Text messages from press row . . .

The days of winning NBA scoring championships might be over for Kobe Bryant -- not because he’s no longer capable, but because the deeper, stronger Lakers probably won’t need him to produce monster numbers on a regular basis. . . .

Trevor Ariza energizes like Ronny Turiaf but is a better player. . . .

Poor Elton Brand changed clubs, changed coasts and changed conferences, but he’s still near the bottom with the Philadelphia 76ers. . . .

Note to Baron Davis: Now that Mike Dunleavy is the Clippers’ general manager, Donald Sterling probably will be less hesitant to fire him as coach. . . .

Scott Boras didn’t wait long to throw out the first diss. . . .

Frank McCourt, who benefited from the Boston Red Sox’s largesse during a memorable 2008 stretch run, might never pay a penny to Manny Ramirez. . . .

Wouldn’t you love to see a bidding war between McCourt and Arte Moreno? . . .

Moreno seems to have made retaining Mark Teixeira a priority over re-signing Francisco Rodriguez, which some would call a no-brainer. . . .

Several readers e-mailed to suggest that the chest-painted USC fans who spelled out P-L-A-Y-O-F-F-S at the Coliseum on Saturday, punctuating their message with a question mark rather than an exclamation point, may have been paying homage to Jim Mora’s famous rant of a few years back. . . .

The then-Indianapolis Colts coach, asked about his team’s chances of reaching the playoffs after a 2001 loss, replied incredulously, “What’s that? Uh, playoffs? Don’t talk about -- playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs?” . . .

Mora, by the way, played tight end at Occidental College, where he roomed with 1988 presidential candidate Jack Kemp. . . .

Stanford has gone from a 41-point underdog against USC to upset winner over the Trojans last year to a 23-point underdog for Saturday’s rematch at Stanford. . . .

Darren Collison and UCLA are listed by BetOnline.com as 12-1 shots to win the NCAA championship, while Taj Gibson and USC are listed at 30-1. . . .

North Carolina is the favorite. . . .

Topple a (Matt) Cassell tonight at New England and Brett Favre and the New York Jets might wind up wearing an AFC East crown. . . .

What comes first, Kerry Collins and the unbeaten Tennessee Titans losing or Daunte Culpepper and the hapless Detroit Lions winning? . . .

The teams will meet Thanksgiving Day at Detroit. . . .

Talk about a turkey. . . .

Kurt Warner, a former most valuable player who won a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams and has resurrected his career with the Arizona Cardinals, continues to make a strong case for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. . . .

No other quarterback in NFL history has passed for more than 300 yards in a higher percentage of his games than the former Arena League star. . . .

Belated Veterans Day salutes: Had Willie Mays not missed part of the 1952 season and all of the ’53 season while serving in the U.S. Army, he might have beaten Hank Aaron to Babe Ruth’s home run record. . . .

Ted Williams, by the way, missed nearly five full seasons while serving as a Marine Corps pilot in World War II and the Korean War. . . .

South Bay volleyball fans might want to tune in to ESPNU on Friday when Army, led by Manhattan Beach-bred setter Maureen Bannon, takes on Navy and Redondo Beach-bred setter Marissa Watson in a match at West Point, N.Y. . . .

A reunion of USC’s 1978 national championship team March 14 at the Wallis Annenberg Building adjacent to the Coliseum will benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. in its quest to find a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease. . . .

Eric Scoggins, a linebacker on that team, is afflicted with the disease. . . .

Information: (310) 390-6802. . . .

A hockey lifer such as Brian Burke probably belongs in Canada. . . .

Contestants in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge, in which the winner gets to play Bethpage Black in New York under the same course setup and rules that will be in effect when Tiger Woods (?) & Co. tee off next June in the second major championship of 2009, must limit their please-pick-me entries to six words. . . .

Example at gdopencontest.com: “Go ahead Digest, make my day.” . . .

Possibly worth a try: I promise I’ll bring Jessica Biel. . . .

For golf nut Justin Timberlake, it just might work. . . .

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jerome.crowe@latimes.com