Magic Johnson and Don Mattingly chat before a game last season. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

The question surrounding if, when, why and how Don Mattingly will lose his prime leaning spot on the Dodgers dugout railing all go back to how decisions really are made in this gaggle of Guggenheimers that include money man Mark Walters, sound-bite Stan Kasten, some other Hollywood hanger-ons, and . . . .

Oh, that guy they’re honoring next week with a “Magic Johnson-themed” T-shirt giveaway, in hopes it might entice more customers to an otherwise off-the-radar Dodgers-Angels series contest.

No need to jog our memory of Magic’s history with coaching changes. Back in ’81, he soon tired of the person in charge got Paul Westhead thrown under Jerry Buss’ undercarriage.

With such a coach-killing track record, where’s Magic’s e-voice been lately with any twits of support for Donnie Baseball?

On May 8: “Dodger Nation: I’m disappointed with our slow start but, I still feel we are going to play better and have a good season.”

There’s someone with some real hardball know-how.

You ever think it’s probably best Magic doesn’t go to the mat for Mattingly? Consider his post on May 21: “I’m supporting Wendy Greuel for Mayor of Los Angeles! Don’t forget to get out and vote today!”

How’d that grueling experience turn out again?

== Now that Andre (Not 3000) Ethier has morphed into the Lindsay Lohan of the Dodger clubhouse, why not chase him out of town in exchange for a reliable third baseman (like Chase Headley)?

== On the philosophy behind making a mid-season coaching change: If the Kings had kept around Mattingly-like nice guy Andy Murray instead of switching him out for Darryl Sutter just before Christmas, 2011, what would the course of the franchise be today?

== The more you hear Phil Jackson peddling and back-peddling during his latest book tour – from Jon Stewart to Charlie Rose, ESPN to Time magazine – the more is sounds as if he’s trying to come up with a new titillating tidbit to grab a head and tantalize readership.

What’s he really selling, books or himself?

Uncompelled to care so much about how he compares Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan, aren’t you more curious as to whether “Eleven Rings” has more substance than “Sacred Hoops,” is more overpromised and under-delivering than “More Than A Game,” or will be on the bargain shelf quicker than “The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul”?

== How does Tom Cruise land in a Staples Center glass position and not think he’s the reason why the Kings’ home karma continues? Because Matthew Perry is sitting too high and out of sightlines?

== Was Erin Andrews at the Kings-Sharks Game 5 as a member of the working media or hanging out in the players’ family area in the official capacity of concussed-impaired Jarret Stoll’s love interest?

== Pick any mock NBA draft sites these days. Find Shabazz Muhammad in anyone’s Top 10 any more?

== IndyCar machines haven’t used carburetors in 50 years, but they still have a “Carb Day” competition at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of Sunday’s 500?

Shouldn’t it be a carb-loading day?

== What logistical contractual nightmares would come into play if the Lakers and Clippers decided to swap D12 for CP3 straight up? Or does Stephen A. Smith have to approve it first?

== Does the lack of Tim Tebow news have a direct correlation to ESPN’s layoffs?

== Sergio Garcia won’t stand behind his ridiculous remarks concerning Tiger Woods? What, is he fried, or chicken?

What made it into this week’s media column offering:

Nope, Don Mattingly wasn’t fired Thursday. And a slimmed down version of the Kevin Kennedy piece we put on the blog late Thursday afternoon. And Kennedy does slim down well in an ink-and-paper suit.

What didn’t seem fit:

== Gus Johnson and Warren Barton are live from London for Fox’s coverage of the UEFA Champions League matchup between Bayer Munich and Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium (Saturday, Channel 11, 11 a.m.). Rob Stone hosts an on-site pregame, halftime and post-game show with Eric Wynalda and Brian McBride, plus Brian Friedel.

== Andy Roddick officially joined the new Fox Sports 1 channel, which launces Aug. 17, as co-host of “Fox Sports Live” flagship show. The retired former No. 1 ranked men’s tennis star has been hosting a show on Fox Sports Radio with his friend Bobby Bones since 2011.

== NBC’s live first-round coverage of the French Open starts Sunday (9 a.m., Channel 4) with Ted Robinson, John McEnroe and Mary Carillo.

== NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” ended up as the No. 1 prime time show for Nielsen’s 2012-13 TV season for the second year in a row, with 21.5 million viewers, ahead of CBS’ “NCIS” (21.3 million).

Kevin Kennedy managed the Boston Red Sox from 1994-1995, and had his team rebound from an 36-49 start his final season to just miss the playoffs with an 85-77 mark.

Let’s be clear about this: Kevin Kennedy isn’t campaigning to be the next manager of the Dodgers.

Can you blame him?

The perspective he has on a day-to-day basis looking down from the Dodgers press box and then having to hop on the air to co-host the “DodgerTalk” postgame show on KLAC-AM 570 gives him an extremely viable platform to do such an underhanded thing.

