Ballplayer Caught in Run-Down Look
Broadcaster Vin Scully, an adept reporter in addition to being a peerless storyteller, recently related how New York Mets third baseman Todd Zeile had a scraggly beard when the team visited L.A. In fact, he looked so disheveled that some of his teammates were a bit concerned.
It turned out that Zeile, who is part owner of a production company, was merely preparing himself for a movie shooting here.
He has a role as a street person in a coming film.
Hot air? Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby, as you may have heard, has suggested renaming John Wayne Airport after the prime-time soap opera, “The O.C.”
The Duke wouldn’t be left on the cutting room floor, though. He would just receive a lesser billing at The O.C.-John Wayne Field.
Whether or not this proposal gets off the ground, maybe it will spur some action to give Los Angeles International Airport a glitzier title.
I mean, doesn’t the presence of Hollywood mean anything anymore?
A few years ago Supervisor Mike Antonovich suggested renaming it after the late actor Jimmy Stewart but grounded the idea after no one seconded the motion.
Myself, I’d recommend rechristening LAX in honor of what I believe was the biggest overseas hit of any TV series ever.
The name instantly conjures up visions of the Southland: Baywatch International Airport.
Guide to Dining Adventurously: Today’s items du column (see accompanying) include:
A church message that’s easy to swallow (photo by Barry Nackos of L.A.)
What figures to be a very small steak (Louise Lampkin of L.A.)
And a grouping of two signs that might inspire jokes about dueling greasy areas (photo by Tim Bradley of Altadena).
Unrelated item! Ginny Eden of Temecula saw an ad for some creatures whose seller does not want them to become meat dishes (see accompanying).
Legal mumbo jumbo: Court reporter Ira Lee Newlander heard this interrogation of a witness during a deposition:
Q. You have no idea what he did, correct?
A. I have no idea.
Q. And you have no idea how long it took for him to do what you have no idea that he did?
A. That’s correct.
Glad we got that cleared up.
miscelLAny: Whenever I bring up the idea of renaming L.A.’s airport, someone points out that critics would inevitably call it Ex-LAX.
Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATimes, Ext. 77083, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.