July 2011 Archives

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

THIS WEEK'S BEST BET

Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, NFL Network, 1 p.m.:

Congrats to enshrinees Ed Sabol, Shannon Sharpe, Marshall Faulk, Richard Dent, Chris Hanburger and Deion Sanders get the Century 21 yellow jacket treatment in Canton, Ohio, without the exhibition game the next day to preen about. For our money, though, we'd prefer to focus a little less on them and little more on Les Richter, maybe the least known of the seven going in by today's NFL fan.

The Rams' 6-foot-3 linebacker from 1954-'62 came to L.A.. after 11 players were traded to the expansion Dallas Texans to get him. Then the Rams had to wait two years while he served in the military. When he arrived, he made eight Pro Bowls in nine seasons, collecting 16 interceptions, but also played some center, and handled the placekicking duties earlier in his career, leading the team in scoring in '55 and '56.

He never missed a game in his 112-game career, despite taking 14 stitches after being hit in the head with a helmet during a skirmish in Baltimore, playing with six preseason games and all 12 regular season games with torn cartilage in his knee in 1958, and twice playing with a broken cheekbone in '61. "It's always puzzled me why Les was not in the Hall of Fame," said Frank Gifford. "I don't know any linebacker in that era who even compared to him. When you prepared to play the Rams, Les was the guy that you really game planned for. He was their defense. He was successful in business, he was successful in life and was a great person."
Before he died a year ago at age 79, Richter was also the first president of Riverside International Raceway and then a NASCAR executive. He was on the list of 25 nominees under consideration for the NASCAR Hall of Fame's Class of 2012. Again, well deserved for a man who made his mark with his own Richter scale.

MONDAY

MLB: Dodgers at San Diego, 7:05 p.m., Prime:

With Comic Con come and gone, what's the catch here? The somewhat superhero performance of Clayton Kershaw (12-4), of course. Having just racked up four wins in July, he could use four more in August and September to reach 20 -- and there's a great chance he can win two this week alone. He hasn't faced the NL West-trailing Padres yet this year, but he comes in walking far fewer than he's striking out, a huge problem even earlier this season before he made the All-Star team. Unless you fit in a trip to Del Mar on the way down, plan for a letdown in games Tuesday and Wednesday (both 7:05 p.m., Channel 9), no matter who's been traded away by then.

NFL: "Ed Sabol: King of Football Movies," NFL Network, 5 p.m.:

An hour-long documentary on the man who created the way you see the NFL today. With repeats (tonight, 9 p.m., as well as Saturday at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m.)

TUESDAY

MLB: Angels vs. Minnesota, Angel Stadium, 7:05 p.m., Channel 13:

It's a banner day for Ervin Santana -- a shot at going Johnny Vander Meer on the baseball world, following up on his freaky no-hitter last week in Cleveland by facing a Twins team that he hasn't met up with season and is only 2-3 in his career, allowing a .283 batting average. The banner they're giving away, by the way, commemorates the team's 50th anniversary, with pictures of some 15 Angels on it. None of whom are Santana.

After the middle game Wednesday (7:05 p.m., FSW), they're giving away a plaid O.C. skater hat (Thursday, 7:05 p.m., FSW). One with a flat bill. Like how Santana does it.

MLB: St. Louis at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., MLB Network:

That Cardinals shortstop looks familiar. But it's not David Eckstein.

Swimming: ConocoPhillips National Championships, at Palo Alto, Calif.:

The event at Stanford University's aquatic center will have Olympic gold medalists such as Jason Lezak, Ryan Lochte and Peter Vanderkaay in the field. Universal Sports has coverage today and Wednesday, while NBC has it Saturday (1-3 p.m.) and Sunday (2-3 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY

MLS: Galaxy at Portland, ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.:

Ask Becks if he knows "The Lumberjack Song." And will he be humming it tonight. The Timbers, in their first season with the league, actually have this guy as their mascot.

WNBA: Sparks vs. Connecticut, Staples Center, noon, NBA TV:

This is the first of six in a row at home is the annual summer camp day promotion, hoping to get as many kids into the joint. The home run continues against Maya Moore and Minnesota (Sunday, 5:30 p.m., NBA TV), which is a Gospel Night post-game concert with Tye Tribbitt.

THURSDAY

Golf: WGA Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, first round, 11 a.m., Golf Channel:

Tiger Woods' 11-week layoff apparently ends, since he says on his website he's fit enough to join the field for the $8.5 million event that he won seven times in a previous lifetime. A year ago, though, he was just 78th in the 80-man field. By missing the last three months, including the last two majors, Woods has fallen from No. 81 to No. 133 in the FedEx Cup standings, and only the top 125 players qualify for the opening round of the PGA Tour's four weeks of playoffs. This is really a test run for the PGA Championship next week in Georgia. Where, if the organizers really wanted to make things fun, they'd pair him up with Adam Scott (and caddie Steve Williams). Golf Channel has the second round Thursday (11 a.m.) while CBS has the final two rounds (Saturday, 11 a.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m.). The rest of the PGA has an open invite to the $3 million Reno-Tahoe Open.

FRIDAY

MLB: Angels vs. Seattle, Angel Stadium, 7:05 p.m., FSW:

It's our understanding the these Mariners recently ended a 17-game losing streak, where they went from a 43-43 record to 43-60. Four of the losses in that stretch came against the Angels in Anaheim between July 7-10. They'll have seven more to play against each other after this series that goes through Saturday (6:05 p.m., FSW, followed by a concert from Ludacris) and Sunday (12:35 p.m., FSW). Felix Hernandez will likely miss his turn, but the Angels should meet fellow AL All-Star Michael Pineda, the rookie who they tagged for seven earned runs in five innings of a 9-3 win on July 9.

MLB: Dodgers at Arizona, 6:40 p.m., Prime:

Because a snake-bit team can never face a swarm of Diamondbacks too many times in one stretch. A three-game series in Phoenix right after the All-Star break netted two losses, and this past weekend at Dodger Stadium was another non-joy ride. This three-game framework back in the desert continues Saturday (5:10 p.m., Prime) and Sunday (1:10 p.m., Prime).

SATURDAY

MLS: Galaxy vs. Dallas, Home Depot Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime Ticket (delayed at 8:30 p.m.):

The Galaxy doesn't do enough trading players. This game, they're handing out Upper Deck trading cards to the paying customers. After this, the boys have a couple weeks off before their next MLS game on Aug. 20.

Mixed martial arts: UFC 133: Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans, 6 p.m., PPV:

The Huntington Beach Bad Boy and (perhaps) former beau of Jenna Jameson (who had twins with him a few years back), and one of the sport's bigger names years ago once turned down this match in Philadelphia as the fill-in for the injured Phil Davis, who was in for the injured Jon Jones. Turns out, another fighter held out for money cash, which UFC president Dana White turned down, so Ortiz came back on board. Maybe to get some cash so he could repair the Rolls-Royce he banged up recently.

SUNDAY

U.S. Open of Surfing, Huntington Beach Pier, final day:

The mainland's greatest show in surf ends on this day after a two-week run as the "summer's biggest youth culture festival" with skating, BMX, music and artists. Kinda like the X Games, when it had surfing at the Huntington pier. More than 500,000 will be there on the 14-acre stretch of sand to watch John John Florence, Carissa Moore and Miguel Pupo. More info: http://www.usopenofsurfing.com/

Tennis: WTA Mercury Insurance Open, Carlsbad, final, 2 p.m., ESPN2:

They could use some insurance that top-name players are not just in the event, but make it to the finish line.

NASCAR: Sprint Cup, Pennsylvania 500, Long Pond, Pa., 10 a.m., ESPN; IRL: Honda Indy 200, Lexington, Ohio, 11 a.m., Versus:

Two hot summer vacation spots for motoring enthusiasts. Make sure the Winnebago has ample air conditioning and sewage restrictor plates.

(Sean Hiller/Staff Photographer)
Alison Riddle (in red) and Tom Kieswater of the Hermosa Beach team paddle through the surf on the Dory boat leg of the Bud Stevenson Intracrew Medley Relay at the International Surf Festival on Friday night. Riddle is going to New Jersey soon to defend her title in the United States Lifesaving Association National Championships.

Riddle me this: Why aren't lifeguard rescue competitions part of this weekend's X Games?

There's not much more athletically excessive than the fittest bunch of "Baywatch" 20-somethings that you'd ever want dragging you out of the water, using their bodies as floatation devices, paddling out, swimming back, getting gnashed around from the pounding waves and brave enough to ignore what's exactly lurking in the deep blue surf below.

"An extreme sport? It's definitely an extreme sport - without a doubt," said Riddle (center right, ready to start a competition), not even questioning the premise. "You think it's easy?

A year ago, ESPN the Magazine did a story listing six "unsung heroes" of sports. Riddle, who has only been competing in the national lifeguard competition since 2009, came in second.
First up was the U.S. Lawnmower Riding champion, Jayson Mikula (left).

"I'd love it," said Riddle. "Bring it on, Tony Hawk."

Alison Riddle comes in from the surf after competing in the paddleboard competition in the Southwest Regionals in Seal Beach last weekend.

Following up to today's media column (linked here) on how Larry Scott got the Pac-12 Network situation finalized in New York rather than L.A. this week, the Sports Business Daily excerpted a column by CBSSports.com's Bryan Fischer that we tend to believe actually happened, rather than what appeared to be Scott holding out his announcement so that it could have been orchestrated better in the larger media market:

Negotiations "were almost literally around the clock, wrapping up just past 4 a.m. Wednesday." Scott said, "We had a virtual handshake over the phone at 10 a.m. That's when I knew we had a done deal. But I only got confirmation from my general counsel right before the press event at 5 p.m. that it was signed."
Scott on Tuesday was "aware of how the negotiations were going when he took the stage at the Fox Lot in Los Angeles for Pac-12 Media Day, but kept things under wraps in case things happened to unravel."
Fisher noted Time Warner Cable Exec VP & Chief Programming Officer Melinda Witmer was one of the "key people who helped the process move along from beginning to end."
Financial terms of the deal were not announced, but the networks are "expected to make money in the short term and the conference's unique position of wholly owning everything have positioned them to be rewarded well into the future."
Additionally, the fact that Scott "helped bring together two major competitors and four cable operators" as distributors of the regional networks is "one reason why other companies looking to partner with the Pac-12 are eager to buy into the master plan."

LBL.com
The Lingerie Basketball League started with an exhibition doubleheader last Saturday at the Venice Beach outdoor courts. My mom apparently took this picture since all the people's heads are cut off.

Oh, the floor burns ...

It's something called the Lingerie Basketball League, a distant cousin from the football version, and it stages its opening night of league teams with a doubleheader Friday night at the Montclair Prep gym (8071 Sepulveda, Van Nuys), when your L.A. Beauties meet your L.A. Divas at 7 p.m., followed by your L.A. Starlettes staring down your L.A. Glam at 8:30 p.m.

The admission price (or cover charge, you decide what to call it) is $20 for each game, or $30 for both. Then there's the $40 ticket for a "premiere seat" at both games. No drink minimum.

Add to that something we've never seen posted for an advertised athletic event: Only 18 and older are admitted at the door. Cash payments only.

(You don't think that's Jerry West's wife used as the LBL logo, do you?).

According to the official website, the names of some of the 38 "players" who have agreed to participate include (linked here) Kamilah, Autianna, Zipporah, Chaffron, Sukari, Maricris, Tyhler, Delmar, Lexi, Jo Jo, America, Dachota, Erene, Krystle, Crystal and Krystal. And Koya. All their measurements are listed for your imagination.

Erene is from West Hills and CSUN. Crystal is from Newhall and Pierce College. Krysal is also from CSUN.

Then there are hard-looking gals like Shannon Watson (linked here), a 5-foot-11 blonde from Manhattan Beach and El Camino College, who is a Pisces, 34-25-35, Caucasian, and is a model who has "worked all over the world, most recently in Korea."

Snap!

There are rules. No touching, errrr ... (linked here)? Aside from the high-school 3-point line, a 35-second clock and two 20 minute halves, there's a "Red Light Special" where a player has "a 60 second opportunity to score a bonus point."

Oh, and "a fight for possession of the ball results in an actual jump ball between the two girls." No possession arrow? Then let's keep on fighting.

The league hopes to make it with its four teams through Sept. 2, afterwhich a title game will be decided upon.

So bring plenty of single dollar bills to the opening doubleheader and make sure the league survives to see a champion crowned.

Meanwhile, back at the NFL Network ...

After a nine-hour live block of shows called "Back to Football" on Friday, the league-owned channel says it will begin coverage around the clock of the free-agent signings, starting at 3 p.m. with "NFL Total Access." It continues Saturday and Sunday starting at 6 a.m., followed by NFL Total Access at 4 p.m.

Among the reporters on the beat (with their Twitter accounts): Albert Breer (@albertbreer), Jason La Canfora (@jasonlacanfora), Michael Lombardi (@michaelombardi), Scott Hanson (@hansonscott), Steve Wyche (@wyche89), Michelle Beisner (@beisnermichelle) and Stacey Dales are around the league. Rich Eisen (@richeisen), Fran Charles, Kara Henderson (@karahenderson), Paul Burmeister, Jamie Dukes (@jamiedukes), Warren Sapp (@qbkilla), Mike Mayock, Charles Davis (@cfd22) and more are in the studio.

Pat O'Brien, what are you wearing? You look so hot. Why not some stripped-down TV poker?

Something called the Epic Poker League has announced a deal with CBS to buy time on the network for 20 hours of programming on five events from the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

O'Brien, currently trying to rehab his career as a midday sports-talk show radio host, has decided to be the master of ceremonies. Ali Nejad, a guy, is his sidekick.

Most of the Epic tournaments coming up in February will air on Velocity, a Discovery Communications network launching in October.

