Touring the sports world, here and there:
• The public relations timing could not be worse. A couple of weeks after announcing they are increasing prices for a large number of their season-ticket holders, the San Diego Chargers announced their proposal to move to Carson … and with the Raiders, of all teams.
• The wife’s side of the family has owned Chargers season tickets since the 1960s. The five seats for 10 games this season will cost more than $6,000. Reducing the value of the 10 games is that two are worthless exhibition games and one regular-season game brings the annual RaiderFan activity.
• Then there is dealing with Qualcomm Stadium. A men’s room line is as long as the line for the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland. The seats at Qualcomm are so tight, in width and leg-room, that an economy-class chair on a Southwest flight is like a La-Z-Boy lounger by comparison.
• So, Chargers, you expect more money to support, at that neglected stadium, your team that has missed the playoffs four of the past five years? And while you have made it known that you are preparing to leave town hand-in-hand with the evil enemy?
• Wow, Chargers management has some real (items the New England Patriots allegedly deflated before a recent playoff game).
• And I just got a new tailgate grill last season, too.
• Too many radio sports-talk shows Monday discussed the Oscars. That’s like “The View” talking Pacquiao-Mayweather.
• Kobe Bryant and Led Zeppelin have something in common. Neither will be playing at Staples Center.
• Zeppelin fans keep hoping for a long-term reunion that will never happen. Bryant’s body is just too broken down to make another comeback.
• That’s no knock on Bryant, who, being the great athlete and competitor that he is, will be inspired to prove such doubters incorrect. Mostly, though, Bryant is driven by the chance for another NBA title. What Bryant would be able to physically offer as a part-time player for the 2015-16 season, playing two games here and missing two games there, would not be enough to lift the Lakers to that level.
• Happy birthday Wednesday to Kurt Rambis. Great teams need role players. Rambis, who turns 57, was that for some great Lakers teams.
• Two guys born on this day in 1940: Billy Packer and Ron Santo.
• Packer is best known as an analyst for CBS’ coverage of college basketball, a job he had from 1981-2008. He worked alongside Brent Musburger and Jim Nantz for most of that run. Packer also was a very good player at Wake Forest.
• Santo was an outstanding third baseman for the Chicago Cubs. He was one of only three third basemen in major league history with eight straight seasons with 90 or more RBI and won the Gold Glove five times. That should have been good enough to get him into the Hall of Fame well before he was inducted in 2012, two years after his death.
• Santo was the first player to veto a trade, invoking in 1973 what was then the new “ten-and-five” rule that allowed players with 10 years service, the last five with the same team, to turn down a trade. That trade: Santo to the Angels for two left-handed pitching prospects, Andy Hassler and Bruce Heinbechner.
• Heinbechner is part of Angels tragedy lore. He died in a car accident during spring training, 1974.
• Hassler had two separate stints with the Angels. He broke in with the club in 1971, maybe too soon at age 19, was sold to the Royals in ’78 and bounced around before the Angels bought him from the Pirates in ’80. In nine seasons with the Angels, Hassler was 21-46 with a 3.78 ERA.
• The Tampa Bay Rays have a lot of leftover bobbleheads of ex-manager Joe Maddon, now with the Cubs. The Rays are selling them for $5 each.
• A funny dude, Maddon this past season put together what he called the Tommy Tutone batting order because the defensive positions of the players were, in sequence, 8-6-7-5-3-0-9 (with 0 being the DH). The Tommy Tutone band had a huge hit with “867-5309/Jenny” in 1981.
• Mike Scioscia is a terrific manager who should be allowed to manage the Angels as long as he wants. Scioscia is not perfect, of course. But, come on, Mike, you would get a lot closer to perfect if you moved Trout to third in the order instead of second, where Trout’s ability to drive in runs is greatly reduced.
• A website called hockeyfights.com evaluates NHL fights. It judges winners, scores the fights on a scale of 1-10 and registered users can submit reviews of the fights.
• If you’re looking for a fun weekend event for family, friends or co-workers, consider Los Alamitos Race Course. Free parking, $3 admission, the races are entertaining, the place is clean and the people friendly. Quarter horses are running there now.
• It was a fun and rainy Sunday at Santa Anita, where the guys working the track managed to keep it in fine shape throughout the nine races. Still, there were scratches, including for the eighth race that was reduced to a field of four. You would think this veteran horse player could choose a winner from a four-horse field, wouldn’t you?
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
