They See World Cup Through Rosy Glasses
The road to L.A. led through L.A.
Actually, the road that the U.S. women’s soccer team plans to travel this summer leads to Pasadena. The Women’s World Cup final is scheduled July 10 at the Rose Bowl.
But Coach Tony DiCicco and his players, en route to their final exhibition games this week in Portland, Ore., before their World Cup opener June 19 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., stopped in Los Angeles on Tuesday for a kickoff luncheon sponsored by the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce and L.A. Sports Council.
So many young girls attended that David Simon, president of the L.A. Sports Council, said he hadn’t realized that the Memorial Day holiday for schoolchildren had been extended through Tuesday. It was more like a Backstreet Boys concert.
If the reception is similar for the U.S. players elsewhere, they are reaching their target audience. Leaving behind a legacy for young female athletes in the United States is one of their goals.
“Missionaries for women’s soccer and women’s athletics,” DiCicco called them Tuesday.
Their other goal is obvious, winning the Women’s World Cup for the second time in the three tournaments since its inception in 1991. They also won the gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics, the first time women’s soccer was included on the program.
“I can tell you right now that this team is going to do everything it can to make it back here to L.A.,” DiCicco said. “We want to play our last game, and we want to win our last game here in L.A. before a large, pro-American--no, a large, rabid, face-painted--crowd.”
He has reason for optimism on both counts. The Americans are favored and more than 42,000 tickets have been sold for the July 10 third-place and championship games at the Rose Bowl.
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Todd McFarlane, creator of the comic book and animation series “Spawn,” is bringing his collection of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa 1998 home run balls to Dodger Stadium for fans to see during this weekend’s Dodger-Angel series. . . .
Among McFarlane’s collection, which cost him $3.5 million at auction, will be McGwire home runs 1, 63, 67, 68, 69 and 70 and Sosa home runs 33, 61 and 66. . . .
McGwire’s most recent homer at Dodger Stadium won’t be included. Dodger officials aren’t sure whether the ball, the fourth ever hit out of the stadium, has been found yet. . . .
The Dodgers won a game last weekend when Raul Mondesi walked with the bases loaded. That’s a sentence that hasn’t been written often about Mondesi, who, until this season, never met a pitch he didn’t like. . . .
His suddenly discriminating taste in pitches has led to improvement in all of his offensive numbers, including his batting average with runners in scoring position. He was up to .288 through Monday. . . .
Among Dodger regulars, Eric Young was still leading in that category at .324, with Adrian Beltre at .295 and Gary Sheffield at .280. . . .
But Eric Karros has dropped to .189. Devon White was at .261, Todd Hollandsworth .231, Todd Hundley .206 and Mark Grudzielanek .100. . . .
How valuable was Jose Vizcaino? In 22 at-bats with runners in scoring position before his injury, he had 10 hits for a .455 average. . . .
Before his injury, Tim Salmon was hitting .364 with runners in scoring position for the Angels. . . .
The two Angel regulars hitting better than .300 in that category through Monday were Randy Velarde and Orlando Palmeiro at .333. . . .
Mo Vaughn was at .289, Andy Sheets .273, Garret Anderson .228, Troy Glaus .222, Todd Greene .216, Darin Erstad .200 and Matt Walbeck .143. . . .
If you think the race for Los Angeles’ NFL expansion team should go to the richest, you’ll start paying more attention to Marvin Davis’ new effort to bring football to Hollywood Park. . . .
According to the L.A. Business Journal, he is the second-wealthiest man in town with an estimated net worth of $4.7 billion. . . .
Eli Broad, of the New Coliseum Partners, is third at $4.3 billion. . . .
Michael Ovitz isn’t listed among the top 50, but his partner, Ron Burkle, is sixth at $1.8 billion. . . .
There isn’t necessarily a relationship between an owner’s wealth and victories, however. The Clippers’ Donald T. Sterling is 18th at $950 million. . . .
The Track and Field Assn. Pro Championships scheduled for Sunday on Long Island took a hit when Gail Devers dropped out because of a hamstring injury. She was supposed to race Marion Jones in the 100 meters. . . .
Athletes were allowed to choose their bib numbers. Jones selected 20 because that was her basketball jersey number at North Carolina. . . .
Michael Johnson took 24 because he won Olympic gold medals in both the two (200) and four (400). . . .
The Sparks are expected to play two more seasons at the Great Western Forum before moving to the new Staples Center. . . .
The WNBA would prefer that the Sparks join the Lakers, Clippers and Kings downtown in 2000, but they wouldn’t be able to play their entire home schedule there because of a conflict with the Democratic National Convention. . . .
“I’ve Got Next.” Isn’t that Al Gore’s campaign slogan?
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While wondering if offense in the NBA will make a comeback now that Mike Fratello is free to return to the telestrator, I was thinking: You can pass the champagne now that Marcelo Rios has been eliminated in Paris, the Orioles would have been World Series champions in 1996 if Frank Pulli had been umpiring the playoffs at Yankee Stadium, Jaret Wright must have grown up hearing stories about Don Drysdale’s high, hard one.
Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.
