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We’ll Wait to See How This Story Develops

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Times Staff Writer

Will they be called the D-Dogs, D-Fenders, L.A. Caliente, L.A. Breakers, L.A. Next, L.A. Sensation, L.A. Buss or L.A. Evolution?

These are the choices for the name of the Lakers’ new NBA Development League team, and the club is asking fans to vote for their favorite at www.lakers.com from Monday through Thursday.

The Lakers are the first NBA franchise to own a D-League team, which allows them to control who coaches and who plays on their minor league team, much as a major league baseball team controls personnel on its minor league affiliates.

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The D-League season starts in November, and the Lakers’ affiliate could play its 25 home games at Staples Center, preceding Laker games.

As for the team’s name, sorry, it’s too late for nominations, so don’t expect to see the L.A. Ponds, L.A. Puddles, L.A. D-List or, as another Times staffer suggested: “ ‘The Lakers’ -- 11 of them were development league-quality players last season.”

Trivia time: Which was the first team in one of the major sports to put players’ last names on jerseys?

Happy campers? The NFL’s most controversial pass catcher is getting ready to open the Terrell Owens Youth Football Camp in his latest stop, Dallas.

“It’s two days for $195, but you can beat T.O. down to $150 if your kid threatens to disrupt the camp,” wrote Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Should be a great camp. Every evening, the boys will sit around the campfire in T.O.’s driveway, each listening to his own iPod and bitching about the counselors and the marshmallows.”

No chump change: Roger Clemens, who agreed to return to the Houston Astros for his 23rd major league season, has the best summer job ever, wrote Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Where else can you get $3 million to $4 million per month for part-time work?”

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Take it easy: Dan Daly of the Washington Times on the policy adopted in Connecticut that calls for high school football coaches to be penalized if their teams win by more than 50 points: “The move should reduce the number of blowouts -- and increase the number of wrong-way runs.”

Signing bonus: Minor league umpires settled their season-long strike by ratifying a six-year contract. They will receive a monthly salary increase of $100, an increased per diem and, according to Pete McEntegart of SI.com, “the chance to hurl a bat at Delmon Young.”

Looking back: On this date in 1995, Hideo Nomo, who had five consecutive no-decisions and a loss in his first six starts for the Dodgers, earned his first major league win, a 2-1 victory over the visiting New York Mets.

Trivia answer: The Chicago White Sox in 1960. There’s no truth to the rumor that the Kansas City Royals are petitioning the league office in an effort to remove names and numbers from their uniforms.

And finally: Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: “A 7-year-old Arizona boy became the youngest to make the 1.4-mile Alcatraz swim. When I was 7, I was flummoxed trying to get a Slinky to work on stairs.”

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