Instead, imbedded as a media member for the last 14 years since his two stints managing in Texas and Boston came and went, Kennedy isn’t going to grab the mike after watching another Dodgers implosion and say, “If I were managing this team, I would . . .”

“I’m not about that, and I’m not about to go there,” Kennedy said this afternoon. “I have my own ideas and feelings about what a lot of managers do, and I can talk about that sometimes (on his Sirius XM radio show). But on Dodger Talk, if a fan calls in, I let him say his piece and then try to explain it from the other side.

“They’re just seeing the end result, not all the other things that go on before and after, the meeting with the coaches. This is all about teaching the fans. That’s what I love about this job.”

The Taft High of Woodland Hills grad (and former teammate of Robin Yount) who was a catcher and manager in the Dodgers’ organization, spent 1993-’94 as the skipper for the Rangers, and ’95-’96 with the Red Sox before ESPN and Fox hired him as a game and studio analyst. That run has led to serving as the DodgerTalk post-game voice the last two seasons when the team’s radio rights moved from KABC to KLAC, teaming with David Vassegh and Jorge Jarrin for every game, home and road.

Kennedy’s approach to the role is far from being a Mattingly apologist, although he admits “I’m pulling for him” to keep his managerial spot despite speculation all this week that Thursday would be the day that management pulled the plug.

“I don’t like to speculate about someone’s job – there’s only 30 of them out there and it’s tough when the media starts throwing things out there,” said Kennedy, the longtime Tarzana resident who turns 59 on Sunday. “When I went through all that, I couldn’t get caught up in it because it would have got me away from the business I was tending to.”

Kennedy is clear that he’s not against ever managing again, it would just have to be the right situation with the right people at the right time. Even when he was under a Fox contract, he’d get approached for his interest but usually say that he would rather honor his current deal than jump back onto the field.

National media refocused on the Dodgers and their bloated payroll at this point in the season seems to be taking more liberty with sourced conjecture about Mattingly’s future as the Dodgers squirm to outlast Houston and Miami for fewest wins to date.

USA Today national columnist Bob Nightingale suggested the Dodgers “invoke the mercy rule” and fire Mattingly. The Mattingly Watch will likely continue when FoxSports.com national writer Ken Rosenthal, whose sources several times said Mattingly would be fired on today’s off day, visits Dodger Stadium for Saturday’s Fox regional telecast (4 p.m., Channel 11) of their game against St. Louis, with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver on the call.

“The media (in L.A.) is much more fair than in other places, but I also believe people in the national media who don’t cover the team on a day to day basis can be the best evaluators,” said Kennedy, who has been in that position before at Fox.

“You can’t just pick up a story, see the team’s looking bad and put two and two together. It’s not that simple. There’s a lot more to it.  I know from my experiences as a manager, you can also say things in the media to try to light a fire, not to try to get yourself fired, as some have tried to position it with Don.

“I think I can relate to a lot of things Don is going through. I’ve walked in those shoes. I feel he’s a strong guy and he’s handing it as well as he can. But I can empathize with him.”

“If ever there is a moment at which you became disillusioned with the sport, you are reminded of the majesty and splendor of this incredible sport, it is standing trackside here in Monaco with cars flying past you over 100 mph, inches from your face.
“You can feel the working parts of the engine rise through your feet and your legs, up your spine, draw the breath out of your lungs as they fly past you. This place gives you a buzz for motorsports that nowhere else on earth gives you.”

That’s a legal buzz in Europe, by the way.

Some Americans may feel the same about the IRL’s iconic Indianapolis 500, or NASCAR’s longest race of the year, the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte, N.C. Interestingly, if your 3D flatscreen happens to have fume-a-vision, you’ll be able to experience all three of these races Sunday for the first time in one felled sniff.

The NBC Sports Network has added the Monaco Grand Prix live at 4:30 a.m. ESPN’s production of the Indy 500 for ABC follows at 8 a.m. (with the race at 9:15 a.m.). Fox then caps the pre-Memorial Day trifecta with the NASCAR Sprint Cup classic at 2:30 p.m.

And which one will Danica Patrick be in again?
Rich Feinberg, ESPN’s vice president in charge of motorsports production, admits that Indy 500 ratings have been “challenged in certain areas” when up against a glamorous NASCAR event, but it doesn’t mean the network is pulling back on expenses linked to coverage. It plans for more than 80 cameras, including those running on cable above the pits.

Another noticeable ESPN tweak: Girl-next-door “SportsCenter” anchor Lindsay Czarniak is the new host, replacing Brent Musburger.

So, you mean it’s not buying a bunch of guys off the Red Sox roster and hoping they all figure it out somehow?

Writer Ben Reiter makes the case that the Cardinals “are the most consistent franchise in baseball due to an organizational philosophy dedicated to measured and constant evolution.”

