Nothing like a good sport, win or...

Nothing like a good sport, win or lose. Barry Minkow, the youthful carpet-cleaning whiz recently convicted of 57 counts of various types of fraud, gave federal prosecutors Gordon Greenberg and James Asperger a Christmas card.

The missive’s stamped message was: “Remembering you is one of the special joys of the season.”

Minkow, himself, wrote: “You guys truly are the best at what you do. I wouldn’t of wanted anyone else up there making me look soooo bad . . . “

The card contained a few misspellings, including Greenberg’s name, which appeared as “Greenbough” on the envelope. “Well,” said Greenberg, “we only spent four months together--why would he remember my name?”

Nevertheless, the two prosecutors said it was the first time they had ever received season’s greetings from a defendant.

Minkow, the ZZZZ Best founder who once bragged that he was a millionaire by the time he turned 18, hand-delivered the card to the lawyers last week during jury deliberations.

He noted in a P.S.: “I’m too cheap to send this card.”

The statewide ban on replica firearms doesn’t take effect until Jan. 1, but State Sen. David Roberti (D-Los Angeles) is urging parents to forgo buying toy guns for Christmas to stop the “insanity of accidental shootings.”

In fact, Roberti’s staff put his plea in the spirit of the season, noting that some manufacturers are trying to get around the law by coloring the guns:

‘Twas 5 days before Christmas and all through the streets,

The parents are shopping for just the right treats.

But all is not well in the land of St. Nick;

There are clouds on the horizon, if the parents make the wrong pick.

There are guns on the television, guns in the gangs,

Guns that are glorified when they give a big bang.

Toy guns have caused tragedy, for children you see;

From a wrong happenstance where a child might be .

Neither plastic nor bright colors will change the reflection

That a policeman sees from a gun barrel’s complexion.

Speaking of St. Nick, one 900-area-code telephone service offers a recording of “Santa the Boss” by a local group called the Rap Squad. Cost: $2.90 for three minutes.

The lyrics, which don’t exactly conjure up visions of Bing Crosby, include:

I’m Santa the man, you understand. Hip, cool, in demand. Head honcho, big cheese. The boss, that’s me. I’m the baddest bearded man you’ll ever see.

You don’t associate hard times with Santa Catalina Island. But Avalon High’s basketball teams were forced to play their games in the Casino ballroom when asbestos was found in the school gym. It was so sunny this year that Southern California Edison has decided to seed the clouds above to try to induce a bit of rainfall.

And, most recently, Avalon Bay Beach was closed by a laundry spill, of all things.

What happened was that the wash water from a nearby coin-laundry overflowed, “ran down the gutter and into the bay,” said acting City Manager Pete Woolson.

Woolson closed the beach Sunday as a precautionary measure while the spill of “maybe 200 gallons” was cleaned up. Then the beach remained closed part of Monday because officials forgot to take down the “Closed” sign.

“Not too many people swimming this time of the year, anyway,” Woolson said.

How bad is the smog in Mexico City? The Baltimore Sun reports that the Japanese Embassy periodically arranges for its diplomats stationed in the Mexican capital to take a vacation to clear their lungs. Where are they sent? The paradise known as Los Angeles.

Phonetically, at least, the partially burnt-out sign on a Bell Gardens casino near the Long Beach Freeway aptly summed up the chilly weather of the last few nights:

ICYCLE CLUB.