It’s Frustrating Figuring What Kind of Town This Is

What kind of town is this?

I know Chicago. Forget about the Bulls. That’s what fans there will do when Michael Jordan retires, the same as they did to the Blackhawks when Bobby Hull left. Chicago is a Bear and Cub town.

New York? Yankees and Giants. Boston? Red Sox and Bruins. Philadelphia? Eagles and Flyers.

This is the conversation I had recently with USC Coach John Robinson.

“Soccer town,” he finally concluded about Los Angeles, tongue not entirely in cheek because parts of the city are.

You can make a strong case for the Dodgers. Beyond that, it depends on which team is winning.

One thing certain is that it’s not an NFL town. That frustrates some of us, including Robinson.

“You go to other cities, there’s anticipation about the season starting,” he said. “You don’t have that here since the Raiders and Rams left. I miss it.”

My guess is he’s among a steadily decreasing minority.

Some NFL owners will tell you the feeling is mutual, pointing to speculation that the league’s television revenues will increase by 50% or more in the next contract negotiations without a team in the nation’s second-largest market.

Ed Roski, who along with fellow King owner Philip Anschutz is out front in efforts to bring a team to the Coliseum, no doubt will hear that often when he begins traveling this week to meet with NFL owners.

I hope he convinces them their argument is shortsighted. The NFL needs Los Angeles more than Los Angeles needs the NFL.

That might not be apparent now. Those of us here who were raised with the NFL will still watch games on television and might occasionally drive to see one live in San Diego.

But what about children in Los Angeles and Orange counties who aren’t growing up with the NFL? Will they become fans? And what about their children?

That’s a huge market to lose, considerably more profitable than those the NFL hopes some day to add in Canada and Mexico.

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Who’s the next great American woman tennis player? . . .

Russian tennis officials say it’s inevitable Anna Kournikova, 15, will apply for U.S. citizenship. . . .

It’s possible Pete Sampras and Martina Hingis won’t win U.S. Open titles, but it would be almost impossible to make a convincing case for anyone else. . . .

If I could see anyone playing in his prime again at Flushing Meadows, it would be Jimmy Connors. . . .

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I’ve got to wonder about Jorge Campos playing for the Galaxy on Sunday while also under contract to Cruz Azul. . . .

Cruz Azul beats the Galaxy. . . .

Guadalupe beats South Mission Viejo. . . .

It’ll be a relief to see Mexicans beating up on each other for a change tonight, when Jesus Chong of Durango defends his WBO light flyweight title at the Forum against Melchor Cob Castro of Campeche. . . .

The Forum is celebrating its 15th year of boxing promotions under Jerry Buss. . . .

The fight I’d like to see is Felix Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya, but it’s not likely to happen as long as Trinidad is promoted by Don King and De La Hoya by Bob Arum. . . .

I think we all can agree Roberto Alomar should never have spit at John Hirschbeck. I wish, though, there had been a hearing so that Alomar would have testified about what Hirschbeck said to provoke him. . . .

My guess is it was something similar to the two-word expletive Hirschbeck called Hideki Irabu on Wednesday night at the Big A, one guaranteed to get a player tossed if he says it to an umpire. . . .

One night later, Hirschbeck, umpiring at first base, ejected Rickey Henderson for questioning Andy Pettitte’s pick-off move. Henderson says Hirschbeck cussed him. . . .

Even before his dramatic game-winning double Friday night, the Dodgers were relieved Greg Gagne didn’t retire earlier this season. . . .

He was ready to quit because playing for the Dodgers had become so little fun. . . .

They seem to be having fun now. . . .

It has been suggested the NFL shouldn’t play exhibitions because college teams don’t. . . .

Maybe college teams should. The Pigskin Classic and Kickoff Classic were anything but classics. . . .

Pat Ray was a classic, the cynical newspaperman with a heart as big as the oval tracks he loved. We’ll miss the former Times sportswriter and copy editor, who died Sunday at 66 after an illness.

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While wondering what took the Dodgers so long, I was thinking: Ron Dayne wasn’t ready for Syracuse, much less the NFL, the only Great Dane on Sunday was Wilson Kipketer, Little League shouldn’t be this big.