The Lakers Would Be a Shoo-In for Best Drama

Bob Young of the Arizona Republic received an ESPY nominations list for ESPN’s awards show, which got him thinking about giving awards of his own. He selected Jerry Buss of the Lakers as bad owner of the year.

“Let’s see, the guy who lost Jerry West, who was arguably the best general manager in basketball, has fired perhaps the best coach in history, Phil Jackson,” Young wrote, adding that Buss “also might run off Shaquille O’Neal.”

“That’s sort of the Triple Crown of owner screw-ups,” he wrote.

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Trivia time: Tiger Woods, considered one of the best amateur golfers of all time, won three consecutive U.S. junior championships and three consecutive U.S. amateur championships. How many California state amateurs did he win?

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The Underbears? First-year Coach Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears took a deep breath after his team’s final off-season workout and said he would be excited to see his team in pads during training camp in a month.

“We know what the guys can do in underwear,” he said. “Now we want to see what they can do in pads.”

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Here today, gone today: Woody Paige of the Denver Post could count on his fingers and toes the number of minutes NCAA player of the year Jameer Nelson was a member of the Denver Nuggets before a draft-day trade sent him to Orlando.

“Jameer was with the Nuggets for Jamere 20 minutes,” Paige wrote. “Jameer was on Denver’s roster for less time than it takes for pizza or Mass to be delivered. Priest ‘Fort’ Lauderdale, the worst player in club history, lasted longer here.”

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Looking back: On this date in 1990, Jennifer Capriati, 14, became the youngest winner of a match in Wimbledon history with a 6-3, 6-1 first-round victory over Helen Kelesi.

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Guess he’s staying: Arizona baseball Coach Andy Lopez, a former UCLA player and friend of UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, is weary of answering questions about whether he will leave to take the open UCLA job.

“I would be nuts if I left,” Lopez told the Tucson Citizen on Tuesday after Arizona had been eliminated from the College World Series. “We like it here. My family and I like it here. I am happy. I’ve been saying I am happy in Tucson for the last 2 1/2 years.

“I love working for my athletic director. I absolutely love working for Jim Livengood. My wife loves the community, and my kids love the community. I think anybody would be a fool if they said Arizona didn’t have something going over there.”

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Trivia answer: None. He played the state amateur only once, in 1994, and lost to Ed Cuff in the semifinals. Steve Woods, no relation, won that year.

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And finally: Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban, when asked by the Detroit Free Press if other NBA teams would try to copy the Pistons’ blueprint for success:

“The Pistons are a very good basketball team. When you play New Jersey and get into a situation where Jason Kidd is hurt, then you play Indiana and you have a situation where Jermaine O’Neal gets hurt, then you play the Lakers and Karl Malone gets hurt ... that’s the scenario I want to copy.”