Airing their East Coast biases out West
Both Joe Torre and Conan O’Brien traveled a long way -- across an entire country -- to find themselves talking Monday on O’Brien’s new set at Universal Studios for “The Tonight Show.”
O’Brien: “We have both made this crazy transition in our lives.”
Torre: “Weird, isn’t it?”
O’Brien, a lifelong die-hard Boston Red Sox fan, told Torre, “Red Sox fans will trash any of the Yankees, any of them -- with, I think, two exceptions: you and Derek Jeter. They have a respect for both of you guys. It’s a grudging, and I repeat, grudging respect for your managerial skills.”
Torre said, “I love the city of Boston” but also noted that he doesn’t “know what happens to the people, whether they jab them in the rear end with a needle or something because they get nasty.”
Torre talked about his book, “The Yankee Years,” but the Dodgers’ manager didn’t have much to say about Manny Ramirez’s drug use.
“I’m pretty naive,” he said. “I don’t want to believe players do anything. When this came down about Manny, it was certainly a shock.”
Trivia time
What do Wilt Chamberlain, Frank Selvy, Bevo Francis and Cheryl Miller have in common?
He decided to go long
Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman returned to UCLA and graduated Saturday with a degree in sociology 21 years after starring for the Bruins.
From Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “What, you thought he’d have trouble passing?”
They know him now
Reggie Herring’s life under the radar as linebackers coach for the Dallas Cowboys ended when the team selected four linebackers in the April draft. Since then, Herring has been peppered with questions from the media.
“This is the last time we’re drafting any ‘backers,” Herring told Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine. “Nobody’s talked to me in a year and a half.”
Trivia answer
They were among those who have scored at least 100 points in an organized basketball game. Chamberlain did it in the NBA, Selvy and Francis in college, and Miller in high school. (Question and answer provided by reader Alan Cook of Rancho Palos Verdes.)
And finally
From Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, on Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis: “The growing ‘Al has lost it’ movement took a serious hit when Lane Kiffin became a serial rule-breaker at Tennessee. People started to rethink Davis, calling him brilliant for firing Kiffin. Reputation-wise, Davis was the Comeback Kid. Even the overhead projector looked like an inspired touch.”
--
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
