whether it be for a motocross, monster truck event or this was a shame

It was written in humor with the intention of sharing the history of the stadium, with no intention of insulting any particular group.

Have a look at previous blog items posted here several days before the event (linked here and linked here).

Highlights of the week ahead in sports, both here and afar:

MONDAY

NHL: Kings vs. Boston, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

Upon further review, the Kings request that all instant replay decisions be done away with. Someone up there isn't looking out for their best wishes. What are you going to do, fine us?

TUESDAY

NBA: Lakers vs. Utah, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

Counting two preseason games, and a six-point loss in Salt Lake City on the day after Thanksgiving, the Lakers have yet to post a win over the Jazz this year. Al Jefferson, a pickup to help the team match up better against the Lakers, had 20 points and eight rebounds last time as the Jazz, coming back from a 19-point deficit, scored the last 11 points to win last time out.

NBA: Clippers at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., Prime:

The flat-rimmed, "Blake Griffin Works" fitted cap on the team's online store has just been reduced from $55 to $41.25. We'd suggest the new "Griffin Monster Dunk" black T-shirts with the phrase "Poster Child," going for just $27.33 (linked here).

NHL: Ducks at Columbus, 4 p.m., FSW:

It's the Ducks' only game this week, then they fly away home.

WEDNESDAY

NHL: Kings vs. San Jose, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

Last chance to get your Ice Girls calendar signed before the team heads out on a 10-game, three-plus week road trip - they won't be back home until Feb. 24.

NBA: Clippers at Houston, 5:30 p.m., Prime:

Last meeting in December, Eric Gordon was hit for two fouls in the first 4:25, went scoreless in the first half, and Clippers never recovered.

THURSDAY

College basketball: UCLA at Arizona, 6 p.m., ESPN2; USC at Arizona State, 5:30 p.m.:

The Bruins have lost two in a row in Tucson; the Trojans have lost four in a row in Tempe.

Golf: PGA's Farmer Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, first round, noon, Golf Channel:

Tiger Woods has committed to opening his 2011 season here, down to No. 3 in the world rankings now behind Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer. That's just unacceptable in the western world. CBS has the third- and final-round coverage on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 3 p.m.

FRIDAY

NBA: Lakers vs. Sacramento, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m, FSW:

They're also offering the "Courtside View" option on Prime Ticket, with the cameras down at Nicholson level. Show some class. Don't be a joker.

Tennis: Australian Open, women's final, midnight, ESPN2:

We'll get behind the "Petkodance" that Germany's Andrea Petkovic does after dumping an opponent - like when she ousted Maria Sharapova to move into the quarterfinals. We'll have to remember it Oktoberfest time. Technically, this match happens Saturday morning, and this runs until 2:30 a.m., with replays Saturday our time at 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.

SATURDAY

Figure Skating: U.S. Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina: women's free skate, 8 p.m., Channel 4:

If you know that a soap star named Rebecca Budig won the first series of ABC's "Skating With The Stars," now comes the real reality show. Can North Carolina handle a non-NASCAR event? Hill Carrow, the chairman of the group that brought this event to Greensboro, told the Charlotte Observor that he has received calls from fans who insist on sitting on the "50-yard line." Carrow adds: "This is not football, basketball, golf or NASCAR. Having grown up in North Carolina, I know it's not a top-of-the-mind thing for most North Carolinians. But we are a great sports state, and this is a great sport that will showcase the very best American figure skaters." Alissa Czisny (right), currently ranked first in the world, is the favorite with Rachel Flatt, Ashley Wagner and Mirai Nagasu. The men's finale is Sunday.

NBA: Clippers vs. Charlotte, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

Is this still a good Charlotte? Without Larry Brown?

College basketball: UCLA at Arizona State, 12:30 p.m., Prime; USC at Arizona, 4:30 p.m., Prime:

The Sun Devils, at the bottom of the Pac-10 standings, shot 50 percent from the floor in a loss at conference leader Washington, but that was only the second time that's happened all season.

Tennis: Australian Open, men's final, midnight, ESPN2:

Second-seeded Roger Federer is on track to be the second man to win this event at least five times. Top-seeded Rafael Nadal, still fighting off a virus, could be the first to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously since Australian legend Rod Laver in 1969. Technically, it's Sunday morning, and this runs until 3:30 a.m., with replays Sunday our time at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.

College football: The Senior Bowl, 1 p.m., NFL Network:

Guys you may recognize in Mobile, Alabama: UCLA's Kai Forbath and Christian Yount; plus USC's Kristofer O'Dowd, Ronald Johnson and Shareece Wright.

MMA: Herschel Walker vs. Scott Carson, 10 p.m., Showtime:

Part of the Strikeforce card in San Jose, the 48-year-old former Heisman Trophy winner puts his 1-0 record on the line. It was originally scheduled for last month but postponed after Walker got a cut above his eye during training. up between Walker and Carson was originally scheduled for Dec. 4, but was postponed after Walker sustained a cut above his eye during a training session. Walker, with a fifth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and training in Muay Thai and Kenpo, had a third-round TKO over someone name Greg Nagy almost a year ago. Carson (4-1), who lives in Gardena, is a longtime traininer partner of Chuck Liddell and trains in Lake Forest.

SUNDAY

NBA: Lakers vs. Boston, Staples Center, 12:30 p.m., Channel 7:

One notable new face from the teams that faced off in last year's NBA Final: The Celtics' Shaquille O'Neal, who could be making his final Staples Center appearance. What's left in the tank for the Aging Diesel? The other night, coming back from an abdominal strain, he scored 23 points (12 above his season average, hitting 10 of 12 from the floor), hit all three free throws, took five rebounds and blocked five shots in 35 minutes during a victory over the Bobcats. For a guy in his 19th season, and having played more than 1,200 regular season games, still carrying a career average of 23.8 points,10.9 rebounds and 147.4 kgs (that's 325 pounds) is pretty remarkable.

NHL: All Star game in Raleigh, North Carolina, 1 p.m., Versus:

Carolina's Eric Staal and Detroit's Nicklas Lindstrom were voted captains by fellow all-stars -- not Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby -- and they'll pick the teams in a live fantasy draft on Friday (Versus, 5 p.m.), then play it out today. Not outdoors. Staal can either draft his little brother Marc, or snub him. The Sedin brothers could be split up. And who wants Crosby if he's already laying the groundwork for skipping out on this exhibition? Anze Kopitar is waiting to find out.

NFL: Pro Bowl in Honolulu, 4 p.m., Channel 11:

How did Matt Cassel become the leader of the AFC again?

Thanks to VinScullyIsMyHomeboy.com for coming up with the video on KTTV Channel 11's "Good Day LA" attempt at one of those "reporter shows how easy it is" crash courses on the AMA Supercross track at Dodger Stadium:

Phil Shuman Crashes at Supercross: MyFoxLA.com

The Dodgers also posted a video they commissioned of Trey Canard taking a tour of the track with a "Go Pro" camera on his helmet (linked here).

It's bigger than John Wooden's Pyramid of Success, so it must be better.

It's what Ron Swanson pulled out to show his new youth league basketball team that he was forced to coach in the season 2 debut episode of the NBC sit-com "Parks and Rec" on Thursday.

If you can't read all of it because of the size we're limited here, we'll provide some of the highlights:

== The top square is "HONOR: If you need it defined, you don't have it."

== Under that: "BUFFETS: Whenever available, choose quantity over quality." To its left: "AMERICA: The only country that matters. If you want to experience other 'cultures,' use an atlas or a ham radio."

== Fifth row down far left is "DISCIPLINE: The ability to repeat a boring thing over and over again." Far right is "SKIM MILK: That's right. It's on here twice. Avoid it."

== Third row up from the bottom includes "INTENSITY: Give 100%. 110% is impossible. Only idiots recommend that." And "OLD WOODEN SAILING SHIPS: They're beautiful." (Maybe that's a tribute to John Wooden). And "B.O.: Cultivating a manly musk puts your opponents on notice."

== Second row up has "FRIENDS: One to three is sufficient." And "PERSPIRATION: Only sweat during physical activity or love making. No emotional sweating." And "CRYING: Acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon."

== And the foundation row includes "CAPITALISM: God's way of determining who is smart, and who is poor." And "POISE: Sting like a bee. Don't float like a butterfly. That's ridiculous." And "HANDSHAKES: Firm. Dry. Solid. 3 seconds." And "BODY GROOMING: Only women shave below their neck."

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News Staff Photographer

Three more things you probably don't know about KCAL Channel 9/KCBS Channel 2 sports anchor Jaime Maggio (even after today's feature story, linked here):

= Her younger brother is in the Army and has spent the last two Christmases in Afghanistan, including his 21st birthday. "I love to do stories that are military-related, and I hope I get more opportunties to do more of them," she said. "I've got a soft spot for them."

= She's probably traveled to more countries than you could find on a globe: Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vienna, England, France, Taiwan. "I'm planning a trip soon to Costa Rica," she says. "I usually try to not just visit the big cities, but also go into the smaller villages where the people are really hurting, and try to offer help. It's really eyeopening."
It goes along with the fact that she's served on the Steering Committee for the Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular since 2006, a group that has raised more than $20 million to benefit the life-saving work of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Genetics Institute.

= "I can also make a pizza from scratch," she says, without a hint of boasting.

Meanwhile, the other things of note in TV media land:

== Your NFL this weekend for two of the final three games of the season -- not counting next Sunday's Pro Bowl in Honolulu:

= NFC championship: Green Bay at Chicago, noon, Channel 11 (pregame begins at 11 a.m.), with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Chris Myers and Pam Oliver, plus NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira. Westwood One radio has Kevin Harlan, Randy Cross and Mark Malone.

= AFC championship: New York Jets at Pittsburgh, 3:30 p.m., Channel 2 (pregame begins at 3 p.m.), with Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Steve Tasker. Westwood One radio has Dave Sims, James Lofton and Hub Arkush.

= The NFL Network has a six-hour "NFL Gameday Morning" edition start 6 a.m. with Rich Eisen, Marshall Faulk, Steve Mariucci, Michael Irvin, Warren Sapp, Rod Woodson, Kurt Warner, Deion Sanders, Joe Theismann, Brian Billick and Jim Mora. After the NFC title game, Paul Burmeister, Jamie Dukes and Tom Waddle have postgame analysis in a four-hour "Scoreboard" show. After the AFC championship game, Eisen, Sanders, Mariucci and Irvin have the "GameDay Final" at 7 p.m.

= HBO2 will also jump in by reairing all five hour-long eposide of its preseason "Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets," starting Saturday at 3 p.m.

== Paul Burmeister, Mike Mayock, Charles Davis, Stacey Dales and Lindsay Soto are part of the NFL Network's coverage of the East-West Shrine Game in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday at 1 p.m. USC tight end Jordan Cameron and UCLA defensive tackle David Carter are on the West squad.

