NFL Los Angeles

The San Francisco 49ers want a new stadium. They're not sure which Bay Area city will pony up to build one for them -- of if any Bay Area city will do so at all. And that means the 49ers could be looking at moving south, all the way to Los Angeles.

This is obviously very premature and speculative, but following up on the news that billionaire developer Ed Roski wants to build an NFL stadium in the Los Angeles area, The Hater Nation has an interesting point:

the stadium could start construction this fall and be ready by 2011. The same year the Raiders could get out of its lease in Oakland.

Hmm. The Raiders left Los Angeles to return to Oakland in 1994, and the speculation that the Raiders would leave Oakland to go back to Los Angeles started almost immediately afterward. But most of that speculation hasn't been backed by anything as strong as a billionaire developer saying he wants to build an NFL stadium in L.A.

There's also speculation that the team to relocate to Los Angeles could be the Vikings, Chargers, Bills or Jaguars. My best guess is that the Bills wouldn't move to Los Angeles because the NFL would rather see them move to Toronto if they're going to move at all, but that the Raiders, Vikings, Jaguars and Chargers -- probably in that order of likelihood -- could all move. One way or another, the NFL wants to put a team back in L.A., and if there's a good stadium deal in place, Al Davis would love for that team to be the Raiders.

Edward P. Roskie, Jr ... part owner of the NBA Lakers and NHL Kings ... is the latest in the long line of rich dudes wanting to bring the NFL back to Los Angeles. Roskie has scheduled a news conference at the Staples Center for Thursday where he's promising a "major announcement":

On Thursday, Roski will unveil his latest concept for a stadium in the City of Industry, near the southern intersection of the 57 and 60 freeways some 20 miles east of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Wednesday.

The stadium would be surrounded by a high-end shopping mall, already in the works, the newspaper said.

The Rams and Raiders left the LA area in 1995 and the NFL has never been back. Oh, others have tried to figure out some way to bring the nation's top league to the nation's second largest market but they all failed.

I will give Roskie this: he was instrumental in getting the Staples Center built. Current tenants (Lakers, Kings, Clippers) were stuck in old facilities.

The 42 Stops to Super Bowl XLII is a series that will feature stories, stats and interesting trivia that you can use to act smart as you prepare for Super Bowl XLII.

There have been 41 Super Bowls to date ... yet there are 42 Vince Lombardi Trophies (given to the Super Bowl winning team) out and about. How is that?

Well, that little ditty comes to light after the recent passing of Rams owner Georgia Frontiere. Frontiere's husband, former-Colts and Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom, is the reason behind the story:

However, when Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom, Frontiere's late husband, traded the Colts for the Rams in a franchise swap in 1972, he decided he wanted to keep the Lombardi Trophy the Colts won in Super Bowl V.

When Super Bowl VII took place in Los Angeles, Rosenbloom told the Colts he was going to put on a display of Super Bowl trophies and asked them to bring it to the West Coast. They did. There was no display, and Rosenbloom never returned the trophy. After the Colts complained to the league office, former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle had a duplicate made for the Colts, which remains in Baltimore (it was originally shipped to Indianapolis when the team moved but a deal was struck and it was returned to Maryland). The original Super Bowl V trophy? It presumably was in Frontiere's possession and now belongs to her heirs.

So, there are two Vince Lombardi trophies awarded for Super Bowl V ... yet neither are with the franchise that won it. The original was in St. Louis with Frontiere with the other in Baltimore, the Colts old digs. Meanwhile, Indianapolis can only show off the trophy they won last year.

Kudos to The Postmen for finding the video of the day, with the 1986 Los Angeles Rams singing a bizarre and somewhat frightening song called "Let's Ram It":

I really, really wish those 1980s football team videos had ended with the Super Bowl Shuffle.

Former Los Angeles Rams (and Colts and Raiders and Falcons) running back Eric Dickerson owns the all-time single-season NFL rushing record, with 2,105 yards in 1984. And while Dickerson says he believes Vikings rookie Adrian Peterson has the ability to break that record, he also says he doesn't want it to happen.

"He has a good shot at doing it. I hope he doesn't, to be honest,'' Dickerson, 47, said in a telephone interview. "You want those records as long as you can. That's part of having the record, your name gets brought up, and it's great for him and it's great for me.''

I'm betting a lot more retired athletes feel that way than will admit it. I appreciate Dickerson being honest enough to come right out and say it, and not do the politically correct thing and say he's rooting for Peterson. Right now Peterson is at 1,036 yards, putting him on pace to finish with 2,076, or 30 yards short of breaking the record.

Hat tip: Pro Football Talk.

An eight foot birdie putt stopped just short of the hole Friday morning, giving a momentary pain we all have felt, but also foreshadowed a rough sports weekend that was ahead. Honestly, when missing a birdie putt is the highlight of your sports weekend, then you know it was a rough one.

This weekend was so bad, it beat the previous worst sports weekend in SoCal history which occurred in June, 1981 when the Red Sox eliminated the Angels in the ALCS, the Rams moved to St. Louis, Magic Johnson contracted HIV, Steve Garvey went to the Padres and A.C. Slater lost in a wrestling match to that dude from Valley High.

Alright, maybe all of those things didn't happen in the same weekend (or at all). And in this internet age, we are so quick to proclaim anything as the best or worst weekend ever (blame Dan Shanoff). But make no mistake, this weekend, like, totally sucked, dude.

Former ESPN star Dan Patrick has left the Worldwide Leader and started his own syndicated radio show, and the first broadcast was today.

Sports by Brooks has a review of the first show, and it's not pretty. Brooks calls Patrick "A self-important dullard," and continues:

This morning the show moved at the same pace as a Herman Edwards' sideline (brain) synapse. We hate the fake morning show cackling as much as you do. But in the two hours we listened, we laughed exactly zero times. ...

We're not completely condemning Patrick's latest foray into hosting a sports radio show, but it's painfully obvious that he doesn't have the charisma and/or personality to carry his own production without a talented on-air ensemble around him. If changes aren't made to slick things up, the show has no chance to be high-profile.

I didn't hear the show, but I agree that Patrick needs someone to work with. The high point of Patrick's career was when he worked with Keith Olbermann on SportsCenter, and that's because his function should be as a straight man who can set up a funnier, more charismatic partner. As a solo act, Patrick won't succeed.

Former ESPN radio host and SportsCenter anchor Dan Patrick is about to launch a syndicated radio show, and Sports by Brooks and LARadio.com are reporting that he's landed a Los Angeles affiliate.

The affiliate, KLAC, is the flagship station for the Lakers and UCLA, and the announcement came from the guy who's going to be replaced:

Current KLAC-AM morning host Fred Roggin broke the news this morning: "This is going to be our final show together on KLAC. Yesterday, [we received] the somewhat sobering, yet exciting news. As many of you know, Dan Patrick, who worked for ESPN for many years, left that network and became a free agent and decided to go with syndicated radio.

Getting a slot in L.A. is obviously important for Patrick's show, so this is a big announcement. I remain a little skeptical of how successful Patrick's show is going to be, though. There just aren't that many national shows outside the ESPN Radio empire that succeed, and I always thought Patrick's success came mostly as a result of his affiliation with ESPN and the access to top guests that that affiliation brings.

In 1991, when the Raiders made Todd Marinovich their first-round draft choice, he was supposed to be the perfect quarterback specimen, an athlete whose birthright had been to become a star NFL quarterback. His father used to brag about how he never allowed Todd to go to McDonald's or watch cartoons, because the only activities permitted in the Marinovich home were the ones that advanced his potential for future NFL stardom.

Marinovich never amounted to anything in the NFL, and when it was clear that the only thing he was prepared for -- football -- wasn't working out, his life became a mess. Now comes word that he has been charged with felony drug possession and resisting a police officer.

"(Marinovich) was found hiding in a carport about 1:30 a.m. (Sunday), police Sgt. Evan Sailor said. After searching Marinovich, police found about one gram of methamphetamine, a metal spoon and a hypodermic needle, Sailor said.

"Marinovich was charged with possession of a controlled substance, which is a felony, as well as unauthorized possession of a hypodermic needle and resisting a police officer, both misdemeanors."

He is still in Orange County jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. If convicted of the felony, Marinovich could be facing serious jail time, considering "Orange County court records show Marinovich has pleaded guilty or no contest to drug violations or resisting a police officer on at least four occasions since 1997."

From "Robo-QB" to four-time drug loser. The Todd Marinovich story.