He’s Positive Melrose Made a Difference

John Van Boxmeer, coach of the Los Angeles Ice Dogs minor league hockey team, is well acquainted with former King coach Barry Melrose.

They both coached in the American Hockey League, Van Boxmeer at Rochester, N.Y., and Melrose at Glens Falls, N.Y. So Van Boxmeer kept an eye on the Kings’ scores when Melrose went to the NHL. Van Boxmeer was especially intrigued when Melrose led the Kings to the Stanley Cup finals in 1993 and credited positive-thinking guru Anthony Robbins for his success.

“When I saw that,” Van Boxmeer said, “I went out and bought Robbins’ book. I figured if it did that much for Barry, it could help me too.”

It didn’t get Van Boxmeer to the Cup finals, but he still thinks it was money well spent.

“It got us to L.A., didn’t it?” he said.

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Trivia time: The Senior PGA Tour is coming to Wilshire Country Club next month. Four L.A. Opens were held at Wilshire. Who were the winners and in what year?

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One man’s view: Tennis writer Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle apparently was not impressed with Andre Agassi in his unsuccessful defense of the U.S. Open championship against Pete Sampras.

“Agassi had that watered-down look, like an unfinished gin-and-tonic that spent the night on the coffee table,” Jenkins wrote.

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This is pressure: Reliever Bob Patterson, known as the “Glove Doctor” for his handiwork restitching Angel gloves, got a special request this week: Owner Jackie Autry brought him a well-preserved 1941 Spalding mitt that needed some work.

“I really don’t think it will affect whether I have a job next year, but you never know,” Patterson said. “I just hope she doesn’t boot any balls with it.”

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No magician: Four-time world Formula One champion Alain Prost is talking of making a comeback with the McLaren team, but Benetton team owner Flavio Briatore said it would take more than that for McLaren to get back to the top.

“Miracles happen,” said Briatore, whose team has dominated for two seasons with F1 champion Michael Schumacher. “But McLaren would be more in need of David Copperfield.”

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Not like Cal: On the night Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games played, New York Met second baseman Jeff Kent sat out a game because of a pulled quadriceps muscle--from a home-run trot the night before.

Special service: On Japan Airlines flights to Los Angeles from Tokyo and Osaka last month, JAL offered a special “Nomo Fan Message Delivery” service. It provided postcards in flight, which were collected, passed through customs in a special pouch and delivered to the Dodgers’ Japanese pitcher at Dodgers, Inc., headquarters.

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About Mr. Jones: Steve Kelly of the Seattle Times has his own view of Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones: “Jones is the Deion Sanders of owners. You might not like him, but you wish he were on your team. He is the owner the rest of the NFL cities wish they had.”

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Trivia answer: Mac Smith, 1928; Ed Dudley, 1931; Craig Wood, 1933, and Jug McSpaden, 1944.

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Quotebook: Denver Post columnist Todd Phipers on the name change of San Francisco’s ballpark: “I don’t care if they call it Candlestick or 3Com Park. It’s still a dump.”