Not coming up roses, but it’s still a flower

Just think, if Joe Torre doesn’t over-manage, I’m sitting in Angryville on Saturday for Game 7 wearing a disguise instead of being in the Rose Bowl to witness UCLA’s bold bid to play in the Poinsettia Bowl.

What a monumental win, preacher Rick Neuheisel grabbing the microphone after beating the mighty Stanford Cardinal, and shouting something inspirational to his blue-clad parishioners.

Couldn’t exactly hear what he said, although I would imagine he was yelling something like, “We’re 3-4, baby.”

He probably should have said, “no idea why you’re still here,” because if you sat through the first three quarters of drab play, what a colossal waste of time.

But it ended well for Neuheisel, his family giving him a standing ovation at the start of the postgame news conference, and then again when it was over.

Very strange behavior, I thought, for any family until I got to thinking what it might take for the Bagger and other family freeloaders to cheer for me.

Neuheisel’s family apparently has done its homework, knowing a win over Stanford gives them a shot of going to Hawaii.

The seventh-place team in the Pac-10 will go to the Poinsettia in San Diego, but if only six teams become bowl eligible, and considering how many crummy teams there are in the conference, the Bruins could finish sixth -- sending Page 2 and UCLA to Hawaii.

In the very same position as Neuheisel’s family, with a chance to go to Hawaii, let me tell you, the Bagger would’ve carried me off the field. So I guess you could say the Neuheisels showed some restraint after UCLA saved a boring afternoon with a win over an embarrassingly horrible Stanford team.

We’re 3-4, baby, and it’s Hawaii or bust.

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SO I call John Wooden because he’s not at the UCLA game, and he says he’s not feeling too well.

“I fell again this morning,” he says, “but didn’t break anything.”

Stop that, I say, and he says, “My son said the same thing.”

Last time he fell, Wooden fractured his wrist and collarbone, so at least he’s learning how to land better.

I asked about the sportsbybrooks.com report that he’s selling his 1989 Ford Taurus on EBay, which has only 38,000 miles.

“What?” Wooden says. “There were 36,000 miles on it when I stopped driving.”

Time to round up the Wooden family and find out who has been out for a joy ride.

EBay says the starting bid is $5,000 and the car has minor blemishes on the front bumper and one side.

“What?” Wooden says. “That’s happened since I drove it last. I didn’t do that.”

Anyone notice what Bill Walton has been driving lately?

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A COUPLE of weeks before the end of the Dodgers’ regular season, Margaret Williams appeared on Page 2. The true-blue fan, a teacher who had also founded Project Jordan to help youngsters advancing from Los Angeles Jordan High to college, had been going to Dodgers games since the stadium opened.

Williams watched the Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, but before the series with Philadelphia, she suffered a stroke.

She remains very ill, her sister Clelie said. “We had the Dodgers game on but she wasn’t really paying attention, so you know she wasn’t feeling well.”

Clelie said Margaret has shown some improvement, but remains unaware what happened to the Dodgers. Lucky for Torre.

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SPEAKING OF tough old birds, I was watching the Chargers the other day wondering how Esther Gillman was doing.

Esther was married to Sid Gillman, the brilliant and innovative coach of the Los Angeles and San Diego Chargers who passed away five years ago.

Well, she’s living in Santa Monica, 96 now and watching every football game available. Her son, Tom, said she still likes to say, “Coaching isn’t what it used to be.”

She must’ve been watching a Chargers game.

“My mom just began her fourth cycle of chemotherapy since 1986,” Tom said. “That says a whole bunch about her -- if any cancer cells out there read your column, they best think twice about bothering her.”

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I NOTICED the headline in the paper: “Sagging economy is a factor in Kings’ attendance woes.”

It wasn’t enough to make me read a hockey story, of course, but you don’t have to know anything about hockey to know there are only two things affecting Kings attendance: It’s hockey and Tim Leiweke’s mismanagement of the organization.

The Kings have won two of their first four, and that’s enough to bring folks back -- if only the economy was better?

It’s still hockey.

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NO QUESTION he’s an engaging power broker, smart, charismatic, and if you build it, Leiweke’s your guy. Just don’t let him in the building when he’s done.

He brought Beckham to the Home Depot Center to change soccer’s profile and then said he was powerless to make Beckham sell the sport here.

The Galaxy needed a win Saturday to remain in the playoff hunt, and yet given the dire circumstances, Beckham wasn’t going to play because of a suspension.

Long live Jerry Buss. If the Lakers are ever sold, Philip Anschutz gets the first shot at buying them. Then Leiweke takes over, and then tell me Greece isn’t looking pretty good to Kobe.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.

To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers