Morning briefing

Leaders don’t beat you to door

The headline in the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday on Scott Ostler’s column read: “Bonds a leader? He was there in spirit.”

Ostler quoted Giants pitcher Barry Zito as recently saying, “Even if it was in a non-verbal way, Barry was still the team leader.”

Wrote Ostler: “Non-verbal, and sometimes non-present. It wasn’t uncommon for Bonds to leave the ballpark as soon as the game was over. When the Giants play a great game, or a lousy game, when they get back to the clubhouse, shouldn’t their leader be there?

“That’s not leading, that’s leaving.”

Trivia time

Who is the only Dodgers player to hit a home run into McCovey Cove?

Heavenly place

Fox baseball analyst Mark Grace, appearing on FSN’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” was asked where Bonds might end up next season.

“The only place that really makes sense for him is Oakland,” Grace said. “He’s still pretty much God in the Bay Area, and he’s pretty much the devil himself everywhere else.”

Bad sign

A David Letterman Top 10 list on “Signs Your Baby Is Too Fat” included this one: “She has your eyes and Barry Bonds’ head.”

Blind speed

Awesome Gem finished second to Tiago in Saturday’s Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita, and jockey David Flores came up with a different way to describe the horse’s effort, saying: “He ran his eyeballs out.”

Could happen

Emmitt Smith said on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” that Brett Favre doesn’t have enough weapons around him to make the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl contenders.

Countered host Chris Berman: “Did the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox each win a division within 10 minutes of each other? Well, then Brett Favre and the Packers being Super Bowl contenders is certainly not as far-fetched as that.”

Super feat

Super Dave Osborne’s team shot a 17-under-par to win the ESPN Radio celebrity golf tournament held Saturday at the Pacific Palms Resort in Industry Hills, a benefit for the T.J. Martell Foundation for cancer research.

“Fantastic tournament,” Osborne said. “The icing on the cake was the gift bag filled with Human Growth Hormone.”

TB and TDs

Terry Bradshaw said on Fox’s NFL pregame show that what really impresses him about Favre is his 240 consecutive starts -- 260 if you count the playoffs -- rather than his number of touchdown passes.

“I’ve never had anyone come up to me and say, ‘Hey, TB, how many touchdown passes did you throw?’ ” Bradshaw said.

Maybe that’s because he threw only 212.

Easy choice

Fox’s Jimmy Johnson, when asked to pick Troy Aikman or Tony Romo, said: “Hands down, it’s Troy. All the way. Aikman gave me a couple of [Super Bowl] rings. Romo hasn’t even picked up a dinner tab.”

A tougher penalty?

Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden was asked by Fox Sports Radio’s Steve Czaban why he didn’t suspend two of his players for getting into a bar fight.

“Would you rather get up in the morning at 6 o’clock and run the stadium steps till you can’t walk, or would you rather miss a darn football game?” Bowden replied.

Trivia answer

Todd Hundley on June 30, 2000, against Robb Nen.

And finally

From Jay Leno: “In Chicago, a couple who are huge Cubs fans have named their baby Wrigley Field. Here in Los Angeles a couple who are huge Dodgers fans named their new baby Missed The Playoffs Again.”

--

larry.stewart@latimes.com