Morning briefing

Stanford has its memories

Third-ranked UCLA faces seventh-ranked Stanford tonight in what may now be the Pacific 10 Conference’s most competitive men’s basketball rivalry.

That has not always been the case. Only once has Stanford beaten UCLA in a season that the Bruins won a national title. It happened in 1975, when Rich Kelley had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Stanford in a 64-60 upset of the then-second-ranked Bruins at Maples Pavilion, ending a 17-game losing streak to UCLA.

“That was the first time I remember the floor being stressed by a couple thousand kids,” said Kelley, now a businessman in the Bay Area. “But those were the days when you played Friday and Saturday night games and we had USC coming in the next night. Everyone was holding their breath. . . . I couldn’t even go have a beer to celebrate.”

The next night, Kelley scored 30 points as Stanford beat fifth-ranked USC to complete a weekend known as the Miracle at Maples.

“I caught up with those beers I didn’t have the night before,” Kelley said.

It must have been some hangover. Stanford won only three more conference games that season -- and UCLA went on to win its 10th national title.

Trivia time

Who was the UCLA center who replaced Bill Walton for most of the 1974-75 season?

Food for thought

Flea, bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and froth-at-the-mouth Lakers fan, has reached nirvana over his favorite team’s recent surge.

“If they win a championship I might do something crazy,” Flea wrote in his NBA blog. “I am a vegetarian but if they win I’m going to get a bunch of those free taco coupons and eat 100 tacos like Paul Newman eats eggs in ‘Cool Hand Luke.’ ”

A note to younger fans: The movie wasn’t about Luke Walton.

Nacho libre?

Flea may want to add the Green Bay Packers to his list considering his possible taco quest. A fast food chain announced Wednesday that because of Brett Favre’s retirement it was giving Packers fans a gesture of support by sending its “Nacho Day” award to Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt.

Just what Wisconsin needs. More cheese.

Stand Pat

In the biggest landslide of this election season, Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley was a runaway winner as the coach NBA players would not like to play for in a poll by Sports Illustrated.

Riley received 28% of the vote among the 242 players interviewed, 16 percentage points ahead of Isiah Thomas, Jerry Sloan and Scott Skiles.

Apparently, NBA titles don’t figure into the equations because Riley with five has five more than the three second-place finishers.

Riley found one defender -- sort of -- in Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, who told the Palm Beach Post, “He’s going to make you work. A lot of players I’ve coached, Lamar [Odom], for example, thought [Riley] dramatically improved their game.”

But asked if he would have wanted to play for Riley, Jackson said, “No.”

Riley was as unfazed as ever, telling the Post, “I’ll find the guys who like me. Don’t worry.”

Well, sure. It’s a short list.

Waiting game

A mock NBA draft by ESPN, based on standings Tuesday, had USC’s O.J. Mayo being selected sixth by the Clippers.

If ever there was a stay-in-school message . . .

Trivia answer

Ralph Drollinger, who Kelley noted was a welcomed change from Walton in a 1975 Time magazine story, saying, “This year, we’re playing against someone we think is human.”

And finally

Humorist Garrison Keller, reading a joke submitted by a listener to the “Prairie Home Companion” radio show, asked, “What do Billy Graham and the Minnesota Vikings have in common? They both can get 65,000 people on their knees screaming ‘Jesus Christ!’ ”

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chris.foster@latimes.com