Text messages from press row . . . - Los Angeles Times
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Text messages from press row . . .

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It was not the most tightly contested of the NFL’s divisional playoff games last weekend -- in fact, it was the most lopsided of the four -- but the Green Bay Packers’ Brett Favre-orchestrated 42-20 victory over the Seattle Seahawks may have been the most indelible because the snowy conditions lent it a dramatic air. . . .

It was the most fun game to watch on television, for sure. . . .

It made you think, if the NHL can draw more than 71,000 fans to a frosty regular-season hockey game at Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium on New Year’s Day, maybe Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL should consider staging an outdoor Super Bowl in a Northern city every few years. . . .

Or at least once. . . .

Corporate bigwigs be damned, real fans would love it. . . .

So would Favre, who is 42-5 in games at Green Bay in which the temperature is 34 degrees or colder, which it’s expected to be Sunday when the Packers take on Eli Manning and the New York Giants in the NFC championship game. . . .

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Forecasters are calling for a high of 4 degrees, with snow flurries. . . .

The Sunday forecast for Foxborough, Mass., where the San Diego Chargers will face Tom Brady and the unbeaten New England Patriots for the AFC title, calls for wind, partly cloudy skies and highs in the low 20s. . . .

For those keeping count, only three Super Bowls have been played north of Palo Alto, all in domed stadiums in Michigan or Minnesota. . . .

The other 38 were played in California, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia or Arizona, which will play host to the spectacle’s 42nd edition Feb. 3. . . .

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The last NFL championship game played in the L.A. area was Super Bowl XXVII on Jan. 31, 1993, when Troy Aikman and the Dallas Cowboys rolled to a 52-17 victory over Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills at the Rose Bowl. . . .

California’s last two Super Bowls were played in San Diego. . . .

Regarding Tony Romo’s romance with Jessica Simpson and Matt Leinart’s earlier dalliance with Paris Hilton, San Francisco Chronicle funnyman Scott Ostler notes, “It’s part of the NFL’s new program, No Bimbo Left Behind.†. . .

If Andrew Bynum returns to the lineup eights weeks after suffering his knee injury Sunday, he would make his post-rehab debut March 9 against the Sacramento Kings and have 20 games in which to re-acclimate before the playoffs. . . .

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Before Monday night, when he launched a season-high 44 shots in an overtime victory over the Seattle SuperSonics, Kobe Bryant had taken more than 25 shots in a game only three times this season and averaged fewer than 21. . . .

Last season, he averaged 23 and two seasons ago 27. . . .

No matter how Coach Tim Floyd configures the standings, USC will be all but out of the running for the Pacific 10 Conference championship if it loses to fourth-ranked UCLA on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion. . . .

Kris Johnson, who followed father Marques onto the UCLA basketball team, has followed him into the media too, as a college basketball studio analyst for foxsports.com and co-host of a segment called “Beyond the Arc.†. . .

Pegging his return from throat surgery to the Feb. 6 Duke-North Carolina game, Dick Vitale won’t do anything to silence critics who believe the excitable ESPN motor-mouth is biased toward the Atlantic Coast Conference. . . .

And Vitale won’t care. . . .

Wilt Chamberlain, who made 54% of his shots in the NBA and in one season with the Lakers made nearly 73%, made only 47% in two seasons at Kansas. . . .

Lindsay Davenport, bounced from the Australian Open by Maria Sharapova, still could become the first mother to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1980, when Evonne Goolagong-Cawley of Australia won the last of her seven Grand Slam singles championships in a Wimbledon surprise. . . .

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Not since 1914 had a mother won a Wimbledon singles title. . . .

In 1977, Goolagong-Cawley gave birth to daughter Kelly in May, then won the last of her four Australian Open titles only seven months later. . . .

If a potential employer picks up the phone to discuss making him an insanely lucrative contract offer, of course Pete Carroll is going to listen. . . .

Wouldn’t you?

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