Campos Continues to Keep Fans, Teammates Guessing

If you’re at the Rose Bowl on Sunday for the first game of a best-of-three Major League Soccer playoff series between the Galaxy and Dallas Burn, you are virtually guaranteed last-minute drama.

I’m not talking about the game. Who knows about that? I’m talking about the pregame.

Will the Galaxy’s colorful All-Star goalkeeper, Jorge Campos, be in Pasadena? Will he be in Mexico City? Or will he be at 30,000 feet somewhere in between?

Here’s the situation. Campos definitely will be available for Mexico’s World Cup qualifying game earlier Sunday in Mexico City against El Salvador. Then, if it appears there’s still time, he will jet to Los Angeles for the 5 p.m. kickoff against the Burn.

Doug Logan, commissioner of the fledgling MLS, has been criticized for scheduling the playoffs’ first round to begin on a weekend certain to be crucial for several national teams in World Cup qualifications.

But conflicts were destined to occur this year in soccer leagues throughout the world, even England.

Leicester City goalkeeper Kasey Keller played Tuesday night in a UEFA Cup game against Atletico Madrid, will travel to Washington for Friday night’s game between the United States and Jamaica and then cross the Atlantic again for a Saturday Premier League game against Derby County.

It’s the kind of scheduling that drives travel agents crazy.

And backup goalkeepers.

In the Galaxy’s case, that’s Kevin Hartman.

“When you play behind Campos, you have to be ready at all times,” the rookie from UCLA said Tuesday. “Maybe he doesn’t come, or, when he does, maybe he plays forward.

“It’s one of the reasons I like playing here. You’re not going to play in Dallas while Mark Dodd is there, or in Columbus with Brad Friedel or in New York-New Jersey with Tony Meola. Here, I never know.”

That includes Sunday, when he probably will be the starter.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said. “I’ll be watching the tunnel like everyone else to see if Campos shows up.”

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The Kings are bigger and younger this season, averaging 6 feet 2, 207 pounds and 25 years compared to 6-1, 199 and 26 in 1996-97. . . .

Does that mean they will be better? . . .

We’ll start finding out tonight, when they begin a five-game trip to open the season. . . .

The Kings were the NHL’s worst road team last season with a 10-27-4 record. . . .

General Manager Dave Taylor asked the players this week to give him their ideas in writing on how to improve away from the Forum. . . .

“We need to play hard every night,” Olli Jokinen wrote. . . .

From the mouths of rookies. . . .

Jokinen, 18, is approaching the season seriously. He thought about wearing a Mohawk haircut for the opening game in Pittsburgh but decided on a more mature buzz cut. . . .

The missing pieces for the Kings on the road last season might have been luggage. Just in case, owners Philip Anschutz and Ed Roski gave the players new sets Tuesday. . . .

Anschutz can afford it. In Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans, he’s 18th with a net worth of $5.2 billion. . . .

Rupert Murdoch is 24th at $3.9 billion. . . .

Mike Piazza and Raul Mondesi, who want contract extensions, should clip and save. . . .

E-Page Two. Offering Fred Claire advice on Monday, I wrote that he should re-sign Bill Russell. Actually, he beat me to it by close to a year. . . .

Last Oct. 10, the Dodgers broke with recent tradition and gave Russell a two-year contract. . . .

“When you change managers, more than a year is appropriate,” Peter O’Malley said at the time. . . .

I hope we don’t hear any more on that subject until next October. . . .

Free-agent pitcher Darryl Kile to the Angels? . . .

It makes sense because he’s from Garden Grove and might like to come home. . . .

But in three seasons under Manager Terry Collins with Houston, Kile won 25 games. . . .

Kile, whose two-hitter Tuesday was almost enough to beat Greg Maddux and the Braves, won 19 this season under Collins’ replacement, Larry Dierker, and says one reason was a more relaxed atmosphere in the clubhouse. . . .

The featured attraction during Santa Anita’s five-week Oak Tree meet, which begins today, will be Seabiscuit. . . .

As part of a $12-million renovation, the statue of the famous horse has been moved to a more visible location in the center of the paddock walking ring.

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While wondering if Steve Lavin is still having fun, I was thinking: the Kings have improved, it’s too early to tell about the Ducks, Colorado and Philadelphia will meet in the Stanley Cup finals.