Let’s point out: The Cardinals have the best record in the MLB with only nine players left from their 2012 championship team. And without their manager.

“When we think of the Cardinals, we think of a distinct organizational culture: Anodyne, diligent, supportive, resolute. Mostly, we think of consistency. Their 11 championships have been well distributed. No son or daughter of St Louis born since 1902 has reached the age of 25 without having lived through at least one victory parade.”

If you’re 25 years old in L.A., you probably don’t remember the last Dodgers’ World Series title was 25 years ago.

Adam Wainwright, Shelby Miller, Jamie Garcia, Lance Lynn and Jake Westbrook are on the SI cover, inspired by the Oct. 7, 1968 SI cover where “The Cardinal Way” was explored in a feature that had Roger Maris, Tim McCarver, Bob Gibson, Mike Shannon and Lou Brock on the cover.

Lynn (6-1, 3.27) is scheduled to start the opener of the three-game series Friday. Rookie John Gast (2-0, 4.76), replacing the injured Wainwright (inflamed elbow), starts Saturday. Miller (5-3, 1.74) goes Sunday against Clayton Kershaw.

Cards GM John Mozeliak, promoted in 2007, is quoted on why the team eventually let Albert Pujols go to the Angels after the 2012 season.

“Losing an iconic player was not easy — it was jolting,” says Mozeliak. “From a very simplistic standpoint, [once we let him go] we knew we had resources to deploy elsewhere.”

That was, contract extensions for Wainwright and Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina.

“While an overriding ethos—the Cardinal way—has developed over the years, it is flexible enough to allow the team to capitalize on the game’s changing realities better than any other,” says Reiter.

Stan Kasten’s SI copy is in the mail, we presume.

THIS WEEK’S BEST BET:

NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS:
KINGS vs. SAN JOSE
GAME 4: 7 p.m. Tuesday at San Jose, NBC Sports Network:

Slogging through the season finale of ABC’s “Shark Tank” leads us to the conclusion that, maybe not ironically, this thing is about ready to jump that proverbial shark.

Jonathan Quick blocks a goal attempt during the third period in Game 3 in San Jose on Saturday. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Once a unique platform for some of the most ingenious entrepreneurs in the country, this one was reduced to a single woman pitching her high-end online dating service (apparently it hasn’t worked for her yet), an 11-year-old kid who baked dog treats (“but people can eat ‘em, too”), and a couple of clowns who started a tomato soup and cheese sandwich shop and were trying to market it as the next In-N-Out franchise model. Sadly, Mark Cuban jumped on that last one, bringing in another “shark” to fork over $600,000 for just a 30 percent of the business. “It’s not easy being cheese,” the Dallas Mavs owner said as he shook the hands of his new partners.  And how did the Mavs do in the NBA playoffs again?
Easy-cheesy isn’t how the Kings see their second-round matchup with San Jose’s Sharks shaping up. This reality show, featuring a school of Sharks trying to tank in the home tank (aka, HP Pavilion), reached new dramatic heights with the Game 3 OT decision. Logan Couture has become San Jose’s version of “Mr. Wonderful” with his heroics, while Kings goalie Jonthan Quick is quick to berate the refs for turning their heads to illegal business practices conducted by the San Jose skaters. This one will only get more chippy as the series reaches a far more climatic conclusion – who’s going to cash in on the most power plays?
The series continues this week:
Game 5: 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Staples Center
Game 6: TBA Sunday at San Jose
(A Game 7 would be Tuesday, May 28 at Staples Center)

BEST OF THE REST:

MONDAY

MLB: DODGERS at MILWAUKEE, 5:10 p.m., Channel 9:
As much as the Dodgers’ bullpen could use a break, Clayton Kershaw got an extra day of rest prior to this start, having tossed a career-high 132 pitches in his win over Washington last Tuesday.  He’s got a streak of 21 starts where he has not allowed more than three earned runs, the longest active mark in the majors. That includes a 2-0 win over Milwaukee at Dodger Stadium on April 28 with a season-best 12 strikeouts.
The rest of the series:
Tuesday at 5:10 p.m., Channel 9
Wednesday at 10:10 a.m., Prime

NHL PLAYOFFS: WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS:
CHICAGO AT DETROIT:
GAME 3, 4:30 p.m., NBC Sports Network:
If the No. 7 seeded Red Wings, who’ve already eliminated the No. 2 Ducks, can take a victory at Chicago from the top-seeded and heavily favored Blackhawks and create a home advantage now with two in a row in Detroit, the Kings (and Sharks) should be paying attention.
The series continues:
Game 4, Thursday at Detroit, 5 p.m., NBC Sports Network
Game 5, Saturday at Chicago, TBA

