Laker Fans Will Nod Their Heads in Approval

Looking for that last-minute Christmas gift for the Laker fan who brags he has everything? Well, let me tell you, he doesn’t have everything.

Starting Monday, life-size Shaquille O’Neal bobblehead dolls will go on sale in the Staples Center gift shop for $25,000 -- with 10% going toward youth charities for any of the 7-foot-2 dolls sold before Christmas.

The gift shop has ordered four of the giants, and keeping in mind the traditional-sized bobbleheads go for $25, what are the chances of TeamLA selling all the life-size Shaqs?

“I’m going to buy one,” said Tim Leiweke, point man for Philip Anschutz, Staples Center owner and Laker minority owner. “And when it comes time to present Shaq with a new contract, I’m going to tap the doll on the head and get its approval.” (Ladders are not included with the 7-foot-2 bobbleheads.)

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LEIWEKE SAID he has become more optimistic about the NFL’s return here and in a startling admission, said, “I think the Coliseum is now the logical place to do it.”

He also said he believes the NFL is moving toward placing an expansion team here rather than paving the way for teams such as the Chargers or Colts.

“If they de-politicize the Coliseum process, I can see some interesting things happening up and down Figueroa,” Leiweke said. “There are some very capable business leaders here ready to answer the bell -- like Casey Wasserman for example, and I think that bell is going to ring in 2004.”

Just for the record, anyone who has spent time with the Spanos Goofs, who own the Chargers, probably came away with the impression they’ve had their bells rung, and more than once, but I don’t think that’s what Leiweke was talking about.

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IT MUST have been devastating to the University of Michigan football team, which arrived here Saturday, to pick up the paper and read the Los Angeles City Council has voted unanimously to encourage the Trojans to defeat the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl. Tough to overcome that.

Hey, we’ve got an actor for governor, why not a bunch of comedians serving as L.A. City Councilmen led by former police chief Bernard Parks, who introduced a motion calling for the NCAA to address the BCS system. That’ll do the trick.

I haven’t been to a City Council meeting, but I’d imagine there’s no need for a laugh track. According to our story, Councilman Ed Reyes supported Parks’ motion and said the change is necessary for “when UCLA is playing in that championship game.” I know I’d have been rolling in the aisles if I had heard that one.

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WHAT A disgrace. On a feel-good day in which UCLA elected to honor John Wooden and his late wife, Nell, by naming the court in their honor, the ceremony not only did not appear live on TV here, but by the time Fox Sports Net got around to the UCLA game, there was 9:37 remaining in the first half.

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IT WAS nice to see the UCLA players wear replica jerseys to honor Wooden’s championship team 40 years ago. It’d have been downright heroic had they opted to wear the short-shorts of long ago rather than today’s below-the-knee baggy pants.

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I WAS surprised when I got call from the office telling me someone at Hollywood Park had claimed “Glick” and paid $40,000 for the horse. I’ve always thought of Shav Glick, our auto racing writer, more in terms of being a stubborn mule, but if the new owners of the horse get as much out of Glick as the editors here get out of our mule, they got a bargain.

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I’M GUESSING Fox Sports Nets’ Bill Macdonald didn’t hear about Nicole Richie’s foul language-filled performance at the Billboard Music Awards and the furor it caused last week in Las Vegas, or he would have never put her on the air during Friday’s Laker game to once again make a fool of herself. Would he?

NBA Entertainment had asked Richie if she would do one of its “I love this game” commercials, and she agreed -- as long as she could say she wanted to have sex with Kobe, just as she had told Macdonald. NBA Entertainment declined.

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KING COACH Andy Murray is in the final year of his contract, and despite injuries to key players, has his team in first place. Leiweke said General Manager Dave Taylor and Murray are working on a contract. “Andy knows he’s not going anywhere,” Leiweke said.

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KING TRAINER Peter Demers worked his 2,501st consecutive game Saturday night. By now I would have found an excuse to miss a game.

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THE DODGERS’ Web site reported that Alex Cora, who batted .291 in 2002, received a $150,000 raise for batting .249 last season -- raising his salary for being an automatic out to $1.3 million. Based on what the Dodgers have been able to accomplish this off-season, he’ll probably be batting cleanup behind Shawn Green.

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I’M CHECKING to see if the Dodgers will agree to show Angel games on the scoreboard this season, so fans have a reason to go to Dodger Stadium.

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MIAMI OF Ohio’s Ben Roethlisberger, who will make himself available for the NFL draft, said he has been a lifelong 49er fan. Arizona and San Diego look as though they will end up with the top picks in the draft, giving them the first chance to select the 6-foot-5, 242-pound quarterback, which means Roethlisberger will probably still be a 49ers’ fan.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Gale McKim:

“Holy earplugs. I heard your morning report on XTRA 690/1150. It’s a good think you make your living with a written whit because you were HORRIBLE!”

It’s a good thing you don’t make your living typing.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.