He Has Praise for Lavin, With a Flick of the Risk

I have been asked to speak Tuesday at the 22nd annual Risk Management Conference in Orange County, a welcome change from being told so often to shut up.

But enough about my wife.

I would think if you wanted someone to speak about risk management, though, you would invite the guy who hired me, but I’m told organizers just took it for granted he had already been dismissed.

They said they initially thought about inviting someone from the Mighty Ducks, but as you know they don’t attract a crowd.

They ruled out the Angels, of course, because they don’t take risks.

Now me, I would have played the Orange County angle to the hilt and invited Geoff McKnight, which would have attracted his father, Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight, and his sugar daddy, UCLA Coach Steve Lavin.

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YOU TALK ABOUT risk takers--Lavin spends time with Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone. He loses to Cal State Northridge. I’m guessing the next thing we’re going to learn is the real reason John Wooden has agreed to work as a consultant for L.A.’s ABA team is because Lavin prefers to get his counsel from Donald Sterling.

At least Phil Jackson covers himself--he dates the boss’ daughter, but Lavin’s just hanging out there like some sort of pinata.

Now instead of taking a whack, which seems to be a popular sport in this town, I’d like to nominate Lavin for a Risk Management award.

His move to help the young McKnight get into UCLA, a favor to his old man who coaches one of Orange County’s dominant basketball programs, is what makes the potential for great Bruin basketball for years to come.

I know Lavin has been criticized by some who would defend other mediocre students who can’t get into UCLA, but hey kids, “Who’s your daddy?” Blame it on him.

Do you think Rick Pitino would have thought of this? He doesn’t even know where Mater Dei is, and here’s Lavin probably driving the kid home on weekends.

Lavin deserves credit for creativity, and if I’m USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett, I’m reprimanding Henry Bibby for thinking his good looks alone will win favor at Mater Dei instead of competing for the coach’s kid, even though he’s apparently a stiff when it comes to playing basketball. It’s not like USC has a rule of not recruiting stiffs.

No, you don’t have to go to college to know that the best way to get ahead in this world is to have an in--like being a Trojan Heisman Trophy winner and then getting a job as USC athletic director.

That’s how Lavin got his job in the first place--he was in place when his boss got dumped, or he probably never gets the chance to coach at UCLA.

So why penalize him now for what he knows to be the proven way to get ahead? We’re talking recruiting brilliance here, and as he said Wednesday, “If Crenshaw’s basketball coach had a worthy son who wanted to enroll at UCLA, I would do the same thing.”

Consider all the distractions and pressure thrown his way, and Lavin has gobbled it up repeatedly, the interim coach now working in his fifth year under interim terms again as the administration appears set to make a change.

We sure do like to get rid of our coaches and managers in this town.

Instead of berating Lavin, this should be a time to commend him for seeing the big picture. All the UCLA coaches are allowed to submit McKnight-like names for enrollment consideration to a five-member panel with applications reviewed with no regard to the applicant’s athletic ability.

“Sometimes it works out like a Rudy,” Lavin said last week, “and a kid even earns a scholarship.”

Unfortunately, I just don’t see the day of UCLA ever having an athlete as famous as Notre Dame’s Rudy, but I’m not going to knock Lavin for trying.

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OBSERVATIONS FROM THE latest Laker loss:

* The World Champions had this lineup on the court in the second quarter: Devean George, Tyronn Lue, Mark Madsen, Greg Foster and Brian Shaw.

* It’s pretty well understood that Jackson has given up coaching the Lakers, but fortunately Chick Hearn keeps plugging away.

After Kobe Bryant had missed nine shots in a row at one point, Hearn said, “He’s got to keep putting it up because no one else is.”

* I believe the most insensitive, ridiculous quote of the year has already been uttered, and we’re just into February, but after Bryant turned in one of the most gutsy performances you might see in some time, playing against a bruising Cavalier team with a sore shoulder, his own coach belittled him.

“You take [52] shots, it doesn’t help your shoulder too much,” Jackson said.

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MINNESOTA VIKING QUARTERBACK Daunte Culpepper, who will play in Sunday’s Pro Bowl, says he will never watch the Super Bowl until he gets the opportunity to play in one. Funny, he didn’t mention anything about getting rid of Coach Dennis Green, so I guess he’s in no hurry to get to the Super Bowl.

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BALTIMORE GOT A football team because it used public money to build a stadium and steal the team from Cleveland. With that background in mind, my favorite quote from the Ravens’ celebration after returning to Baltimore came from Mayor Martin O’Malley: “Aren’t you all glad we didn’t build a museum?” And the crowd, according to reports, roared with approval.

And they wonder why there’s no culture in Baltimore.

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POLICE VIDEOTAPED FANS passing through the stadium turnstiles at the Super Bowl and used computers to analyze the images in a check for criminals.

It’s understandable why the NFL didn’t allow such action to take place at the players’ entrance--otherwise they might not have had enough to play the game.

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TODAY’S LAST WORD comes in an e-mail from Scott:

“Mr. Simers, is your padded cell comfortable?”

Just like you left it.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at his e-mail address: t.j.simers@latimes.com.