TUESDAY

MLB: ANGELS vs. SEATTLE, Angel Stadium, 7 p.m., FSW:
The Mariners squeezed off three wins in four days against the Angels in Seattle from April 25-28, and held them to just nine runs total for that series. Dodger castoff Aaron Harang (1-4, 7.50 ERA) , scheduled to start Tuesday, has managed to do little to earn his $6 million salary this season.
The series ends Wednesday, 4 p.m., FSW

NBA PLAYOFFS: WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
GAME 2: MEMPHIS at SAN ANTONIO, 6 p.m., ESPN:
The team that eliminated the Clippers, against the team that eliminated the Lakers, and you’re still interested to see which one will make it to the NBA Finals?
The series continues:
Game 3 at Memphis, 6 p.m., Saturday, ESPN

WEDNESDAY

NBA PLAYOFFS: EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS:
GAME 1: INDIANA at MIAMI, 5:30 p.m., TNT:
The “Blue Collar, Gold Swagger” Pacers won two of three against the defending champion Heat during the regular season. But try keeping pace with the South Beachers this time of year.
The series continues:
Game 2: Friday at Miami, 5:30 p.m., TNT
Game 3: Sunday at Indiana, 5:30 p.m., TNT

THURSDAY

MLB: ANGELS at KANSAS CITY, 5:10 p.m., FSW:
In taking two of three from the Angels during their recent series, the Royals’ Billy Butler  went 8-for-13 with a homer and nine RBIs. Maybe the Angels’ answer is bringing in newly recalled reliever Billy Buckner. Former Angel Ervin Santana (3-2, 2.68 ERA) is slotted to start the opener of this series against someone who they thought could replace him, Joe Blanton (0-7, 6.62 ERA).
The rest of the series:
Friday at 5:10 p.m., FSW
Saturday at 11:10 a.m., FSW
Sunday at 11:10 a.m., FSW

FRIDAY

MLB: DODGERS vs. ST. LOUIS, Dodger Stadium, 7:10 p.m., Prime:
The Jaime Jarrin bobble head giveaway on Saturday (in suit and tie, holding a mike) is actually pretty classy.
The rest of the series:
Saturday at 4:15 p.m., Channel 11
Sunday at 1:10 p.m., Prime

SATURDAY

MLS: GALAXY vs. SEATTLE, Home Depot Center, 8 p.m., ESPN2:
How soon before the Galaxy works out a deal to pull Robbie Rogers out of retirement and into their lineup, and then openly promotes the fact it has the first openly gay player (born in Palos Verdes, schooled at Mater Dei High) in the MLS?

SUNDAY

WNBA: SPARKS vs. SEATTLE, Staples Center, 5:30 p.m., TWC SportsNet:
The Lakers and Clippers have left the arena wide open. And the Kings are clear, too. Bring on the 17th season of the Women’s National Basketball Association, new logo and all.

AUTO RACING:
F1: MONACO GRAND PRIX, 4:30 a.m., NBC Sports Network
INDYCAR: INDIANAPOLIS 500, 9 a.m., Channel 7
NASCAR: COCA-COLA 600 in Concord, N.C., 2:30 p.m., Channel 11:
Ed Carpenter nailed down the Indy 500 pole position last weekend and now has to figure out how fend off the Penske and Andretti team competition. If Carpenter wins, he might pass on the traditional milk drink. One of his team sponsors is Fuzzy’s Vodka, owned by golfer Fuzzy Zoeller.

TENNIS: FRENCH OPEN, first round, 2 a.m., ESPN2; 9 a.m. Sunday, Channel 4 and Tennis Channel:
Rafael Nadal’s knees don’t seem to be an issue any more as to whether he can hold up in his pursuit of an eighth title in Paris. The 26-year-old, who just crushed Roger Federer in the Rome Masters, has reached the final of all eight tournaments he’s played, and winning six, since coming back from a seven-month layoff in February.

Billy Baldwin

But he doesn’t act if there’s nothing he can do about.

The No. 3 brother in the Baldwin thespian franchise – behind Alec and Daniel, and ahead of Stephen – has rallied his Hollywood pals to the plight of the sport as the International Olympic Committee considers all kinds of factors as to whether it has a future past the 2016 Summer Games in Rio.

Many will hang out with Baldwin at today’s “United 4 Wrestling” event at the L.A. Sports Arena, where the U.S. national wrestling squad’s biggest names grapples with opponents from Russia and Canada, trying to stay positive after the Iranian team decided to go home early for a variety of reasons.

Baldwin, a high school and Division III college wrestler, explains better why he thinks his words and actions can be of some help:

Q: Ice cream needs to be refrigerated, screw drivers need to be straight-edge and Phillips head, the tires on your car need to be properly inflated, and wrestling needs to remain an Olympic sport. Why is that so hard to understand? And do you get tired of hearing that question all the time?
A: Yes, and it’s a shame. I probably know more than most about the intricacies and complexities of how the IOC came to its decision. But I must say, not only because our fate lies in the hands of the IOC and even if it’s back on the program for 2020 and beyond, I have to lay a lot of the blame at the feet of the failed leadership of FILA (the sports’ governing body). Maybe that’s not being politically correct, but based on the information I have, they’ve been told for years that changes were needed, but I’m not sure if it was ego or ‘We’re wrestling, we’re beyond reproach.’ The smarter move for the IOC would have been to force a change in the leadership rather than threaten to drop the sport. That put us politically in a position that’s hard to overcome. We all need to be united and feel good about changes that have been made.

Q: So what changes have to be made in wrestling, if you were forced to do so? Scoring? Weight classes? Tighter uniforms?
A: I wouldn’t change a thing, but there is a reality that dictates how a sport has to adapt and evolve and quite frankly, one of them that the IOC is concerned about is the funding. I don’t know the exact numbers, but if the IOC is providing 70 percent and the other 30 is coming from private donations and sponsors, we may need to reverse that and ingratiate the IOC. The demographics of the TV viewing audience for the Olympics is probably 30 and older, so the way the IOC has always addressed that is trying to bring in Shawn White and his halfpipe to make things hip and cool and bring down the demographic so advertisers appeal to people who are spending their money, not those in their 50s or 60s. That doesn’t mean you bring in other sports at the expense of the oldest and greatest in Olympic history, but if wrestling has to make more adaptations for the betterment of TV and profitability of the IOC, it’s not like we have to a Lingerie Bowl of Wrestling with girls running around with a Victoria Secret logo on the mat. But . . . having said that, it make may things more interesting, eh? Like taking the women who are in boxing with the spandex shorts and sports bras. I know the men’s singlet is iconic to the sport. The bottom line is making the competition easier to understand, to draw more eyes and that’ll take care of profitability and everything else.

Q: Uniform enhancement seems to have worked for beach volleyball getting a foothold in the Olympic movement, right?
A: I see Misty May Treanor running on the beach near my house in Santa Barbara all the time. That’s become a core sport for NBC and the IOC. But now they’re telling us sports have to be kept or added at the exclusion of wrestling, and that’s the problem. We don’t want to see any of them go away. The IOC seems fixated on keeping the athlete total to 10,500, because having 20,000 is just too expensive to house and feed. Maybe we need more wiggle room here. Look at how college football and basketball carry an athletic department’s financial budget to keep sports like lacrosse and tennis and wrestling alive. It’s like how the Yankees and George Steinbrenner paid all that luxury tax so that the Royals and Twins could stay alive. It should never be that if you can’t make X-millions of dollars, you shouldn’t be in the program.

Q: Does the Iranian team backing out of this L.A. meet set things back?
A: The meet we had in New York was fantastic competition, but for whatever reason they give, they decided not to follow through and honor their obligation to come to the West Coast. We could do something looking forward with them again if we can iron out the details in the next six months. As great as New York was (last Wednesday), with just 1,000 people there, we’re frustrated and disappointed that all the native Iranians in America can’t come out and make noise. We did all we could to keep them here behind the scenes, talking to the head of their federation and the Iran ambassador but it was not to be, so we’ll improvise.

Q: The way the U.S., Iran and Russia have been able to interact in the wrestling community and make the sport important, how does that make you feel?
A: Wrestling has its problems and issues, but look how quickly we got Russia and Iran on the same page with a united front with a noble goal. That’s something that everyone from Kennedy to Obama has failed to do. Beyond the politics and rhetoric about using sports to bring nations together, we should also be celebrating how it’s not just wrestling, it’s the people who are great. We have so much more in common than we realize. You see how Iranian fans cheer for their team and how much pride they have in it. That’s great for me to watch. It’s human beings and we all overlap. If you can stop listening to all the stuff said on Fox or CNN and not get caught up in this Darth Vader attitude, you’ll see there’s nothing further from the truth.

Q: You had a wrestling career at Massapequa, N.Y., then for two years at Binghamton University. Did you and your brothers end up wrestling each other a lot around the house growing up?
A: We had typical rowdy, rambunctious, Irish-Catholic hooliganism. A lot of roughhousing. I probably had four concussions and a fractured chin before I was 8 years old just from Daniel throwing me off the roof of our house. There was all sorts of nonsense. Head-on collisions with bikes. Throwing baseball bats. You wonder why we went into show business instead of investment banking. When I was in the ninth grade, I was a lightweight, going at 112 pounds, and Daniel (three years older) was a heavyweight at 215, occasionally going to super heavyweight if they needed him to. He was fairly agile, and as a smaller brother, it would be like planes flying around King Kong, just swatting me away.

Q: Many Californians may not remember but some of the true legendary surfers were also outstanding high school wrestlers, because it had the same elements of keeping a low center of gravity, core balance and foot coordination.
A: And one of the really beneficial things you learn in wrestling and surfing is how to land. When you wipe out on a surfboard, you’re getting thrown. I’m trying to tell my 11 year old skateboarder son how you have to be careful not to fall on your hand or wrist, or else you break that and you can’t shoot baskets for six months. I learned, especially from the Greco-Roman style wrestling, how to get thrown – not that it was my favorite thing to do, but you do get your pilot’s license in that discipline.

