At least Manny Ramirez paid a penalty

Maybe Manny Ramirez deserves a break. . . .

None of the other stars caught up in baseball's steroids scandal -- Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez, etc. -- ever served a 50-game suspension. . . .

With Ramirez returning tonight, the Dodgers are a slight favorite over the Lakers to bring California its next pro sports championship, according to odds posted at BetUS.com, with LaDainian Tomlinson and the San Diego Chargers the No. 3 pick. . . .

The Clippers, naturally, were assigned the longest odds of delivering the state its next title, but Mike Dunleavy is listed among the favorites to be the next coach fired. . . .

Has Ron Artest had a Lakers logo cut into his hair yet? . . .Kobe Bryant might have some thoughts about President Obama's opinion that Michael Jordan still reigns supreme. . . .

The hoops-loving commander in chief, perhaps showing his Chicago bias, noted Thursday in an interview with the Associated Press, "I mean, Kobe's terrific. Don't get me wrong. But I haven't seen anybody match up with Jordan yet." . . .

Forget the Lake Show: Clippers fan Johnny Dunn of North Hollywood, excited about No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin, is selling "The Blake Show" T-shirts at theblakeshow.com. . . .

Newest Kings defenseman Rob Scuderi was nicknamed "The Piece" by his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates after misspeaking during the team's run to the Stanley Cup championship and calling himself the piece to the puzzle rather than a piece. . . .

Since the NHL lockout ended in 2005, the Ducks have consistently ranked higher than any other NHL team in ESPN's annual survey of sports' most fan-friendly franchises. . . .

In baseball, no team has scored higher than the Angels. . . .

On the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's famous "luckiest man" speech, his moving words will be read aloud during the seventh-inning stretch of every major league game Saturday to help raise funds and awareness of ALS. . . .

The good news for the Pacific 10 Conference is, 13 players from the conference were taken in the first round of the last two NBA drafts, among them UCLA's Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Jrue Holiday and Darren Collison and USC's O.J. Mayo, DeMar DeRozan and Taj Gibson. . . .

The bad news is, no surefire first-round picks are left, though NBA scouts next season will closely monitor UCLA sophomore Malcolm Lee and incoming freshmen Michael Dunnigan of Oregon and Abdul Gaddy of Washington. . . .