Forget the ‘Fro, USC Told to Fear the Fresno

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

That is the assessment of CNNSI.com’s Stewart Mandel, who wrote that USC should be wary of its Nov. 19 game against Fresno State, which should field its best team since the 2001 squad that opened its season with victories over Colorado, Wisconsin and Oregon State.

“At least in terms of returning players, Fresno may be the toughest foe on USC’s schedule,” Mandel wrote. “No disrespect to Cal, Arizona State, UCLA or Oregon, but it’s quite possible the Bulldogs will enter the fall ranked higher than any of them.”

Trivia time: When were the last rainouts at Dodger and Angel stadiums?

Good thinking: Pat Haden and J.K. McKay, son of the late USC coach John McKay, have been best friends since high school. “The way I figured it, you’d get more playing time if you became best friends with the coach’s son,” Haden said at Friday’s Arcadia Rotary Club luncheon.

More good thinking: When Haden was the quarterback at USC, the starting wide receivers were J.K. McKay and Lynn Swann.

“So, I’d get up to the line of scrimmage, and it was either throw to Swann, an All-American, or throw to the coach’s son,” Haden said. “So, naturally, I threw to the coach’s son.”

Good reason: Haden said he decided it was time to retire as a Ram quarterback at the age of 29 in 1982 after a game against the New York Giants.

“After that game, they had to surgically remove Lawrence Taylor’s helmet from my chest,” Haden said.

“I knew I was in trouble when I heard L.T. talking to our rookie offensive tackle, 6-foot-8, 290-pound Kent Hill,” Haden said. “L.T. said, ‘I’m coming through, so just move left and get out of my way.’ Kent Hill said, ‘Is that your left or mine?’ ”

Money talks: Charles Barkley says that when he goes to Las Vegas he prefers to play alone at a blackjack table. But when he was at the MGM Grand last summer, Dr. Phil, whom Barkley had never met, asked to play at the same table.

“We were playing for a while,” Barkley said, “when I leaned over and said, ‘I can’t believe you make all that money for just telling people to use common sense.’ ”

No receipt required: Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times figures Oregon State will avoid major repercussions after two of its football players were charged with trying to pay a Corvallis cab driver with marijuana for a $14 fare and then, when the driver objected, stiffing him altogether.

“The weed didn’t trigger any NCAA violations for extra benefits,” he wrote, “since the Beavers are scheduled to play only one game on grass next season.”

Trivia answer: April 17, 2000, at Dodger Stadium and June 16, 1995, at Angel Stadium.

And finally: The biographical exaggerations of prospective Minnesota Viking owner Reggie Fowler couldn’t fool Sports Illustrated’s Bill Scheft. “The Canadian football embellishment was easy to spot,” he wrote. “There has never been a CFL team called the Ottawa Froghaters.”

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Times staff writer Larry Stewart contributed to this report.