Another Convert From the North

In an interview with the Sacramento Bee, Laker rookie Mark Madsen said:

“Having grown up an hour and a half away from Sacramento [in Danville], I’m very much a Northern Californian. I used to hate L.A. . . . I used to rip on L.A. like you wouldn’t believe.

“Smog. Traffic. Hollywood. I used to rip it all. Then I got drafted by the Lakers.”

And?

“I’ve come to love L.A. I think there are stereotypes about L.A. Everybody’s a beach bum. . . . But I’ll tell you, in the short time I’ve been here, I’ve come to love L.A., and I would love to live here my whole life.”

And (sob) we’d love to have you too, Mark.

*

Trivia time: Who holds the record for consecutive seasons leading the NBA in free-throw percentage?

*

Priority game: Mitch Albom in the Detroit Free Press:

* “If the NBA really wanted to build its numbers, it would start the Lakers-Kings games at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern, so the whole country could watch.

“The show that Shaq and Kobe are putting on is enough to draw even the most cynical basketball fan back into the tent.”

* “The XFL is done? Darn, I was jut going to sit down and watch a game.”

*

Colorful guys: Jerry Greene in the Orlando Sentinel:

“More than 30 members of the University of Hawaii football team are earning cash this week as security guards during a convention in Honolulu.

“They’re dressed in floral vests, so the question [one player kept] hearing is, ‘How come the gardeners are so beefy?’

“Of course, the team was 3-9 last season, so let’s hope they’re not asked to stop anybody.”

*

It still hurts: As a daughter of former NFL quarterback John Brodie, Diane Chandler, wife of Atlanta Falcon quarterback Chris Chandler, remembers jeers from fans at games and classmates at school.

“It’s a hard thing to go through as a kid,” she told Curtis Bunn of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I remember vividly coming home crying a few times. . . . And it can really affect you as a child. Oh, yes, I remember it like it was yesterday.”

*

Do something! After battling eight years to reach the majors, Luis Lopez finally got called up by the Toronto Blue Jays. In his debut, he appeared as a pinch-hitter and was intentionally walked by the Angels.

According to https://ESPN.com, teammate Carlos Delgado told him: “Man, we bring you up, you gotta swing the bat. What are you doing? . . . You got to jump over to the other side of the plate--and swing.”

*

Trivia answer: Bill Sharman, Boston Celtics, five, 1952-53 through 1956-57.

*

And finally: Steve Delsohn, in his book, “True Blue: The Dramatic History of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Told by the Men Who Lived It,” had Rick Monday responding to Yankee owner George Steinbrenner’s claim that he punched out two drunken Dodger fans during the 1981 World Series when L.A. played New York.

Monday: “I thought it was amusing that George would take the limelight and say he punched two guys out. My question is, who held them?”