Text messages from press row ...

Maybe Kevin Love’s distinct talents won’t translate into NBA stardom, but the UCLA center is a terrific college player and a favorite to become only the second freshman to be named Pacific 10 Conference player of the year. . . .

The first was California’s Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who in 1996 headed an all-conference team that included Washington State’s Mark Hendrickson, later a struggling Dodgers left-hander, and Stanford’s Brevin Knight, later an NBA journeyman and Clippers reserve. . . .

Love, if he won, would beat out a much deeper field. . . .

Abdur-Rahim, by the way, turned pro after his one college season, as Love is expected to do, and was the third pick in the 1996 NBA draft. . . .

Cash Warren, a Yale-educated producer and former Santa Monica Crossroads High basketball player better known as actress Jessica Alba’s fiance, is a son of former UCLA All-American Mike Warren. . . .

The younger Warren played with Baron Davis at Crossroads. . . .

Reader Mike Casey of Temecula notes that Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, the highest-scoring team in NFL history, obviously do not miss former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis. . . .

Would Notre Dame? . . .

Archie Manning, nervously preparing to watch a son play in the Super Bowl for the second year in a row, never reached the playoffs nor even played for a winning team during his 13 NFL seasons. . . .

So abysmal were the New Orleans Saints during Manning’s tenure that after lifting the perennial losers to a better-than-usual 7-9 record in 1978, the former Mississippi quarterback was named NFC player of the year. . . .

Eli Manning, all but eclipsed by older brother Peyton as a commercial pitchman, still makes about $5 million annually from endorsements, USA Today reports. . . .

That figure will climb if the New York Giants win Sunday. . . .

One of the interesting things about the Dodgers playing an exhibition at the Coliseum next month is that perhaps the most memorable event in the club’s four seasons at the stadium was a game that didn’t count. . . .

It may not have affected the standings, but an emotional 93,103 turned out to see the Dodgers play the New York Yankees on May 7, 1959, “Roy Campanella Night,” still the largest crowd to ever attend a Major League Baseball game. . . .

Campanella had been paralyzed in an auto accident in January 1958, 2 1/2 months before the Dodgers opened their first season in Los Angeles, and fans struck matches inside the darkened stadium in a moving, silent tribute. Vin Scully said it looked like “the world’s biggest jewel case.” . . .

Ian Poulter, who among other things told Golf World U.K. magazine that he would win this year’s U.S. Open and would one day rule golf alongside Tiger Woods, is a 32-year-old Englishman still looking for his first PGA Tour victory and a finish higher than a tie for ninth place in a major championship. . . .

He said this week that his words were taken out of context. . . .

Of course. . . .

The conventional wisdom that Kobe Bryant and the Lakers are a .500 team without Andrew Bynum is starting to sound optimistic. . . .

Catch-22: Chris Kaman is worthy of All-Star recognition, but the last-place Clippers are undeserving of All-Star representation. . . .

Before the Phoenix Suns finalize plans for an outdoor exhibition at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in October, they might want to consult Coach Charli Turner Thorne and the Arizona State women’s basketball team. . . .

When the Sun Devils defeated Texas Tech outdoors at Chase Field in Phoenix last season, the game was called with 4:18 to play because of rain. . . .

With athletes such as Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne and Roger Clemens blowing off entire months of games, maybe somebody owes Allen Iverson an apology for giving him so much grief about blowing off practice. . . .

Roger Federer, despite a surprising semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open last week, still is far ahead of the pace set by Pete Sampras en route to a record 14 Grand Slam men’s singles titles. . . .

Sampras was 31 when he won No. 14 at the U.S. Open in 2002. . . .

Federer, a winner of 12 Grand Slam titles, is 26. . . .

Kelly Slater, soon to be back winging his way toward sun-drenched exotic locales in search of the perfect wave and his ninth world surfing championship, hints at retirement as often as he wins the sport’s top prize. . . .

With a vocation like Slater’s, who needs retirement?

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jerome.crowe@latimes.com