It Was a Moment of Truth in Advertising

In his new book, “Bullets, Bombs and Babes,” Emmy Award-winning former ABC Sports director Andy Sidaris tells a story about a volatile colleague, producer Jack Lubell.

Sidaris says he and Lubell were working an Oakland Raider game in the early 1960s at a 15,000-seat high school stadium called Youell Field. The head referee, whom Sidaris calls obnoxious and arrogant, would always restart play in the middle of commercial breaks.

Sidaris says Lubell eventually became so enraged that he stormed out of the production truck, ran out onto the field and began wrestling with the referee.

Sidaris writes, “Jack Buck, the world’s coolest announcer, says, ‘We seem to have an irate fan on the field, and he seems vaguely familiar.’ ”

Trivia time: Which NBA owner has the most championships?

Program crashes: Regarding UCLA’s meeting with Fresno State in the Silicon Valley Classic at San Jose on Dec. 30, comedian Jerry Perisho says, “Coincidentally, the only thing that has collapsed worse than the computer technology industry in the Silicon Valley is the UCLA football program.”

Remembering: It wasn’t that long ago that USC faced Fresno State in a bowl game. It was the 1992 Freedom Bowl at Anaheim.

The late Mal Florence, a USC alumnus and longtime USC beat writer for The Times, was more than a little embarrassed for his old school. When asked if he was going to the game, Florence said, “Are you kidding? Someone might see me there.”

USC lost to Fresno State, 24-7, leading to the firing of Larry Smith as coach.

Minority rules: Only 2% of respondents in a USA Today online poll voted in favor of keeping the BCS system. Wrote Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle: “The only surprise there is that so many college presidents could take time out from their busy schedules to vote yes.”

Mr. Humility: Indianapolis Colt kicker Mike Vanderjagt, who is 34 for 34 on field-goal attempts this season, disputes his reputation for being cocky.

“I think ‘cocky’ is a negative term,” he told the Indianapolis Star. “Just because I say I’m good doesn’t make me cocky. It just happens to be fact, really.”

The real story: From Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post: “Well, now we know the title ESPN was considering before settling on ‘Playmakers’: ‘The Lawrence Taylor Story.’ ”

Trivia answer: Jerry Buss, with eight. Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago Bulls, is next with six. The Boston Celtics won their 16 titles with a variety of owners.

And finally: New Dodger pitcher Jeff Weaver, a guest of the “Loose Cannons” on XTRA last week, said this about his former team, the New York Yankees: “I’ve never seen so many issues surrounding a team that for 99% of the season was in first place. It was quite a crazy atmosphere surrounding the Yankees, but remarkably everyone inside the clubhouse kept their composure.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.