A Fumbling Response to NFL’s Overture

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Scott Ostler, a native Southern Californian who used to write for The Times, apparently doesn’t believe L.A. is too excited about NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s announcing the league hopes to put a team here by 2008.

“L.A. greeted the news with widespread riots, crazy parties and celebrations, honking and shouting, cars overturned and set afire, and thousands of gunshots fired into the air,” Ostler wrote. “Or maybe that stuff had nothing to do with the NFL announcement.”

Also from Ostler: “Folks in Los Angeles aren’t opposed to pro football. They’re like Switzerland -- neutral.”

Trivia time: In the 122 years of horse racing’s Triple Crown, it has been won 11 times. How many times has a horse won two of the three races?

Valid reason: Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post and aol.com says he once asked Art Modell why he moved the Browns out of Cleveland and ancient Municipal Stadium.

“The last straw was when the water from the john upstairs kept dripping on my desk,” Modell said.

Old men can’t jump? Karl Malone, 40, is helping the Lakers try to win another championship. And Mike Powell, also 40, said Wednesday he would try out for the U.S. Olympic team.

The world record-holder in the long jump at 29 feet 4 1/2 inches believes he can medal at Athens. But can he win a gold?

“Any medal at 40 years old is a goal for me,” he told Associated Press.

Statistically speaking: What is a manager to do -- walk Barry Bonds or pitch to him? Jerry Reiter of Duke’s Institute of Statistics, after examining the San Francisco Giant slugger’s plate appearances in 2001, 2002 and 2003, says pitch to him.

“When Bonds walks with the bases empty and no outs -- roughly 80 plate appearances during the three years -- the Giants score at least one run 46% of the time and average 0.9 runs per inning,” Reiter said. “When he hits in these situations -- roughly 300 at-bats over the three years -- the Giants score at least one run 36% of the time and average 0.6 runs per inning.”

Looking back: On this day in 1932, Lou Gehrig became the first major league player to hit four consecutive home runs in a game, giving the New York Yankees a 20-13 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics. Gehrig’s feat, however, was overshadowed by the resignation of John McGraw, manager of the New York Giants for 30 years.

Trivia answer: According to Robert Shoop, author of “Down to the Wire,” 47 horses have won two of the three Triple Crown races. Nineteen won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, 17 the Preakness and Belmont, and 11 won the Derby and Belmont.

And finally: Regarding a report that two pitchers for top-ranked Texas were reinstated after serving a two-game suspension after they were arrested on suspicion of public intoxication, Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times wrote: “For the record, the Longhorns went 1-1 with the aces loaded.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.