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Manny Ramirez is old news

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If Dodgers fans didn’t care that Manny Ramirez cheated in 2009, they won’t care that he tested positive in 2003. . . .

Que sera sera. . . .

On Thursday, when the New York Times reported that Ramirez and former Boston Red Sox teammate David Ortiz tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs six years ago, Bud Selig celebrated his 75th birthday. . . .

His present, from anonymous sources leaking supposedly confidential information, was another black eye for baseball. . . .

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In light of Michael Vick’s reinstatement this week, it might be worth noting that four NFL teams are named for cats -- the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers -- but none are named for dogs. . . .

Vick, as you may have guessed, is the most disliked person in sports, according to a survey by market-research firm E-Poll that was published in Forbes magazine. . . .

No. 2 on the list is Ramirez. . . .

No. 5 is Kobe Bryant. . . .

If Pat Riley and Dwyane Wade had Lamar Odom’s best interests at heart when they reportedly met with the free agent this week, they told him to re-sign with the Lakers. . . .

Fat chance. . . .

According to ESPN’s Bill Simmons, Ron Artest last season “routinely walked around in his underwear in public places: the Rockets’ team bus, hotels, you name it,” even boarding a bus to Staples Center before Game 7 clad in his skivvies. . . .

And they say Artest is more disruptive on the court? . . .

Vin Scully, mulling retirement after next season, made his Brooklyn Dodgers broadcasting debut during a 1950 Grapefruit League game against the Philadelphia Athletics, who were entering their 50th season under manager Connie Mack. . . .

Mack was born during the Civil War. . . .

If Wednesday night’s Dodgers-St. Louis Cardinals marathon had been played in October instead of July, we’d all be wondering why Joe Torre didn’t order Jeff Weaver to walk Albert Pujols in the 15th inning and why center fielder Matt Kemp wasn’t positioned deeper against baseball’s most dangerous slugger. . . .

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Some might wonder anyway. . . .

Newly acquired Dodgers reliever George Sherrill was nicknamed “The Brim Reaper” by Baltimore Orioles fans because of the way he wears his cap without bending the brim. . . .

If the season ended today, the Angels would open the playoffs against -- who else? -- the Red Sox. . . .

The Sporting News’ list of sports’ 50 greatest coaches, topped by John Wooden, includes two Lakers coaches, Phil Jackson at No. 4, Riley at No. 30, and three Dodgers managers, Torre at No. 32, Walter Alston at No. 35 and Tom Lasorda at No. 48. . . .

There is no “I” in team, as Lance Armstrong noted via Twitter this week in a missive aimed at teammate and Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, but there is in acrimony. . . .

We’ve not seen the last of Brett Favre, who will be featured in an upcoming TV commercial poking fun at his now legendary indecisiveness as he waffles over a big-ticket purchase. . . .

The Minnesota Vikings probably won’t find it amusing. . . .

Was it a Bush Push -- figuratively, not literally -- that led to Reggie Bush’s split with Kim Kardashian? . . .

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Kevin Provencher, a now-suspended New Hampshire Union-Leader sportswriter who was charged this week with running a prostitution ring, was a beat reporter who covered the Manchester Monarchs, the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate. . . .

Among the players he wrote about was Kings captain Dustin Brown, who spent the 2004-05 season in Manchester. . . .

Reader Howard Cohen of North Hills e-mails to note that USC and Florida played to a tie at the Coliseum in 1983 only because USC botched the extra-point attempt after scoring the tying touchdown on Sean Salisbury’s pass to Timmie Ware with no time remaining. . . .

Left unsaid was that USC would have lost if Florida hadn’t been called for having too many men on the field on what the Gators believed was the game’s final play, giving USC another shot. . . .

Welcome to the second of three weekends this season in which both Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium are dark. . . .

X Games, anyone?

--

jerome.crowe@latimes.com

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