OH MAPLE LEAF: If you’re going to...

OH MAPLE LEAF: If you’re going to be a part of the National Hockey League, the folks at Anaheim Arena figure, no detail is too small in welcoming visiting teams. . . . The arena has already flown the Canadian flag--red and white with an 11-point maple leaf--for some Canadian visitors and will fly it when the Mighty Ducks season starts in October. You’re a true hockey fan if you can name the NHL’s eight Canadian teams without reading on: Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Edmonton.

CALL THEM HOMELESS: Cal State Fullerton researchers used unorthodox methods for a recent study of the county’s homeless. Instead of being interviewed face to face, the homeless were loaned cellular telephones to talk to interviewers at the social science research center’s lab. . . . Spokesman Gregory Robinson says passers-by did double-takes at seeing homeless people roaming around and talking on cellular phones: “You should have seen the looks.”

STAR BASHING: If you’ve seen Steven Seagal on the talk shows, you know he can be surly about the media. Spy magazine this month has given him something new to be surly about: It calls him a bully, a liar, a coward, and accuses him of lewd comments to women assistants. To add a little salt, it also shows his yearbook picture from Buena Park High School, Class of ‘69, and says that he was “only a fair student.”

COUNT ON TOM: The Dodgers’ pennant drive doesn’t mean the San Francisco Giants are the only thing on manager Tommy Lasorda’s mind these days. He’s also taking time to help his friends. . . . Lasorda, who lives in Fullerton, has signed on to emcee a $125-per-person evening charity auction at Newport Beach’s Le Meridien Hotel on July 25. Billie Jean King has thrown in her Wimbledon seats for the auction, which benefits in part the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame. And yes, the Dodgers are at home that day--they play the Mets in a day game.