O’Neal to the Lakers is a day-to-day proposition

Text messages from press row. . .

LIKE KOBE BRYANT, Jermaine O’Neal can’t seem to make up his mind, first saying he wants to be traded and then backpedaling when pressed. . . .

On Sunday at the Galen Center, where O’Neal attended a charity basketball game hosted by Baron Davis and Paul Pierce, the Indiana Pacers forward was quoted by reporters from websites for Sports Illustrated and ESPN saying that it was time for him to move on and that he wanted to be traded to the Lakers. . . .

But on Monday, back home in Indiana, O’Neal told the Indianapolis Star, “My preference is to play here and win here.”. . .

Crystal clear, just like Bryant. . . .

Maybe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel can sort it all out tonight. . . .

Give credit to Danny Ainge for a masterful job of making over the Boston Celtics, who posted the worst record in the Eastern Conference last season and were the biggest losers in the NBA draft lottery but are now championship contenders. . . .

Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett is a pretty good nucleus. . . .

When USC started its 33-game home winning streak with a victory over Arizona State on Oct. 13, 2001, attendance at the Coliseum was 43,508. . . .

In its last 13 games at the Coliseum, dating to November 2004, USC has not drawn fewer than 90,000, a streak that is expected to continue when the Trojans open the season in front of a sellout crowd Sept. 1 against Idaho. . . .

Ballpark food is bad enough without having to worry about rats. . . .

Golf fans might do well to keep an eye on Sergio Garcia this week. . . .

The Spaniard suffered a major disappointment last month at the British Open but played well at Southern Hills in the 2001 U.S. Open, trailing by one shot through three rounds before fading to a tie for 12th after a final-round 77. . . .

Pam Postema, whose bid to become major league baseball’s first female umpire ended in 1989, says of her 13 years in the minors, “I knew Barry Bonds when he was skinny,” and notes that the oft-maligned slugger was “a great guy.”. . .

“He never argued a call with me,” Postema says. “He was so cool and so nice. The good ones never had to argue because they were that good.”. . .

While Bonds was pursuing Hank Aaron’s home run record last week, Aaron was in Puerto Rico for the annual World Children’s Baseball Fair, a nonprofit enterprise he founded 18 years ago with Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh. . . .

Oh hit 868 home runs in Japan, but Hideki Matsui on Sunday became the first Japanese-born player to hit 100 home runs in the major leagues. . . .

Bonds hit his record-breaking home run Tuesday night on the five-year anniversary of baseball players ending decades of opposition to mandatory drug testing by agreeing to be checked for illegal steroids. . . .

Twenty-two years after it was dropped because of budget constraints, the baseball program at West Los Angeles College will be reinstated in time for the 2008 season, complete with a $350,000 renovation of the on-campus stadium that was used as a practice facility by teams in the 1984 Olympics. . . .

Dozens of West L.A. players were drafted in the 10 years the program was up and running, among them De Jon Watson, the Dodgers’ director of player development. . . .

Two U.S. teams -- Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers on the men’s side, 2004 Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor on the women’s side -- won beach volleyball world championships last month in Switzerland. . . .

Volleyball legend Karch Kiraly, a 10-time Manhattan Beach Open champion, will be the guest of honor at a charity dinner Thursday night at the Manhattan Beach Marriott, with proceeds benefiting the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation. . . .

Manhattan Beach was supposed to be Kiraly’s final AVP Tour appearance in Southern California before he retires at season’s end, but because of a calf injury he’ll be in the NBC broadcast booth this weekend instead of on the sand. . . .

Actually celebrating a swan song this weekend will be 15-time AMA motocross and supercross champion Ricky Carmichael, who will try to add victory No. 150 to his record-breaking resume in an event at Millville, Minn. . . .

Carmichael, who has entered into a NASCAR driver-development program, says he will concentrate solely on stock-car racing after this weekend. . . .

One of these days, Brett Favre might actually retire. . . .

Text messages joins the regular Page 2 rotation starting Aug. 31.

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jerome.crowe@latimes.com