We'd love to do more on this, but we've completely lost interest. Here's a link to something that tells more about it (linked here).

Whatever minimal audience the O'Brien-Hartman-Jacobs show on Fox Sports Radio must draw these days, you've got to think they're just keeping him onboard in case he has another meltdown.

We'll leave it as this: TV poker has jumped the card shark. So O'Brien is going to bring it back?

Nearly four weeks after he went 5-for-5 and reached the 3,000-hit mark, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is the focus of a prime-time HBO one-hour documentary the debuts tonight at 9 p.m. with many replays

"Derek Jeter 3K" is the result of MLB Productions giving HBO its kind of "24/7" access to document the moment he accomplished July 9 against Tampa Bay with a home run.

Jeter actually wore a microphone during two games, including the one in which he reached the 3,000 career hit milestone. The MLB Productions camera crews tagged along with him at his home and during rehab on a calf injury. Interviews are also inserted with Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Curtis Granderson, Dave Winfield, Minka Kelly and Billy Crystal.

Ken Rosenthal tweeted it within the last hour:

Furcal 7-for-18, 2 2B last 5G. #Dodgers willing to include significant cash. Furcal owed about $4M. #tradedeadline #MLB

That's shorthand for: The Dodgers want to get rid of Rafael Furcal. If you didn't already know.

Rosenthal, Fox's MLB columnist and reporter, must grit his teeth every time he tweets.

He admitted as much the other day on the MLB Network (where he also works) when asked about how social media impacts information floating out there as the trading deadline nears,

"The social media explosion has added a whole new variable . . . There's no question, and the presence of Twitter right now is a huge change in reporting for all of us, in every sport. The difference now is you get information and people put it out there -- sometimes I do it too - instantaneously, and it's one source, not multiple sources which we were taught to do. ... It's a short-term attention-span kind of thing and I am not sure, to be perfectly honest, it has been a constructive development for journalism."

The MLB Network will be all atwitter as the deadline approaches, with Rosenthal part of the process, joining Peter Gammons and Jon Heyman as the main tweeters. There's a two-hour live special on Saturday at 8 a.m., and then 10 hours of coverage on Sunday starting at 8:30 a.m. MLB.com senior writer Jonathan Mayo and MLB Network Insiders and sportswriters Phil Rogers, Richard Justice and Tracy Ringolsby will contribute analysis on-air throughout the day.

We're not even sure what to make of the term "bodywear."

Even if it's one word, two words, hyphenated or some kind of fancy accent mark.

The Urban Dictionary admits it can't define it (linked here). But the more we surf around for how it's used, the more it seems to be stuff that you wear closer to your body than you would, say, a life jacket or a feather boa.

What David Beckham might have to offer to world in this category, we'll apparently soon find out.

The hip apparel store H&M (linked here) announced today that the Galaxy's global icon will "make his Bodywear range for men" available starting next February.

"Over the past year, I've been developing my Bodywear range with my team and I'm
extremely positive about what we have designed and produced," Beckham is quoted as saying in a press release, coming out a day after he participated in the MLS's All-Star game against his old team, Manchester United, in New York, affording him to be around for the announcement.

"The final piece in the jigsaw was a retail partner who has the vision and capability to distribute these products globally. In H&M we have found the perfect partner to collaborate with going forward, I'm excited and looking forward to showcasing the range to H&M customers from February."

The release explains how Beckham and his business partner Simon Fuller announced earlier this year the launch of a new "Brand Identity and DAVID BECKHAM branded product line" to include bodywear.

"This partnership with H&M is an important step in the evolution of David's journey from
sporting hero to entrepreneur and icon," said Fuller.

We're still looking for a sleeve of Beckham arm tats that we could wear to the next Galaxy game. Which would be the first one we attended in a long while.

Documentary film makers Morgan Spurlock and Mike Tollin are listed among those who'll debut new sports-related films on ESPN as the desert portion to the "30 For 30" series starting on Sept. 27 at 5 p.m.

A new film will debut on Tuesday nights during the fall. The lineup:

Sept. 27: "Catching Hell" (Alex Gibney/Gary Cohen): The two-hour production focuses on Steve Bartman and Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. Gibney relates the scapegoat compulsion to his own frustration as a Red Sox fan when Bill Buckner was similarly singled out for letting a fateful ground ball go through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Gibney engages Buckner and his story as a means of exploring what has kept Bartman so silent despite highly lucrative offers to tell his side of the story.

Oct 4: "Renée" (Eric Drath): It's 90 minutes of Renee Richards and her battle to enter the 1977 U.S. Open as the first transgender tennis player. Simultaneously, it follows her today as she struggles to cope with a life of contradictions and personal conflict.

Oct. 11: "The Dotted Line" (Morgan Spurlock/Jeremy Chilnick): A look at what it takes to be a big-time agent in the competitive world of major league sports. Agents Peter Greenberg and Eugene Lee are profiled along with their clients New York Mets' pitcher Johan Santana (Greenberg's) and NFL hopefuls Jacquian Williams and Robert Hughes (Lee's).

Oct. 18: "Unguarded" (Jonathan Hock/Philip Aromando): Chris Herren, Fall River, Massachusetts' high school basketball superstar, played for Boston University, for Jerry Tarkanian's Fresno State team, bounced around the NBA (once playing for his Celtics) and around the globe. He failed drug tests wherever he played. Ultimately, he found redemption through the game, but only after it led him down a path of alcohol and drug addiction that nearly killed him.

Oct. 25: "The Real Rocky" (Jeff Feuerzeig/Mike Tollin): Chuck Wepner is a liquor salesman from Bayonne, N.J. who drives a Cadillac with "Champ" vanity plates. Is he the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky"? Yup.

Nov. 1: "Charismatic: (Steve Michaels/Jonathan Koch): In June of 1999 an unlikely colt named Charismatic, with down and out jockey Chris Antley aboard, headed down the stretch at the Belmont Stakes, just seconds away from becoming the first Triple Crown winner in nearly 21 years.

Nov. 8: "Roll Tide/War Eagle" (Martin Khodabakhshian): With two Heisman trophies, two national championships and one crazed fan, the biggest rivalry in college sports, Auburn vs. Alabama, has reached new heights in the last two years.

What Ervin Santana pulled off today in Cleveland was not only a bit unusual because the Indians scored a run but also because the Angels actually trailed in the game, 1-0, after the first inning and had to make a comeback to win it -- while their pitcher was throwing a no-hitter.

Ever happen before? Todd Betzag of the Elias Sport Bureau has the answer:

On July 29, 1968 -- 43 years ago this Friday -- the Cincinnati Reds' George Culver (linked here) no-hit Philadelphia in the second game of a doubleheader, 6-1, at Connie Mack Stadium.

The Phillies scored in the bottom of the second to take the 1-0 lead -- Richie Allen reached first on an error given to Reds' first baseman Tony Perez, and went to second when a second error was charged to second baseman Woody Woodward. Allen moved to third on a groundout and, one batter later, scored the unearned run on Cookie Rojas' sacrifice fly.

FYI: Rojas is the father of Angels broadcaster Victor Rojas, who called Santana's no-no today for FSW.

In the top of the third, the visiting Reds took the lead with three runs and didn't look back (box score linked here from Retrosheet.org).

And whatever happened to Culver? He ended up pitching for the Dodgers in 1973, and until recently was the Dodgers' spring training pitching coordinator in Glendale, Ariz.

A come-from-behind no-no also happened on Aug. 25, 1967:

== Dean Chance, a former Angels' Cy Young Award winner pitching for Minnesota, no-hit Cleveland, 2-1. The Indians, as they did Wednesday against the Angels, scored a run in the first inning at home -- but this time it was earned. It came on two walks, and error, and Chance's wild pitch. The Twins came back with one in the second and one in the sixth. Chance walked five and struck out eight in that game.

== Three pitchers have thrown no-hitters and lost because they're team couldn't score enough runs. In 1967, Steve Barber and Stu Miller lost for Baltimore even while no-hitting Detroit, 2-1. In 1964, Houston's Ken Johnson no-hit Philadelphia but lost, 1-0, on an unearned run at the Astrodome.

And in 2008, Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo combined on a no-hitter against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium through eight innings, but lost the game, 1-0, and were not credited for a no-no because they didn't go at least nine innings since the Dodgers didn't have to bat in the bottom of the ninth.

Big thanks to Paul Olden , the New York Yankees' public address announcer and former MLB and NFL play-by-play man, for passing on that gem.

A day after implying during an interview at the conference's annual media day in L.A. that an announcement about a Pacific-12 Network was still a ways off, commissioner Larry Scott told a New York press conference at an East Coast media day that it's all been pulled together.

A deal that the conference calls "innovative" and "transformative" in its press release, the Pac-12 Network will begin in August, 2012 as a two-pronged entity -- one nationally distributed, and six regional networks in Southern California, Northern California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, and the Mountain regions that are directly linked with Time Warner, Comcast, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks.

The Pac-12 would own the channels as Pac-12 Media Enterprises, which would also expand to wireless services.

Some 40 million cable TV homes will be in play here with about 850 conference events -- 350 nationally, and 500 on the local channels that will be basic digital. The national channel would be available on a sports tier, charging viewers extra fees. DirecTV appears to be one of the national distributors of the channel, but that has not been announced.

"It's such a unique opportunity," Scott told the New York reporters. "We've had a national brand, but the tribal nature make college sports very local. So this is an attempt through the unique structure of our conference and the cable industry to super-serve fans in a hyper-local way."

In the conference release, Scott also said: "As we explored the potential for a Pac-12 network, it became clear that we could customize programming towards local interests and provide our students, alumni, and many fans the widest possible range of events with the best opportunity to see the schools they care about most."

This is all in addition the Pac-12's previously-announced 12-year, $3 billion deal with ESPN and Fox to carry football and basketball games starting in 2012.

"Larry Scott and his staff have again done an outstanding job in showcasing the conference with this model for the Pac-12 Network," UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said. "The idea of having both national and regional platforms, as well as multiple cable partners, will give fans a greater opportunity to follow the accomplishments of our student-athletes in all sports.

"There is obviously a lot to learn in the next few months but it is clear that the young men and women who compete at UCLA and other Pac-12 institutions will receive television exposure like never before and that is very exciting.

"In addition, the network will provide opportunities to highlight the academic success of our student-athletes as well as the overall academic accomplishments of this outstanding university. This will be a great showcase for UCLA."

USC athletic director Pat Haden: "Kudos to commissioner Larry Scott and the Pac-12 staff for the work they did in putting together this visionary broadcasting opportunity. It will be an invaluable benefit to all 12 conference institutions.

"For us, the Pac-12 Networks will provide great exposure for our 640 student-athletes and will give us a unique platform to deliver our message about USC's athletic and academic programs. Trojan fans across the country will be able to watch all of our 21 sports, not just football and basketball. If you are a parent of a Trojan student-athlete, no matter where you reside you will be able to watch your son or daughter compete. It's a great boon for our Olympic sports, where so many more people will be able to witness our unparalleled tradition of producing NCAA champions and Olympic medalists.

"I'm also excited about the network's academic component and I look forward to working with our provost in developing programming that tells the story of USC's academic achievements."

More to come ...

(Jason DeCrow/AP Images for Jose Cuervo)
Kevin Love, right, and pro beach volleyball player John Hyden play on a beach court set up Tuesday in New York's Times Square.

Kevin Love has decided to be a Manhattan Beach boy.

The Manhattan Beach Open next month comes before the tour stops in Miami on Sept. 16-18 and the national championships at Hermosa Beach on Sept. 23-25, to be shown on the Versus network.

The Associated Press

Training for the 2012 London Olympics extends beyond gyms and running tracks for British athletes. Coaching is being provided on how to deal with scoop-hungry British journalists.

The British Olympic Association is warning athletes that general news reporters will be at the Games to find front-page stories that "will not be in the athlete's interest."

"These writers have no allegiance to your sport and are sent to an event such as the Olympic Games to get a story," says the BOA's "Athletes' Guide to Dealing with the Media."

"These stories by their very nature are usually linked to a scandal and the writer does not care if he/she treads on any toes to find a lead. The news reporter's aim is to find a front page story."

And the media training handout cautions: "If you're not willing to give your views then someone may make up your views for you."

Meanwhile, some British athletes have been warned to be careful when tweeting.

People will be assigned to watch what their athletes are posting on social networking sites. Criticizing officials is on the banned list as well as obscene language.

"They know the parameters," said David Faulkner, the British hockey team's performance director. "If they break the rules, they will come in for disciplinary action."

The International Olympic Committee bans athletes or coaches from "comment on the activities of other participants or accredited persons."

IOC President Jacques Rogge urges athletes: "Think first, tweet later."

The story that started out in early June with the discovery that Vin Scully's Hollywood Walk of Fame star was not only in poor shape, but next to a theatre with a history of being haunted (linked here), continued to where a fan named Glenn Mingay stepped up to say he'd raise the money to fix it (linked here) and reached some kind of resolution when the soon-to-be bankrupt Dodgers said they'd pay for it (linked here) reached a neat and clean conclusion.

Mingay, a Southern California native who lives in Chicago, was back out here last week for his father's surprise birthday in Camarillo, and was able to help put the finishing touches on Scully's star restoration, the $2,500 of which was paid by the Dodgers.

"Having seen the pictures of it before all weathered and cracked, it was great to see the sealant we put on it really make it pop," Mingay said. "I couldn't believe they blocked off the sidewalk for us. It kind of created a whole scene where people walking by wondered what was happening, so they started talking pictures as well. I had one couple from Europe even ask me, 'Who's Vin Scully?'"

Ana Martinez at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said Mingay was treated to a lunch at Mel's Diner and given "the VIP treatment at the Hollywood History Museum. He is a good guy and had a great time."

Historic Trust Board members Jeff Briggs and Donelle Dadigan, who are behind the upcoming facelift of the whole Walk of Fame beginning this fall, were also on hand to welcome Mingay.

