Chalk up another loss for Rams at Coliseum
Text messages from press row ...
SOUTHLAND FOOTBALL fans who supported the Rams through all those bitter playoff disappointments should feel insulted that Saturday night’s Coliseum reunion of former players from the team’s Cleveland, Los Angeles, Anaheim and St. Louis eras will not be open to the public. ...
It was bad enough that Georgia Frontiere dismissed the local fan base when she said after the Rams won the Super Bowl in 2000 that the victory proved “we did the right thing in moving to St. Louis,” adding that fans in their new home “have become our 12th man,” whereas in years past, “We never had that in Los Angeles.” ...
ESPN analyst Joe Theismann, sharing a growing sentiment, does not believe the NFL will ever return to Los Angeles, adding, “It shocks me because the economics that are available here have never been taken advantage of.” ...
So loose-lipped has Kobe Bryant been this summer, between his trade demands and his videotaped tirade, that it was curiously newsworthy Wednesday when, aside from sniping at the media for “trying to one-up one another,” he said virtually nothing of interest at a Nike promotional event in Hollywood. ...
“I’ve focused so much on the issue already,” he said. “For me to say anything else, there’s nothing much more I can say. I’m moving on from it right now. I’m not really saying much about it. ...Too much has been said already.” ...
Amen. ...
Re-signing Luke Walton was a solid if obvious move by the Lakers, but you can bet that Bryant hopes it’s not the only item on their summer to-do list. ...
Al Thornton, the Georgia state runner-up in the high jump as a high school junior, says he thought for a time that maybe he’d made a mistake by giving up track to play basketball at Florida State, but still he stuck with it, a decision that paid off last month when the Clippers made him the 14th pick in the NBA draft. ...
Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins was the hard-to-argue choice as the left-handed pitcher on the Latino All-Star Dream Team, voted upon by fans, media and other baseball experts and announced this week on ESPN Deportes, but Dodgers fans probably could make a case for Fernando Valenzuela. ...
BTW, of the 17 pitchers taken by the Dodgers in the first round or the supplemental first round of the amateur draft since 1979, only Darren Dreifort and Chad Billingsley have reached the majors. ...
U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney, a former UCLA wide receiver and Academic All-American, gave no leniency to a former USC lecturer this week when he sentenced Barry Landreth to six years in federal prison for running a Ponzi scheme that bilked $1.5 million from investors. ...
The Ducks’ controversial signing of Todd Bertuzzi to a two-year, $8-million contract was applauded by newly signed Ducks defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who played with Bertuzzi last season in Detroit and says that the punch-throwing winger is capable of providing a Jarome Iginla-type impact, adding, “If we get him 100% healthy, we got him for probably half of what he’s worth.” ...
Tennis does itself no favors when tournaments are scheduled and categorized in such a way that the annual Los Angeles stop on the ATP Tour -- this year’s edition, the Countrywide Classic, kicks off Monday at UCLA -- has never attracted Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, far and away the world’s best players. ...
Former UCLA basketball coach Larry Farmer, who played on three NCAA championship teams under John Wooden, has been hired as an assistant at Hawaii. ...
Tom House, a former USC pitcher probably best known for catching Hank Aaron’s 715th home run ball, is in the running to be USC’s new pitching coach. ...
No legal bets will be taken, unfortunately, but Princess Smoochy Gucci is expected back to defend her crown Saturday in the 12th running of the Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals, a series of 12 dachshund races that will be sandwiched between the horse races at Los Alamitos, benefits the Seal Beach Animal Care Center and annually draws the biggest crowd of the year to the track.
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T.J. Simers is on vacation.