It’s shaping up to be winter of Dodgers’ discontent

Could this year get any worse for Dodgers fans? …

Of course it could.…

Judge Scott Gordon’s ruling on the Frank and Jamie McCourt divorce trial is due before year’s end and the San Francisco Giants might not stop celebrating until spring.…

It could be a long winter.…

In baseball’s so-called year of the pitcher, no staff pitched better than Tim Lincecum, Brian Wilson & Co.…

Before the Texas Rangers this year, the last team to be shut out more than once in a World Series was the Dodgers in 1966, when Willie Davis & Co. set records for offensive ineptitude.…

The Dodgers, shut out three times, failed to score after the third inning of Game 1 in a Baltimore Orioles sweep.…

If Magic Johnson is unsuccessful in bringing an NFL team to Los Angeles, maybe we should just give up.…

NBC, which did not air an NFL game during the previous four World Series, changed its stance this year, and Sunday’s matchup of the last two Super Bowl champions attracted a higher television rating than Game 4 of baseball’s showcase.…

If former USC clipboard carrier Matt Cassel and the Kansas City Chiefs are not writing the NFL’s most surprising success story, Sam Bradford and the St. Louis Rams might be.…

USC has lost seven Pacific 10 Conference games in the last 14 months, the same number it lost in the previous seven years.…

Quarterback prospect Kiehl Frazier of Springdale, Ark., who has committed to Auburn, tells the Sporting News that when a Pacific 10 Conference school in Westwood was recruiting him, “Coach [Rick] Neuheisel said there were a lot of good-looking redheads and blondes at UCLA.” …

So, it’s a down year for brunettes? …

Lamar Odom should spend more summers with Mike Krzyzewski and Team USA.…

LeBron James, after telling GQ in August that he wouldn’t change anything about “The Decision,” reversed himself this week when he told the New York Daily News, “If I had a do-over, I’d probably do it a little bit differently.” …

Mike Shanahan, similarly wishy-washy, seems to have little use for Donovan McNabb — for whatever cockamamie reason.…

If your holiday shopping list included a gift certificate for Randy Moss from Minnesota Vikings caterer Tinucci’s Restaurant in Woodbury, Minn., you might want to reconsider.…

Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, lauding Brad Childress’ axing of Moss even as national pundits blasted the coach’s stunning move: “He rid himself and his team of one of the leading jerks in the history of Minnesota pro sports.” …

Former USC linebacker Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers is the NFL’s defensive most valuable player at the season’s midpoint, according to a Sporting News poll of 100 NFL players, while Peyton Manning is the offensive MVP.…

Last week’s mention of the Dodgers’ 7-1 loss to the Houston Astros in a one-game playoff for the 1980 National League West title inspired several e-mails from readers still upset that Tom Lasorda opted for free-agent bust Dave Goltz over phenom Fernando Valenzuela as his playoff starter.…

Valenzuela pitched 17 2/3 innings in 1980, all in relief after Sept. 14, compiling a 2-0 record and 0.00 ERA.…

Six months later, in his first major league start and the Dodgers’ 1981 season opener, he pitched a five-hit shutout — against the Astros — and Fernandomania was born.…

Forbes magazine reports that the NHL counts eight billionaires among its ownership ranks, three more than Major League Baseball and only two fewer than the NBA, in which the median franchise value is nearly 70% higher.…

The wealthiest of the wealthy, with a reported net worth of $7 billion: Kings owner Philip Anschutz.…

USC, in a curiously timed move, will name its Dedeaux Field scoreboard in honor of UC Irvine baseball Coach Mike Gillespie, who in 1998 guided the Trojans to a College World Series championship and in 2006 was shown the door.…

Gillespie, 70, has been at Irvine since 2007.…

“I did not know that Roberto Duran had relocated to Minnesota,” reader George Sands of Torrance e-mails to note, “until I saw the headline, ‘No Moss.’ ”

jerome.crowe@latimes.com