The next night, Mingay got more VIP treatment: He went to Friday's Dodgers-Nationals game and met with Scully in the press box, bringing along his wife, Lori, and two more friends.

"Friday was unbelieveable," Mingay said. "First, I hadn't been to the stadium in awhile, so I was surprised at all the updates made, and the collection of memorabilia on the club level. When we got to the press box and spoke to Mr. Scully, he was so kind to me and my wife and my friends, he thanked me again. He mentioned that he hadn't been to his star since it was put in in 1982, but he said that 'people walk on me all day anyway, so it's no big deal.'

"Everything that people have said about Mr. Scully is true: He's just such a kind and generous man. It was an awesome day. And after that, my wife had her first Dodger Dog."

Mingay has kept his website, SaveVinsStar.com, up for another month in case people still want to make donations -- which will be forwarded to the Bryan Stow Fund to help the San Francisco Giants fan who is recovering from being assaulted in the Dodger Stadium parking lot on March 31 Opening Day.

It's logical to assume that with all her accomplishments, Long Beach native Billie Jean King's induction into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame (linked here) would have happened years ago.

Uh, no.

On Friday, Aug. 5, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, King will join seven others to be honored by the organization that is involved in promoting and developing the growth of the game locally.

King, who won a record 39 Grand Slam titles, help found the Women's Tennis
Association, World Team Tennis and The Women's Sports Foundation and already is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, will go in along with former SCTA and USTA president Frank Johnson, players Dorthy Head Knode, Pat Canning Todd, Kathy Mae Fritz and Hugh Stewart along with former UCLA player and coach Billy Martin and USC player and coach Dick Leach.

The eight will boost the number of SCTA Hall members to 70.

Johnson, the current chairman of the ATP's Farmers Classic that will be played this week at UCLA, led to the effort to rename the USTA National Tennis Center in New York after Billie Jean King.

Knode played in the 1940s and '50s and was ranked as high as No. 5, reaching the final of the French Open in 1955 and '57.

Todd, ranked as high as No. 4, is best known for her four Grand Slam championships, including the 1947 French Open singles.

Fritz once ranked No. 8 on the women's pro tour in the late '70s and was a fixture on the women's tour for more than 20 years.

Stewart was an NCAA champion at USC, winning the doubles title in 1951 and the singles title in 1952.

Martin was an NCAA singles champion and has been on the UCLA coaching staff for 27 years. As the head coach for the past 18 years, he has a record of 383-79 with one NCAA title.

Leach, an All-American player at USC, spent 23 years as Trojan's men's tennis coach, winning three national titles with a record of 529-133.

From 1986 ...

The Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Time Warner Cable customers in Nebraska will be able to watch Cornhuskers football games on the Big Ten Network, only after BTN threatened to withhold three Nebraska games from the service if they didn't move the net to a standard service platform.

The cable company and BTN announced the network would move from the more expensive upper-tier service in Nebraska on Aug. 23.

BTN will be available on channel 24 for Time Warner subscribers. BTN is currently available to digital customers on channel 333 and in HD on channel 1333, and will remain on those channels.

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

THIS WEEK'S BEST BET

X Games: Thursday through Sunday, at Staples Center, Nokia Theatre and L.A. Live:

The 17th annual action sports competition stays grounded, and consolidated, within the greater Staples Center local, with more than 200 athletes scheduled to avoid major medical health insurance claims while showing off their tricky moves.

Of the eight motocross events inside Staples Center, the new twist this year is an Enduro X event for the Sunday night climax -- men and women riders plow through sand, dirt, mud, logs, giant tractor tires and two-foot-wide rocks, while trying to steer clear of World Metta Peace's locker-room stall. "It takes the most well-rounded rider to win that series," said 2008 champion Ricky Dietrich. "You can't be just a trials specialist and win it, or just an off road specialist. You have to have the best of all backgrounds." That includes a little mountain goat DNA as well.

There's also a new downtown street circuit -- no more tearing it up at the Coliseum or Home Depot Center in Carson -- for the Rally Car racing on Saturday and RallyCross on Sunday. The six-turn, six-tenths of a mile run needs five million pounds of concrete barriers and 700 feet of dirt, including a 70-foot gap jump, to pull it off. They'll have to close three streets, including Figueroa alongside the Staples Center, and 12th Street as it weaves around Gilbert Lindsay Plaza in front of the Convention Center. Think small-scale Long Beach Grand Prix. "Being in the car, ripping through streets, cranking the handbrake through intersections while door-to-door and jumping next to buildings is going to be truly epic," said Tanner Foust, a three-time X Games rally gold medalist. Sounds a little carmagedden-ish all over again.

X Games favorite Shawn White is listed as competitor in the skateboard vert, although there were rumors he might try rally racing, having signed a strange promotional deal with BFGoodrich Tires. "Entering the X Games race (in rally racing) would be insane," White said. "But I want to have time to prepare. Maybe next year. Then again, maybe I'll get into MMA instead. Isn't that what everyone's doing now?"

Acting, too. He's somehow in the new Justin Timberlake flick "Friends With Benefits" where he makes a pretty caustic cameo that will make the audience look twice to see if that's really the same laid-back guy they're used to seeing on TV. "They wanted me to lose it in this role, really flip out," White told USA Today. "I was like, 'OK, cool.'"

ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 will do 25 hours live over the four days, with 18 hours as well on ESPN's 3D channel. So if White wigs out again, they'll be all over it.

MONDAY

MLB: Dodgers vs. Colorado, Dodger Stadium, 7:10 p.m., Prime:

The Rockies, considered preseason contenders for the NL West title, may be sellers at the trade deadline this week, facing a Dodgers team in a similar situation. They're separated by a couple of games in the NL West, but it's a battle for third place, double-digits behind the leaders. Ubaldo Jimenez, a Cy Young candidate a year ago who didn't get on track this season until he shutout the Dodgers with a complete-game effort on June 1, could be the first to go. He misses this series having pitched Sunday. Clayton Kershaw, who has struck out 29 and walked only five during his last three consecutive victories, is scheduled to throw on Tuesday during a Fernando Valenzuela bobblehead night giveaway (7:10 p.m., Channel 9) leading to the finale on Wednesday (7:10 p.m., Channel 9).

MLB: Angels at Cleveland, 4:05 p.m., FSW:

All-Star shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera has earned his keep, leading the Indians in every offensive category as they try to challenge Detroit for the lead in the AL Central. The Angels have already won four of six against Cleveland during two series in Anaheim back in April and May. This series includes Tuesday (4:05 p.m., FSW) and Wednesday (9:05 a.m., FSW).

TUESDAY

WNBA: Sparks at Minnesota, 5 p.m.:

This game isn't being televised. Instead, Prime Ticket has room for something on this day in the 9:30 a.m. slot. It's called "Perkier Boobs!" an infomercial that promotes a product that has "no more wires, hooks and adjusting straps. Discover comfort, discover great looks." It's the Genie Bra for those who are out of the loop and into the latchless. Maybe that will spark some interest. The latest road trip for Joe Bryant's team includes games in Atlanta (Thursday, 4 p.m., NBA TV), Chicago (Saturday, 5 p.m.) and Indiana (Sunday, 3 p.m., NBA TV).

MLB: San Francisco at Philadelphia, 4 p.m., MLB Network:

A day after visiting the White House as the defending MLB champs, the Giants head to visit the Phillies with Tim Lincecum putting himself in front of the taunting crowd. (Matt Cain faces Cole Hammels in Wednesday's game on ESPN at 4 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY

MLS: All-Stars vs. Manchester United, 5:30 p.m., ESPN2:

A year ago, Manchester United trashed the MLS All-Stars 5-2, with Federico Macheda scoring the game's first two goals. An injured David Beckham didn't participate, but he's been named to the MLS team this year, with Galaxy teammates Landon Donovan and Sean Franklin. Chivas midfielder Nick LaBrocca is also on the MLS squad. Man U is the
reigning English Premier League champions and 2011 UEFA Champions League runners-up, having just polished off the Galaxy in one of those friendly things at Home Depot Center on Sunday.

THURSDAY

MLB: Angels at Detroit, 10:05 a.m., FSW:

In a four-game series where three of 'em are under the sun, the Angels can't shade themselves and hide from Justin Verlander (13-5, 2.24 ERA), even though he actually took a loss in Anaheim on July 5, 1-0, on a night when Dan Haren threw a two-hitter. Verlander is slotted to go Sunday (10:05 a.m., Channel 13), after games Friday (4:05 p.m., FSW) and Saturday (1:10 p.m., Channel 11).

Golf: U.S. Senior Open Championship, first round, noon, ESPN2:

From the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, this comes less than a week after the Senior British Open wore the field out in Surry, England. Bernhard Langer defends his title. NBC has the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday (noon).

Note: The official X Games breakdown for Thursday (ESPN, 4-8 p.m.; ESPN2 highlights, 10 p.m.):
BMX Park elimination, L.A. Live Event Deck, noon; Skateboard Park elimination, L.A. Live Event Deck, 2:30 p.m.; Moto X Step Up final, Staples Center, 4 p.m.; Skateboard Park final, L.A. Live Event Deck, 5 p.m.; Moto X Best Whip, Staples Center, 5:45 p.m.; Moto X Best Trick, Staples Center, 6:15 p.m.; BMX Big Air final, Staples Center parking lot 7, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY

MLB: Dodgers vs. Arizona, Dodger Stadium, 7:10 p.m., Prime:

With giveaway weekend upon us for many MLB teams, a Kirk Gibson bobblehead night sometime during this series would have been swell timing. The Dodgers did honor him once with a ceramic statue. Vin Scully laughed when he first saw it because he said it looked like actor Stacey Keach. This one continues Saturday (7:10 p.m., Channel 9) and Sunday (1:10 p.m., Prime).

Note: The official X Games breakdown for Friday (ESPN, noon-2 p.m.; 4-8 p.m.; ESPN2 highlights, 10 p.m.):
Skateboard Street Men's Elimination & Womens Final, L.A. Live Event Deck, noon; 11 a.m.; Moto X Freestyle Round 1 and final, Staples Center, 4 p.m.; BMX Vert round 1, Nokia Theatre, 5 p.m.; Skateboard Big Final, Staples Center Parking Lot 7, 6:30 p.m.

SATURDAY

Note: The official X Games breakdown for Saturday (ESPN, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Channel 7, 1-3 p.m. ESPN2, 6-7 p.m.; ESPN, 8-9 p.m. ESPN2 highlights, 11:30 p.m.):
BMX Park Round 1 and final, L.A. Live Event Deck, 11:15 a.m.; Skateboard Street Men's Round 1 & Final, L.A. Event Deck, 1:30 p.m.; Rally Car Racing final, Staples Center lot 7, 1 p.m.; Skateboard Vert Elimination, Nokia Theatre, 3:45 p.m.; Skateboard Vert Round 1 and final, Nokia Theatre, 7 p.m.; Women's Moto X Racing Round 1 and Moto X Speed And Style Final, Staples Center, 7 p.m.:

SUNDAY

Tennis: Farmers Classic ATP tournament final, UCLA Tennis Center, 2 p.m., ESPN2:

When I ruled the world, we had a tennis tournament with a Coldplay concert breaking out. Consider it done. The plan is for the group to play Wednesday night to get Westwood buzzing, and that will be a needed boost to the Kramer annual bash. The local heroes, and defending champs, won't be causing much of a racket this time. Two-time winner Sam Querrey is out recovering from elbow surgery, leaving Mardy Fish as the top seed, and only player ranked in the ATP's Top 10 in the event after he won last week's tour event in Atlanta. He has a bye in the first round here. And newly minted Wimbledon doubles champs Mike and Bob Bryan say they need a week of rest, having just played Davis Cup and World Team Tennis. ESPN2 has a Friday quarterfinal (4 p.m.) and a Saturday semifinal (7:30 p.m), while Jimmy Kimmel is supposed to have some of the Coldplay performance on his late-night show (midnight, Wednesday night).

NASCAR: Brickyard 400, 10 a.m., ESPN:

On the track, Jamie McMurray will try to defend his title. On the track infield, a Beach Bash hosted by a former Playboy Playmate AJ Alexander is planned, with all kinds of music, a bikini and "hot bod" contest hosted by Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee, go-go dancers, beer pong and volleyball. Rev it up. An attendance slump has hit this track like a ton of bricks. There were 280,000 at the 2005 event, but just 140,000 last year. Or, the number of fans at Dodger Stadium in July.

Note: The official X Games breakdown for Sunday (ESPN, 2-4 p.m.; ESPN2, 4-6:30 p.m., ESPN2 highlights, 10:30 p.m.):
Hometown Heroes skateboard street elimination and, L.A. Live Event Deck, 11 a.m.; RallyCross final, Staples Center parking lot 7, 2 p.m.; BMX Street Round 1 and final, L.A. Live Event Deck, 4 p.m.; Skateboard Game Of SK8, L.A. Live Event Deck, 5:30 p.m.; Moto Enduro X Round 1, last-chance qualifer, Womens Final, Mens Final, Staples Center, 6:15 p.m.

Former UCLA and Clippers guard Baron Davis returns to his high school alma mater, Crossroads in Santa Monica, for his second All-Stars Kickball Challenge on Sunday afternoon to raise awareness for the Rising Stars of American Foundation (linked here at the official website www.rsoa.net).

RSOA's mission is to use athletics as a means of teaching ethical, social values and life skills through mentorship and positive role modeling to today's youth. Davis found the program in 2004.

