He Can Relate to the Lack of Attention UCLA Gets

It’s Monday, time for Karl Dorrell’s weekly news conference and I’m asking him a question. He’s obviously not crazy about answering it, gives it a try, but then just as quickly says to the roomful of media, “Next question.”

A few minutes later I take another stab, still wanting to know why he thinks UCLA would be overlooked, not getting a single vote in the Associated Press poll after going 10-2 last season, while this Saturday’s opponent, Utah, a 4 1/2 -point underdog that plays in a smaller conference and went 7-5 a year ago, got 52 votes.

Dorrell looks at me as if he longs for the days when I couldn’t stay awake at his news conferences, and says, “I can’t do anything about it.”

Then he swivels his head to the other side of the room, and says, “Next question,” before calling on Times’ reporter Lonnie White and begging him to ask something.

Then I go to the Dodgers’ game for the daily media chat with Grady Little, ask him about Brad Penny’s temper and Little says, “There’s nothing wrong with that.

“It’s better than having a guy who shows no emotion,” Little adds, and I tell him we’ll get to J.Drew in a moment.

“Anyone else have any questions they want to ask?” Little replies.

“Have you been hanging around with Karl Dorrell?” I ask.

“Who?” Little says, and there you go.

“It’s no wonder UCLA doesn’t get a single vote in the AP poll,” I tell Little.

“Here you are, the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, working in this city and you don’t even know who the coach of the UCLA football team is these days.”

“I know who the USC coach is,” says Little with a grin.

*

IT’S ONE of those crazy rules -- you don’t talk to a pitcher on the day he’s pitching, although reporters are free to talk to every other player getting ready to play.

I want to know what to expect from Penny when he takes the mound, though, so I go to him before the game and break the crazy rule.

“They might get mad at me if I talk to you,” Penny says, and now that’s funny, Penny’s worrying about someone else getting upset.

He’s standing at his locker and swinging a bat, making it pretty obvious this isn’t a good time to tick him off.

“I really don’t have a problem with anger,” he says. “How many times do you think I’ve been ejected in my seven years in the league?”

“Let’s see,” I tell him, “you normally don’t last longer than five or six innings a game, so ... “

“Three times,” he says. “I can control myself and my emotions.”

Now I happen to know, based on experience, Penny is one of the nicest guys in the clubhouse most every day of the week. It’s always a surprise when he explodes on the field, and in the beginning I just thought he was still upset being dumped by Alyssa Milano.

But now, as often as it has happened, and as nice as he might be off the field, the guess here is it’ll happen again.

“No way,” Penny says. “In fact I’ll write out a $2,500 check to Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA if I get thrown out of a game.”

“No, you’ll write out a $2,500 check to Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA every time the fans see you lose your temper,” I say, knowing what’s the worst that can happen -- the guy gets mad at me and takes a swing with the bat in his hand? He’s a pitcher. He’ll miss.

“You’re on,” he says. “If I lose my temper, I’ll write out a check to the hospital. But I know I’ll be all right.”

So will the kids at the hospital.

As judge and jury, Penny already owes the children’s hospital $2,500 for making the fans really upset after walking three straight Reds in the third inning.

Just one of those crazy little rules of mine.

*

I FIGURED Jeff Kent, the old grouch, would know something about anger, and asked him about Penny.

And he got mad at me, which I always find amusing. “You guys are just looking for something to write about,” he said, which reminded me, I heard that Kent had said something to the umpire to upset the ump, contributing to Penny’s ejection last week.

“Those free-cookie-eating [reporters] sitting in the first row of the luxury suite up there have no idea what they’re talking about,” said Kent. “They should just watch the game. I had nothing to do with [the Penny fiasco]. I never said anything to the umpire.”

“We pay for those cookies,” I explained to Kent, and he appeared dumbstruck. By the way, it’s not the first time that he’s appeared dumbstruck.

“You pay for the food the Dodgers give you?” Kent said. “No wonder you don’t like the Dodgers.”

Kent likes people to believe he has a chip on his shoulder, so I wasn’t surprised to hear him say Penny’s temper, like the chip on his own shoulder, can be a motivator when playing the game.

“I take the competition out there very seriously,” he said, “and that chip on my shoulder is my edge in competition.”

I wonder what happens when everyone figures out the chip on the shoulder is just for show and he’s just a lovable blowhard. On a positive note, it’ll probably really make him mad.

*

THEY SHOWED a number of celebrities in the crowd on the Dodger Stadium big screen: Bill Buckner, Tom Lasorda, Charlie Sheen, Pete Rose, Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson.

Lasorda got the biggest applause, Rose got booed, Kid Rock got a kiss from Anderson, and Lasorda went home thinking he really made out.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.