== The AMA Supercross event from Dodger Stadium on Saturday night airs tape-delay on CBS (Sunday, 9 to 10 a.m., Channel 2) with Ralph Sheheen, Jeff Emig and Erin Bates on the call.

== Versus announced an extension of its contract to cover AEG's Amgen Tour of California cycling race, which this year runs eight stages from May 15-22, ending in Thousand Oaks, and this year including a mountain stage at Mt. Baldy. Versus has done the event for the last four years and see average viewership grown of 46 percent, with last year's event seen by 3 million viewers (there were 1.5 million in 2007). Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen will continue to call it, with reporter Bob Roll.

== Mike Tirico, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy are on ESPN's coverage of the Lakers' game at Denver (tonight, 7:30 p.m.)

== HBO's next "Real Sports" (Tuesday, 10 a.m.) includes two media-related pieces: Host Bryant Gumbel feels the need to go one-on-one with Troy Aikman, who will be Joe Buck's game analyst on Super Bowl XVL, and Mary Carillo does a look at how Peter King does his NFL insider job for Sports Illustrated and the "Monday Morning Quarterback" column.

== There's also news about the CBS/Turner combo package on the upcoming NCAA men's basketball tournament (linked here), how KABC (790) DodgerTalk co-host Ken Levine will return to call some Seattle Mariners games this season (linked here), how ESPN has embedded itself into the University of Texas (linked here), and what alternative USC might have had instead of re-upping its radio deal with KSPN (710) (linked here).

AND FINALLY:

== Rob Stone and Randy Pedersen are back to call the Pro Bowling Association's Tournament of Champions final round live on ABC (Saturday, Channel 7, 11:30 a.m.), with Kelly Kulick, the first woman to ever win a PBA Tour event, back to defend her title.

Included in the telecast: The band "Bowling for Soup" will also perform their new single, "Saturday Night," from the lanes. It definitely beat the "Bay City Rollers" version of a song with a similar title.

The latest look at how Dodger Stadium is transforming from a world-class baseball facility into a scatter-dirt motocross track for the first time in its 49-year history:

After the 550 dump-truck loads of dirt (a 60/40 combination of clay and sand mix) were hauled between midnight and 6 a.m. up the Harbor Freeway earlier in the week from three job sites in Carson, the motocross track crew followed a plan that was supervised by Dodger Stadium head groundskeeper Eric Hansen.

But if there was a game to be played today, this is the view Vin Scully would have from his TV booth seat:

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News staff photographer

"She only has one flaw," KCAL Channel 9 sports anchor John Ireland says of Jaime Maggio, the feature subject of Friday's media column to go with the annual best-and-worst list of the L.A sports anchors, reporters and talent.

"We share a desk at KCBS/KCAL," Ireland continued, "and she has showered our desk with N.Y. Giants and Yankees stuff. She is more in need of Team LA gift card than anybody in town -- I think I'm getting her one for her birthday."

Born in New York and raised on Long Island until she moved to Rancho Palos Verdes at age 14, Maggio has been with KCAL since May on both the weekend "Sports Central" shows and the weeknight versions, either anchoring alone or with Gary Miller. She's also been a regular on LTV, the Lakers pre- and post-game shows, as well as the Dodgers pre-game shows.

Find out more about her, and how she made her way into the latest Top 10 list.

True enough, CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV will combine forces (and financial investments) to cover the newly somewhat reshaped NCAA 67-game men's basketball tournament, starting in a couple of months. It also includes by way of a mix and match of broadcasters using an older, less known version of the pythagorean therum that will result in -- ta da -- an NCAA finals three-booth team on Monday, April 4 of Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr.

Which now makes sense seeing how Kerr has latched onto as many college basketball game broadcasts as he can -- like FSN's recent UCLA-USC contest?

This will be year one of a 14-year agreement between the NCAA, CBS and Turner. Anything to soften the blow of having Kellogg on board in a game of importance will be welcome -- and we almost see this as kind of a Joe Morgan effect, putting someone else in as a second analyst who'll point out the many things that Morgan misses during the game because of a ridiculous set of simplistic verbs and adjectives available to convey to the smarter viewing audience what's going on.

Highlights on how the rest unfolds:

== When the tournament starts on Tuesday, March 15, Nantz, Kellogg and Kerr (with Tracy Wolfson as the reporter) on truTV, if you can find it.

== Gus Johnson and Len Elmore, with courtsider outsider Craig Sager, will call the first four games on Wednesday, March 16, on truTV.

== There will be two studios, one in New York with Greg Gumbel and Ernie Johnson, with Charles Barkley, Greg Anthony and Kenny Smith (plus Reggie Miller and Seth Davis starting the second week). The other, in Atlanta, has Matt Winer with Davis and Steve Smith. On Tuesday's first four games: Gumbel, Johnson, Barkley, Anthony and Kenny Smith. On Wednesday: Winer, Steve Smith and Davis.

== The broadcast pecking order for the second and third rounds:
Nantz-Kellogg
Marv Albert-Steve Kerr
Verne Lundquist-Bill Raftery
Johnson-Elmore
Kevin Harlan-Reggie Miller-Dan Bonner
Ian Eagle-Jim Spanarkel
Tim Brando-Mike Gminski
Spero Dedes-Bob Wenzel
Courtside reporters: Wolfson, Sager, Lesley Visser, David Aldridge, Sam Ryan and Marty Snider.

Jump ball.

Ken Levine, the KABC-AM (790) DodgerTalk co-host who called games for the Seattle Mariners from 1992-95, is one of several broadcasters named today to help replace the late Dave Niehaus for the 2011 season.

"I'm not sure yet how this effects DodgerTalk but I'm hoping it can all work out," Levine said. "I'm very excited to be back in the booth."

The team said that Dave Sims and Mike Blowers will be the TV duo for nearly all games.

Rick Rizzs will do play-by-play in the radio booth and will be joined throughout the season by Levine, Ron Fairly, Ken Wilson, Dave Valle and Dan Wilson.

Fairly, the former Dodgers first baseman out of USC, worked as a Mariners broadcaster from 1993-2006 and filled in for Niehaus during one series last season.

Dan Wilson, a former Mariners catcher, did games in the booth and studio analysis. Ken Wilson, a former Angels play-by-play man, was Niehaus' original partner, working with him from 1977-82.

Valle, another former Mariners catcher, has done color commentary in recent years.

Niehaus, who called Angels games with Dick Enberg in the 1970s, died Nov. 10 at the age of 75, the team's Hall of Fame broadcaster since it's first expansion year in 1977.

Levine, who turns 61 this Valentine's Day, is a longtime TV writer, director and producer in Hollywood, working such shows as "M*A*S*H," "Cheers," "Frasier," "The Simpsons," "Wings," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Becker" and "Dharma and Greg" with writing partner David Isaacs. Levine also co-wrote the 1985 movie "Volunteers" with Tom Hanks and John Candy.

A Top 40 radio disc jockey in the 1970s, Levine always had the urge to call baseball games, he stepped away from his Hollywood jobs and worked in the minor-leagues as a play-by-play man before finally landing jobs with the Baltimore Orioles, Mariners and San Diego Padres.

In 1993, Levine wrote a book, "It's Gone!... No, Wait a Minute . .: Talking My Way into the Big Leagues at 40" about his only year with the Orioles 20 years ago.

Two springs ago, Levine was among a half dozen to do play-by-play on Dodgers exhibition games before the job of doing 40 road games for KCAL Channel 9 and Prime Ticket was given to Eric Collins.

== Levine's farewell to Niehaus on his blog last November (linked here)

ESPN wasn't buying into the creation of a Pac-12 TV network -- Fox outbid the World Wide Leader on that one -- but when it comes to joining the University of Texas for a members-only BBQ, there's smoke and fire in the air.

The Sports Business Daily reports today that Texas will announce a 20-year, $300 milion deal with ESPN for the creation of the Longhorn Network, for both sports and non-sports programming. It'll launch this fall and be owned by ESPN, which will pay the school rights fees that average $15 million a year.

ESPN has issued a press release saying the channel has yet to be named, and will debut in September. The network also said it would have an "on-line broadband companion" to "offer extensive content, particularly events not featured on the linear TV network due to simultaneous events or other overlapping programming." ESPN also says it will "create and operate a new, authenticated online/broadband site that will aspire to broadly aggregate content from around the state. It will provide fans, students and parents with access to extensive Texas high school sports, including football, basketball and more, through this centralized home."

The deal was sublicensed from IMG College, the Longhorns' multimedia rights holder.

The Sports Business Journal also points out that the Longhorns' budget for the '10-11 fiscal year, already the nation's richest, is $137 million.

This will be high-level, entertaining cultural, music, scientific, Discovery Channel, History Channel kind of stuff. And we have a team put together working on it, and that will be done in collaboration with ESPN," Texas president William Powers told the Austin Statesman.

Five more years of KSPN (710-AM) and USC for football and men's basketball broadcasts, the station and the school announced today. That means the two that hooked up with the 2006 football season will stay connected through the 2015-16 basketball season.

"We are delighted to continue to have 710 ESPN as our flagship radio outlet for Trojan football and men's basketball games," said USC athletic director Pat Haden. "As the worldwide leader in sports, the way that 710 ESPN has represented USC's brand is consistent with the way we present it, both in Los Angeles and nationally."

The deal also means Pete Arbogast and Paul McDonald stay on as the football broadcast team, while Chris Fisher and Jim Hefner continue on basketball.

Highlights of the week ahead in sports, both here and afar:

MONDAY

NBA: Clippers vs. Indiana, Staples Center, 12:30 p.m., Prime; Lakers vs. Oklahoma City, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., TNT:

No one can milk an MLK Day like the NBA. The Clippers, asked to make the quicker turnaround from yesterday's emotional win over the Lakers, have the matinee. Then L.A.'s other team tries to recover with a flashback to their playoff opening series from a season ago, when they stole the thunder from eighth-seeded OKC with a six-game win. Kevin Durant averaged 25 a game (five below his season average), but it was a golden-haired Ron Artest given credit for taking him down. On a day where there are 13 NBA games to be played, the TV lineup also includes Chicago at Memphis (10 a.m., ESPN), Sacramento at Atlanta (1 p.m., NBA TV) and Orlando at Boston (5 p.m., TNT), with the TNT studio crew hanging out at Staples Center to take it all in.
The next LAL-OKC matchup is on the last Sunday in February on ABC.

Tennis: Australian Open, first rounds, ESPN2:

On our backward calendar, the event actually started yesterday, but it's already into Monday now and we're still playing catchup. ESPN2 has about a bajillion hours, including coverage that began on Sunday and runs until 5 a.m. on this day, then repeats from noon to 3 p.m. before going back live at 6 p.m. until 5 a.m. Tuesday. It's a bit mindboggling, but that's common for this time of year. Meanwhile, maybe you could use a towelling off. Here's a great buy for $74 Aussie currency (linked here).

NHL: Kings at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., Versus:

The NHL's MLK slate: Six games. The Kings, perhaps, could use some time away from home, against a Stars squad first in the Pacific Division and winners of three in a row.

