This is one of those rules that Shouldn’t Have to Be Made. But when you’ve got self-important athletes unwilling to recognize common-sense boundaries … it’s amazing what you have to get down in black and white. The NBA has banned the use of Twitter and other “social media” during a period that extends from 45 […]

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President Barack Obama is traveling to Copenhagen this week to speak in support of Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid. The International Olympic Committee votes Friday on where the Summer Games will go for 2016. Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo also are in the running for what is expected to be a tight vote of IOC […]

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Been following this Dodgers road trip? For the sake of your sanity and the structural integrity of your TV screen, I hope not. The club began a seven-game trip last Tuesday, three games in Washington and four in Pittsburgh. Teams that were 51-98 and 56-95 when the Dodgers left LAX. That is, the Dodgers were […]

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The Los Angeles Kings’ move, last week, to hire Rich Hammond as their own newspaper-style reporter continues to make news … this time in the Planet’s Paper of Record, the New York Times. This is good for Rich Hammond. Not only is his mug now up on the NYT Web site (and yours and mine […]

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Jiminy Christmas. It wasn’t enough for the Lakers to be about Kobe and Vanessa Bryant, Phil Jackson and Jeanie Buss, and Ron Artest and whomever/whatever … Now they have Lamar Odom and Mrs.  Lamar Odom — reality show “star” Khloe Kardashian. Odom and Kardashian got married today, apparently one month after they met. And a […]

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Weird moment this week in the first episode of a new ABC series, entitled “Flash Forward.” It’s a semi-opaque, high-production-values “Lost”-like show with apparent layers of mystery, etc., revolving around everyone on the planet losing consciousness at the same time, and being out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. And during that blackout period … […]

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I received word Thursday night that Jim Long, a former newspaper colleague, has died. He was only 46. He died at 6:02 p.m. at Kaiser Hospital in Fontana, according to his wife, Judith Pfeffer. He had been in failing health for the past two years. He suffered a stroke in October of 2007, worked hard […]

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If you look at the comments received from my previous post, about the L.A. Kings hiring their own beat reporter … I am informed that this goes on practically everywhere (!) in these United States. Happens all the time. However, I would suggest that most of the examples cited fall far short in scope and […]

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This is a milestone in sports journalism. And could be the start of a trend. The Los Angeles Kings announced today that they have hired Rich Hammond of the Los Angeles Daily News … to cover their team. Not to work as a publicist. Not to write press releases. To cover the team the way […]

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A curious wire story out of San Diego pertaining to Ron Artest. Which probably shouldn’t surprise anyone, because “curious” and “Ron Artest” are terms that generate 17,200 hits when paired in a google search. It’s almost “dog bites man” in terms of routine. Artest was in San Diego to help promote the Lakers’ exhibition game […]

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