Losing Accompanies Our Man About Town

Watched Tiger Woods in the morning at Riviera, then went to Stanford versus UCLA in the afternoon. Met Rudy DeLeon, who was working security at the door to Pauley Pavilion, who told me Bruins were down by five.

“How’s Tiger doing?” DeLeon said.

Let’s put it this way: UCLA’s in better shape than Tiger.

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SOME TIME after DeLeon stopped laughing, the Bruins went on to finish nine behind Stanford. Tiger begins the final round of the Nissan Open trailing by 11 and playing with inferior equipment.

The Nissan Open doesn’t figure to be much fun with Tiger not in the hunt, which is why I miss Phil Mickelson. It would have been interesting to see what odds the well-known gambler might have given that Tiger finishes better than UCLA.

Who would you take, UCLA or Tiger?

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COMMON COLD update from Staples Center: The Clippers’ Quentin Richardson couldn’t play Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks because he was suffering from a “common cold,” but I’m happy to report he recovered in time to appear on Jimmy Kimmel’s show the next night. After all, the show must go on.

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UCLA WOMEN’S basketball Coach Kathy Olivier has offered to donate $1,000 to a children’s hospital if 5,000 or more fans attend Saturday’s 2 p.m. game with Oregon in Pauley Pavilion. The women have averaged 1,694 fans in 10 home games, going over the 5,000 mark once when playing USC and pulling in 6,172.

If the women draw more than 5,000, I’ll donate another $1,000.

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RAN INTO Bill Walton at the Lakers’ game Friday night. Asked Mr. Opinionated who is currently his choice as the NBA’s MVP. He said, “There are four players right now playing perfect basketball: Kobe, [Tim] Duncan, [Kevin] Garnett and Tracy McGrady, with Duncan a little bit ahead.”

So Duncan would be his choice right now as MVP? “I didn’t say that,” Walton said. “It’s too early to tell; they all have a chance to be MVP.”

Bill Walton being politically correct; I’ve now heard it all.

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DEAR KOBE,

I know what it does to you when someone says you can’t do something, or things aren’t going to go your way. A couple of weeks ago I said you didn’t have a chance to win the MVP because of the Lakers’ 3-9 start without Shaq and the media taking that to mean you couldn’t carry the team. You’ve made it pretty clear in the past eight games how you feel about that.

Well, I know how hard it can be to get up for a Clipper game, and Tuesday the Lakers play the Clippers, and Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry doesn’t even think you are one of the top two MVP finalists this season. He says he’d give it to Garnett with Duncan a close second. You might want to try to change his mind on Tuesday.

Sincerely, the guy who has made you the three-point shooter you are today.

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THERE IS no defending the New York Post for its shabby journalism in regard to Sandy Koufax, and any apology from the Post rings hollow given its reputation as a repeat offender.

But to blame the Dodgers in any way -- and I’m usually looking to blame the Dodgers in any way -- is a major league overreaction.

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NOW WHEN Steve Lavin mentions “final four” as he did Saturday after losing to Stanford, I’m not sure it’s the final four that most Bruin fans had in mind -- or is it? UCLA has four more conference games, and while Lavin is talking miracle and a Pac-10 tournament appearance, if the Bruins don’t finish at least eighth, those could be the final four games for Lavin. (I’d like to see one last chance of playing as a No. 8-seeded team against Arizona and going for the big upset in Staples.)

“The good thing about playing Arizona as the eighth seed is beating them and getting them out of the way,” Lavin said, and I think he was being sincere, but then maybe he’s looking ahead and auditioning for the Comedy Store.

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THE LAKERS’ Mark Madsen, wearing his Stanford sweatshirt, introduced himself to John Wooden at the UCLA game, and Wooden appeared delighted. While the two men chatted, a young girl interrupted and asked Madsen for an autograph.

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ONE OF L.A.’s best TV reporters, Bill Macdonald, doesn’t miss a thing working Laker games. A good example was Friday, giving fans insight from the coaches, following Rick Fox to the locker room to report on a chipped tooth. And when it came to spotting celebrities, Billy Mac was right on top of Raquel Welch.

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NISSAN OPEN officials wanted to tow a car parked in the wrong spot but learned it belonged to Times columnist Bill Plaschke. Despite the fact several reporters were chanting, “Tow it, tow it,” and I mean I was yelling, officials opted to cut him a break, figuring someone gave him wrong instructions. I wanted the car towed so Plaschke would have a real sob story to tell everyone.

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I FINISHED the day that began at Riviera with Tiger hitting the ball no better than sports editor Bill Dwyre off the cart path and out of bounds (Dwyre would have just taken a mulligan), moved to Westwood for another Bruin defeat and ended the day at Staples Center with the Clippers losing.

I suppose it would have been a shorter day had I stayed home and just watched Clifford Etienne fall down.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Dwag111:

“Please print when you are on TV and on what station. We can’t seem to find your TV show, and we need to know the time, too. Thank you.”

You sound like a nice person, and that would be cruel and inhumane treatment.

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