TUESDAY

NHL: Kings at St. Louis, 5 p.m, FSW:

How the Blues have won five in a row against the Kings, including both meetings this year, and one last week, could be addressed in the visiting locker room before the puck drops.

NHL: Ducks at Ottawa, 4:30 p.m., Prime:

The Senators' play of late, sending them 11 points out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, has the locals speculating about the future of head coach Cory Clouston and GM Bryan Murray.

WEDNESDAY

Golf: PGA's Bob Hope Classic, first round, noon, Golf Channel:

The 52nd go-around in the five-day event in the desert under the Bob Hope name (and without a title sponsor) is "the beginning of some very, very successful years," says new event chairman Larry Thiel. It could start with getting a field that has some players at least in the top 30. We're back to La Quinta's Palmer and Nicklaus PGA West courses, plus the La Quinta Country Club and Silver Rock (with that 625-yard 12th hole). Wayne Gretzky, Sugar Ray Leonard, Bo Jackson and Kurt Russell have the most star power in the field, leading the list of celebs that butt their way inamong the 384 amateurs that will fill in with the 128 pros. And again, mysteriously, no George Lopez.

NBA: Lakers at Dallas, 6 p.m., Channel 9, ESPN:

If Mark Cuban sends his personal limo to pick up Phil Jackson from the Lakers' team hotel, will he accept? The teams meet three times in the regular season, all in the second half.

NBA: Clippers vs. Minnesota, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

With foresight 20-20, Blake Griffin and Kevin Love stand to each post 20-20 nights. Everyone else, clear out.

THURSDAY

College basketball: UCLA vs. Cal, Pauley Pavilion, 7:30 p.m., Prime; USC vs. Stanford, Galen Center, 7:30 p.m., USCTrojans.com:

The Trojans' Nikola Vucevic (10.1) and Alex Stephenson (8.8) are the top two leading rebounders per game in the conference. The Bruins' Tyler Honeycutt (7.9) and Reeves Nelson (7.8) are Nos. 4 and 5. In between? Cal's Markhuri Sanders-Frison (8.3).

NBA: Clippers at Portland, 7:30 p.m., TNT:

The last visit to Portland in early December for a nine-point loss, but the Blazers' Brandon Roy hasn't played in nearly a month because of season-ending knee surgery.

NHL: Kings vs. Phoenix, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSN:

The front-end of a home-and-home against the Coyotes leaves little room for error.

NHL: Ducks at Toronto, 4 p.m., Prime:

Will the Ducks be allowed to start slapping shots at former teammate J.S. Giguere, or will he still be nursing that nagging groin injury?

FRIDAY

NBA: Lakers at Denver, 7:30 p.m., ESPN, Channel 9:

If the Carmelo Anthony drama isn't sorted out by this point, does it matter? It can't be good for George Karl's health. TNT's Kenny Smith: "I think Denver has already been hurt. I don't think there is anything else that can happen that's going to make the morale of the team go down (further)." When TNT reporter David Aldridge asked Anthony after a Nuggets' 28-point win over Miami last week why he hasn't stated his desire to be traded or to remain in Denver, Anthony replied: "You want me to get booed some more?"

SATURDAY

Motocross: AMA Monster Energy Supercross series, 7 p.m., Dodger Stadium:

The motorcycle tour that likes to chew up MLB parks in the off season -- it started at Angel Stadium earlier this month, hit Chase Field in Phoenix last week and will go to Oakland and back to Anaheim later -- makes its debut at Dodger Stadium. It's strange to see not just a track on the field, but note that the tickets are priced so that pavilion and box seats are the same, and loge level strip that would go from first to third base is actually more expensive.

NHL: Kings at Phoenix, 5 p.m., FSW:

As promised the second of two in a row against the Coyotes. Got any better ideas on how to speed up the season series?

NHL: Ducks at Montreal, 4 p.m., Prime:

This is the Ducks' fourth game in a row against teams from Canada. In the past, that wouldn't be so unusual.

NBA: Clippers vs. Golden State, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

The third meeting between the two in the last 13 days, and we're still not sure how Ryan Gomes and Ike Diogu are racking up as many Clipper minutes as they have.

College basketball: UCLA vs. Stanford, Pauley Pavilion, 11 a.m., Channel 2; USC vs. Cal, Galen Center, 8 p.m., FSW:

You've got to get up pretty early in the day to fight off attacking Cardinals for some national TV exposure. Meanwhile, will the Trojans stay awake for their later-night affair?

College basketball: Cal State Northridge vs. Cal Poly, 1 p.m., Prime:

Lenny Daniel, with 18 points and 13 rebounds last week against Cal State Fullerton, has 17 double-doubles in his two-year Matadors career.

College basketball: Loyola Marymount at Pepperdine, 7 p.m.:

The teams each won their home meetings last season, but since 2000-01, the Waves have a 19-3 head-to-head record against the rivals from Westchester, and that's with four different head coaches. Tom Asbury is 3-1 over the last two seasons against LMU, and 9-4 during his previous six-year run as the head coach from '88-'94.

SUNDAY

NFL playoffs: NFC championship: Green Bay at Chicago, noon, Channel 11:

They've played 181 previous times over the last 90 years, but it's their first meeting in a game that decides who goes to the Super Bowl. They've played 181 previous times over the last 90 years, but it's their first meeting in a game that decides who goes to the Super Bowl. The two teams split their two games against each other this year, with the Bears winning at home in Week 3, 20-17, as the Packers' had a team-record 18 penalties.

NFL playoffs: AFC championship: N.Y. Jets at Pittsburgh, 3:30 p.m., Channel 2:

The Jets' reality show rolls on, putting its best feet forward. Back on Dec. 19, Mark Sanchez directed a 22-17 win at Pittsburgh as Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers from their own 8 to New York's 10 in the final 2:08, only to throw incomplete on the final two plays. Maybe it didn't matter so much to the Steelers, who were told by the NFL nearly an hour after the game ended that they secured a playoff spot via a series of complicated strength-of-schedule tiebreakers.

It's a matter of which thing you'd rather stare down more.

Step right up. You deserve it.

The afterburners of Auburn's college football championship run have smoldered into a pile of Phoenix ashes, and the degrading All-Star game rituals, impersonal NFL pro camps and head coach cash grabs at the expense of their unpaid players are on the horizon. So what's the bitter BCS aftertaste we're left with before we refocus on college basketball's march to more mayhem?

How many unnecessary hot flashes do we have to suffer during the sport's latest menopausal cycle? In going through another big change and watching the Pac-10 take the early lead in acting like a bunch of pack rats, hording as many mom-and-popgun programs as possible to stretch its time-zone muscle and boost its own TV network Q-rating framework, does everyone really pad their financial portfolio as a result? Or will the bottom line be that everyone ends up fat and unhappy, with expanding-rear-ended fans confused as to which team is in which gluttonous conference, and watching the game collapse under its own girth?

Because four schools in the SEC have claimed the last five national championships, is that such a skewed-up thing? Would you be saying the same thing if it were five Pac-10 schools?

How much can Ohio State's Terrell Pryor get in the open market for a Sugar Bowl championship ring?

Which icky coach (Idaho's Robb Akey?) went against the rules of the USA Today Coaches' Poll and gave his first-place vote to Texas Christian instead of automatically tabbing Auburn (like the other 56 did), making the Tigers' championship non-unanimous? And can you blame ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit voting TCS No. 4 on his final AP ballot, with one-loss Oregon and Stanford ahead of 'em?

How would USC have done against Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl, and would more than 5,000 Trojan fans have been compelled to fly to San Antonio to witness it?
Was Norm Chow really the problem?

Do players from Miami of Ohio really wear GoDaddy.com Bowl title T-shirts?

Fair or unfairly, will Auburn's Nick Fairley fare as well as another BCS title-game hero like JaMarcus Russell? Will Cecil Newton be his agent, too?

And when does the BCS Title Game finally come up with a real bowl name? Like, the 36 Days To Prepare Bowl?

== If Jessica Alba and Rhianna end up getting the prime camera time at more Clippers than Lakers games each season - whether or not LeBron James is also in the building -- would that signify a significant shift in star power?

== What was it again that LeBron tweeted about karma?

== Knowing that the Seahawks already poop-bombed the Bears on Week 6 in Chicago, sacking Jay Cutler six times in the process and holding them to 0-for-12 on third-down efficiency in sunny and 61-degree weather, how do Pete Carroll's Starbuckers react now to a prognosis of cloudy, possible snow and sub-20 temps (and a wind chill of 10)?

== Logging more complaints: What's the benefit of seeing the court through the trees again on the new Oregon home basketball floor? Or is it a case that the varnish still hasn't dried in the middle?

Since the Angels and I celebrate our 50th anniversary this year togther -- we both officially arrived in the summer of '61 -- anything the team may do to commemorate this number will bring special attention here.

The first big deal: All Rawlings baseballs used at Angel Stadium will have a special 50th anniversary logo.

Go ahead, Torii, keep fouling off those pitches.

The Angels estimate that during an 81-game home schedule, more than 4,400 baseballs are put into play. Home runs and foul balls are keepers to whomever scoops them up. But also know that batting practice balls that make it into the stands could have this stamp on them as well.

More Kamenetzky comic relief, as from today's list of the best and worst of L.A sports talk hosts opens the 19th annual poll (linked here):

The Sklar brother connection, and what they've been able to do as comedy writers and actors who also work on ESPN, have helped the Kamenetzky brothers convince bosses that they can deliver the goods as well.

"We don't use them as a model," says Brian.

"The only this we can borrow from them is how a brother thing can work," adds Andy. "People ask us all the time, 'How are you different? I don't know if we are that much. But we're not actors."

And on what it's like being on the Laker beat:

"It's a team that no one ever stops caring about," says Andy. "But you can also forget that sports is supposed to be fun. You're supposed to be having a good time. You go back to when we covered the Dodgers in 2006 and '07. That was a grind. Baseball is a grind. The clubhouse was no fun. But this is very enjoyable, and with the way we cover it, it's stays fun. If we just played it straight all the time, we'd get burned out and bored."

And on that note, more notes:

== The NFL TV lineup for the AFC and NFC semifinal games:

= Saturday:
Baltimore at Pittsburgh: 1:30 p.m., Channel 2, with Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf; Dave Sims, James Lofton and Steve Tasker on Westwood One (570-AM)
Green Bay at Atlanta: 5 p.m., Channel 11, with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Pam Oliver and Chris Myers; Ian Eagle, Tony Boselli and Scott Kaplan on Westwood One (570-AM)

= Sunday:
Seattle at Chicago: 10 a.m., Channel 11, with Kenny Albert, Darryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa; Kevin Kugler, Mark Malone and Hub Arkush on Westwood One (570-AM)
N.Y. Jets at New England: 1:30 p.m., Channel 2, with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms; Kevin Harlan, Randy Cross and Kevin Kiley on Westwood One (570-AM).

== So, who are football's "chattiest" NFL broadcasters? The Wall Street Journal, which kind of screwed this premise up when it came to baseball broadcastes (naming Scully the wordiest, without taking into account he works alone the first three innings of the simulcast), says it is not Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth (linked here).

== ESPN2's Australian Open coverage starts Sunday (4 p.m.) and runs through the mens' final on Saturday, Jan. 29. ESPN2 will do record schedule of 124 live hours, plus nearly 50 additional in afternoon reairs, the most in the net's 27-year history with the event. ESPN3.com hasr 600 hours live for seven courts, available on demand after completion as well. Cliff Drysdale and Dick Enberg are the lead match callers, with Chris Fowler as the studio host with Chris McKendry. Match analysts include Darren Cahill, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert and Patrick McEnroe, with Pam Shriver as a reporter and Tom Rinaldi on features.

Meanwhile, Tennis Channel secured a new contract with Martina Navratilova and Lindsay Davenport before it airs nearly 30 hours of live match play over the next two weeks, plus 75 hours of studio shows (starting with a daily show at 5 a.m. most mornings). Navratilova will team with Bill Macatee with Davenport also analyzing matches, doing features and doing interviews, plus do features on the network's tennischannel.com site. Leif Shiras and Justin Gimelstob will also handle match calls. ESPN is producing the coverage used on Tennis Channel.

== The Kings' official website (LAKings.com) has started a video series called "Undisputed," which focuses on eight players with insight and perspective on their lives and careers. The first profile, on Jack Johnson, is up now (www.Lakings.com/undisputedjj), with future features planned for Dustin Brown (Jan. 26), Matt Greene, Anze Kopitar, Michal Handzus, Jarret Stoll, Drew Doughty and Wayne Simmonds.

== TNT's NBA doubleheader on MLK day includes having the studio set parked at Staples Center with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, plus Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Cheryl Miller on the Boston-Orlando game (5 p.m.), and Marv Albert, Mike Fratello, Steve Kerr and Craig Sager from the Lakers-Oklahoma City game (7:30 p.m.).

== How ESPN breaks down its first season of shooting 3D in college football, including Monday's national title game (linked here).

== Before Auburn lined up for an eventual game-winning field goal against Oregon in Monday's BCS title game in Glendale, Ariz., did we hear ESPN play-by-play man Brent Musburger right?

"This is for alllllll the Tostitos."

Said a Tostitos official: We had nothing to do with it, but we sure appreciate it (linked here).

AwfulAnnouncing.com discovers Musburger acutally used the line in 2002:

Wrote Eric Deggins at the Indiana National Sports Journalism Center (linked here): "Who knew a bad joke about a title sponsor could bring so much pain? It seems, in retrospect, a classic case of an announcer getting in the way of the story instead of telling it. ... Let's hope that the avalanche of criticism coming Musburger's way these days ensures we won't be carping over the same line in 2021."

And that wasn't the worst thing that Musburger did, according to the New York Times' Richard Sandomir (linked here): "If Musburger's performances at the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day and the B.C.S. title game Monday night are exhibits of the State of the Brent, it is clear that he has veered from the factual precision needed to maintain his status as ESPN's No. 1. college football announcer."

AND FINALLY:

== Dick Vitale said it in a press release issued by ESPN with the announcement that he had his contract extended through the 2014-15 season:

"There is nothing greater than walking into an arena and feeling the excitement and energy of a big-time college basketball game. I can't thank ESPN enough for allowing me to be a kid at heart by giving me the opportunity to sit courtside for games I would pay top dollar to see. I'm living a dream. I've been extremely blessed to work with so many beautiful people and to talk about the game I love."

Vitale joined ESPN during the 1979-80 season -- just after the network's September 1979 launch -- and he called the network's first major NCAA basketball game, a 90-77 DePaul win over Wisconsin. More than 1,000 games later, he's still talking.

But are we still listening?

It was the last thing Brian Kamenetzky pulled up on his laptop before we left the ESPN Radio studios over at L.A. Live and headed over to Staples Center for the start of the Lakers-Cavaliers game on Tuesday.

"Have you ever seen the shrimp on the treadmill to the Benny Hill theme song?" he asked.

Hmmm. No, but I'm sure I'm about to.

Cue the 1 minute, 29 second video.

"Guess how many views it has," Andy Kamenetzky asked.

"A hundred thousand?"

"One point three six ... million," said Brian.

How strange, I wondered, having just finished a Caesar salad with shrimp at the ESPN Zone hours earlier.

And with that, the interview with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, whose ESPNLosAngeles.com "Land O' Lakers" blog (linked here) has taken off into a weekend radio show, a regular podcast (or, podKast as the station calls it) and chat, and a Facebook post-game show, has some to a ending like no others.

The Brothers Kamenetzky just might have a corner on the market for multi-media double-helix platforms. It's in their DNA.

Andy and Brian are two fresh new faces to the annual Top 10 list of L.A.-based sports talk show hosts (while honorable mention a year ago). There's another newbie in the Bottom 5 this year -- anchoring the list, no less. Not to give any hints, but we've maxed out on all the others who could be there, then picked this host who already has us punchdrunk.

With that, the first of the four-part annual series arrives, followed by the TV anchors/reporters, the game analysts and the game play-by-play men. If only this blog and website would allow readers to submit their own ideas, thoughts, and complaints about the guys we rank...

Prepare to be dazzled.

Today from the Dodgers' media department:

In response to the overwhelming offers of support for the family of Dodgers scout John Green, the club today created an email address where family, friends and members of the community can share their thoughts and feelings on the tragic passing of Christina Taylor Green. Those memories, thoughts and condolences, which can be sent to greenfamily@dodgers.com, will be compiled in a memorial book for the family.

Letters can be sent via mail to: Dodger Stadium, c/o the Green Family, 1000 Elysian Park Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90090.

Christina was one of six people killed over the weekend when a gunman fired at U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords's ''Congress on Your Corner'' meeting.

John Green and his family -- which includes his father, Dallas Green, the former Phillies manager -- have also created a charitable memorial fund to honor the life and memory of Christina, which will be held by the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.

"Our family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for our sweet Christina," said Green. "This memorial fund will ensure her legacy for the children in our community."

Those wishing to make a donation in memory of Christina Taylor Green may do so by logging on to the website of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona at www.cfsoaz.org and clicking on the link to the Christina Taylor Green Memorial Fund. They can also contact the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona by email at christinataylorgreenmemorial@cfsoaz.org, or by calling (520) 545-0313.

Checks may be sent to: The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona in Memory of Christina Taylor Green, 2250 E. Broadway Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85719

A public memorial service for Christina is scheduled for Thursday at 1 p.m. at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Tucson.

Parnelli Jones, could you ever see this happening in your lifetime?

IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced today it will open an office soon in Santa Monica to, as the press release says, "make further inroads into the media and entertainment industries."

Because the 2001 Sly Stallone movie, "Driven," still is considered the best-made IndyCar related film of all time.

In a place of the country where STP sounds more like a thing you don't want to catch from a hooker rather than a famous brand of motor oil, Sarah Nettinga will manage the new office and become Senior Vice President of Media and Entertainment for IndyCar Entertainment. Why her? She's done similar projects with Hollywood in her previous role with NASCAR.

Nettinga has a proven track record, as they say in the business. She developed and produced film and TV shows with third-party producers, managing production for NASCAR for three motion pictures -- "NASCAR 3D: The Imax Experience," for Warner Bros., "Herbie: Fully Loaded" for Disney and, as an executive producer on "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" for Sony.

Nothing to do with "Cars"? The kids still really connect to that.

For TV, she was responsible for six series, with the most groundbreaking being "NASCAR DRIVER: 360" for FX.

Prior to joining auto racing, Nettinga was a production executive at Warner Bros. International Television Production. She also has worked for Columbia Tristar Television, CBS, Petry Television, Westinghouse International and Sony International Television in roles that involved development, sales, production, branding and marketing in the entertainment industry.

"Sarah has a substantial set of relationships that will get us off to a running start," IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said. "She has a detailed understanding of this landscape that blends sports and entertainment.

"If we want to grow the sport, we need to be fully vested in relationships with the entertainment community that can tell the storylines of our sport.This will be a one-stop shop to pursue opportunities and make deals across multiple business lines and entertainment outlets."

Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Jeff Belskus: "Having an IndyCar office in Los Angeles will provide our sport and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a strong presence in an important global community. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a great story to tell in 2011 as we prepare for the 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 (on May 29).

"In addition to the business reasons to have an office in Los Angeles, it is a very fitting location because many of the celebrated stories and personalities associated with the Indianapolis 500 over the last century have deep roots in Southern California."

The 2011 IndyCar season starts March 27 in St. Petersburg, Fla.. After a stop in Alabama on April 3, it returns to Long Beach's street track for the third time from April 15-17.

According to the IndyMotorSpeedway.com site (linked here), there are nine films already out there (the last in 1969 called "Winning," with Paul Newman and Robert Wagner) that feature the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There had been talk a couple of years ago about a movie called "500," (linked here), about the creation of the Indianapolis 500 in 1911, that would hopefully be finished by 2011. Not to be confused with "500 Days of Summer."

It's tough to find much negative written about the new FX 13-episode series, "Lights Out," (linked here) premiering tonight (10 p.m.) and running through April 5. In boxing circles, anything that promotes the sport by trying to find the soul of the participants always is a reason to feel optimistic about future story arcs and series renewals.

Maybe more in a way that past reality series like Oscar de la Hoya's "The Next Great Champ," or Sly Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard's "The Contender" over the last five years found that connecting viewers to the personal lives of the fighters made for more compelling TV, "Lights Out" picks one guy -- the ficticious Patrick "Lights" Leary -- and shows his story about trying to make a comeback in the ring at age 40 after all his money has disappeared in bad investments and he's left to make embarassing public appearances just to make ends meet.

A comparsion to the new Mark Wahlberg movie, "The Fighter," isn't far off, either.

Leary (played by Holt McCallany) quit the sport on the insistence of his wife, Theresa (Catherine McCormack) after he lost his last fight in a controversial ending. He thougth he had his family that includes three girls set for life with his earnings until the business decisions of his brother/manager Johnny Leary (Pablo Schreiber) don't pan out, forcing Leary to seek out his father and former trainer (Stacy Keach) to get him up and back in the gym, pushing for a rematch against Richard "Death Row" Reynolds (Billy Brown).

Some have already compared this to NBC's "Friday Night Lights" as well for the family dymanic playing into the sports angle (keep an eye on Meredith Hagner as oldest daughter Ava Leary).

The show is rated TV-MA for graphic violence, explicit sexual activity and crude language. Otherwise, for being about boxing.

Highlights of the week ahead in sports, both here and afar:

MONDAY

College football: BCS national championship, Glendale, Ariz.: Oregon vs. Auburn, 5:30 p.m., ESPN:

At last. Like a Victoria Secret fashion show, we get to see what the Ducks are wearing to the prom. They had 12 different looks during their 12-0 run this year, and of 1,280 combinations that can be created from four helmets, five jerseys, four pants, four shoes and four socks -- plus a throw-back uniform -- they're supposed to be coming out with a never-seen-before throw-back ensemble that will dazzle Cam Newton to no end. A helmet that looks like a molded man-hole cover, accented with neon green socks is what Nike designer Todd Van Horne came up with after consulting with Ducks coach Chip Kelly. Van Horne said he tried to create something "that will actually look like blur on the field." The top two undefeated teams going head to head outside of Phoenix will create enough of a buzz.

NHL: Kings vs. Toronto, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

In a division where a couple wins or losses can push you to the top or bottom very quickly, the recent five-game losing steak -- all at home -- pushed the Kings out of the eight of Western Conference contenders. Now that it's over -- barely -- how about turning over an old Leafs team that has the fourth-fewest wins in the league right now?

TUESDAY

NBA: Lakers vs. Cleveland, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

Cavs coach Byron Scott was told by team trainers that Daniel Gibson, the former USC guard who's their team's third-leading scorer, shouldn't make this current five-game trip because of a throbbing ankle injury. Anthony Parker and Leon Powe also stayed home. Antawn Jamison may still be upright, but maybe it's soon time to activate Brad Dougherty and Jim Cleamons. Yet, as any Staples Center ticket-buyer knows by now, this is the perfect chance for the Lakers to mail home a stupid loss.

Series: "SportsDome," Comedy Central, 10:30 p.m.:

The series premiere of a show that if ESPN thinks this is the more sincerest form of flattery, they're sadly mistaken.

Series: "Lights Out," FX, 10 p.m.:

A 40-year-old washed up fighter wanted to return to the ring, against his family's wishes. Drama ensues.

WEDNESDAY

NBA: Clippers vs. Miami, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

Yup, we've heard LeBron James reference his team recently as the "Heatles" (rhymes with Beatles). For those who missed all the fuss on Christmas Day, he brings his boys back for an encore. We're betting the Clippers keep it closer than a 20-point embarrassment that the Lakers suffered.

NBA: Lakers at Golden State, 7:30 p.m., Channel 9:

The equally inept Warriors recently finished a 2-3 road trip where Monta Ellie and Stephen Curry did a lot of damage.

NHL: Ducks vs. St. Louis, Honda Center, 7 p.m., FSW:

The Ducks end a six-game homestand, still wondering how they'll survive without Ryan Getzlaf, and sniffing around for a replacement (Maxium Lapierre?)

THURSDAY

NHL: Kings vs. St. Louis, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

The Kings are actually promoting this as "Dodger Pride" night, and it is against the Blues. The Kings are also giving away special pucks commemorating the day if you use the promo code DODGERS to buy certain seats. If you're one of 50 who spring for a $150 ticket, you sit in the 100 level, VIP access to a catered locker room suite next to the Kings dressing facility and a chance to meet whatever Dodger players show up.

College basketball: USC at Oregon, 8 p.m., FSW; UCLA at Oregon State, 5:30 p.m., Prime:

Tune in to watch the Trojans help the Ducks break in their new $250-million gym, having finally abandoned MacArthur Court. And depending on how that BCS game goes, see how much bile the students have left to spew on these longtime rivals.

Golf: PGA's Sony Open in Hawaii, first round, Golf Channel, 4 p.m.:

Those with a Sony 3-D TV can watch special coverage of the 17th and 18th holes at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu on Saturday and Sunday via Golf Channel.

FRIDAY

NBA: Clippers at Golden State, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

Bay Area fans must be in Giant heaven watching two L.A. teams come through in the last three days. And then destroying their teams.

NBA: Lakers vs. New Jersey, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

Make sure Jordan Farmar doesn't leave that ring in the box behind when he and Sasha head off into oblivion.

SATURDAY

NFL playoffs: Baltimore at Pittsburgh, 1:30 p.m., Channel 2; Green Bay at Atlanta, 5 p.m., Channel 11:

The Steelers may not plod all the way to the Super Bowl, but they'll be most represented in bars everywhere. On NFLShop.com, Pittsburgh moved the most merchandise, with Troy Polamalu owning the top-selling jersey in the league. Take that, whoever the star of the Atlanta Falcons is.

NHL: Kings vs. Edmonton, Staples Center, 7 p.m., FSW:

The homestand ends, and with it, most likely, another shootout against the Oilers.

College basketball: UCLA at Oregon, 2 p.m., Prime; USC at Oregon State, 7:30 p.m.:

A year ago in Eugene, Ore., the Bruins suffered a 71-66 overtime loss, as the Ducks ended a five-game losing streak. Same weekend, the Trojans squandered away a 51-45 loss to the Beavers in Corvallis.

SUNDAY

NBA: Lakers at Clippers, Staples Center, 12:30 p.m., Prime, Channel 9:

The only reason this is a matinee instead of a prime-time affair: Both teams have to roll out of their giant beds Monday and play again. At Staples Center. Against other opponents. And the Clippers have another early start.

NFL playoffs: Seattle at Chicago, 10 a.m., Channel 11; N.Y. Jets at New England, 1:30 p.m., Channel 2;

About five weeks ago, the Jets suffered that interminable 45-3 loss to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. "The way that they beat us up when we were there, it was a butt-kicking," Jets safety Brodney Pools said. That's putting it kindly. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are one win away from becoming NFC title bowl eligible.

NHL: Ducks vs. Edmonton, Honda Center, 5 p.m, Prime:

How in the name of Teemu Selanni did we miss the sale of the first Ducks' "Power Players" calendar (linked here)? Go over to Section 214 near Guest Services during intermission and get yours signed.

Expanding on today's Q-and-A with Hall of Famer Robin Yount (linked here), why not sit back with a nice cold Robinade -- that's naturally brewed lemonade, available only in the greater Wisconsin area -- and read more about his thoughts on topics of the day:

Question: So, Robinade: How do we get some out here?

Yount: I have a close friend in the juice business who's been able to see this old-school lemonade all over Wisconsin for the MACC Fund -- that's the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer, which was started in the late '70s when I was playing and something I felt strong about and got behind. I still fly to Wisconsin maybe once a month to do things for the Brewers' organization, and promote the drink. It's a lot like what Paul Newman has done with all his products, making them go toward a great cause. We can't ship it easily because it's in the dairy case and has to stay cold, so we're working on another version that will have ingredients in hit that give it a stable shelf life. I'm signing a lot of bottles, and it's a lot fun because you can find it all over there in bars and restaurants and golf courses. And I think you may have heard that they enjoy drinking in Milwaukee, so there is a pub or two that has gotten behind it and use it for mixers.

(Check out the official Robinade website linked here).

Question: What today is the value of having seasoned scouts involved in a big-league organization, with all the video available and sabermetics evaluations used to put a value on players? Does the human element still mean anything?

Yount: Now you're about to open a whole other can of worms. It's not just scouting in high school, but baseball in the big leagues. The scouts are really the unsung heroes. The good ones who can judge talent at a young age and try to figure out everything are hard to come by.

Today, it seems to become much more uniform in the way talent is judged. We don't factor in the human element as much as we should. But the good ones do their homework and find out the stuff that really matters. Baseball now is about getting back to the basic and playing the game the way it should be. With the connections I still have with the Brewers, I see a lot of people paid to do these front-office jobs, and there are more of them looking at their computers than I can remember.

I guess you can tell I'm not a big fan of the computer. I know they're beneficial, but in my opinion, it takes away too much of the human element. There's no question we still have some quality scouts out there, whose job it is to get the talent to the big leagues as quickly as possible. With the money invested in these kids today, they'd better be right. Let's face it, a pretty good percentage of the payroll these days goes to first-round draft picks. Now, scouts have to judge kids at a younger age, and how their offensive game will be without the use of metal bats. Many players can't make that adjustment. That sweet spot shrinks down to half the size, and they might never figure it out. A good scout will see that.

Q: Your son, Dustin, was headed on a pro baseball path. I think where your brother Larry served eventually as your agent, did you end up as Dustin's agent?

Yount: Agent is a word that's a little over glorified. If I had to have one, I guess I did. We had one when Larry got drafted, and I know I wasn't in any position to negotiate my first deal. Dustin (a 28-year-old first baseman who played five years in the Baltimore Orioles system before the Dodgers recently picked him up) has probably just pulled the plug on his baseball career. I think he's gone as far as he's going to go and now he's trying find a real job, working for a friend selling cars.

Q: With everything a scout's time is invested in, would that be something you'd be interested in doing with your time in at this point in your life.

Yount: These guys are in their cars, covering games, putting in the hours. I have a lot of other interests that I guess I'm not willing to give up for a fulltime job. I don't coach anymore - that's another fulltime job, with no days off for eight months a year. I'd never rule coaching out, but I'd say the odds are stacked against that happening again, too.

Q: What do you make of the start of Ryan Braun's career with the Brewers, kind of making that strange circle of life connection with Milwaukee and the Valley again (Braun is from Granada Hills)?

Yount: He's so fun to watch. We talk all the time about the Valley when I go out there. I know he spends a lot of time in L.A., and things are a lot different for him than they were for me at that age. I mean, he's got restaurants going, and a clothing line . . . he's enjoying the spotlight. He's really got an entrepreneur's interest in so many things. My interests are just about having fun.

Q: I saw a quote in Sports Illustrated where you said: "I wish I wasn't so silly about being in public. I'd rather play baseball in front of 55,000 people than say 20 words in front of a group of 100. I wish I didn't get so nervous and could speak. But I can't." Is that still true, and if so, how do you give a speech to maybe 1,500 who'll see you get this award next Saturday?

Yount: Oh, yeah, it's true. I do much better than I did when I was younger, but I've never been comfortable in front of people. I didn't know I had to give a speech with this thing. Do I have to?

We've made our snarky two-cent comments, not just to why the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl seems a bit odd in the already strange-labeled college bowl season (and why is it the day before the national championship game again?), but also thrown in plenty of spare change in the true fight against hunger that exists in America.

That said, we thought it was appropriate to run this story in collection with Sunday's Nevada-Boston College contest (a game that USC played in last year, and the Pac-10 actually has first dibs on but it didn't have enough bowl-eligible teams this season):

The Associated Press

Sure, the folks at Kraft Foods Inc. want you to pile their Ritz crackers with cheese, pass the Planters nuts and polish off a bag of Oreos while watching any of early three dozen college football bowl games this holiday season.

But by the time the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl rolls around on Sunday, they're aiming to tie a bowl game to a specific social cause to help fill millions of empty stomachs -- as well s seats at AT&T Park in San Francisco, where No. 13 Nevada will play Boston College.

"We're the only bowl named after a cause. We are very proud of that," said Gary Cavalli, co-founder and executive director of the game. It started in San Francisco in 2002 as the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl before becoming the Emerald Bowl.

From the Humanitarian Bowl in Idaho to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, most bowls have a charitable component. Cavalli said the difference is that no specific cause is identified.

The East-West Shrine Game, to be played Jan. 22 in Orlando, has raised money since 1925 for Shriners Hospitals for Children. Cavalli called it an all-star game rather than a bowl game.

"Part of our mission is to generate 20 million meals for hungry people throughout the United States," Cavalli said. "It's an opportunity for all of us to do some good while we are having a football game."

Besides raising awareness, the bowl is donating a meal to a food bank for every ticket sold. That's part of Kraft's Huddle to Fight Hunger program, in conjunction with Feeding America -- a nonprofit network of more than 200 food banks that fed more than 37 million people last year.

"We didn't want to just be a marketing platform for the Fight Hunger initiative, we wanted to get involved in it," Cavalli said.

Cavalli said 15,359 meals -- at a cost of four meals per $1 -- will go to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada in recognition of the Nevada share of tickets that sold out last week.

Cherie Jamason, executive director of the Reno-based food bank, said the help couldn't come at a better time in a state with 14.3 percent unemployment and one in five children living in poverty. Jamason said they've helped provide food to a record 153,000 people this year, almost half of them children.

"We are really pleased and thrilled about Kraft's commitment," Jamason said.

She said she's been familiar with Kraft's participation on Feeding America's board of directors for more than 30 years.

The closest thing to matching what the Kraft Bowl is trying to accomplish might by the one and only Mercy Bowl played Thanksgiving Day in 1961 at the L.A. Coliseum. It came following an airplane crash in Ohio the year before that killed 22 people, including 16 members of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo football team. More than 33,000 turned out to see Fresno State beat Bowling Green 36-6, and funds went to offset burial costs, pay medical expenses and set up an educational fund for the victims' families and survivors.

As a post script:
== The Pac-10 has a contract through 2013 with the formerly named Emeral Bowl, which intends to match the conference's No. 6 team against top teams from the Western Athletic Conference, Navy and Army.

Previous Bowl Games:
2009 -- USC 24, Boston College 13
2008 -- California 24, Miami 17
2007 -- Oregon State 21, Maryland 14
2006 -- Florida State 44, UCLA 27
2005 -- Utah 38, Georgia Tech 10
2004 -- Navy 34, New Mexico 19
2003 -- Boston College 35, Colorado State 21
2002 -- Virginia Tech 20, Air Force 13

== Hunger statistics, provided by the Kraft Hunger Bowl staff:

1 in 6 Americans and nearly 1 in 4 kids struggle with hunger.
49 million Americans and 16.7 million children are affected.
There are 27% more Americans struggling with hunger now, than 4 years ago.
Feeding America's network of food banks feed 37 million Americans every year, including 14 million children and 3 million seniors.
For every $1 donated, Feeding America helps provide 7 meals to Americans facing hunger.
Kraft Foods' new title sponsorship of the Fight Hunger Bowl is part of a three-year agreement with the San Francisco Bowl Game Association. With annual revenues of approximately $50 billion, Kraft Foods is the world's second largest food company.

== More on Feeding America (formerly, America's Second Harvest, linked here)
== More on Feeding America's relationship with the Los Angeles Food Bank (linked here)

Coming Sunday: An extended Q-and-A with Hall of Famer Robin Yount, the former Taft High star and 20-year Milwaukee Brewer shortstop and center fielder who will be honored next week by the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation in Century City wit their "Scout's Dream Award."

Among the topics we ran past Yount was this week's Baseball Hall of Fame vote -- one that saw Bert Blyleven get in after 14 tries, and sent another loud message about steroid users (or those even suspicious of it) with the deflated votes cast for players like Mark McGwire, Jeff Bagwell, Rafael Palmiero and Juan Gonzalez.

Yount, ahead of the curve on the power-hitting shortstops of his time due to working out with weights and strenghtening his 6-foot, 165-pound frame with large forearmsk, was asked how he would make a statement if he had a Hall of Fame vote:

"We do eventually have a vote when it's left to the veteran's committee and not through the sports writers, but as far as what everyone sees in voting now, that's a tough call.

"We're just seeing the start of these guys coming up for election, and to me, it looks like (the writers who vote) are holding that era up to a standard -- either higher, or lower, I'm not sure which way you'd phrase it -- considering the stats they've put up. I've never looked at the stats -- does McGwire have enough home runs to make him a Hall of Famer? And most came later in his career?

"That's a tough period to judge, and personally, I hold it against us, the players, as an industry for not getting together on a drug testing policy that worked quick enough. The players who played prior to when steroids were illegal now have this held over their head. Let's face it, we are professional athletes performing as we're expected to be at the highest levels, and there were no rules against the stuff. So how to do you hold that against them?

"Now that drug testing is in place, and you've had guys found guilty because they've somehow beat it, then you can hold it against them. But even there, there's a gray area. Like with Barry Bonds. He's never been found guilty and he did so much early in his career.

"McGwire is in that gray area, too. Personally, if it's just me, if the player did it prior to testing -- and you can adjust the stats because they were all inflated -- the baseball historians know there are different eras in the game. Stats have changed dramatically over time. The baseball people know about this era having drugs, and everyone hitting the ball out of the park. So, that was that time ... now hopefully we get that cleaned up and can move on to getting back to a level playing field.

"But if we're saying this is the era when this happened, it's not fair to hold it against some players when we didn't police it."

Yount insists that his Milwaukee Brewers' owner, Bud Selig, can't be blamed for how this has all evolved in the role of commissioner, either.

"I can tell you, he was trying to get testing done much sooner, but the biggest obstacle was the players' association. Let's face it, I still look at myself as a player, but we were a union and that was the biggest stumbling block to getting (the union) to agree.

"The way Bud is perceived is the same as being the president of the United States. He's just the president of baseball, and he takes the heat for all the things that go wrong.But the fact was that as hard as Bud tried to get things done, it took more time and went years further than it should.

"The game is as strong as ever and more successful than it's been with any other commissioner. He can take all the heat you want to give him, but under his watch, the game has grown leaps and bounds. It's not been all positive, but there's still far more good than bad.

"And nobody loves the game and more passion for it than Bud. I've known him some 30 years now, and I know he lives and dies baseball. Maybe we're totally opposites. I love the game, but I don't die with it like he does."

Spinning off more about the quasi-ESPN "SportsCenter" spoof-off called "SportsDome," presented by The Onion, that debuts Tuesday on Comedy Central (linked here):

== While "SportsDome" is a TV concept that was hatched more than a year ago, the writers and producers at The Onion have had the time to let it stew with more than three years of creating "SportsCenter"-type videos for its website.

The two entities remain separate -- the TV show isn't simply a compilation of bits created on the website and transfered over, like HBO did recently with FunnyOrDie.com (which returns for a second season starting Friday, Jan. 14).

So all the things you've seen in the past on The Onion Sports Network (linked here) are complimentary appetisers to this new main course. Some of the clips now on the site, such as the "Top 10 countdown of the best athletes named Stan," are from the pilot that The Onion staff created to sell to Comedy Central back in 2009.

"We're going to continue the web videos," said Will Graham, one of the "SportsDome" executive producers, "but we're just happy with a bigger palate to play with. Now we hve 22 minutes as opposed to just two-to-five minutes to make more fun stuff."

== The comedy, granted, can get a little sophomoric. Consider the audience. Then take, for example, the ongoing piece in Episode 2 that deals with a 13-year-old kid from Ojai trying to set the record for most times masterbating in one day.

The "SportsDome" crew follows the story in each segment with one of those jazzy graphics, "Road to 32," with coverage of press conferences, interviews with the boy's father and updates throughout the show.

"I didn't think there'd be a problem" getting that on the air, said head writer Jack Kukoda. "Using the graphic, it was to me like how ESPN would do a countdown to a Barry Bonds home-run chase or something like that."

In other words, ESPN would be shooting its wad on another overblown angle.

Which plays right into the "SportsDome" strategy.

The other thing that Kukoda says he finds perpetually humorous is the way ESPN rotates its anchors in -- all non-descript.

"You're watching a show, and then they put up the graphic of who the person is, and you say, 'I thought that was the other guy'," said Kukoda. "The set is really the star of the show, with all the bells firing off."

Adds Graham: "I think the thing that is really inspiring about ESPN as a kind of taking-off point was their kind of faceless army of rotating anchors, that just kind of seemingly get like switched out and inserted into chairs like robots, or something like that. You're like, 'Oh, that's that guy,' or 'That other - those other four guys.' "

== Maybe a better description of "SportsDome" comes from the Comedy Central comedy writers/media relations staff who write up the press releases. Like this one:

"Sports are finally about to get the attention they deserve, courtesy of The Onion, America's most trusted news source .... 'SportsDome' is a 30-minute rundown of the finest in sports news, analysis, scores, highlights, rumor-mongering and petty personal attacks ... the signature show of the Onion Sports Network, which has grown from a humble UHF channel purchased as a tax dodge and a way to profit from The Onion's vast footage library of women's beach volleyball, into the undisputed global sports leader it is today.

' "SportsDome" is now the number one destination for fans seeking game reports, insight from former players and theme music heavy on bell tones and bendy guitar riffs. With its total access to the inside of sports and pulse-pounding coverage, it has become impossible to be a sports fan without being a fan of the 'Dome.'

"Shepard and Reiser are joined by the venerable 'Dome' crew, including Senior sports insider Reggie Greengrass, who needs nine Blackberries to hold the phone numbers of all the athletes he knows; update anchor Melissa Wells, who holds more journalism degrees than the rest of her colleagues put together; "Wish Zone" host Jay Woodworth, who makes terminally-ill children's dreams come true as long as they are sports-related; analyst Doc Webb, who holds the SportsDome record for the number of athletes he's referred to as 'overpaid garbage,' and investigative reporter Marc Howell, who, mines sports' most tragic elements for awards and ratings gold."

And as for the rest of the stuff that wouldn't fit into the print edition:

== Welcome to Steve Buckley's coming out party.

The Boston Herald sports columnist has told the world in a column Thursday (linked heree) that he's not only gay, but it's something he wishes he'd come clean about years ago.

Or, mentioned it before the ninth paragraph.

"I guess I've kind of buried the lead here, which, I admit, has been a common complaint about my writing over the years. But what the heck: The headline has already given away the story, and, anyway, what happened that day seven years ago is central to why I am writing today."

At last count, he had more than 600 people leave comments on his column. The first one, posted by "Snaglepuss," read: "Good for you Steve, but I'm sure you just lost 90% of the Herald 'readers'."

Another post by "rightwingnut": "GUARANTEE this helps Steve's career as it will get him national attention and probably a spot on Around The Horn."

We don't wish him that indignity, although his column was mentioned by the Boston Globe's Jackie MacMullan after her latest "victory" on the show Thursday.

== Your NFL TV lineup as Weekend 1 of the playoffs:

Saturday:
= New Orleans at Seattle, 1:30 p.m., Channel 4 (with Tom Hammond, Mike Mayock and Alex Flanagan)
= N.Y. Jets at Indianapolis, 5 p.m., Channel 4 (with Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Andrea Kremer).