Q: Does California have any real impact in the U.S. wrestling world?
A: When I was in New York and we’d go to Iowa for national competitions, there were teams from Ohio, Iowa, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Minnesota – just a handful of states. California had a team and occasion had individuals who performed well, but the states much smaller would destroy those guys. It’s probably a shame that the best California wrestlers would go to Penn State or Cornell because we’ve lost so many great programs at Fresno and Fullerton and UC Davis. We have to keep what we have in Bakersfield. If it loses its team, or Poly, it would be devastating. It’s just a tragedy to see the way the economy has gone in California and how programs suffer for it. Imagine if the state could just match funds that alumni put up to keep them alive.

Q: Plus, it’s probably a sport with the coolest shoes.
A: I worked for a company in the 10^th grade, when I was 14, in a warehouse that sold the best shoes, and the mats and universal gyms. We’d fill order and slap tape around ‘em and throw them on the forklifts. Asics makes a beautiful shoe, but they also do great running shoes now too. When I was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Oklahoma, I wore a tux along with my wrestling shoes.

Q: Wrestling and Hollywood have had a decent relationship as far as movies go. A new project coming out soon has Mark Ruffalo in “Foxcatcher,” playing former gold-medalist David Schultz who ended up being killed by a member of the Du Pont family (played by Steve Carrell). What’s your favorite wrestling movie?
A: “Win, Win” (2001 with Paul Giamatti) was terrific. “Vision Quest” (1985 with Matthew Modine). There’s plenty of room for more of them. Jeff Blatnic’s story needs to be told – hit with Hodgkin’s and losing 100 pounds and coming back to win gold in 1984. John Irving (the best-selling author and former college wrestler) has a screenplay about Dan Gable’s life called “Diane’s Room,” which is a great story about his sister’s murder in Iowa in the late 1950s changed his life, making him feel responsible and someone never good enough to win his father’s love. Rulon Gardner’s life would make a great script. The Cael Sanderson story would be a great (ESPN) “30 for 30” documentary – a 159-0 record in college. But Hollywood looks for all kinds of other angles when making a movie. It just has to be the right story.

Q: Could an openly gay athlete at this point in time do anything to help the Olympic wrestling movement? If you’re looking for anything that brings positive publicity . . .
A: I can only speak for myself, when I wrestled in high school and college, I probably did compete against several who were gay, just based on the percentages. I admire and respect not only the guts it took someone like Jason Collins in the way he did, getting support from Martina (Navratilova) and Kobe (Bryant). There’s been a major shift in the LGBT community.  As for wrestlers’ acceptance . . . I would have no problem with it. In fact it would probably be a real change in attitude if it happened. I always heard from those ignorant people who thought, why would you want to compete in a sport with all those hairy, sweaty guys. It’s a ‘gay’ sport. Well, I’d like to show you how ‘gay’ it is. Let me take you to that patch of grass over there and I’ll be your flight instructor.

== More on the subject:
= Watch this Jay Mohr rant on why wrestling should remain relevant in today’s sporting world.
== The website KeepOlympicWrestling.com

Head coach Zeke Jones talks to the U.S. national wrestling before practice at Harvard-Westlake High School on Friday. Members of the U.S. Canada and Russia national teams will meet for in exhibition 2 p.m. Sunday at the L.A. Sports Arena. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer) Find more staff photos at this link.

Grapple with this scenario: The sport of wrestling has become such an anachronistic, under-funded and stagnant exercise that the International Olympic Committee has put it on notice — be relevant or else you’ll be voted out as soon as the 2020 Summer Games.

Contrast that to the scene embraced at the Harvard-Westlake School’s historic Hamilton Gym late this afternoon: A few dozen junior high and high school wrestlers, their parents and coaches and other curiosity seekers patiently waited – you know how traffic can be — just to watch the U.S. national wrestling team conduct a two-hour workout on their own “H-W” matted floor laid across the old basketball court.

U.S. national wrestling team star Jordan Burroughs signs a shirt for Patrick Halkett following practice at Harvard-Westlake High School (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer)

A seven-man U.S. contingent, in New York a couple days earlier competing in a televised international match against Iran and Russia, continues on a “Save Our Sport” agenda with another exhibition planned for 2 p.m. at the L.A. Sports Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The only noticeable and controversial hitch to this one – the Iranian team was unexpectedly called back home by its government late Thursday, potentially derailing the Sunday event. Organizers scrambled to talk the Russian team into changing its plans and come West, as well as recruit some key members of the Canadian national team to join in and rescue it from another public relations nightmare.

Tyler Caldwell, left, and Jon Reader practice at Harvard-Westlake High School. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer)

Things can get messy when sports and politics intersect, but they can also motivate to join arms, knees and headlocks into forming a coalition that speaks toward doing more for the greater good as far as all athletes are concerned.

“We’ll adjust fine to the circumstances and keep our focus on the goal of making wrestling an important event on American soil,” said U.S. national coach Zeke Jones, who arranged for the team to shuttle over to the Studio City school from their hotel in El Segundo based on his longtime relationship with Harvard-Westlake coach Gary Bairos.“We know California has a great wrestling base – the largest membership in USA Wrestling – and there seems to be a lot of excitement about this event with everything else going on.”

Bairos’ Junkyard Dogs Wrestling Club, based on campus, had all its members wearing black T-shirts that read “Save Olympic Wrestling 2002” on the back. They gave the U.S. squad a round of applause once it entered the gym after an arduous trip up the 101 Freeway, angled for photos and were entertained as some U.S. team members worked up a sweat with a full court pick-up game of basketball – using a volleyball and not dribbling.

It was quite impressive to see how some players went all-out for loose balls on the ground after battling for a rebound.

Harvard-Westlake wrestling coach Gary Bairos, back left, and U.S. national wrestling team coach Zeke Jones, back right, discuss strategies with coaches at practice at Harvard-Westlake High School. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer)

“You’d be amazed how connected the wrestling world can be and how well the athletes get along, even though it’s so global,” said Bairos, an actor/screenwriter and former Arizona State teammate of Jones in the 1980s. He also is a director/producer of a documentary about his club that he has finished and will distribute soon as a fundraiser for the wrestling movement.

Maybe not so amazing is how Hollywood will jump into a noble political cause as well when it can.

Actor Billy Baldwin, a former high school and college wrestler in New York, has been leading a vocal charge to reshaping the perception of the sport, getting involved in organizing the latest U.S.-Iran-Russia three-city exhibitions. He was also on a conference call late Thursday helping recruit replacement wrestlers for the Sunday event.

During an NBC Sports Network telecast of the U.S.-Iran meet on Wednesday from Grand Central Station, frequent commercials ran with such spokesmen as Mark Spitz, Janet Evans, Nadia Comaneci and Tommy Lasorda telling viewers to visit the website KeepOlympicWrestling.com and “make your voices heard.”

Those scheduled to attend Sunday’s “United 4 Wrestling” meet for a red-carpet entrance include Matthew Modine (who starred in the wrestling-themed movie “Vision Quest”), Jay Mohr, Mario Lopez, Tom Arnold and Nate Parker. Other stars in the wrestling world such as Bruce Baumgartner, Dan Gable, Henry Cejudo, Chael Sonnen and Randy Couture are also there to create more buzz.

If only it were that simple.

Last February, when the IOC recommended that wrestling be excluded from the 25-sport core competition starting in 2020, the shakedown was felt deep to the core. Leadership shifted, new people were put into place, and the IOC board decided that during its May 29-31 meeting in Russia, it would listen again to petitions to keep three sports from a field that included wrestling, baseball/softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wake board and wushu (a Chinese martial arts). A final decision would be made in September.

A sport that has been part of the ancient Olympics in Rome as well as almost every modern Olympics since it came back in 1896, wrestling die-hards feel as if they’ve been body-slammed into making changes in anything from private fund-raising to how matches are scored, in hopes that a younger generation will remain engaged.

The U.S. national wrestling team member Jordan Burroughs, left, and Joey Davis have their picture taken before practice at Harvard-Westlake High School on Friday. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer)

“I’m not sure how this will all turnout, but I’m trying to be optimistic,” said Jordan Burroughs, a U.S. gold-medalist from the 2012 London Games and one of America’s greatest spokesmen for the sport as well as silver medalist Coleman Scott and recent four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dale.

“My expectations are for the IOC to keep wresting and I think we have the right people in the right places,” Burroughs said. “Now it’s a matter of gaining as much exposure as we can at this point and trying to become more engrained in the American culture.”

Burroughs called the recent reception for “The Rumble on the Rails” in New York “amazing,” even though the facility could only fit about 1,000 spectators and the Iranian squad defeated the Americans, six matches to one. Burroughs compared the response by the vocal Iranian American spectators as “something we experienced when we competed in Tehran. Their passion is impressive.”

Added Jones: “With the exception of getting our tails kicked by the Iranian team, we did what we intended to do in exposing the full spectacle of the sport and people who watched on TV said it was a really unbelievable.”

Unfortunately, that same exuberance may not be replicated Sunday because of the Iran team’s departure, a decision that still is open to speculation, rumor and perhaps things lost in translation.

Some estimates are that more than one million Iranian-Americans live in the U.S., with half of them in Southern California, based mostly on the Westside and San Fernando Valley. Thousands were expected to fill in the 15,000-seat Sports Arena.

Along with the U.S., Russian and Canadian wrestlers, the program Sunday includes a youth exhibition. Nine-year-old Viviana Garcia of San Fernando is listed as a competitor against Pacoima’s Patricia Arana in the 55-to-60 pound division.

“Sure, it’s a setback (without the Iranian team), but I expect it to still be a great event,” said Burroughs. “The complexion has changed. But the thing I’ve learned is that when the Americans, Iranian and Russians get together as wrestlers, it transcends politics and you find out what kind of people we really have.”

U.S. freestyle wrestler Obe Blanc, top, and Iran’s Hassan Rahimi kick off an international wrestling exhibition at Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday in New York. Rahami was declared the winner in the bout. The event dubbed “The Rumble on the Rails” raised money for wrestling nonprofit Beat the Streets but took on added significance because of the International Olympic Committee’s recent recommendation to drop the sport starting with the 2020 Games. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

ORIGINAL POST: 10:30 p.m. Thursday, May 16
UPDATED: 7 a.m. Friday, Friday May 17

Without an official explanation, the Iranian national wrestling team abruptly returned home Thursday and will not compete against a United States squad as planned Sunday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

First reported by the Daily News on Thursday night, the reason for the team’s departure a day after decisively winning an exhibition against the U.S. in an international meet in New York remains a mystery at a critical time in promoting the sport as its Olympic future hangs in the balance

Former Olympic gold medalist and professional wrestler Kurt Angle holds up a T-shirt during a three-nation wrestling exhibition at Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

A goodwill tour ongoing this month involving the U.S., Russia and Iran was to boost awareness for Olympic wrestling, which might be canceled during the Summer Games starting in 2020. Wrestling is one of eight sports seeking to fill one spot in the 2020 Olympics and a key vote by the International Olympic Committee will take place May 29 in Russia to recommend three of eight sports to advance to a final vote  in September.

In a joint statement released this morning by USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender and Bill Scheer, the chairman of the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling, the program for the “United 4 Wrestling” 2 p.m. event Sunday has been changed to include the U.S. team facing a squad from Russia and Canada instead.

“We have been informed by the Iranian Wrestling Federation that the team’s schedule has changed and they have departed for Iran,” said the statement.

“We are thankful to the Iranian Wrestling Federation for their participation in New York. We had an outstanding competition with the three countries and the Iranians have assured us that they remain committed to the cause of keeping wrestling in the Olympics.”

The U.S. team is scheduled to train this afternoon at Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City in preparation for Sunday’s event, which organizers had planned to attract many Iranian-Americans to attend as they did in New York.

Iranian fans cheer as Iranin wrestlers compete in an exhibition wrestling match at Grand Central Terminal, Wednesday in New York. “The Rumble on the Rails” exhibition, featuring teams from the United States, Iran and Russia, raised money for charity but is also aimed at drawing attention to the sport’s attempt to stay in the Olympics. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Wednesday, the Iranian team defeated the U.S. team, six matches to one, during their first visit to the U.S. in a decade. Fans waved Iranian flags and blew horns loudly.

“It was really loud in there,” said U.S. wrestler Kyle Drake afterward in an Associated Press story. “Feels like we were in Tehran. What’s going on? Where’s our USA folks?”

It’s one year later, but it doesn’t mean the Kings’ TV crew of Bob Miller and Jim Fox have this playoff blackout thing figured out any better. They’re just more adjusted this time when NBC Sports Network takes over the coverage. Plus more on ESPN taking over the U.S. Open, while we like Dottie Pepper, and can’t really deal with car horn sounds on the radio any more.

What we put away for save keeping here on the internet machine:

== In light of the recent push by U.S. senator John McCain to get support for his Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013 bill that will give viewers the option of ordering a la carte programming instead of bundled packages — a desire precipitated by rising sports-channel costs related to rights fees – the Arizona Republic offered an editorial Sunday focused on how the market, not laws, will eventually cause change here.
“It may all be academic anyway. Television delivery faces major disruptive change. Satellite television offers one alternative. Services such as Netflix and Hulu allow people to watch what they want, when they want. And those innovations are about to be overrun themselves. The growth of mobile devices is ushering in more innovation, and more choices. Cable won’t long be able to act as a monopoly. To compete, it will have to adjust to customers’ desires. That’s a more powerful incentive than any piece of legislation.”

== Why ESPN “SportsCenter” needs its own bus. And its own new giant-sized set.

== When will an openly-gay sportscaster be revealed to the public?

== Fox has Kenny Albert with Tim McCarver and Ken Rosenthal at the Angels-White Sox game from Anaheim on Saturday (1 p.m., Channel 11), only going to 14 percent of the country. The rest will get either Cincinnati-Philadelphia or Tampa Bay-Baltimore.

== The movie trailers are out for the Ron Howard film “Rush,” coming out this fall, based on the rivalry in the 1980s between of Formula 1 drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt.