Boras plays a stubborn game

Had a nice texting exchange with Scott Boras on Monday, reminding him a year ago about this time A-Rod was on “60 Minutes” telling everyone he was no longer talking to his agent.

I wanted to know if Mark Teixeira would be appearing on the show any time soon?

A-Rod didn’t like the way Boras orchestrated his exit from the Yankees, dropped his agent, renewed acquaintances with the Yankees with outside help and signed a 10-year deal for $275 million.

Boras took a serious public-relations hit, although I presume he still got his cut of A-Rod’s deal.

I wondered, though, if he was overplaying his hand again, taking forever to squeeze every million he could out of suitors for Teixeira, but in doing so, losing the Red Sox, Angels and baseball fans everywhere?

Does anyone believe Teixeira is going to sign with losers such as Baltimore or Washington? So what’s the delay?

Boras replied with customary self-confidence, and a “we will see” before offering some further comments off the record about the Angels. I don’t normally deal off the record, but hard to avoid when a text begins, “off the record.”

The Red Sox will probably end up with Teixeira, but what about the Angels -- The Times’ Mike DiGiovanna reported the team never heard from Boras after making its offer two weeks ago.

No one seems to be disputing that, although it’s known the Angels were advised from the outset their offer wasn’t good enough to secure Teixeira.

It was also known from the outset that team owner Arte Moreno likes to play John Wayne and make one-time offers, and with Boras known best for dragging out the process and hitting bidders up for money, was there ever a chance for a deal to be made here?

Moreno is now acting like Frank McCourt and keeping his thoughts and money to himself, the guy who likes to take care of the fans now opting not to keep them in the loop and explain why he pulled the offer at this time.

It’s not like anything he says is going to impact Teixeira’s signing unless the Angels still intend to go after the guy.

Why now? Did they really think some kind of 15-day take-it-or-leave-it deadline would be met? Or, was all this just for show a la McCourt?

Are the Angels ready to announce the signing of someone else today, but need that money to complete the deal?

Did Moreno walk away in a huff because he didn’t get his way? Did he read Plaschke’s column calling for the Angels to sign Teixeira and say no way I’m going to be told what to do?

So many questions, the biggest of them all yet to be answered in any way: How do they improve enough now to have a chance to win it all?

I hoped they just weren’t trying to prove Boras wasn’t going to get the best of them. That’s not the kind of victory the Angels need.

THREE MINUTES to go in the first quarter Monday night and the Clippers were losing to Toronto, 25-10. The fans were booing because I’m guessing Toronto hadn’t scored enough.

Paul Davis was trying to stop Chris Bosh and Jermaine O’Neal and until tonight I had no idea Paul Davis was playing for the Clippers.

Davis’ best stop of the night was interfering with teammate Baron Davis’ layup, wiping out a basket after being called for goaltending.

The Clippers’ cheerleaders took the floor in an attempt to save the evening while wearing a variety of Christmas costumes that looked like they had just come off the Goodwill rack.

Times are tough, all right, but then it’s not like the Clippers are ever going to play on Christmas Day.

I DON’T understand the furor.

By all accounts Detroit Coach Rod Marinelli has been a positive guy and sympathetic figure in the face of defeat all season long, sounding more and more like Rick Neuheisel with each passing loss.

A columnist for the Detroit News, Rob Parker, has been questioning/hounding Marinelli all season about his defensive coordinator, Joe Barry, who is also Marinelli’s son-in-law. At least he’s not a Grocery Store Bagger.

After Sunday’s loss, Parker asked Marinelli, “On a light note, seriously do you wish your daughter would have married a better defensive coordinator?”

Marinelli ignored the question, but the guys on Fox lost it, Michael Strahan calling for the columnist’s termination and Terry Bradshaw saying, “You know, Rob, you’re an idiot. OK, you’re just a flat idiot. . . . You have disgraced your profession, my friend. You are a total idiot.”

Monday the outrage picked up steam, Marinelli now blasting the columnist for attacking his daughter.

Now I have no idea if the columnist is an idiot -- never met him and he may be, but not based on anything he did in questioning Marinelli.

He didn’t attack the coach’s daughter -- didn’t even come close. He brought the coach’s family into the discussion, but I suspect everyone in Detroit already knew the defensive coordinator was a part of the Marinelli family, so he wasn’t exactly breaking new ground.

He tried to put a spin on an old question, probably asked week after week, but then they play the game week after week and the job calls for it to be asked.

He made an attempt at humor -- it didn’t work, but it wasn’t as far off base as comments made by Bradshaw and Strahan. How serious do we take our sports today that it prompts someone to call for his firing?

If we get to the point where columnists can’t ask smart aleck questions or ask an NBA coach why he still hasn’t given his girlfriend a ring, I worry about what else is there to write.

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t.j.simers@latimes.com