Those who'll be part of the Kickball Challenge:
== Pro basketball players such as John Walls, Matt Barnes, Darren Collison, DeAndre Jordan, Craig Smith, CJ Watson, Al-Farouq Aminu, Dorell Wright, Jaron and Jason Collins, Pooh Jeter, Noelle Quinn, Ticha Penichiero and Samardo Samuels,
== Pro tennis player James Blake,
== Pro football players Ephraim Salaam and Ramses Barden,
== Pro beach volleyball players Kim Glass and Lindsey Berg,
== Actors such as Denyce Lawton and Regina King,
== TV personalities such as Ben Lyons, Eva Marcille, Guy Torry and Catt Sadler,
== Comedian Kevin Wu,
== Producer Cash Warren

The festivites begin at 1 p.m. at 1715 Olympic Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90404.

A big-time judge says Frankrupt McCourt must now do the rest of his money monkey business with the Bank of Bud Selig, aka Mr. Potter?

Do the Dodgers risk severe penalties for early withdrawal of the NL pennant race?

Is the IRA interest rate tied to team's 30-inning fixed ERA?

Where's that free toaster that burns up all the profits?

== Pent up frustration led to Jeff Pentland's firing as the Dodgers' hitting coach? Because, expense-wise, he's the cheapest solution and knows the answers to the team's offensive problems are simply the absense of power and speed?

== With everything he's been through, you sure Andrew Bynum doesn't have a handicapped parking placard that he just forgot to display? Don't you want to him to park as close as possible to any store he ventures into, for fear he could twist a knee by having to walk more than 20 feet?

== Two years after he wraps his new Caddy Escalade around a fire hydrant and a neighbor's tree, he raps longtime caddie Stevie Williams for being disloyal and kicks him to the curb.

How's that for some Titleist entitlement issues?

And Tiger Woods assumes there's going to be plenty of options finding someone willing to take care of all his extra baggage and do his dirty work from here out?

== You think Williams, who by some reports has an estimated net worth of $20 mil, having been with Woods for 12 years and more than $90 mil in tournament winnings, would have any sort of appeal for Elin Nordegren? Or might she be interested in joining Adam Scott as a twosome?

== When the most popular NBA video game decides to put Magic, Bird and Jordan on the cover of its "2K12" edition, what kind of message does it send about current locked-out player marketability?

== If the Chicago Blackhawks ever get to host another outdoor NHL game at Wrigley Field, any chance of sneaking in new Cubs signee Trevor Gretzky?

== The San Francisco Giants are squeezing in the obligatory White House visit on Monday, a day after having played a home game and a day before they need to be in Philly for a three-game series.

All because of the fact that the last time they were in D.C., back in late April, their original back-slapping trip to see President Obama was called off.

There was all this commotion at that time with Operation Neptune Spear - the mission to snuff out Osama bin Laden.

So the sight of a long black beard from Giants reliever Brian Wilson coming through the Rose Garden this time won't be some kind of weird flashback for Obama and his aids?

== For as crotchety and defiant and out-of-touch Al Davis can be in his early 80s, don't you at least have to respect the fact that the Pro Football Hall of Famer registered the one abstention to the NFL owners' labor proposal?

== And as for the ESPN anchor who listens intently to an ex-player give some opinion about the NFL lockout, and then end the segment by exclaiming: "Great stuff."

Really? What again was great about it?

Are you simply clueless, or do you really want to get into a Twitter war with Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe when he puts his UCLA education to some use?

Earlier this week, the Philly-born and O.C-raised basher (linked here) did a single-boot takedown on the quartet of Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Logan Mankis and Vincent Jackson, saying their "greed" to cut an inside deal has effectively held up the NFL collective bargaining agreement (linked here).

"Congrats (to the four) for being 'that guy'," Kluwe tweeted, then referring to them in hashtag reference as a feminine hygiene product.

Jim Rome ate it up, on both his radio and TV shows. Kluwe's Twitter account was leaped upon like an open spot in the In-And-Out drive-through lane.

As an encore, he brilliantly started a counterattack (linked here) against Nate Jackson, a one-time Denver Broncos' tight end who wrote a piece for Deadspin.com entitled: "Dear Chris Kluwe: When We Want The Punter's Opinion, We'll Ask For It (We Won't)," with this paragraph:

"Yes, I am a punter. Yes, I don't run routes, or zone block, or cover receivers. Apparently, though, neither did you, which is the only explanation for your total lack of statistics."

He also managed to slip in: "I don't really care what you or anyone else thinks about what I say or when I say it. If I see something greedy, hypocritical, or just plain stupid, I'm going to call out whoever the offending party happens to be.

"I've done it to the owners; I've done it to the NFL front office; and I'll certainly do it if I see it happen with the players. And make no mistake: Trying to hold up the settlement of a CBA affecting almost 1,900 players just so four can get special treatment is pretty much the definition of greed. Whether it was instigated by their attorneys, agents, or whoever, it's still a douchebag move to make."

Who's next in line for a coffin-corner kick in the groin?

You dare question the intelligence of someone who has earned more than 8,000 achievement points in the MMORPG World of Warcraft video game, where, as a troll rogue named Loate, he has been a member of one of the formerly top-ranked U.S. guilds, The Flying Hellfish, for more than two years?

You mock how iTune-d in a bass player could be having formed the alternative rock band, Tripping Icarus, and whose first full-length LP, "Perfect Citizen," is coming out this fall, with or without an NFL season (linked here)?

You snicker at someone who bares his soul each week on Minneapolis radio for "The Half-Assed Morning Show" when he goes by the name "Chris Warcraft"?

He's a special-ops kid all right.

The Special Teams Player of the Game from the 2003 Silicon Valley Football Classic when the Bruins somehow couldn't keep up with Fresno State (a miserable 14-9 loss) is the same guy who discovered that he could lead all NFL specialists with a $5 mil a year salary - considering the Buffalo Bills pay a combined $5.4 mil for kicker Rian Lindell and punter Brian Moorman, the second- and third-highest-paid specialists.

So figure it out before the next snap.

In this crafted game of Kluwe, you're either trying to do the safety dance, or you're more likely just more potential collateral damage.

(AP Photo/Brad Pogofsky via attorney Michael Botti)
This 1994 family photo provided by Lyle "Brad" Pogofsky via attorney Michael Botti shows part of a collection of autographed baseballs belonging to the late Larry Pogofsky, of Highland, Park, Ill., who had spent about 30 years collecting until his death in December 2010.

By Don Babwin
The Associated Press

CHICAGO -- In a display case, among the valuable baseballs signed by the likes of Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio, suddenly appeared a ball worth all of a few dollars signed by a merely above average second baseman with little chance of joining those greats in the Hall of Fame.

For Benjamin Pogofsky, that was proof that something was rotten with his late father's treasured baseball collection.

What has since transpired is a Major League family feud over a bunch of balls that has included a will, a lawsuit, an order of protection and criminal theft charges. And behind it are two brothers whose father had sat on the Chicago White Sox board of directors and who spent a good part of their childhood at the ballpark rubbing shoulders with some of the game's biggest stars.

Today, Lyle "Brad" Pogofsky appeared in court in Lake County on felony theft and burglary charges that came after the family alerted police he'd made off with dozens his late father's autographed baseballs from the home of their widowed mother in Highland Park, one of Chicago's more upscale North Shore communities. A judge set a trial date for Nov. 10.

Prosecutors allege that between Jan. 12 and March 6 of this year, Brad Pogofsky stole balls valued a total of $10,000 to $100,000 from Lynda Pogofsky's home. The balls were among more than 200 signed by many of the greatest players in Major League history, which Larry Pogofsky had spent about 30 years collecting until his death last December.

"Basically this is about a family, an age-old story where you have a father who was wealthy and a couple of kids fighting over the money, who gets what, who's entitled to what," said Michael Botti, Brad Pogofsky's attorney. "It should be dealt with within the family and not with a Class 1 felony."

Hockey Hall of Famer Mike "Doc" Emrick, coming up on his 65th birthday, said he will step aside from calling MSG Network TV games for the NHL's New Jersey Devils after 21 years so that he can focus only on national games for NBC and Versus.

"I've been extremely fortunate to have been able to spend 23 incredible years with the MSG Network channels and 21 equally enjoyable years -- including three Stanley Cup championships -- with the New Jersey Devils," Emrick said in a statement. "But that assurance of less travel and fewer games has regrettably led me to end my association with the MSG Network channels and the Devils."

Emrick, who a Sports Emmy this year as TV's top play-by-play announcer, was with the Devils through their Stanley Cup victories in 1995, 2000 and 2003, as well as a finals loss to Colorado in 2001.

Former Thousand Oaks High and Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter Marion Jones , averaging less than a point per game in 14 appearances this season for the WNBA's Tulsa Shock, has been waived by the team in a roster move.

The Shock, 1-14 heading into the All-Star break, announced Jones was cut to make room for former Oklahoma center Abi Olajuwon.

Jones says in a statement released by the team that she appreciates the "opportunity to fulfill a dream" and she hopes to still contribute to pro women's basketball.

Jones, the California state player of the year in 1992 who played as a freshman on North Carolina's NCAA title team basketball in '94, won three gold medals and two bronzes at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but ended up giving the medals back and serving about six months in prison after admitting she had lied to federal investigators about taking steroids.

If you were to conduct an online poll, and about 200 replied to it, would that be an accurate representation? And what if 150 or more of those who responded were slanted toward one answer?

Consider the poll on the Facebook page of Padres blog Friarhood.com In answer to the question: Should the Padres bring back Dick Enberg for the 2012 season to continue calling gams on Channel 4 San Diego, 151 have said no as of 5 p.m. today, while 63 say yes.

A report on something called the San Diego Reader (linked here) cites the biggest complaint of Enberg's work is that he's too complimentary of opposing teams when they do something well.

Stuff like:

Robert S.: "i say we get someone. . .who announces as if he's not actually rooting for the dodgers or vagiants."

Jake G.: "I want a home town announcer to sound like one."

If there are genuine complaints about his making mistakes, that's one thing. Even Enberg would hate to have that tarnish a career of so many successful moments.

Friarhood.com editor Steve Adler: "I get the sense that there are more people who feel passionately that they don't want him back than there are those who feel passionately about him staying.... I have a lot of respect for what Dick Enberg has done in his career. He is a broadcasting legend and no one wants to take that away from him. The reason for the poll [is] to allow fans to voice their opinions and tell us what they want for the 2012 Padres TV broadcast."

Adler also hosts a Padres fans show Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. on www.XTRASports1360.com.

Seriously, is this is the best San Diego Padres fans can bring to the table? Complain about someone like the 74-year-old Enberg isn't cheery enough about the last-place team in the NL West and spends too much of his broadcast acknowledging the superior performance of the opposing team?

Tell us you've at least heard Vin Scully do a Dodgers' game. Listen closely: You can't fool baseball fans.

The 1954 Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks varsity baseball team included Pat Gillick, top row, far left.

Gary Lane and Ron Mertus already have a small claim to fame - they can boast of having played together on the same Van Nuys High varsity baseball team with Don Drysdale nearly 60 years ago.

"He's a real Valley kid," Mertus said.

Chico, north of Sacramento, was actually Gillick's birthplace, in 1937. The son of minor-league pitcher Larry Gillick, he bounced around living in many of the California League cities.

"Ron and I go back over 60 years," said Gillick. "To see some of those people like him that were involved in my early life, and then getting into professional baseball, and them taking the time to come back, I'm really touched deeply by that."

******************

HIGHLIGHTS OF PAT GILLICK'S PRO CAREER:

== In five years of minor-league baseball with Baltimore and Pittsburgh, he got as high as Triple-A with a 45-32 record and 3.42 ERA in 164 games.
== 1963: Started a front-office career as assistant farm director with Houston and later director of scouting
== 1974: Moved to the New York Yankees system as coordinator of player development .
== 1976: Became the expansion Toronto Blue Jays first VP or player personnel and later VP of baseball operations.
== 1977: Became the Blue Jays general manager and orchestrated a roster that won five division titles in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1993, including the '91 and '92 World Series.
== 1995: Named GM of the Baltimore Orioles and built teams that made the playoffs in 1996 and 1997.
== 1997: Voted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
== 1998: Named GM of the Seattle Mariners and built a roster that got Seattle to playoff appearances in 2000 and 2001, the latter team finishing with a 116-46 record to tie the 1906 Chicago Cubs for the all-time major league record for most wins in a season.
== 2005: Named GM of the Philadelphia Phillies and retired after the Phillies won the 2008 World Series.

SIGNIFICANT MOVES:

With Toronto:
== Drafted pitcher Dave Stieb (fifth round in 1978), pitcher David Wells (second round in 1982), first baseman John Olerud (third round in 1989), second baseman Jeff Kent (20th round in 1989) and outfielder Shawn Green (16th overall in 1991).
== Obtained Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar from San Diego for Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez in December, 1990; obtained David Cone from the New York Mets for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson in late August, 1992; obtained outfielder Rickey Henderson from Oakland for Steve Karsay and Jose Herrera in late July, 1993.
== Signed key free agents Jack Morris (1991), Dave Winfield (1991), Paul Molitor (1992) and Dave Stewart (1992).

With Baltimore:
== Drafted catcher Jayson Werth (22nd overall in 1997).
== Obtained pitcher David Wells from Cincinnati for Curtis Goodwin and Trovin Valdez in 1995.
== Signed key free agents Roberto Alomar (1995), Eric Davis (1996) and Joe Carter (1997).

With Seattle:
== Traded Ken Griffey Jr. to Cincinnati for Brett Tomko, Mike Cameron, Antonio Perez and Jake Meyer in 2000.
== Signed John Olerud as a free agent (1999).
== Signed Felix Hernandez as an amateur free agent (2002).

With Philadelphia:
== Signed free agent outfielder Jayson Werth (from the Dodgers, 2006) and pitcher Tom Gordon (2005).
== Traded Jim Thome to Chicago White Sox for Aaron Rowand, Gio Gonzalez and Daniel Haigwood in 2005; traded Bobby Abreu to the Yankees for Matt Smith, C.J. Henry, Jesus Sanchez and Carlos Monasterios in late July, 2006; obtained pitcher Jamie Moyer from Seattle for Andrew Barb and Andrew Baldwin in August, 2006; obtained reliever Brad Lidge and Eric Burntlett from Houston for Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary and Mike Constanzo in 2007.

During a visit to the Hall of Fame last April, Pat Gillicks looks at the spot where his bronze plaque will be placed.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT GILLICK:

== "Not only was he a great general manager, but he's a great person. He wanted to sign me (as a kid), but I already had a commitment with the San Diego Padres. Five years later, he went back and got me for the Toronto organization. Those were great years in my career. I have a lot of respect for him." -- Second baseman Roberto Alomar, who will be inducted into the Hall today.

== "He deserves the honor and it's good to see someone with his background get this honor because in a lot of ways he represents the scouts and represents the people who do the grunt work that don't get the recognition. I think he believes that he represents all the people behind the scenes who we as GMs rely on to help make the teams better." -- Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr.

== "The secret to Pat is basically that he's always given his people a forum in which to speak freely. Very rarely in a meeting will he inject his opinion. He will one on one, but he doesn't want his opinion to outweigh the suggestions of the people that work with him. You don't work for Pat. You work with Pat." - Philadelphia Phillies director of major league scouting Gordon Lakey.

== "He's a legend. It's been just the one time (in a World Series) for me, and when I see all that it takes to get there, and to see his record, it's amazing." - Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels.

== "He was arguably the best general manager of his generation. He's extremely gifted, and we knew that. We didn't want him to leave." -- Seattle Mariners president Chuck Armstrong.

== "Look what Baltimore has done since he left. He might be an architect and a genius in baseball, but he is a kind man. He's a Hall of Famer." - Howard Hart, a long-time beer vendor at Camden Yards whom Gillick personally invited to Cooperstown as his guest for the induction ceremony.

Following up to stories we have done recently about how former syndicated radio host Tom Leykis has been trying to make a $50,000 donation toward the reward money offered for leads on the beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow:

Daily News Wire Services

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today added $15,000 the reward for information leading to whoever beat San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow on opening day at Dodger Stadium, leaving him with severe brain injuries.

Increasing the county reward from $10,000 to $25,000 brings the total reward to at least $225,000, including more than $100,000 from the Dodgers, $50,000 from the Los Angeles City Council and $50,000 from radio personality Tom Leykis.

Stow, a 42-year-old paramedic and father of two, suffered brain injuries and is hospitalized at San Francisco General Hospital. He was punched and fell, hitting his head on the pavement.

Police contend that Giovanni Ramirez was one of the two men who assaulted Stow following the Dodger's opening-day victory on March 31, but have not charged him in connection with that case. Instead he has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for violating his parole.

His girlfriend, Denise Piccione, was arrested in Las Vegas July 9 and booked on drug and weapons violations. She has pleaded not guilty and a preliminary hearing in her case has been set for July 27.

Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said that Piccione is a witness in the Stow case, though she may be an alibi witness rather than a direct witness to the beating.

"The LAPD still needs the public's assistance in their search," Supervisor Michael Antonovich said today, when recommending the increase to the reward.

OK, we did hear that marriage ended between the two TV broadcasters. We just weren't sure how recently. Until CBS issued this press release this afternoon:

CBS Sports' Lesley Visser will marry international businessman Bob Kanuth at Appleton Chapel on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. on Saturday.

Visser is a pioneer for women in sports broadcasting and the most highly acclaimed female sportscaster of all-time. She was recognized by the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 2006 as the only woman to receive the Pete Rozelle Radio and Television Award.

Kanuth, a highly successful businessman in the real estate and finance industry, was the captain and Most Valuable Player of the 1969 Harvard Crimson basketball team.

Among the many guests from the business, sports and media worlds will include CBS President & CEO Leslie Moonves and his wife, Julie Chen, host of CBS show "The Talk," former New York Yankees first baseman Tino Martinez; Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan; CBS Sports golf analyst Nick Faldo; Boston Celtics owner Steve Pagliuca; AutoNation CEO Michael Jackson; University of Louisville basketball head coach Rick Pitino, who introduced the couple; and CBS Sports college basketball analyst Bill Raftery. The couple will honeymoon in Paris and Provence, France.

Visser's Wikipedia page says she was married to sportscaster Dick Stockton, a longtime broadcaster in Boston who works for Fox and Turner Sports, from 1983 to 2010.

Bryant Gumbel's closing thoughts that will air on tonight's eposide of HBO's "Real Sports" have nothing to do with HBO Sports chief Ross Greenburg leaving, but the exit that the U.S. women's soccer team made in the World Cup Final:

"Can we stop coddling women in sports? Are we now so fearful of being labeled sexist that we can't objectively assess the efforts of female athletes? Those are both valid questions that have come to the fore in the wake of the patronizing reactions that have followed the USA's loss to Japan in the Women's World Cup soccer final.

"Look, I have no desire to see anyone assail the women's game or their athletes unfairly. But if the definition of true equality is treating folks honestly, without regard for race or gender, then it's time we started critiquing women athletes in the same way we do the men. I'm sure some won't like it, but blind praise is worthless in the absence of fair criticism."

Former University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer, biding his time these days as an analyst for ESPN, was asked on today's "College Football Live" show about the difficulty in keeping high-profile athletes from putting their cleats in their mouth with all the social media out there these days -- in light of USC's Marc Tyler getting suspended for things he said in an apparent inebriated state to a TMZ "reporter" and video-camera holder.

Meyer's response might be along the lines of what you'd expect from a former SEC coach.

"I think back to when I was 20 years, and I'd like to meet the first person that's ever made a mistake," said Meyer. "(This) was a stupid mistake and I think USC handled it correctly.

"What we actually did at Florida the last couple of years is have a player-relations guy on your staff who educates your players. And then simply put: You make a rule. Don't embarrass the university or the football team, or there will be a price to pay.

"I just think we gotta move on. It's over. It was a 20-year-old's mistake that didn't hurt anybody. He said some stupid things. His father came out and agreed with USC did. But I think part of the problem is we're making such a big deal out of this. It's not a big deal. It's a mistake. Move on."

Asked if he thought the players fail to understand how damaging social media can be if not handled properly, Meyer added: "Once again, what makes it damaging is the non-stop ... we're sitting here talking about it now and it happened a day or two ago? I have a problem with people who keep reporting and reporting on it. It's not that big a deal. The kid made a mistake. Plenty of people make mistakes. Don't do it again or you'll miss a game. He's going to sit a game. Move on."

For the record, this is Tyler's third alcohol-related incident, with the previous two involving him either hitting or spitting on a woman. Tyler was supposedly in an alcohol education program when this latest TMZ event happened.

Eventually, ESPN brought on Chris Spielman, the former Ohio State All-American linebacker and network game analyst, to talk about the problems college teams face with today's social media always in their faces: "I wouldn't be surprised if you see teams hire a Twitter coach, or a Facebook coach, a social network coach hired on a staff to monitor what these guys do and help and educate them. Another way would get a giant slide show at a team meeting, and show the dumbest tweets and Facebook posts, whatever, show them how foolish certain people look."

Spielman also said he thought if today's college athletes don't understand their actions have repercussions on the Internet, "then their parents are doing a poor job of educating them. We've raised a narcissistic generation -- it's all about me, they're the news and they want to let everyone know they're the news. Educate your kids on the dangers and pitfalls that can come and understand what you put out there is a reputation of yourself, your faith, your family ..."

Because somehow, a TV camera, somewhere, will pick it up as well.

Not that it happened here. That's my brother, Tony, on the far right, and his son, Steven, left in the Angels gear, at a game in Oakland last Friday. They had no idea, of course, the FSW camera would be focused on them while promoting ticket sales.

Or that the woman in front of them would be hitting herself on the forehead...

Just be careful out there....

Photo from the Springfield (Ill.) State-Journal Register

Steve Shannon, who called Angels games on KMPC-AM (710) and KTLA-Channel 5 as well as UCLA football and basketball in the early 1980s, died after a long illness. He was 69.

Shannon, born Steve Bloomfield, was buried on July 16 in Springfield, Ill. (obit linked here). He had quadruple bypass surgery in January 1998 and also suffered from diabetes.

Shannon worked with Ron Fairly on Angels games, replacing Al Wisk on KMPC for the 1980 and '81 seasons on radio, and with the late Bob Starr on televised games. He and Fairly also did UCLA football games on TV.

Norm Rosenfield, a publicist with the Triple-A Denver Bears and longtime friend of Shannon's, also relays a story about how Shannon could have been in line to replace Jerry Doggett on the Dodgers' broadcasts.

"I got a call one day, in 1976, from Steve, asking me to pick him up at the airport," Rosenfield said. "I didn't know where we were going. Finally he told me to go to Dodger Stadium. Once we were there, we were at (owner) Peter O'Malley's office. Steve goes in, I'm waiting for him, and he finally comes out of the meeting holding a radio. And then Peter comes out.

"It turns out that Steve was up for the job that Doggett left open, and before the team eventually hired Ross Porter. Steve thought he had the job until the last minute when Ross called to say he'd accept it. Not many knew at the time that Ross, who worked for Channel 4, wanted to do play-by-play."

Shannon joined the Angels at the end of the 1979 playoffs to do radio, and stayed on for two more seasons. He covered UCLA's basketball team in the 1980 season when the Bruins went to the NCAA title game.

He spent 10 years broadcasting Major League Baseball with the Angels, Kansas City Royals (1978-'79) and Milwaukee Brewers (1981-87) with Bob Uecker, when the team was owned by Bud Selig. Shannon was also the first broacaster of NBA games on the USA Network in the 1980s and called games for the old ABA's Denver Rockets. He turned down an offer in 1980 to call L.A. Rams games.

UPDATED MONDAY PM:

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

THIS WEEK'S BEST BET

MLB: Angels vs. Texas, Angel Stadium, Tuesday at 7 p.m., Channel 13; Wednesday at 7 p.m., FSW; Thursday at 12:35 p.m., FSW:

Without "The Cowboy," there's no Los Angeles Angels. Of anywhere. Period. Gene Autry saddled up to the Baseball Gods in the late '50s and got himself a big-league team, to rival the Dodgers. It was born in 1961. And 50 years later, the team is paying him back. They've already retired the No. 26 in his honor, but they do him one better by inducting him into the Angels Hall of Fame, in a ceremony before the first game of this series (Channel 13, 6:30 p.m.).

Nolan Ryan, the Texas Rangers CEO and president whose known his share of top-notch cowboys over the year, was to be part of the presentation with Rod Carew, Bobby Grich, Brian Downing and Chuck Finley. But the 64-year-old was in a Houston hospital on Monday under going tests about a recurring heart condition and it's not likely that he'll be out in time to travel. Autry's wife, Jackie, will accept the honor on behalf of her late husband, who died in October, 1998. Autry is the ninth inductee into the club's Hall, after Ryan, Grich, Carew, Downing, Finley, Don Baylor, Jim Fregosi and Jimmie Reese. By the time this series ends, the Angels could close in on the Rangers, winners of 12 in a row, for the lead in the AL West, with All-Stars Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson scheduled to go head-to-head in Thursday afternoon's heated-up finale.

MONDAY

MLB: Dodgers at San Francisco, 7:15 p.m., Prime:

They've got All-Stars pitchers like Lincecum, Cain, and of course, the dapper Brian Wilson with a seal-skin tux. But the Giants can't stop singing the praises of Ryan Vogelsong, a miserable journeyman reliever who somehow got picked to be on last week's NL All-Star team. Oh, right, the manager was Bruce Bochy. Between 2000 and 2006, Vogelsong had a career record of 10-22 with the Giants and Pirates before he was released. He got signed, and cut, by the Phillies' and Angels' Triple-A teams, plus two teams in Japan -- so he wasn't on a big-league game for five season. This year, he's got six wins already and an ERA nearly four runs lower than his career average. "I don't think there's a guy here who has been through more of a weird road," said Lincecum about the latest Brian Sabien salvage project. With Jonathan Sanchez and Barry Zito coming and going on the DL, Vogelsong remains in the starting rotation, and is on schedule to face Chad Billingsley in the opener. The teams continue the series Tuesday night (7:15 p.m., Channel 9) and Wednesday afternoon (12:45 p.m., Prime), where Clayton Kershaw is in line to face Tim Lincecum in a rematch of the season opener.

WNBA: Sparks vs. San Antonio, Staples Center, 7:30 p.m.:

You'd think the Sparks could have had Jordan Sparks sing the national anthem before a game by now. Maybe they have and we just blocked it out of our heads. Nevertheless, they're trying to draw fans to this game by promoting the fact a leaner, meaner Ruben Studdard will do a halftime concert. No, we didn't studder.

TUESDAY

MLB: Philadelphia at Chicago, 5 p.m., MLB Network:

Cliff Lee, who had a run of three straight shutouts stopped by a loss in Toronto, a no-decision against Atlanta and giving up the only run in last week's All-Star game, takes the hill tonight at Wrigley Field.

WEDNESDAY

Horse racing: Del Mar opener, 2 p.m., TVG:

It beats standing around waiting to see the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus during a 10-show run at Staples Center. And check out the new Del Mar and Verizon Wireless new phone app -- it allows on-track mobile wagering, streaming of live races, replays, Cybertote (real time results, odds, will pays, scratches, etc.), and a betting calculator. Read more about it: mobile.dmtc.com. The schedule runs through Sept. 7. Don't phone it in.

THURSDAY

Golf: PGA Champions, Senior British Open, first round, 9 a.m., ESPN2:

Take your sandwich and head over to Surrey, England, for more wind, rain and tall weeds. With older gentleman playing it. The second round is also on ESPN2, before moving to ESPN (Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m.).

Golf: PGA Canadian Open, first round, noon, Golf Channel:

The tour's beyond-U.S. borders continues, in Vancouver, where they've stopped rioting in the street. It finishes up on the weekend on CBS (Saturday and Sunday, noon).

FRIDAY

MLB: Dodgers vs. Washington, Dodger Stadium, 7:10 p.m., Prime:

Relief pitcher Tyler Clippard, the Washington Nationals' lone rep at last week's MLB All-Star game, was summoned into the contest with two outs in the fourth inning, after the American League touched up Cliff Lee for three hits and a run. Clippard, who's only real claim to fame is lead the majors in the non-official "holds" category, made three pitches and didn't even get an out. He gave up a single to Adrian Beltre, but then left-fielder Tyler Pence threw out Jose Batista trying to score, ending the inning. When the NL wracked up three runs in the bottom of the fourth, Clippard, replaced the next inning by Clayton Kershaw, was somehow credited with the game's winning pitcher -- matching his win total for the first half of the season. Davey Johnson's bullpen bully takes his seat back in right field for this series, which finishes with games Saturday (7:10 p.m., Prime) and Sunday (1:10 p.m., Prime).

MLB: Angels at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m., FSW:

Vlad Guerrero "seems like an incredibly friendly, nice dude, and I bet he works his butt off," writes SBNation.com "Camden Chat" contributor Andrew G (linked here). "That ends the nice things I have to say about him .... Vlad Guerrero is the embodiment of my anger towards the Orioles. He needs to go away forever. Right now. ... I don't expect the Orioles to heed this call. Not for one second. Why? Because Vlad is basically a nutshell of everything that is wrong with the franchise, and releasing him would be bafflingly, uncharacteristically smart of them." Think the Angels would take him back? The Orioles have temporarily got rid of Guerrero putting him on the 15-day disabled list with a broken bone in his right hand. It's retroactive to July 11, so he won't be available until next week. Guerrero has not played since being struck in the hand by a pitch from Boston's Kyle Weiland on July 10. He's batting .279 with seven homers and 31 RBIs. The series continues Saturday (4:05 p.m., FSW) and Sunday (10:35 a.m., FSW).

SATURDAY

WNBA All-Star Game, 12:30 p.m., Channel 7:

Live from San Antonio. You realize it's never been held in L.A.? Three times in New York. Twice in Connecticut. Even two times in Washington D.C. Candace Parker was voted into the West lineup, but, of course, she's still hurt. So she'll miss this, as well as the layup contest.

SUNDAY

MLB: Hall of Fame inductions, 9:30 a.m., MLB Network:

Pat Gillick, an outfielder out of Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks, L.A. Valley College and USC (on the Trojans' 1958 national championship baseball team) who gained far more baseball glory from becoming a successful general manager in Baltimore, Seattle, Toronto and Philadelphia. He joins former Angels pitcher Bert Blyleven and second baseman Roberto Alomar in receiving their lifetime vistors' pass to Cooperstown.

Cycling: Tour de France, final stage, 5 a.m., Versus:

It's been a survival of the fittest tour so far, with crashes making most of the headlines. U.S. rider Christopher Horner broke his nose and had a concussion after a spill toward the end of Stage 7 and had to quit. On Sunday's Stage 9, four riders withdrew after crashing on a slick descent. The same day, a French TV car hit Spain's Juan Antonio Flecha, who banged into Holland's Johnny Hoogerland, sending him into a barbed wire fence. "Unfortunately, the race is being decided by crashes," Levi Leipheimer told the Christian Science Monitor last week. "Of course, they're part of the sport, but I don't think it's right to have [them] to this degree." Let's just end this thing safe and sound by the time it reaches the Champs-Élysées.

Soccer: Galaxy vs. Manchester City, Home Depot Center, 1 p.m., ESPN:

Another World Football Challenge event, not at the bigger Coliseum.

Swimming: FINA Aquatics World Championships, 11 a.m., Channel 4:

It's five aquatic disciplines -- swimming, water polo, diving, open water swimming and synchronized swimming -- from Shanghai, China, with some of them used as qualifiers for the 2012 Summer Games. The Olympic-type swim-fan stuff starts today and runs through July 31, with the spotlight on the usual the usual suspects for the Americans: Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak, Ryan Lochte, Amanda Beard, Natalie Coughlin, Jessica Hardy, Katie Hoff and Rebecca Soni.

Or this one, also on YouTube, with local boy Matt Cassel part of the dealio, expanded (and uncensored) from the TV spots that you may have already seen:

You would almost pity the man if he weren't such a scoundrel, or a schlemiel, depending on your perspective. Always with a fine suit on, his thin lips moving constantly as they work their way into some new sort of trouble, he's been owner of the team for seven years, since he blew into town with Jamie, his tense, skinny Chihuahua of a wife who favors a look that could be described as Real Housewives Business Casual--tight navy skirts, highlighted blond hair, and enormous handbags.

Continue reading a piece on L.A.'s most infamous power couple in the August issue of Vanity Fair (linked here) with Emma Stone on the cover.

AP Photo/Courtesy Juli Miracle

The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio State fan has received a Buckeyes-themed send-off, filling in as the 'I' of the O-H-I-O cheer from his open casket.
Juli Miracle of Newark tells The Columbus Dispatch she staged the photo for her 80-year-old father, Roy Miracle, before his funeral because he was fun loving and revered Ohio State.
"I didn't do it for anybody but Dad and I," she said. "To me, it was the best honor and tribute to do for him and OSU."
She submitted the photo to an Ohio State website for O-H-I-O shots, noting ""Now Dad
is the permanent 'I.'"
Miracle died July 1. The end of his funeral service was marked by an "O-H-I-O" cheer
from the congregation.

Online: www.osu.edu/O-H-I-O.
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

The countdown begins to Shaquille O'Neal giving Kobe Bryant a live, studio critique. Should an NBA season develop anytime soon.

The thing is, Shaq quotes always look better on paper than they do coming out of his mouth. Maybe they're just easier to understand.

While we were on a conference call with him and Turner Sports president David Levy earlier this morning, it wasn't until we saw a transcript of the thing a few hours ago that we could decipher some of what he was mumbling about in this multi-year, multi-platform deal that the former Lakers star did with TNT.

Yep, he'll be there on the NBA studio show, trading incoherency with Charles Barkley and forcing Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith to translate.

That'll make for great closed-captioning TV.

One of the things we did catch was that while O'Neal may have a development deal with Turner's entertainment and animation division, it won't involve creating a "Kazaam" cartoon series. Probably.

"Kazaam is back in the bottle and gone forever," he said.

Levy said that it was actually Barkley who was "one of the biggest proponent of bringing Shaquille on board. We have always had four people sitting up there in any way shape or form. I think there will be enough to go around for everybody and certainly Shaquille's insight will only enhance the overall show. We are always looking for ways to improve the show and we believe bringing Shaquille on will do that."

More questions may have gone unanswered than answered: What will happen to Chris Weber on the TNT set? Will Shaq be part of the TNT/CBS college basketball coverage? Will he go out to do games from time to time?

Shaq wouldn't expand much on why he picked TNT over ESPN or any other medium, just saying that ESPN was "very tempting" and that Turner and TNT "was just the best fit for me. ... It was my favorite show. ... it was a deal I couldn't resist. ... I didn't want to make it a 'this and that'-type of war."

He won't have trouble fitting in with the group because, as he says, "I've always been a team player. I know when to fit in or sit back and relax. I'm just honored that they invited me and chose me. I'm just going to make it more fun than it already is."

He said his philosophy about giving his opinions: "Some people give unfair criticism. Some people give fair criticism. I have the ability and backing to give fair criticism. The only time I have a problem with people giving criticism is when they haven't walked that walk. I have walked many walks in my 19-year career. I think any criticism I give should be fair. ... I'm just going to try to be charismatic, funny, and very professional. My favorite analytical guy is Bryant Gumbel. I love him. He's so smooth and he's intelligent. Hopefully, I can get to that level one day."

Just keep it real, sport.

One last quit from David Feherty, who once upon a time thought he'd grow up to sing opera professionally:

== Greatest opera singer you've ever heard:

"There are great actor-singers. And there are great singers who couldn't act, like (Luciano) Pavarotti. Who is the greatest ever when it came to tenors. Incomparable. Currently, I'd say Bryn Terfel (left). He's the Tiger Woods of bass baritones. He's liquid gold pouring out of the heavens. He's got a voice that's unfair for a big fat Welshman."

Jay Leno, right, talks with Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy after their 1999 Women's World Cup victory.

Got a chance to ask Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain, two heroes from the 1999 Women's World Cup title team at the Rose Bowl and now part of ESPN's coverage, to react to a quote by current U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo about how the current team was tired of being measured up to that last title squad:

Foudy: "I'd be tired of it too if I were them. It's understandable. What I think I hear from them is they just want forge their own identity. And that's what I love about this moment. The country can embrace this team and wrap their arms around it. And they are the ones who did it. It wasn't someone from another team. They've given this country such a reason to love them. You can't do much better than that -- scoring the 122nd minute with a player down, then winning in penalty kicks (against Brazil in the quarterfinals). You couldn't have scripted it better."

Chastain: "I'd also say that whether they like it or not they're tired of hearing it, we are one big team, being part of U.S. soccer. No one will take this moment away from this team, but you can't take someone like Julie Foudy out of the U.S. soccer history books. We're all part of this same goal to make women's soccer in the United States and in the world more popular and give it more exposure with all these special stories. At times, when we hear that 'we're tired of it,' it's disheartening to me personally. Once you're apart of U.S. soccer, you're always apart of it. And we're just trying to make soccer better."

Shaquille O'Neal worked out a deal with TNT, not ESPN, to work as a studio analyst starting this fall, should there be an NBA season. TNT announced it this morning.

The former Lakers center will join the team of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson full time, be part of the NBA All-Star weekend and the NBA playoff coverage, as well as work for NBA TV and NBA.com.

Perhaps a key to TNT winning over Shaq is an agreement that includes a development deal with Turner's entertainment and animation networks to act and produce TV and film projects.

In a statement released by the net, O'Neal said: "I can't wait to begin my new career with Turner. Over the past several years the team at Turner has taken the NBA and entertainment, in general, to a whole new level. I'm grateful for the opportunity to join the amazing team at Inside the NBA and I hope I can further the fans' experience on a regular basis."

More randomness from David Feherty, hopefully from what you've been following along:

== The most famous golf course that you're not allowed to ever play on again?

"Pine Valley (in southern New Jersey). I got thrown out for not playing it years ago. I was with a member and a friend of mine. We'd been drinking. We went up there with a member to take a look at the place. And we drank some more and somebody recognized me and said, 'What did you think of the course?' And I said, 'Well, we didn't play we just came up to look at it.' And he said, 'Whoa, you know my friend and I are going out now, there's still time to play nine. Why don't you join us?' 'Thank you very much, no.' And he looked at me and said: 'Nobody refuses a chance to play Pine Valley.' And I said, 'You just met the first (bleep) who did.' So there.

== Sports Illustrated just came out with its eighth annual list of the 50 top earning American athletes by salary, winnings, endorsements and appearance fees. The call it the Fortunate 50 instead of the Fortune 500. But eight years in a row Tiger Woods is at the top. Would you consider Tiger to be the most fortunate?

"No, golf is so different from any other sport. You don't earn a league minimum, you don't sit on the bench. You take your own money and try to make more. That's why it's America's corporate sport. There's no guarantee for golfers. It's an immensely difficult sport both physically and mentally. So what he's been able to do, and what he's done for others, and people have already written him off as well. He gets his knee in shape, look out. We've only got a quick reminder of how good he is. He deserves all of it."

== Is it possible to live in Dallas and not own neither a cowboy hat nor a Tony Romo jersey?

"I thought you were going to say, 'Own less than five fire arms.' Well, I own a cowboy hat. I guess it's possible, but it's unlikely."

== Which part of your body hurts most today, and is it a residual effect of a bike accident near your home back in 2008 when you were hit by a truck?

"I can't play golf anyway now. My left arm is still pretty crippled (from the accident). I got crushed between here (the elbow) and here (the forearm) and it's all still numb. I've got no ulna nerves there. I can't close this (left) hand. My shoulder is just a dull ache. I can't take medicine for that. I'd had a minor problem with that stuff. I was taking 40 a day of that once, the narcotics. They don't mix. If I took that, I wouldn't be talking that medication."

== Best advice you ever received about broadcasting?

"Ken Venturi told me, 'You can never be criticized for saying too little.' And I totally disregard it."

== Your guest coming up next week is Johnny Miller - how far could you push the envelope on a broadcast if you and Miller were doing the commentary together?

"I think you'd need a padded envelope, the kind you send stuff where you don't want people to know what the hell is in it. Or one of those plastic UPS ones that you can't open with a hand grenade. Because the first thing, I disagree with him occasionally, which is (a long gasp). Just once I'd like someone to say, 'You're absolutely wrong, Johnny.' And I did it. You'll see it Tuesday."

== As a pro: 10 tour wins, $5 mil in prize money. Is that a better a measure of professional success, or having made the New York Times Best-Seller list as a writer?

"I think the Times was more satisfying than maybe anything outside of the Ryder Cup (in 1991) and I helped lose that. It was just being on that team and part of that club. I felt like my golf career was an apprenticeship for what I'm doing now. I never felt like a permanent thing. I wanted something along the lines of what I'm doing now, communication or entertainment media somewhere. I felt that's where I was comfortable. Well, not comfortable. Just less uncomfortable."

It took ESPY Awards host Seth Meyers just five minutes into his monologue to stab a few forks into the Dodgers. Starting with:

== "By the way the proceeds from tonight's show go to a very worthy charity: The Los Angeles Dodgers of America."

== "Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp is here tonight. Frank McCourt told Matt Kemp, 'Have fun tonight,' and then added, 'If they have any ketchup packets, grab as many as you can. Because we have run out of ketchup. Dodger Stadium no longer has catsup.'"

== "The Dodgers are so broke, when players steal bases, Frank McCourt asks that they please return them."

== "The Dodgers are so broke, their third-base coach is just a mirror reflecting the image of their first-base coach."

== "The Dodgers are so broke, three of their players tested positived for ramen noodles."

AP Photo/Martin Meissner
U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo holds a fan's sign after the 3-1 win over France in Wednesday's Women's World Cup soccer match in Moenchengladbach, Germany.

In a parallel universe, Pia Sundhage is Pete Carroll. The wavy gray hair helmet and a positive vibe are just the beginning.

After the semifinal victory against France, Solo told the TV camera that her and her teammates' confidence "comes from the fact we know we're damn good."

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Abby Wambach scores a header against France in Wednesday's game.

Wambach has already joined the Gibson stratosphere of American sports drama. Her short-handed header in the 122nd minute against Brazil in the quarterfinals, setting up a penalty-kick victory, has already been given an ESPY Award and included in a premature ESPN Top 10 list of the most electrifying moments in U.S. athletic history.

Hope you make it to the finals' party, too. Don't come solo.

The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- Prosecutors said today they will not file charges against University of New Mexico football player Deshon Marman, arrested on June 15 after wearing saggy pants on a plane at San Francisco airport.

The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office reviewed the arrest of Marman and determined criminal charges were not warranted.

"My belief is if we took this into a courtroom with 12 members of our community on our jury, they would tell me, 'Come on guys, you have more important things to spend your time on,'" District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. "And I share that view."

Marman was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, battery of a police officer and obstruction after police say he refused to leave the US Airways flight on the captain's orders.

More from David Feherty, picking up where we've left off, if that's possible without some reference points on the map:

== The one thing no one living here in the U.S. will never understand about Northern Ireland:

"If you're not from there, you're safe. We love everybody else, we just hate each other. The hardest thing to explain: Nietzsche calls it a collective subconscious, where there's an inbred genetic marker handed down. Most intolerance is a learned behavior, but there's a subconscious thing between the English and the Irish and other ethnic groups that's lasted for centuries, there's a marker we don't really understand but it's clearly there to deal with. It's a beautiful country. It'll be nice when it's finished."

== You've said growing in near Belfast in the '60s and '70s during the strife, urban warfare gave you a "keen sense of the absurd ... that armed you for playing golf, a totally absurd sport." What other sport in the world do you find to be pretty absurd?

"Curling. It's wonderful. Here's a brush. I'll scream at you. Go down there. You push. I'll throw a 40-pound rock at you. And all the stones are cut from the same piece of granite. And look at the people who play it. They're all from Canada or Inverness or the Arctic Circle. 'What do we do now? Let's put a rock on the ice.' And oddly enough I find it fascinating.

"Basketball is also absurd. The hole is in the air. It makes no sense. The one that confuses me, and love, but don't understand because I didn't grow up with it is baseball. I called into a Chicago radio station the other day to ask a question: 'Is there a book anywhere that I can read that explains the suicide squeeze?'"

AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
Relief pitcher Heath Bell of the San Diego Padres surprises the Cubs' Starlin Castro and the Giants' Pablo Sandoval by sliding into the infield before reaching the pitcher's mound during the eighth inning of Tuesdasy's MLB All-Star game in Phoenix.

On the same day that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp decided it would withdraw a $12 million bid to take over the outstanding shares of its own British Sky Broadcasting company, his Fox channel had its lowest overnight rating ever on the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

Tuesday's telecast did a 7.9 Nielsen mark, down 13.2 percent from last year's game in Anaheim (9.1 rating) and 24 percent from 2009's game in St. Louis.

Fox's spin was that overall, the game drew 25.9 million viewers and the ratings in various demographics was the most-watched show of any network on Tuesday. Plus it was the network's best night in prime time since the "American Idol" final .... all the way back in May.

Later in the afternoon, when all cities were taken into account, Fox said the game will officially go down with a 6.9 Nielsen rating and 12 share, down 8 percent from last year (7.5).

Still, the L.A. market was well below the average, with just a 5.5 rating and 11 share.

More sugarcoating: Fox said the game was better than recent network broadcasts of the Kentucky Derby (6.7), the entire NCAA Tournament (6.4), Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals (4.8) and the final round of the U.S. Open (4.5).

Phoenix, home of the game, had a 10.6 rating, 23 percent better than the 8.6 that the L.A./Orange County market had for the game at Angels Stadium. Still, because of the market size, L.A./O.C. had more than 288,000 homes watching a year ago than today's Phoenix viewers.

St. Louis (17.8) had the highest rating, followed by Philadelphia (14.7).

More with David Feherty, following up from previous blog postings (linked here):

== The one thing you can't do without every morning:

"Amphetamines. I take an antidepressant, a mood stabilizer, and amphetamines. I can go a few days without the antidepressants. Or a mood stabilizer. But if I don't have the amphetamines, I can't function as anything close to normal. Or whatever that is. I literally can't. I'm a big believer in a better life through chemistry."

== Saw in an interview that you said of yourself: "I'm not a nice person. I'm mean-spirited and sarcastic." At what time of the day is that most prevalent?

"Yeah. That's probably, oh, um, middle of the night when I can't stop my head from racing. I don't sleep very much at all. And if anyone were around . . . my wife is occasionally, but she's asleep. So I'm on my own being mean-spirited and sarcastic, fortunately. There's a lot voices inside my head and one of the usually comes out on top. But people don't take me seriously a lot of the time, when I'm actually being serious. So when you're trying to insult someone and you can't do it, it's like you've lost your ability to insult. Like, 'F--- off.' And it's 'Ah, you crack me up.' 'No seriously, f--- off.'

== The greatest addiction one can have positively?

"Physical exercise is one as great as you can have. Or unnecessary acts of kindness. The hardest, food is harder than alcohol or drugs because you have to eat. If someone said you have to have one glass of Bushmills a day, 'Uh, how big can that glass be?' "

The more we hear from David Feherty, the happier we'll be, from earlier blog posts:

== The product you'd like to endorse:

"A big fan of Preparation H. And not for the reasons . . . I put it on my eyes this morning. It's an old supermodel trick. You gotta use the jell, not the ointment, that looks a little too greasy, but if you use the jell around your eyes, the wrinkles just go ... whomp ... but I look a lot worse than this normally.

"I might also do something for a stool softener. Like a padded foam cover for your stool."

== Instead of the one that actually soften your, you know, stool?

"Either one. With the stool softener, you get this commercial where the camera shows two people sitting on parallel toilets holding hands, like the Cialis commercials. But it would be more relevant than Cialis. Because you actually need a stool softener when you're on the toilet. God only knows what you'd need an erection for when you're in two separate bathtubs. Right? Parallel toilets."

== Fart jokes: Underrated?

"I think they get most of the credit they deserve. They're usually the best. They're just downright funny. One of the best I ever heard wasn't a joke - it actually happened.

"A friend of mine, Jack McClusky, he used to caddie for me. We were coming out of a hotel and there was a little old lady in a Zimmer frame (walker) and she's giving it this (going very slowly) and we went through the door, and we got to where Jack was holding open one door and I was holding open the other. And just as she was walking past us, he unleashed the most God-awful fart. I mean, it was a stunt fart. It was chiropractic, the kind that would click your back, or whatever. And she stopped. And she looked up with a weird face. And Jack said, 'Don't worry dear, everyone will think it was me.' I blew a snotbubble laughing so hard. That's the greatest fart line I'd ever heard in my life. It's all about the timing."

(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Steve Stricker hits out of a bunker on the 16th hole during the final round of the John Deere Classic golf tournament at TPC Deere Run on Sunday.

Part II of the David Feherty Q-and-A, in relation to stuff he covered in last weekend's John Deere Classic for CBS:

== When Steve Stricker had that incredible 184-yard shot out of the trap on the 18th fairway, you were there standing behind him. Why didn't you tell the viewers that he went from a mashie niblick to a spade mashie instead of just saying he was using a 6 instead of a 7?

"That's a difficult question ... Well, it's not a difficult question because they don't use those clubs anymore sadly. I would love it if golf was still played by the two original rules. You'd still have those clubs to use out of various situations, for what they were invented. It could be very interesting to have a tournament played that way, with all the old equipment. There were rubbing irons to play out of wheel ruts, and horses hoofs, irons with big holes drilled in the face to get out of water."

== So you can't use those names because that's really what they aren't?

"No. Occasionally, you'll hear someone say a '3 metal.' Drives me nuts. It's a 3 wood. Doesn't matter what they're made of. They call 'em irons. They're not made of iron. They're steel and titanium. Mashie, spoons . . . It's inaccurate to call them that now. Those are antiques. It would be like calling a car a 'horseless carriage.' Which it is, but it isn't."

== You referred to Stricker's stance before that shot as looking like "a giraffe in a water hole." Not that it's any kind of double entendre or anything, but are you able to get away with references on TV, maybe because of who you are, or accent, that maybe no one else can get away with?

"Yeah, I made one this week. I think it was Chez Reavie hit a putt that just finished short, right on the lip, and I said, 'Oh, just one more Wheatie. One more stick of all-bran. Just to get a little more movement.' Who's getting that, really? I got a scolding for it. Anyone who's thinking that way should be ashamed of themselves. Like me. 'Stick of all-bran for a little more movement.' C'mon."

== One more thing about Sunday's telecast: Peter Oosterhuis seemed confused about whether Kyle Stanley could ask anyone how close Stricker was to him on the leaderboard before Stanley hit his shot out of the weeds - a one stroke lead or two? And you said, 'He's allowed to ask for information, just not for advice.' And that's one of those rules where you go, 'How is anyone supposed to know what's breaking a rule and what isn't.' What to you are the dumbest golf rules in the books today?

"Players do it all the time with me, asking me about the leaderboard. First thing I do when it's down to the wire, I'll tell the caddie, 'Just look at me, and I'll tell you how many you've got (strokes, while holding up fingers).' I can be a conduit that way so the player knows exactly where he stands. It's perfectly legal."

== But ethical?

"Yes, every player knows it's perfectly OK to ask. When Peter was playing, there weren't reporters on the ground, or scoreboards. It usually only is something done on the last couple of holes. Players know. When something is happening real time, and he'll miss a putt, and he's not able to see (what's happening in front or behind him), that's when I step in and say, 'You've got this.' I'll tell it to the caddie and he can decide whether or not he wants to give that information. But it's a service I'd provide for every player. No matter who they were. I don't think Stanley knew at that point what was going on. I didn't think he'd take a drop. He's so immensely strong. He hit a 600-yard par 5 with a driver and a wedge. He shot the front door."

== As far as the dumbest rules ...

"Hmmm . . . the fact rakes are allowed to be in bunkers. So if a ball comes up and leans up against one on the downslope of the front of the bunker, you move the rake, the ball rolls forward, you're supposed to replace the ball, but you're not allowed to embed it. But if you put the ball back where it was, and it rolls forward, you have to drop out on a penalty. Go figure.

"But you know we have a rule book that has a 600-page decisions booklet that goes with it. What's that about. Things have been called on me. "

== What if you see a violation?

"I'll say it if I see it on TV, or I see it live. Quite often I won't know what the viewer, or our producer or director see, so I'll ask, 'what have you got on that shot? It looked to me like the ball moved or something' and it happens so seldom and 99 times out of 100 a player will put his hand in the air. And I may not have seen what I thought I saw so I'll say, You try to protect the production crew when it comes to that, because if we don't pick it up. ..."

== So are you comfortable enough to say to a player or caddie, if you saw something that could be a penalty, because as a former player, you'd want him to know he's about to do something wrong?

"Yes. Absolutely. If I see a player liable to break a rule, I'd jump in. So would a referee. That's the difference between our sport and others. When a referee sees a player about to break a rule, he can jump in. There are so many gray things about the rules, and they're complicated, but we have the best rules officials of any sport. They're amazing. If there's any doubt they'll give the benefit to the player in the professional game. In the British Open? Not so much. Not knowing a rule isn't an excuse. The executive director of the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club don't know the rules. Everyone has to refer to a rule book. There are people who know them better than others. I probably know them better than anyone on our crew, but I haven't a clue on some of them. Because I have a life, you know."

Episode four of the Golf Channel series, "Feherty," takes on TNT's Charles Barkley Tuesday night (6 p.m., 9 p.m., 10:30 p.m.). (Earlier episodes with Lee Trevino, Don Cheadle and Tom Watson reair all the time .... )

You may have noticed some of the ads for the show include media reviews. Like, "The Los Angeles Daily News says, 'We want more. We need more.'"

What a moron. But it's true.

Before David Feherty took a seat next to Jay Leno on NBC's "Tonight" show this afternoon (watch the clips linked here and here), he was sitting next to us taking down a slice of strawberry cheesecake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the original Bob's Big Boy in Burbank, just down the street from the Leno studio. We ordered the same -- the attempt was to get us started on the same page, with the same fork.

We're not a licensed psychologist, or even a trained locksmith. But we felt the key to getting inside the twisted mind of Feherty was to come up with 20 (or so) questions that probed as many different areas of the cerebral cortex as we could get in, before we got kicked out of the booth because a party of four -- a mom with three screaming kids -- needed a place to sit in the always crowded eatery.

We'll serve up slices of the Q-and-A throughout the week, leading to Friday's media's full-on hook shot.

Tee it up, and read it with that thick Northern Irish accent in your head as the narrative continues:

== The one guest you'd want to interview for your Golf Channel show but doubt you'll ever get?

"Bill Murray. He's one of the most important figures in golf that people don't realize. 'Caddyshack,' which is by far nowhere near his best work -- and it annoys him at times that people equate him with that -- but it changed a lot of people's opinions, influenced a lot of people, about the country-club set, lampooned it, and made golf seem more accessible to Ordinary Joes. It shined a light up the kilt of the golf establishment. He was at the forefront of it and I'm not sure any of them knew the kind of long-term impact that it might have. He's a most unusual man. He doesn't have a cell phone. People give scripts to him leaving them at the gym and hoping he'll pick them up. He has six boys and he looks after them himself, with no nanny. He's a passionate and brilliant actor. 'Lost in Translation' is just sensational."

== We read you'd also like to get Colin Montgomerie on. Perhaps as "Mrs. Doubtfire." You are credited as the first to give him that nickname. True?

"I actually didn't, but I'm all right with that. It was an English bloke called John Hawksworth. But when the press came asking, 'What's it like playing with Mrs. Doubtfire,' then it was me who it was pinned to it. I've never used it on the air. I've said things like he had 'a face like a bulldog licking piss off a medal,' or 'a warthog chewing the head off a wasp'."

== Jim Nantz is ...

"Exactly who you'd think he is. He's a rock that we all hide behind in bad weather. He's the best. A great friend."

== Gary McCord is ...

"Fundamentally not right in the head. It's one reason we get along. He grew old, but not up."

== This weekend at the British Open, Rory McIlroy will ...

"He'll contend. I really do think that. I interviewed him a week ago (for the "Feherty" show) and he just has the most extraordinary sense of calm about him that you usually find in people not just older, but much older. He said something really telling to me: 'I realize at this stage in my career . . .' I'm thinking, 'At what age? When you were 11?' I'm thinking, 'Wow, it took me 52 years to figure that out.' It's when you start realizing you don't have much time left, you usually start to figure that kind of thing out. He's got that going for him. I think he's favored. "

The Dodgers insist that hundreds of fans with tickets to Saturday's game against the Padres showed up very late, unaware first pitch was moved up to 1 p.m. because Fox picked it as the afternoon regional telecast. When they arrived prior to 7 p.m., the place was empty, except for the cleaning crew and a few working sportswriters.

A plane flying a banner advertising the first episode of the new season for HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" was caught napping as well. It was flying above an empty Dodger Stadium late in the afternoon.

Those awake enough for the season-eight premiere Sunday night now know about the Dodgers connection to it.

Larry David, who once featured an episode where he picked up a prostitute so he could use the carpool lane and drive to Dodger Stadium game in time, had a storyline where he and fictional Dodgers owner "Joe O'Donnell" (played by Gary Cole) had the same divorce lawyer.

Who, as it turned out, wasn't Jewish.

When David found that out, he suggested to O'Donnell that they change lawyers, to this new Jewish guy he came across. That lawyer ended up not only screwing up David's divorce hearing, but awarded the Dodgers to O'Donnell's wife -- meaning when David showed up to a Dodgers game (on a set that didn't look at all like Dodger Stadium) to sit with O'Donnell in the owner's box, there was no where to go.

Then there's a whole bloody subplot about O'Donnell's daughter trying to sell Girl Scout cookies to David. Fast forward through it.

Another scene from the episode shows David in O'Donnell's office -- with the Dodger Stadium field outside his window. Which was completely made up. The owners' office would have had to be somewhere on the loge directly behind home plate to have that kind of view.

Replays of the first episode: Today at 8:30 p.m. (HBO2), Wednesday at 11:30 p.m. (HBO2), Friday at 8 p.m. (HBO2), Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (HBO2).

There will be more baseball-related storylines in the upcoming season. The New York Times, in a recent interview with David, had him talk about episode nine (out of 10) -- where David brings in Bill Buckner and Mookie Wilson into the plot. A ball rolls through David's legs in an important softball game -- he heard the music from a Mister Softee truck in the distance, which triggered a childhood trauma.

Who else but Buckner could offer him empathetic counsel?

"I wrote the outline and then called him," David said of Buckner. "He's a very quiet guy. It's not like you're talking to one of your friends. He's quiet. He has a cowboy quality. You sense that he's a decent guy."

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

THIS WEEK'S BEST BET

MLB: 82nd All Star Game, 5 p.m., Channel 11:

A retractable roof. The swimmin' pool in right field. And movie stars. Why can't Kirk Gibson's new house in Phoenix be a destination spot in the middle of July? Midwest snowbird Bud Selig has a air-conditioned place in Scottsdale, too. Yet, some say he may be sweating out how this is all going to play out.

Not so much about why this annual exhibition still determines World Series home field for the league that wins. There's the unbearable heat. And those protests that will be outside the Chase Field about SB 1070, Arizona's controversial immigration law. Arizona Republic columnist Dan Bickley wrote the other day: "Fortunately for Major League Baseball, the (political) climate in Arizona has improved dramatically, even if the weather remains perfectly awful. ... So quit whining about the heat. And pray that another generator doesn't go boom before the final pitch." And that no one litters in the pool, even if they're excited about seeing Andre Ethier take his spot there in right field.

MONDAY

MLB: Home Run Derby, 5 p.m., ESPN:

Time to grip it, rip it, raise the roof, turn up the heat and down some Cactus Cooler. Or go out and watch "The Zookeeper."

The NL team (with the Bodog.com odds to win): Matt Kemp (7/1), Prince Fielder (7/2), Matt Holliday (4/1) and Rickie Weeks (12/1). The AL team: David Ortiz (7/2), Adrian Gonzalez (7/1), Jose Bautista (the 3/1 favorite) and Robinson Cano (15/2). Who's not playing: Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, Lance Berkman, Mark Reynolds, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Stanton, Ryan Howard, Mark Trumbo, Jamie Carroll (just seeing if you're paying attention), Ted Kluszewski (deceased), Rip Repulski (also deceased), Greg Luzinski (not eligible), Barry Bonds (not yet retired), Ryan Braun, Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira, the last of whom Ortiz says he wanted on the team, but the Yankees first baseman decided that since he wasn't voted into the game, he'll stay home instead. Slug it out, boys.

TUESDAY

WNBA: Sparks at San Antonio, 5 p.m., Prime:

An elbow thrown by Sparks guard Kristi Toliver in a game last week at Phoenix that bloodied the eye of defender Ketia Swanier and led to her wobbling off the court was deemed a "cheap shot" on ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption" last week -- and downgraded from an "A" to a "B" by Tony Kornheiser because the Sparks didn't win the game. In fact, they lost by almost 20. But it got the team some national exposure, right? The Sparks go at this one with a new head coach, Joe Bryant, and they end their roadie Friday in Tulsa (who also has a new coach) and then finally come home to take on Washington at Staples Center (Sunday, 5 p.m.).

WEDNESDAY

Soccer: Women's World Cup semifinals: U.S. vs. France, 8:30 am., ESPN; Japan vs. Sweden, 8:30 a.m., ESPN:

Name three players on the French women's kickball team? Easy. Gaetane Thiney, Elodie Thomis and Corine Franco. Only because they posed nude in the German newspaper, Bild, earlier in the tournament, under the headline: "Is this how we should show up before you come to our games?" They said they did it to "raise awareness" of the womens' game, but also in response to some German players posing in Playboy last month. "We wanted to provoke and to generate some discussion," said Thiney. And then lost to Germany. They're in the semifinals, though, after stunning England in the quarters, the same round where Japan upset Germany. France is all that's left standing in the way of the Americans reaching the finale. That's the naked truth.

Special: "The Curious Case of Curt Flood," HBO, 9 p.m.:

Forty-two years ago, outfielder Curt Flood refused to be traded from St. Louis to Philadelphia -- he was supposed to go with catcher Tim McCarver, outfielder Byron Browne and left-hander Joe Hoerner to the Phillies for first baseman Richie Allen, second baseman Cookie Rojas and right-hander Jerry Johnson. Flood petitioned commissioner Bowie Kuhn to declare him a free agent. Kuhn denied Flood's request, citing baseball's reserve clause that kept a player bound to his original team even when his contract expired. Flood sued baseball, saying he wanted to "give every ballplayer a chance to be a human being and to take advantage of the fact that we live in a free and democratic society and he should have some choice. That opened the flood gates. He sat out the entire 1970 season waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on it. Neither his career, nor his life, would be the same. HBO's latest documentary project talks to Flood's widow, Judy Pace Flood; his daughter, sister, friends and former teammates (including Joe Torre and McCarver), as well as historians, journalists, attorneys and players who benefited from his actions all these years later. More info: (linked here)

Series: "The Franchise: A Season With The San Francisco Giants," 10 p.m., Showtime:

A documentary-worthy franchise, coming off their improbable World Series win, with a black-bearded relief pitcher and a former Cy Young winner who wonders if he can even keep his spot in the rotation (that's Barry Zito, with personal trainer Alan Jaeger). We'll see if Juan Uribe has a thumbs up or down after this first episode.

The 19th annual ESPY Awards, Nokia Theatre, 6 p.m., ESPN:

Sorry, too late to register a vote (linked here). Otherwise, we vote not to watch from L.A. Live. Even with Seth Meyers as the host again (it beats Tony Danza, Jeff Foxworthy or Matthew Perry, who've all tried it before). By the way, did you know that ESPYs actually stand for something: Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly. Yeah, that's a real stretch.

THURSDAY

Golf: The 140th British Open, first round, 4 a.m. to noon, ESPN:

Nice Claret Jug there, Bobby Jones. Which reminds us: The women's tour has its own British Open. Yet, for the last six years, females have had every chance in the world to qualify for the "other" British Open, otherwise just known as The Open Championship. Why in the name of Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias hasn't it happened in the 100 years since she was born? Royal and Ancient Club Chief Executive Peter Dawson said recently he doubts he will see it. "It's certainly gone off the agenda, hasn't it?" said Dawson at the all-male Royal St. George's Club, where this year's championship takes place. "I don't expect to see a woman trying to qualify in my lifetime, but the opportunity is there." Rory McIlroy sees this as an opportunity to be the first since Tiger Woods in 2000 to win both the U.S. Open and the British Open in the same summer, going in as a favorite. "But it's The Open championship because it's very 'Open,'" said McIlroy chum, Lee Westwood. "You get people that you don't expect to win winning and you get the favorites winning. The weather is a bigger variable than at most other tournaments because the tide changes and things like that. But that's part of the joys of an Open Championship." ESPN has all four rounds continuing with Friday's play at 4 a.m., the third round Saturday (6 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.) and the final round Sunday (5 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.)

2011 World Series of Poker, main event, Day 3, 1-4 p.m. and 8-11:30 p.m., ESPN2:

Shake your Moneymaker, from the Rio in Vegas: It's the first time that the network will go with "live" unedited hole cards airing on a 30-minute delay. The network has six days in a row for all this, with Lon McEachern, David Tuchman and a new sideline reporter, Kara Scott. The actual delayed telecasts of the WSOP start on Tuesday, July 26 with McEachern, Scott and Norman Chad, for 16 consecutive weeks leading to the final nine on Nov. 8.

FRIDAY

MLB: Angels at Oakland, 7:05 p.m., FSW:

They've snuck a double-header into this one, on Saturday (1:05 p.m., Channel 11, and then at about 4 p.m., FSN) -- two games for the price of one. Sunday's finale (1:05 p.m., Channel 13) features an MC Hammer bobblehead giveaway, honoring the team's former batboy. Can't touch that.

MLB: Dodgers at Arizona, 6:40 p.m., Prime:

Three Dodgers got to stick around in Phoenix for a couple of days after the All-Star game. Check their tan lines. The weekend retreat continues Saturday (5:10 p.m., Channel 9) and Sunday (1:10 p.m., Prime), with Clayton Kershaw set to throw in the opener, no matter how little the big league's strike-out leader (tied with Justin Verlander) threw in Tuesday's exhibition.

SATURDAY

Soccer: Galaxy vs. Real Madrid, Coliseum, 7 p.m., ESPN2:

The World Football Challenge, not to be confused with the Women's World Cup, pits Beckham and Donovan against Kaka and Ronaldo. Hopefully far enough from the freeway construction on the 405. Stay home and use the tele.

Soccer: Chivas vs. N.Y. Red Bull, Home Depot Center, 7:30 p.m., Prime:

Bad timing for a good L.A.-N.Y. meeting. Most local soccer fans will be closer to downtown.

SUNDAY

Soccer: Women's World Cup final, 11 a.m., ESPN:

It's the part of the tournament where Brandi Chastain disrobes on the ESPN studio set in Frankfurt, Germany. The third-place game is on Saturday (8 a.m., ESPN2).

What do you make of this graphic presentation of how a ballpark's foul territory may contribute to a hitter's strike-out total? Tom Tomsick, a bullpen catcher for the Cleveland Indians from 1964-66 and current professor of radiology and director of neuraradiology at the University of Cincinnati, is a SABR member making his argument at this weekend's convention in Long Beach.

A national convention of hopelessly romantic and persistently precise seamheads lends itself to being a bit unconventional.

Fill in your own punchline.

Wes Parker did.

Wes Parker, left, is with historian John Thorn, former general manager Roland Hemond, part White Sox owner Dennis Gilbert and STATS Inc. founder John Dewan on a panel discussion Friday.

During a panel discussion Friday morning about "The Evolution of Baseball Over SABR's Four Decades," the former Dodgers' Gold Glove winning first baseman wasn't so much lamenting how much more he could have made back in the 1960s and '70s if his agent had today's sabermetics that discern the value of defensive abilities.

Just breathing the clean, crisp air of their own Strat-O-Matic atmosphere.

--------------------

Graphic above: Scott Barzilla presents part of his Hall of Fame Index idea, taking three popular statistical platforms -- win shares, wins above replacement player and wins above replacement -- and combining them into one metric. He works as a counselor in Houston with a wife and daughter.

Frank McCourt is still waiting for that Fox Sports money to fund his team. How's this for treatment by a TV partner:

Could Fox have ignored it? Sure. Like how Prime Ticket seems to every night?

Let's cut through the Istanbul here: