Text messages from press row ...
Landon Donovan and the still-standing, still-kicking U.S. soccer team are nothing if not implacable. ...
Says Donovan of Team USA’s resilience in the World Cup despite head-scratching calls that have twice disallowed crucial goals: “We embody what Americans are about; we can moan about it or we can get
on with it, and we kept going.” ...
Tweeted Andy Roddick during Wednesday’s record-breaking Wimbledon marathon between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut: “Seriously ... doesn’t anyone have to pee?” ...
Mahut, a Frenchman, could teach a lesson in heart to his country’s dysfunctional World Cup team. ...
Unfortunately for Joe Torre and the Dodgers, interleague games played in the regular season are not exhibitions. ...
On Tuesday, moments after Vin Scully noted Bobby Abreu’s struggles against left-handers, the Angels right fielder slugged a three-run homer against Clayton Kershaw. ...
Reader John Barton of Covina e-mails to note that the replica championship trophy shown in a JCPenney ad this week was inscribed, “2010 NBA Champion Boston Celtics.” ...
Paul Pierce only
wishes. ...
It has been six years since the team with the NBA’s worst record won the lottery and picked first in the draft. ...
The Orlando Magic’s prize in 2004: Dwight Howard. ...
Reflecting the ongoing trend of college basketball players leaving school before exhausting their eligibility, the over/under on the number of seniors that will be taken in the first round of Thursday’s draft is 11/2, according to odds posted at bodog.com. ...
Last year, six seniors were taken in the first round, 21st pick Darren Collison of UCLA among them. ...
In discussions of the NBA’s ultimate winners -- Kobe Bryant needs one more title to match Michael Jordan, two to equal Robert Horry, six to catch Bill Russell! -- no one seems to mention Sam Jones, who played on 10 championship-winning teams with Russell in 12 seasons with the Boston Celtics. ...
John Havlicek, also never mentioned, played on eight title-winning teams in Boston, two after Russell
retired. ...
Three other Celtics won eight rings in the Russell era. ...
The marauding morons who set fire to a taxicab in celebration of the Lakers’ championship got off lightly when AEG’s Tim Leiweke, polite to a fault, referred to them as “knuckleheads.” ...
Thugs, is more like it. ...
Michael Vick again tops Forbes’ list of the most disliked people in sports, according to the results of a survey by E-Poll Market Research, with Al Davis, Ben Roethlisberger, Tiger Woods and Jerry Jones rounding out the top five. ...
Also in the top 10: Mark McGwire, Terrell Owens, Alex Rodriguez, Allen Iverson, Gilbert Arenas. ...
Jonathan Papelbon’s recent comment that he would pitch to Manny Ramirez “very carefully,” reader Bob Nakutin of Hoquiam, Wash., e-mails to note, brought to mind former Dodgers reliever Ron Perranoski, who once replied when asked the best way to pitch to Hank Aaron, “With the bases empty.” ...
UCLA right-hander Gerrit Cole showed again this week in the College World Series why the New York Yankees made him a first-round draft pick a year ago. ...
Scantily clad baseball fan Lady Gaga apparently does not stir fond memories for Jerry Seinfeld of Sue Ellen Mischke, the “Seinfeld” character who
famously wore a bra as a top. ...
U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell, who referenced Guinness in his victory speech despite a sponsorship deal with Ballantine’s whiskey, tells CNBC: “They ... know I start with Guinness, but I reserve my Ballantine’s for later in the evening.” ...
Party on. ...
On this date in 1979, Rickey Henderson chalked up the first of his major league-record 1,406 stolen bases -- a total only slightly less than the combined number accrued by Lou Brock, who is second on the all-time list, and active leader Juan Pierre. ...
Bad teams are drawn to Corey Maggette. ...
Good teams were drawn to Scott Neidermayer. ...
Drew Doughty and the Kings would enjoy it a lot more if the Stanley Cup, instead of going on display in a lounge at Staples Center on Friday before the opening round of the NHL draft, was instead being paraded around the ice. ...
R.I.P., Manute Bol, or, as he was known to Ed “Superfan” Bieler in a clip made famous by Jim Healy, Manuel Boat.
--