Morning Briefing

Flea’s plea to Kobe: don’t flee

This Kobe Bryant thing is mind-boggling.

Flea, the 44-year-old bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, writes a blog for NBA.com that this week sounds like a letter from the lovelorn.

The following are excerpts.

The punctuation is his.

if you leave kobe

if you do you will break our hearts

the ones who have stood by you through thick and thin

the ones who love you

and truly care about you

we all know that things have not gone as well since jerry west left....

but the bottom line is ... ...

KOBE ... ... ... DO NOT TAKE US TRUE FANS FOR GRANTED

we are on your side

we believe in you

we love you

we feel your frustration

and know that it is rooted in the truth

but ... ... ... ... come on man

don’t leave us ...

we have been your fans no matter what

you will never have as deep a love anywhere else

not in any other [city] where they have hated you for your whole career?!??!?!???????

i have friends in new york and chicago, serious nba fans

they have been talkin garbage about you forever

they hate you

all of them ...

yeah they will be happy if you go there because you are the greatest player, but it will not, could not be the truth, their love will be shallow

US TRUE FANS KNOW THE TRUTH

we do not talk trash about you, havenot

we are here for you

we have been through all of it and stood by you

and that is more important than anything else that you will ever get anywhere else....

sincerely,

flea

May we suggest...counseling?

Trivia time

It’s July, and it’s hot and dry. When was the last rainout at Dodger Stadium?

Prime cut

Signed, framed jerseys are everywhere in restaurants, but there’s a more impressive piece of sports memorabilia at the Trabuco Oaks Steakhouse in Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon.

It’s a rustic place where they’ll cut off your tie if you wear one, and thousands of those lopped-off accessories hang from the ceiling or are stapled to the walls.

The restaurant also has been the site of pre-game meals for the football team from Santa Margarita High in Rancho Santa Margarita, and plaques commemorate the team’s senior classes -- complete with the players’ sheared-off ties.

Check out the one from 1997. The first tie used to belong to No. 3, Palmer.

After losing his neckwear at the little steakhouse amid the oaks, Carson Palmer went on to win the Heisman Trophy at USC before being drafted No. 1 overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2003. In February, he was the most valuable player of the Pro Bowl.

A rare feat, or as the folks at the Trabuco Oaks Steakhouse might say, “Well done.”

It’s a date

It’s still July, but Louisiana State football Coach Les Miles is talking smack.

The Baton Rouge Advocate reported Miles said in a speech made available on the website for radio station WWL that he would like “nothing better than to play USC” for the BCS title Jan. 8 in the Louisiana Superdome.

He went on to praise the Southeastern Conference at the expense of the Pacific 10, knocking USC’s schedule.

“They’re going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, [California], Stanford -- some real juggernauts -- and they’re going to end up, it would be my guess, in some position so if they win a game or two, that they’ll end up in the title [game]. I would like that path for us.

“I think the SEC provides much stiffer competition.”

All we have to go on is results.

Last season, it was USC 50, Arkansas 14.

LSU defeated the Razorbacks, 31-26.

Trivia answer

There hasn’t been a rainout at Dodger Stadium since April 17, 2000. There has never been a rainout in July.

The leading month? April, with nine.

And finally

Someone asked Tiger Woods if he had decided how long he would wait to put a golf club in the hands of his not yet 3-week-old daughter, Sam Alexis.

“Well, it already happened, so ... “ Woods said, drawing laughter.

“She couldn’t quite hold it, but it was there.”

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