Sunday:
= Baltimore at Kansas City, 10 a.m., Channel 2 (with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
= Green Bay at Philadelphia, 1 p.m., Channel 11 (with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman).

== The full effect of how ESPN has fared in taking over as the home of the entire Bowl Championship Series games won't be determined until after Monday's Oregon-Auburn championship contest. If preliminary numbers are any indication in showing how the Rose and Fiesta Bowls on New Year's Day audience dipped below the 2010 marks, when the former was on ABC and the later on Fox, expect the trend to continue.

Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit call Monday's BCS championship, with Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden on radio, and Joe Tessitore, Tim Brown and Todd Blackledge on ESPN 3D. Former Oregon coach Mike Belliotti, in his first year as an ESPN game analyst, will join the ESPN GameDay crew on site.

== Fox's Kenny Albert and Darryl Johnston call tonight's LSU-Texas A&M Cotton Bowl (5 p.m., Channel 11), the first time the game has been put in a prime-time TV slot. Pat Summerall is also part of the broadcast, doing the game intro and an interview with new Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame inductee Jim Brown.

== Bob Papa, Aaron Taylor, Lewis Johnson, Marty Snider and Tom Lemming are part of NBC's broadcast of the annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl (Saurday, 10 a.m., Channel 4), featuring 90 of the nation's top high school football players in an East-West format at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Several currently undecided players will also announce their college choices during the telecast. According to the official website (linked here), local athletes expected to play are Granada Hills High defensive back George Atkinson, Grant High defensive lineman Viliami Moala and defensive back James Sample, and Crenshaw High running back/defensive back (and USC enrollee) De'Anthony Thomas.

== KSPN-AM (710) announced the hiring of Scott McCarthy as its new general manager. McCarthy, a Harvard MBA graduate who grew up in Albuquerque, was Executive Vice President, ABC Radio Networks (2001-04) and Senior Vice President, ABC Broadcast Group (2000-01). Prior to that he led the development and launch of Radio Disney and was its first employee and first general manager (1996-99). Most recently, McCarthy founded and was managing partner of Alacon Ventures (2007-10), involved in growing digital media/entertainment and consumer interactive services.

== As the reminded us during the closing credits of the final installment of HBO's "24/7" on the NHL's Winter Classic, all four episodes reair in order Saturday starting at 1:30 p.m. If you've missed any, TiVo the whole thing and save it. Classic stuff indeed. Especially the miked players.

= AND FINALLY:

== Check out a 10-part series on the Golf Channel they're calling a "docu-reality" show based on the recent plight of 53-year-old Mark Burk, an aspiring pro who recently ended up homeless and living in abandoned construction pipes in Palm Springs.

When the series starts Tuesday (6:30 p.m.), you'll see how Burk grew up dreaming of being a pro golfer, played in some pro satellite tours around the world, and ended up a instructor and Hollywood movie consultant. He lived with girlfriend and supermodel Beverly Johnson, but in 2008, he was charged with alleged domestic violence and left penniless.

The series picks up Burk's life as he tries to get his life back together on the golf course and make it to the Champions Tour qualifying school.

"Even through all of Mark's personal and professional struggles, it's been his passion and respect for the game of golf that has kept him alive," said Keith Allo, Golf Channel vice president of programming and original productions.

Fox, which is most likely to partner up with the Pac-10 to create the conference's first TV network within the next couple of years, has locked up the rights to do the inaugural Pac-12 football championship this fall, creating a doubleheader with the network that will be capped off with the inaugural Big Ten's title game (when it also has 12 teams).

Those two made-for-TV-money games will go head-to-head with CBS' SEC championship and ABC's ACC championship (moved to this day after the Big 12, dropping to 10 teams, no longer will have a title game).

The Fox-Pac-12 deal, reported to be in the $25 million range, also includes expanding coverage of the conference for the 2011-12 regular season -- adding up to six football and 10 men's basketball games for Fox Sports Net. ESPN had the first opportunity to negotiate for the Pac-12 title game rights but couldn't work out a deal.

"This is an historic time for the conference as we expand to the Pac-12 next season and we are thrilled to be working with Fox Sports and their award-winning production team," Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement.

The Pac-12's first-ever football championship game is set for Dec. 3 at 12:30 p.m., leading into the Big Ten telecast.

Mychal Thompson's schedule has lined up with Mychel Thompson's to create an interesting TV moment this weekend.

Mychal, the dad and Lakers' radio analyst, accepted a Prime Ticket invite to join Paul Sunderland to call Saturday's Pepperdine-St. Mary's 5 p.m. game from Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu - the first time he'll be on the air for a contest featuring his son, Mychel, the Waves' 6-foot-7 senior forward and leading scorer.

"I think the last time I got to call one of my son's games were as a Little League PA announcer," Mychal said.

"This sounds like fun. I really wasn't thinking about it. Fox just called and said they needed an analyst."

Windows of opportunities have come up in the past for Thompson to join the broadcast of games involving either of his college basketball playing sons - junior Klay is the Pac-10's leading scorer at Washington State, and Mychal was at his game on New Year's Eve at USC. But this will be a first for the family.

The Lakers have games Friday and Sunday at home, leaving Saturday as a chance to do it.

"I have no problem being objective," said Mychal. "I always tell my sons to play hard, give all your effort and be competitive, and as long as I see that, I won't be critical."

And if Mychel isn't giving it his all?

"I'll let him know on the air, but my wife (Julie) has already threatened me that I'd better be nice."

Sunderland, who worked only with Stu Lantz during his time as the Lakers' TV play-by-play man while Thompson was always on radio, said that Mychal's ability to separate himself as a dad and broadcaster should be "no issue at all. He's a pro and a smart guy.

"Not to overshadow the broadcast, but I'm hoping to draw him out more on the challenges and joys of parenting such succeesful sons, about the approaches he took and the mistakes he might have made. The most important things he learned along the way might help others."

Mychel (bio linked here), who arrived at Pepperdine via a year at Stoneridge Prep in Simi Valley after starring at Santa Margarita High, is 27th on the Waves' all-time scoring list with 1,159 points going into Thursday's game against San Diego. Thompson will likely end up as the school's all-time leader in games played, and is fourth 3-pointers made (168) and eighth in steals (131 in 112 games).

Thompson son No. 3 -- 19-year-old Trayce -- could be at UCLA right now playing baseball. But as the second-round MLB draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 2009, the center fielder recently finished his second season of pro ball at Single-A Kannapolis, N.C.

ESPN, which already forced movement of the Major League Baseball Opening Day from a traditional Monday to a Sunday night, has now received the OK to push it back to Thursday, March 31, and logged the Dodgers' season- and home-opener against the defending champion San Francisco Giants as part of a tripleheader broadcast.

The Dodgers and Giants were scheduled to open the season with a four-game series beginning on Friday, April 1, with March 31 as a offday (after an exhibition game at Dodger Stadium against Seattle on March 30). ESPN has taken the late game of that series, scheduled for Monday, April 4, and moved it to March 31.

The Dodgers-Giants are also scheduled to be the first Fox network broadcast of the season (on Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m.) and the first ESPN "Sunday Night" telecast (Sunday, April 3, ESPN2). The Dodgers' previous season opener on Friday, April 1 has been changed from a 1 p.m. start to 7:10 p.m.

The March 31 opener starts with coveage of Detroit at the New York Yankees (10 a.m.), followed by San Diego at St. Louis (1 p.m.) before the Giants-Dodgers (5 p.m.), which will be called by the new ESPN "Sunday Night Baseball" crew of Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine.

The MLB season has opened on either Sunday or Monday every year since 1998 (excluding games played in Japan), and this is the first Thursday opener since 1976. The shift in starting the season earlier is to have it end on Wednesday, Sept. 28, so that the World Series ends earlier (instead of going into early November).

This just sorta in from the Southern California Sports Broadcasters group:

Bill Sharman, basketball All America at USC who coached the Lakers team to its first NBA championship in 1972, and Louis Zamperini, a USC track legend, 1936 Olympic runner and the subject of the current New York Times best-seller listed book, Unbroken, will be honored by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters for Outstanding Career Achievement at the group's 20th annual awards ceremonies on Monday, January 25 in Toluca Lake.

Sharman, a native of Southern California, is one of only three to be in the basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach (John Wooden and Lenny Wilkins are the others). He played with the Boston Celtics for 10 years, winning four NBA championships. He coached the 1971-72 Lakers to an NBA record 33 consecutive wins.

Zamperini, a native of Torrance where his track exploits earned him the nickname "The Torrance Tornado," set a national collegiate record in the mile at USC that lasted for 15 years. He also ran the 5,000 meters at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. In the Air Force, Zamperini's B-24 crashed in the Pacific and the saga of his 47 days adrift in a rubber raft, being captured by Japanese navy and spending two years as a POW is the subject of the current book by Laura Hillenbrand.

Also included in the SCSB Awards are the announcement of the 2010 winners in nine radio and TV sportscasting categories, as voted by the SCSB membership, Al Michaels receiving the Stu Nahan President's Award and Rich Marotta inducted into the SCSB Hall of Fame.

By Amy Taxin
The Associated Press

Shaquille O'Neal swears by them. The Power Balance bracelet, he says, gives him a competitive edge on the court. It's no gimmick, he says. It's for real.

It may be for him, but Australian authorities say the California-based company behind the wildly popular wristbands and pendants has no business claiming that they improve balance, strength and flexibility.

And they even got Power Balance to admit it.

The company wrote: "We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims." It also agreed to give refunds to customers who believe they were cheated.

The company's admission, however, hopped across the globe since its agreement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was announced on Dec. 22.

It was an answer to what many who saw the ads wondered: Do the colorful silicone bands actually work?

Critics railed against the company on Twitter and those who had believed in the bracelet's power.

The company unleashed a torrent of its own tweets, playing off the word "admit."

In one, it said: "Power Balance Admits products have been worn during the last world series, nba finals and super bowl champions!"

Fans insist the bands have helped their game.

"Our trainers swear by it," Phoenix Suns forward Jared Dudley wrote in a message posted on his Twitter page.

The company began selling bracelets in 2007 embedded with holograms that were purportedly designed to interact with the body's natural energy flow.

Since then, the colorful wristbands, which sell for $29.95, have become ubiquitous, donned by Lakers' Lamar Odom and Galaxy star David Beckham.

They have also been worn by celebrities, including actors Robert De Niro and Gerard Butler.

The company sold $8,000 of merchandise in its first year and expects more than $35 million in sales in 2010.

Power Balance, for its part, doesn't claim to have science on its side, said Adam Selwyn, a spokesman for the Laguna Niguel-based company.

Rather, it relies on testimonials from famous athletes and users to tout the products' effects.

Josh Rodarmel, one of the company's co-founders, said in a statement he knows there may be skeptics.

"We're not trying to win over every person in the world," he said.

Ralph Reiff, program director at St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indianapolis, said maybe a third of the hundreds of professional and amateur athletes who train there wear the wristband or an imitation.

