It could be a Golden moment for Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers won’t be the first former Cal quarterback to start in the Super Bowl, but he’d be the first to win. …
Joe Kapp lost with the Minnesota Vikings, Vince Ferragamo with the Los Angeles Rams and Craig Morton with the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos. …
Ex-Golden Bears quarterback Gale Gilbert, as a reserve, was on the losing side in five consecutive Super Bowls. …
Returning to Pauley Pavilion on Saturday, St. John’s Coach Steve Lavin is again guiding a team that Bruins fans might recognize, alternately capable of unimaginable highs and unfathomable lows. …
USC’s victory over UCLA last month was a turning point for both teams, Joshua Smith and the Bruins regrouping to climb toward the top of the Pacific 10 Conference standings and the Trojans stumbling toward the bottom. …
Noting that Andrew Luck reportedly received credits at Stanford for being filmed while sleeping, Tom Weir of USA Today writes, “So when exactly did Stanford join the SEC?†…
Among the better nickname suggestions for Blake Griffin, the Clippers’ newly minted All-Star: Blake Superior. …
In the NBA last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron James were the first team to win 40 games. …
This season, without him, they were the first to lose 40. …
Nine of the 10 most-watched television programs last year were NFL games or, in the case of CBS’ “Undercover Boss,†aired immediately after the Super Bowl. …
The other was the Oscars. …
Wide receiver James Jones, on the $4.5-million indoor high school football facility where the Green Bay Packers are practicing this week: “That’s ridiculous. We barely had a football field at my high school in California. There’s too much money out here. They need to send some of that extra cash out to California.†…
Jones prepped at San Jose Gunderson High. …
The Packers are training at Highland Park High, located in one of the nation’s wealthiest suburbs and alma mater of Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Angie Harmon, John Hinckley Jr., former Texas Gov. Bill Clements and Pro Football Hall of Famers Bobby Layne and Doak Walker, among other notables. …
When Southern California last hosted a Super Bowl, eight years ago in San Diego, temperature at kickoff was 82 degrees. …
Reader Maria Musaitef of Sherman Oaks, a Wisconsin transplant, e-mails to note that her waiting-list priority number for Packers season tickets has improved from 36,698 when she signed up in 1997 to 24,274 as of this week. …
“I’ll be in my 70s by the time I get lucky,†writes Musaitef, 46, “but I’ll be there.†…
Don’t blame Lane Kiffin and USC for exploiting a loophole in NCAA rules to sign a highly regarded, roster-replenishing recruiting class in the face of pending NCAA sanctions. …
Blame the slow-moving NCAA. …
Kevin McReynolds, a 280-pound defensive tackle who signed Wednesday with UCLA, recently told Sporting News Today, “Whoever else told you they were the best cook [among the top high school prospects] is a liar. I can cook. …Then again, I don’t think you can find a single lineman who can’t cook.†…
A goal differential that ranks among the best in the West suggests that Ryan Smyth and the Kings should stand higher than ninth in the conference standings. …
Reader Dan McCaskill of Rancho Palos Verdes e-mails to note that only five players ahead of Vladimir Guerrero on baseball’s all-time home run list have a higher lifetime batting average than the former Angels slugger: Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Lou Gehrig. …
All are in the Hall of Fame. …
Guerrero remains unsigned. …
Former Times baseball writer Ross Newhan and son David, an ex-major leaguer and former Pepperdine star, will read “Casey at the Bat†before the Waves’ home opener Feb. 18. …
Zenyatta is the first winner of the Secretariat Vox Populi (Voice of the People) Award, which will be presented by Secretariat’s owner, Penny Chenery, to Zenyatta owners Ann and Jerry Moss on Saturday at Santa Anita. …
Noting that no cheerleaders will decorate the sidelines at the Super Bowl, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central wonders, “What will we watch between concussions?â€
Go beyond the scoreboard
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