Perhaps Rambis Can Help Clippers Rebound as Coach

Here’s a frightening thought: Members of the Rambis Youth, the teenage boys in the early ‘80s who wore thick, black-rimmed glasses and T-shirts to the Forum to emulate the low fashion of their hero, are now closer to 40 than 30 and may have become leaders in their communities.

That is no more improbable, I suppose, than the possibility Kurt Rambis is about to become an NBA coach with the Clippers.

When Rambis arrived in Los Angeles in 1981 as a free agent from Santa Clara University, he looked more like Elvis Costello than Kevin McHale.

It was a surprise when he made the Laker roster as the 12th man, more of one when Pat Riley settled on him as the replacement at power forward for injured Mitch Kupchak.

But Rambis proved crucial to Riley’s “no rebounds, no rings” philosophy that resulted in four championships.

Rambis considered himself like the man with the broom at the circus. He did the dirty work for Showtime.

Retired for four years, he still knows his role. Invited to participate in a shooting contest Sunday and Monday at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, along with Tracy Murray, Brent Barry, Keith Van Horn, Mike Bibby and others, he felt compelled to accept. And not only because proceeds benefit the ERAS Center for at-risk youth.

“Somebody has to be there to rebound when those guys miss,” he said.

Because Rambis was more often than not at the right place in his NBA career, he played for 14 seasons. Near the end, he began imparting his knowledge to his teammates, once overhearing the comment, “That old man knows what he’s talking about.”

That told him two things.

He was too old to still be playing.

He had potential as a coach.

After spending the last four seasons as a Laker assistant, Rambis, 40, believes he’s ready for a promotion. Although he is waiting for an appointment with Donald Sterling, Rambis has interviewed with Elgin Baylor and is convinced the Clippers are serious about winning.

“If I didn’t think that, I wouldn’t be interested,” he said.

There’s one good reason I’d rather see the Clippers hire him than someone like George Karl, other than the vast difference in their salary demands. Rambis wants the job.

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Bill Walsh said he turned down an offer to replace Carmen Policy with the San Francisco 49ers because of his involvement in bringing an NFL team to Los Angeles. . . .

But with whom is he involved? None of the groups active in the pursuit claim him. . . .

Although influential NFL owners acknowledge Houston is far ahead of Los Angeles in obtaining a team, they say it’s ludicrous to think the league would expand to 32 teams without having one in Los Angeles. . . .

Translation: Either Houston or Los Angeles will get an expansion team, with the other getting a transplant. . . .

We should take up a collection to pay the Oakland Raiders’ moving expenses to Texas. . . .

Because of the lockout, Pete Newell’s Big Man’s Camp, scheduled for next week in Honolulu, will have about half as many NBA centers as usual. You think they’re going to pay their own expenses? . . .

One who will is the Clippers’ Michael Olowokandi. . . .

Credit the L.A. Sports Council and the All Year Figure Skating Club of Culver City for the Staples Center’s selection as a finalist for the 2002 U.S. championships. . . .

U.S. Figure Skating Assn. voters, however, will vote for Portland, Ore., if they want to protect their kneecaps. . . .

I miss Charlie Steiner on boxing for ESPN because he mixed his coverage of the sport with skepticism and humor. . . .

The latter finally got the best of him, he said Tuesday in the Dodger Stadium press box. . . .

“I could no longer face the camera with a straight face,” he said. . . .

He was particularly gleeful to be out of the sport when he heard the entire Evander Holyfield-Henry Akinwande card at Madison Square Garden had been canceled because of tests revealing two hepatitis B positive tests and a pregnancy. . . .

Russian Kostya Tszyu, who will fight Rafael Ruelas on Saturday night in El Paso, brought his own cook and four bodyguards to protect him. . . .

You think maybe he’s seen “The Mask of Zorro” too many times? . . .

While watching the funeral Wednesday on WGN of former Cub broadcaster Jack Brickhouse, a friend called with a line written years ago by Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Daley. . . .

“Jack Brickhouse has seen more bad baseball than any person, living or dead.”

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While wondering whatever happened to Jeff Gillooly, I was thinking: I’d rather see Holyfield fight Butterbean than Vaughn Bean, I don’t trust tennis rankings when Marcelo Rios is No. 1, I miss Earl Weaver in the dugout.