The Inside Track : This Is O’Meara’s Official Ryder Cup Wake-Up Call

As a red-blooded, greens-fee paying American, I was disturbed to read Mark O’Meara’s quote regarding the Ryder Cup. “I hope we win, but if we lose, I won’t lose any sleep over it,” he reportedly said.

I hope he was misquoted and that what he really said was, “If we lose, I won’t sleep until I have put Sergio Garcia over my knee and spanked him” or “until I have boxed Jesper Parnevik’s big, funny-looking ears.”

If his quote, however, truly represents his feelings about the Ryder Cup, I fear for the United States’ chances if he is paired in a crucial match Sunday at Brookline, Mass., against Jose Maria Olazabal, Colin Montgomerie or even Jean Van de Velde.

It might not have been hospitable for the U.S. side to refer to the 1991 Ryder Cup on Kiawah Island, S.C., as “The War at the Shore.” On the other hand, the Ryder Cup is the closest thing golf has to the Sharks and the Jets. As Tom Watson once said, the Ryder Cup is “the only event in the world that will make your legs shake.”

Only the strong survive.

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Fernando Vargas has asked for a continuance before he enters a plea on the two felony counts against him for beating a man with a golf club. If he committed the crime, I’m certainly not excusing him. However, if U.S. Ryder Cup captain Ben Crenshaw is seeking another player for this weekend. . . .

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Speaking of Vargas, trainer Robert Alcazar repeated Sunday that his boxer, Oscar De La Hoya, will never fight the Oxnard junior welterweight because of the disrespect he has shown for De La Hoya. . . .

“Oscar doesn’t care if somebody offers him $50 million,” Alcazar said. . . .

Vargas, resentful of De La Hoya’s popularity and commercial endorsements, isn’t enhancing his image by being seen in Las Vegas with Mike Tyson. . . .

Even before the loss to Felix Trinidad, the proposed Dec. 11 bout at the Staples Center between De La Hoya and Spain’s Javier Castillejo at 154 pounds appeared in jeopardy. . . .

Now Alcazar says he doesn’t foresee a fight before March at the earliest, and De La Hoya has mentioned the possibility of taking a year off. . . .

Still, Bobby Goldwater, the Staples Center general manager, said he will keep Dec. 11 open until he speaks to De La Hoya’s promoter, Bob Arum. . . .

Goldwater said he would like to have De La Hoya in the main event at the Staples Center’s inaugural boxing show, which could be postponed if Arum will agree to another date early next year. If not, Goldwater said he will find another headliner. . . .

Either way, Goldwater said, “We’re going to be a big-event arena.” . . .

If the Kings’ exhibition against the Ducks on Monday night in the last NHL game at the Great Western Forum is any indication, there will be fighting at the Staples Center this year. . . .

Forget De La Hoya-Trinidad. I want to see the rematch between Andy Murray and Craig Hartsburg. . . .

You know how everybody loves Dusty Baker as a manager and wonders how the Dodgers ever let him get out of the organization? . . .

We’ll all be saying the same thing some day about Mike Scioscia. . . .

The only job he really wanted in baseball after he retired as a player was to manage the Dodgers. He was confident enough in his ability to do it and in the Dodgers’ ability to recognize it that he turned down interviews for managerial jobs with two other clubs, the Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. . . .

Now, under the new regime, he was uncertain enough about his future that he felt it necessary to leave the Dodgers on Monday to seek opportunities elsewhere. . . .

“Mike and Reggie Smith were two guys we had who had all of the qualifications to manage,” Fred Claire said Tuesday. . . .

“They really care for the game, know it, love to teach it and have been involved in every phase of it,” he said. . . .

Claire has let it be known that he would be interested in becoming the new general manager in Seattle. The Mariners have yet to contact him. . . .

He looks pretty good today. His last Dodger team finished second with a payroll of around $40 million. Kevin Malone’s Dodgers are battling to stay out of the cellar with a payroll of twice as much.

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While wondering if the Lions would take Barry Sanders back, I was thinking: You’ll see the “Dirty Bird” dance this year about as often as the Watusi, that something missing in the Dodger-Giant series is a pennant race, the Devil Rays couldn’t condone Wilson Alvarez hitting umpire John Shulock with a pitch but had to be pleased with his control.

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