Beard gives skinny dipping a whole new meaning

Text messages from press row ...

SWIMMER AMANDA Beard, featured in the July issue, is only the latest athlete to pose nude for a Playboy pictorial, adding her name to a lineup that includes figure skater Katarina Witt in December 1998, boxer Mia St. John in November 1999, volleyball player Gabrielle Reece in January 2001 and, among several Olympians, high jumper Amy Acuff in September 2004. ...

Says Gary Cole, Playboy’s director of photography: “We’d love to see Maria Sharapova and Danica Patrick join that list.” ...

BTW, others with sports ties that have shed their clothes for Playboy include Lakers executive Jeanie Buss in May 1995, Sparks executive Heather La Bella in August 2004 and sportscaster Lisa Guerrero in January 2006. ...

Spaniard Seve Ballesteros, the swashbuckling two-time Masters champion and three-time British Open winner who announced his retirement from golf this week, was a pleasure to watch before back and knee injuries took their toll. ...

When USC-bound point guard Romeo Miller arrives on campus next summer after his senior year at Beverly Hills High, don’t be surprised if his new teammates hit him up for a loan -- or at least try to wrangle a pizza out of him. ...

People magazine reports that the 17-year-old Miller, AKA rapper-actor Romeo or Lil’ Romeo and the oldest son of rap mogul and NBA wannabe Master P, told “48 Hours” that he has saved $50 million from releasing four albums, starring in his own television show and launching a clothing line. ...

UCLA forwards Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya are due back early next month from vacationing in Cameroon, their African homeland which they visited for the first time since they arrived in Westwood two years ago. ...

BTW, if UCLA sells about 700 remaining behind-the-baskets season seats during Sunday’s select-a-seat event at Pauley Pavilion, the arena would be virtually sold out for the season, though a limited number of tickets would be available during holiday breaks when most students are away from campus. ...

Kobe Bryant undoubtedly will be asked anew to reveal his true feelings about the Lakers this weekend when he and 16 other players, among them almost-a-Laker Jason Kidd, gather in Las Vegas for a national team mini-camp. ...

Better look elsewhere, Lakers fans: According to Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, Kevin Garnett would prefer not to be traded. ...

FYI, ESPN college football analyst and former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz says he would like to see a team from the Pacific 10 Conference win the national championship every year “because when people added a 12th game, they all added a patsy except the Pac-10, which added a conference game.” ...

This season, Holtz sees USC playing Florida for the Bowl Championship Series title. ...

Jamie McCourt, vice chairman and president of the Dodgers and wife of club owner Frank McCourt, recently applied for membership at Riviera Country Club, which could soon lead to a high-powered links foursome involving her husband and two already-in-the-fold Riviera members with major league credentials, Indianapolis Colts owner Robert Irsay and Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner. ...

Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, gold medalists at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and the dominant team in women’s beach volleyball over the last five seasons, figure to show up regularly when NBC televises five AVP Tour events in the next five weeks, starting with Saturday’s women’s final at Long Beach. ...

Brynn Cameron, a sharp-shooting 5-foot-10 guard and mother of ex-boyfriend Matt Leinart’s nearly 9-month-old son Cole, will return to the USC women’s basketball team this fall after sitting out last season. ...

“I know it will be a lot of work,” she says, “but I want to set a good example for Cole so that he will realize that things don’t always go how you planned, life is a series of adjustments and you can get through anything. I understand that this is an unusual situation, but I am a proud mom and Cole has made this all worth it.”

--

jerome.crowe@latimes.com