Toledo Probably Wants Fans to Be Angry at Him

When two local teams play in the same league, one is usually accusing the newspaper of bias toward the other. The L.A. Raiders, for instance, would count column inches to see whether they were getting more or less space than the Anaheim Rams.

Although I don’t believe anyone at USC or UCLA is that particular, a similar paranoia undoubtedly exists on both campuses.

An interesting twist this football season has been that some fans are questioning why Paul Hackett’s job performance is more of an issue than Bob Toledo’s.

Are they USC fans who believe we have been unfair to Hackett or UCLA fans who believe we have been too fair to Toledo?

I suspect the former. The Bruins are a disappointing 4-6 with only Saturday’s game at the Coliseum against USC left, but Toledo has not become a target of either the media or, judging from telephone calls and mail we receive, of fans as Hackett has with the 4-6 Trojans.

I believe this has to be a great disappointment to Toledo.

He said when he replaced Terry Donahue as head coach in 1996 that his goal was to build a program like Florida State’s and Florida’s and Michigan’s and Ohio State’s and Notre Dame’s that was automatically considered a top-20 team before each season.

With that kind of success come expectations. With expectations come pressure on the head coach. The fact that Toledo hasn’t felt much of that, other than the pressure he puts on himself, means that he so far has failed.

You could say that everyone is giving him a pass this season because of the 20-game winning streak in 1997 and ‘98, but, at most football powers, the good will would have run out at around halftime of a 55-7 loss to Oregon State.

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The Dodgers no doubt were encouraged about the selection of Shawn Green as a Gold Glove outfielder. . . .

But the players and managers who selected the team didn’t do much for their credibility when they also selected Rafael Palmeiro at first base, even though he played only 28 games there last season. . . .

I never again want to hear players and managers say that they would do a better job in voting for the All-Star team than the fans. . . .

Davey Johnson advances this theory about Raul Mondesi’s real reason for demanding a trade: “I think Mondesi talks to other players like Pedro Martinez or Pedro Astacio or Roger Cedeno and they seem to blossom in other places. He gets this idea that you go somewhere else and you really flourish.” . . .

You wonder whether your Martinez autograph is real? He has hired DNA experts, PSA/DNA Authentication Services of Newport Beach, to combat forgeries. . . .

Pete Rose appears on “The Martin Short Show” on Friday. Short doesn’t strike me as a Jim Gray-like interrogator, so it’s safe to assume he won’t ask Rose to apologize for anything. . . .

Rose still seems to believe that 4,256 hits mean never having to say you’re sorry. Decide for yourself after reading www.DowdReport.com.

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More than 40,000 fans are expected for Sunday’s Major League Soccer championship game in Foxboro, Mass., an excellent crowd considering that the match features teams from Los Angeles and Washington and not the host New England Revolution. . . .

But MLS is still short of major league, as evidenced by former UCLA forward Joe-Max Moore’s defection this week from the Revolution to Everton in England’s Premier League. . . .

Will the Galaxy’s Cobi Jones be the next MLS star to go? . . .

The SportsBusiness Journal ranked Marla Messing, the Women’s World Cup president, at No. 1 among its top 25 female sports executives of the year. . . .

Since the World Cup ended, Messing hasn’t quit running. She completed the New York Marathon. . . .

The U.S. women’s soccer team is 2-4 against the World All-Stars on an indoor tour, which includes a game at the Arrowhead Pond on Dec. 9. . . .

After the first of her two goals against the Americans on Sunday at the Meadowlands, Australia’s Julie Murray, a la Brandi Chastain, tore off her jersey and twirled it around her head. . . .

She said she did it to honor the U.S. team. . . .

“Also,” she said, “if I could get just one-10th of the publicity.”

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Michelle Kwan doesn’t appear to be suffering any adverse effects from pursuing her career and a UCLA education at the same time. She won Skate America and Skate Canada, the first two major international competitions of the new season. . . .

Kwan skates her short program to a Beatles tune. Her parents named her for one of the Fab Four’s hit songs. . . .

L.A. City College celebrates the 50-year anniversary of its 1949-50 national championship basketball team with a banquet tonight. Three players--Hal Uplinger, Al Roges and Roland Hans--played in the NBA. . . .

A bronze plaque in tribute to Jim Murray will be unveiled in the Memorial Court of Honor on Friday at the Coliseum, the day before the Jim Murray Trophy will be presented to the winner of the USC-UCLA game. . . .

Another late Times sports columnist, Allan Malamud, would have celebrated his 58th birthday Friday. . . .

I’m still wondering when Wayne Lukas is going to fulfill his promise to name a horse after Mud. . . .

With assistance from the International Date Line, jockey David Flores plans to ride Mash One in Tokyo’s Japan Cup and Tuzla in Hollywood Park’s Matriarch Stakes on the same day, Nov. 28. . . .

Michael Plant, president of the first winter Goodwill Games scheduled for Lake Placid, N.Y., in February, isn’t ruling out the possibility of Tonya Harding competing. . . .

But then Plant also suggested--jokingly?--

Richard Jewell as security chief for the 1998 summer Goodwill Games in New York. . . .

“He wasn’t guilty of anything,” Plant said.

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com