His name isn’t Mud, but he takes good notes

What’s become of those little yellow Lakers flags that used to fly from cars all across the Southland this time of year? ...

Upcoming home-and-home series against Ohio State, Virginia and Boston College should be exciting, but what USC football fans really would like is another shot at Texas -- and the clock turned back to Jan. 4, 2006....

Derek Fisher of the Utah Jazz is a clutch performer and a standup guy, but the Golden State Warriors still overpaid when they gave him a six-year, $36.8-million contract to sign him away from the Lakers three years ago....

Scott Brooks, a 5-foot-11 former UC Irvine guard who overcame long odds to play 10 seasons in the NBA and win a championship with the Houston Rockets, could be the next coach of the Sacramento Kings....

UCLA baseball signee Brandon Lodge, an infielder from Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro High, is the son of “Blind Date” host Roger Lodge, who played basketball at Cerritos High with UCLA basketball Coach Ben Howland....

The younger Lodge’s stepfather is former Angels second baseman Bobby Grich, who once signed a football letter of intent with UCLA -- the late Tommy Prothro said he had the potential to be a Heisman Trophy winner -- but opted instead for baseball after the Baltimore Orioles made him the 19th pick in the 1967 draft....

The pay cut would be enormous, of course, but Ricky Williams probably would be more comfortable running a head shop than running into NFL defenders....

Former Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker would like to see the Dodgers give James Loney a shot to be their everyday first baseman, even if it means moving Nomar Garciaparra to third base or even trading him....

Reader Brian Theriot e-mails to report that Calvin Klein was not concocting a tall tale when the designer told reporters 25 years ago that he was driving down Sunset Boulevard when he spotted an athletically built model running alongside the road and enlisted him to help push his clothes....

But the athlete was not former Oregon pole vaulter Tom Hintnaus, Klein’s first underwear model; it was Theriot, a former UCLA miler who appeared in ads for Klein-designed running gear and whose son, Trevor, is a UCLA fullback....

With the NFL exploring the logistics of playing a 17th regular-season game overseas, it’s conceivable the league could stage games in the Roman Colosseum before it returns to the Memorial Coliseum....

Jordin Sparks, 17, and daughter of former NFL defensive back Phillippi Sparks and one of three “American Idol” finalists, sang “Happy Birthday” to Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart on Friday, Leinart’s 24th birthday, during a promotional tour of Phoenix radio stations....

“One of the best birthday presents ever,” Leinart said. “I got chills.” ...

Who will come out of retirement first, newly minted WBC super-welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. or former U.S. Open tennis champ Kim Clijsters? ...

Best guess: Mayweather....

Charles Barkley, TNT’s Round Mound of Profound, says he recently bought a StairMaster and “I stare at it every day.” ...

Teemu Selanne deserves to drink from the Stanley Cup....

After next month’s tournament at Oakmont, Pa., three of the next five U.S. Open Golf Championships will be played in California: 2008 at Torrey Pines, 2010 at Pebble Beach and 2012 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco....

Tiger Woods could be positioned to match or break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championships at the Olympic Club if he maintains his pace of winning about 1.2 majors a year....

Chris Webber made the right choice, picking the Detroit Pistons over the Lakers, and could wind up with a championship ring to show for it....

Dodge team owner Ray Evernham, on the possibility of adding free-agent Dale Earnhardt Jr. to his stable of drivers, told reporters in Darlington, S.C., over the weekend, “It’s like getting a date with Jennifer Aniston -- you never know until you ask. So I’m going to ask.” ...

Only 67 days until David Beckham arrives to jump-start the Galaxy season with his scheduled July 21 debut against Chelsea at the Home Depot Center....

The late, great Allan Malamud, whose breezy “Notes on a Scorecard” column was a favorite among readers and a fixture on the L.A. sports scene for more than 20 years, would have turned 65 on Nov. 19 this year....

He died Sept. 16, 1996....

This year’s $5,000 winners of the Allan Malamud Scholarship, awarded annually to three USC students planning careers in sports journalism, are graduate student Samuel Farber and juniors Rhett Bollinger and Jeff Platt....

The scholarship, established in 1997, was aided by a generous donation from filmmaker and Malamud confidant Ron Shelton, who cast Malamud in several of his movies, among them “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Tin Cup.” ...

R.I.P., Mud.

jerome.crowe@latimes.com

T.J. Simers is taking time off.