Jackie’s Grandson a Trojan? Not if Grandma Has Say

Jesse Simms, a 6-foot-3, 265-pound linebacker-fullback from King and Low Heywood Thomas prep school in Stamford, Conn., is one of the most heavily recruited football players in the country. Among schools he is considering are Penn State, Arizona State, Boston College, Virginia, Wisconsin, USC and UCLA.

“He can’t go to USC,” his grandmother said. “They’re UCLA’s rivals.”

Simms is the grandson of the late Jackie Robinson, who went to UCLA, as did grandmother Rachel.

Simms’ father, Robert, played alongside UCLA Coach Bob Toledo at San Francisco State.

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Trivia time: When did the Dodgers last start a left-handed pitcher?

You can look it up: On Oct. 18, 1977, the Kings played the New York Islanders to a 0-0 tie. That same night, the Yankees defeated the Dodgers to win the World Series.

The Kings played only one scoreless game over the next 19 years until Oct. 26, when they tied the Calgary Flames. That was the same night the Yankees won the World Series over the Atlanta Braves.

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Empty seats: The drawing power of USC’s football team apparently is waning. Last Saturday’s crowd of 41,980 at Stanford Stadium was the smallest for a USC-Stanford game since 1962.

The smallest Trojan-Cardinal crowd in the Coliseum during that same period was 50,867 in 1983.

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Modern journalism: The Vancouver Province, along with its NBA stories, carries a “Grizz-O-Meter,” a critique of how the Grizzlies’ mascot, Grizz, performs his dunks from a trampoline.

Among the “paw ratings” are “Boo Boo,” “Just your average bear,” “Fur-ocious” and “Pawsitively Awesome.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1960, Elgin Baylor--now the Clippers’ general manager--scored 71 points in the Lakers’ 123-108 victory over the New York Knicks.

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Images: The spitting incident involving Roberto Alomar and baseball umpire John Hirschbeck hasn’t hurt Alomar’s popularity in his native Puerto Rico. The Baltimore Oriole second baseman received a standing ovation when he appeared in the winter league opener in San Juan.

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The hockey prom: One of the rituals that NHL coaches must endure is that of telling players they won’t be in the starting lineup that night, but Florida Panther coach Doug MacLean says it’s not too stressful.

“The players don’t get too excited when they see me skating up to them,” he said. “It’s kind of like high school, how the girls acted when I was coming up to ask them to dance.”

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Trivia answer: Sept. 24, 1992, when Bobby Ojeda pitched against the Cincinnati Reds.

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And finally: The mystery of the two-day disappearance of a mannequin of Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman from the Miami Dolphins’ dressing room has been solved.

Defensive lineman Daniel Stubbs said a teammate borrowed it so he could drive home in the carpool lane.