The program even thought about putting its logo on the products and handing them out, he said.

But officials decided against that because they couldn't find enough reliable research to back up the company's claims about giving a biological boost to performance, he said.

"I couldn't look in the mirror and 100 percent say (it's) a product I can put my brand reputation behind," said Reiff, a certified athletic trainer.

Reiff said he believes there's no reason to think the wristbands could produce a biological benefit, and that any benefit is purely psychological.

"It's just like a pair of lucky socks," Reiff said. "It's a lucky charm, and if you believe in it, then it's excellent."

On its web site, Power Balance features video footage of athletes holding their arms out and resisting downward pressure in trials with and without the bands.

A Wisconsin professor ran similar tests comparing the performance of 42 athletes wearing Power Balance wristbands and silicon versions from Wal-Mart and said he found no difference.

Athletes were more likely to perform better wearing the second bracelet they put on, largely because they knew what to expect from the trial, said John Porcari, professor of exercise and sport science at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

"I think it is a scam," he said. "It has absolutely nothing to do with the bracelets. It is all in people's heads."

AP Science Writer Malcom Ritter contributed to this report from New York.

The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America has selected second baseman Roberto Alomar in its second annual Hall of Fame election, organization president Howard Cole announced today.

The Base Ball Writers Association of America announce their Hall of Fame voting Wednesday, with Bert Blyleven expected to finally break through as an inductee, along with Alomar.

Alomar, who played for seven teams in a 17-year major league career, was named on 75 percent of IBWAA ballots, and was the only player to receive three-quarters of the vote, the same threshold required by the BBWAA in the election which determines the actual inductees.

With the exception of Blyleven, who the IBWAA selected last year, ballots listed the same 31 nominees as did the traditional writers association, with a December 30, 2010 deadline for votes to be valid, and no rounding up of percentages permitted for selection (i.e., a 74.85 count would not suffice).

Complete IBWAA voting:
= Roberto Alomar: 75 percent
= Jeff Bagwell: 70 percent
= Lee Smith: 65 percent
= Jack Morris: 55 percent
= Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez and Tim Raines: 50 percent
= Larry Walker: 45 percent
= Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmiero, Dale Murphy and Fred McGriff: 40 percent
= Alan Trammell: 35 percent
= Dave Parker: 25 percent
= Don Mattingly and John Franco: 20 percent
= Harold Baines: 10 percent
= Carlos Baerga, Kevin Brown, Juan Gonzalez, Lenny Harris, Al Leiter and John Olerud: 5 percent:

The IBWAA was created July 4, 2009 by Cole, editor of BaseballSavvy.com, to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as an alternative to the Base Ball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).

Instead, it's a new ESPN promo for the Australian Open:

A reader writes to complain:

"Let it be known that the L.A. Newspaper Group selection of Reggie Bush as its sports person of the year, should also rank at the top of the worst decisions of the 2010 sports year. After reading your story I can only describe my feelings as complete and utter disgust."

It's one of many common sentiments we've have land in our in-box over the last couple of days, since our story on Dec. 31, '10 (linked here) announced that Bush, the former USC tailback who set off a domino effect on USC's football program, was our Sports Person of the Year. He fit the definition.

For what it's worth: Bush was named No. 8 on the USA Today list of the Top 100 Sports Figures of 2010 (linked here), only topped by Tiger Woods (at No. 1), LeBron James, Michael Vick, Brett Favre, Cam Newton, Ben Roethlisberger and Rex Ryan.

Sounds like we kind of nailed it then, right?

Other names of note on the USA Today Top 100:
12. Kobe Bryant
15. Phil Jackson
26. Lane Kiffin
27. Jim Gray (our No. 1 in the annual dubious dozen of the sports media)
31. John Wooden (voted our top story of the year)
44. Evan Lysacek
51. Zenyatta
67. Pete Carroll
74. Frank and Jamie McCourt
76. Gilbert Arenas
79. Landon Donovan
90. Ron Artest
95. Pat Haden

Highlights of the week ahead in sports, both here and afar:

MONDAY

College football: Orange Bowl, Miami: Stanford vs. Virginia Tech, 5:30 p.m., ESPN:

Here's three more hours of speculation about whether Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh will use this season a launching point to the NFL - Fox reported Sunday that the 49ers have targeted him as their No. 1 choice. With a little luck, Andrew Luck will get some attention, too. According to the EA Sports "NCAA Football '11" game simulated on ESPN.com (linked here), Luck completes 21 of 29 passes for 287 yards and a couple of scores in Stanford's underwhelming 24-10 win. Not to spoil anything.

NHL: Kings vs. Chicago, Staples Center, 6 p.m., Versus:

The Kings run their latest three-game losing streak to Chicago, where the Blackhawks just beat them, 3-2, on Dec. 19. The Kings are 0-3 against Hawks this season and 0-6-1 in Chitown since an OT win at United Center on Dec. 30, 2007. And Chicago captain Jonathan Toews seems ready to come back from a shoulder injury.

TUESDAY

College football: Sugar Bowl: Arkansas vs. Ohio State, 5:30 p.m., ESPN:

Thanks to the strong arm of the Sugar Bowl and Big Ten officials, those five Buckeyes suspended for five games next year because they were hard up for cash and sold some of their stuff can still play in this one, giving the Razorbacks some extra incentive.

NBA: Lakers vs. Detroit, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

Hey, Detroit's D-League entry, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, are second in the Eastern Conference with a 10-5 mark.

Series: "Biggest Loser," 8 p.m., Channel 4:

Former Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner is one of the 22 contestants, paired off into 11 teams, starting the 11th season of the weight-loss reality show. Watch him grapple with the fact he's lugging around nearly 475 pounds and can't get in and out of his car.

WEDNESDAY

NBA: Lakers at Phoenix, 7:30 p.m., Channel 9, ESPN:

The Suns hit a team-record 22 3-pointers (in 40 attempts) in a five-point win over the Lakers in their last meeting. To put that into perspective, they made 21 2-pointers to go with that. And beware: Phoenix actually held Detroit to 75 points in a win the other night, ending a streak of 388 consecutive regular-season games allowing more than 75 points.

NBA: Clippers vs. Denver, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

The Clips' Blake Griffin has a streak of 21 straight double-doubles. The franchise record of 22 is held by . . . Swen Nater, '77-'78, Buffalo Braves.

College basketball: Cal State Northridge at Long Beach State, 7 p.m.:

Lenny Daniel leads the 4-9 Mats in scoring (16.2 points a game) and in boards (9.2), with double-doubles in four of his last five games. Likewise, power forward T.J. Robinson leads the 7-8 49ers in points and rebounds (14.9, 10.1). Both have season-high scoring marks of 31 points.

NHL: Ducks vs. Nashville, Honda Center, 7 p.m., FSW:

The Predators are another team trying to nose into the top eight of the Western Conference, but are staying close with a goals-against average less than 2.5, thanks to Pekka Rinne.

THURSDAY

Golf: PGA Tour's Hyundai Tournament of Champions, first round, Maui, 2:30 p.m., Golf Channel:

The whole thing starts again at Kapalua, with Australia's Geoff Ogilvy back as the two-time defending champ here. Golf Channel has all four rounds through Sunday.

College football: GoDaddy.com Bowl, Mobile, Ala.: Middle Tennessee vs. Miami (Ohio), 5 p.m., ESPN:

Go away. Go, go, go.

NHL: Kings vs. Nashville, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

Jonathan Bernier has beaten these guys twice this year already. Why not throw him in the nets again tonight?

FRIDAY

College football: Cotton Bowl, Dallas: LSU vs. Texas A&M, 5 p.m., Channel 11:

It's the 75th anniversary of the very first game -- remember back in '37, when TCU beat Marquette? And it's the 50th meeting between the two schools, so that really makes this contest ... unique? And don't forget, for this game at Cowboy Stadium (not the actual Cotton Bowl site), LSU was only No. 11 in the final BCS poll, not No. 10, due to a computer glitch.

NBA: Lakers vs. New Orleans, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

The other night, Trevor Ariza scored 13 points in the third quarter of the Hornets' win over the Wizards. It's the most he has scored in one quarter since he had 13 in the fourth quarter on March 6, 2009 for the Lakers against the T'wolves.

NHL: Ducks vs. Columbus, Honda Center, 7 p.m., Prime:

How long can the Ducks hold up without Ryan Getzlaf?

SATURDAY

College football: BBVA Compass Bowl, Birmingham, Ala.: Pittsburgh vs. Kentucky, 9 a.m., ESPN:

We don't need a compass to tell us what direction the bowl games are headed. South.

NHL: Kings vs. Columbus, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m., FSW:

The Blue Jackets, straddling the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, may have a similar record to the Kings' but there's about a 30-goal swings between the two teams in goals scored vs. goals allowed.

NFL playoffs: New Orleans at Seattle, 1:30 p.m., Channel 4; N.Y. Jets at Indianapolis, 5 p.m., Channel 4:

The Jets' reality show rolls on, and a Mark Sanchez-Peyton Manning matchup inside the dome promises to be memorable. Meanwhile, the Saints begin their title defense with a strange road trip. Really? They gotta go where? Common sense says don't bet against Pete Carroll's sub-.500 squad. The Charlie Whitehurst Miracle Story has begun.

SUNDAY

NFL playoffs: Baltimore at Kansas City, 10 a.m., Channel 2; Green Bay at Philadelphia, 1:30 p.m., Channel 11:

The Packers took care of the Eagles in Philly during Week 1, 27-20, even though they had fewer rushing and passing yards. Michael Vick came in for the injured Kevin Kolb and put up 16 of 24 passing, 175 yards, 1 TD, 0 picks and 11 carries for 103 yards.

College basketball: UCLA at USC, Galen Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

The Dance Force is with USC. As far as the stats: The Trojans are tied for 202nd in the NCAA in turnover ratio (minus-.4), while UCLA is tied for 230th (minus 1.0). Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Another number to consider: The Trojans are 11th in the nation in fouls committed per game (15.3). The Trojans won both matchups against the Bruins last season, but trail in the all-time series, 128-103.

NBA: Lakers vs. New York, Staples Center, 6:30 p.m., FSW:

At last, the Lakers get to see these extremely made-over 19-14 Knicks, but facing a week in which they'll face San Antonio and Dallas before the Lakers, who are 9-1 against the Eastern Conference.

NBA: Clippers vs. Golden State, Staples Center, 12:30 p.m., Prime:

It won't be close: When the Warriors edged the Bobcats 96-95 the other night, it was only their second one-point win in the last four seasons.

NHL: Ducks vs. San Jose, Honda Center, 5 p.m., KDOC:

The Sharks and Ducks have already split two meetings this year, but both were in San Jose.

College football: Fight Hunger Bowl, San Francisco: Nevada vs. Boston College, 6 p.m., ESPN:

Fight the proliferation of too many bowl games. Last year, it was sponsored by Emerald Nuts. Someone ate them all?