Bruce Mcnall

Bruce McNall, who purchased a 49% interest of the Los Angeles Kings last fall, has been named president of the National Hockey League team, majority owner Jerry Buss announced Tuesday. "I welcome Bruce to the management team of the Kings," Buss said in a statement. "This is a case of two partners who have shared great joy when the Kings have won and who will now share the burdens of management."

Bruce McNall's best scam was legal: He persuaded Michael Eisner, then chairman of the Walt Disney Company, to buy an NHL franchise for the new arena in Anaheim, a deal that would benefit the Disney empire and, not secondarily, McNall. But before committing to the project, Eisner had a question. "His kids had played, so he knew hockey from the standpoint of a father watching his kids play," McNall said, "but he'd never watched an NHL game.

The biggest decision for the well-treated Los Angeles King players aboard shiny, glossy Air McNall used to run along the lines of: "Red wine or white?" "Skip the Caesar salad and save room for another Haagen-Dazs ice cream bar?" But like its once high-flying owner, the 1966 Boeing 727-100 has landed in a similar state. It has been grounded by lack of money.

I believe Sammy Sosa when he says he accidentally used a corked bat, just like I believe that Sammy and Mark McGwire have never used steroids. I also believe that O.J. will soon find the real killers, that there is indeed a Santa Claus, and that the Beatles will soon reunite to play at the wedding of Reese Witherspoon and Marty Wiltsey. Marty Wiltsey Ontario What's the big deal? Sammy uses steroids only for exhibitions too. Gary Durrett Glendale To the tune of "76 Trombones": Seventy-six long bats led the big charade With a hundred and ten or more bets changing hands As to whether Sosa's bat was filled with this and that Like bits of cork, although he knew they're banned.

Getting a seat in Bruce McNall's private dinning room in the Forum Club before a Kings game can be as tough as getting a window seat at Spago. The closer Wayne Gretzky gets to surpassing Gordie Howe to become the National Hockey League's all-time leading scorer, the more crowded it becomes at the dinner table of the Kings owner. Marlee Matlin, an Academy Award winning actress, was seated at the head table next to McNall before Wednesday night's game against the New York Islanders.

BIDDING STARTED at $75,000 and reached $150,000 within minutes. Up for auction at the Bank Leu in Zurich, Switzerland, was the Athens Decadrachm, described by one of the bidders as the "Mona Lisa of Greek coins." It was thought to be the only privately held coin of its kind. And Bruce McNall wanted it.

The man didn't know a puck from a pancake. The year was 1969, and 18-year-old Bruce McNall knew all about Sandy Koufax and Jerry West. But hockey? Forget it. McNall nearly did forget about it after his first hockey game at the Forum. A friend took him to see the Kings against a long-since-forgotten opponent. They sat in the colonnade section. There were relatively few fans, not much excitement on the ice and, in McNall's case, scant understanding of the rules.

On the surface, it was like any other day for the Kings at their Culver City practice rink. The shiny new cars pulled up, the athletes got out, and the young autograph hounds surged forward. The players signed pucks, posters and pennants before disappearing inside to attend to business. But Wednesday, it was hardly business as usual. They found their training room closed, their equipment locked away. No matter. They weren't there to skate, but to deliberate.

According to other NHL general managers, the power behind the Kings' throne is not Rogie Vachon. Vachon's peers see owner Bruce McNall and center Wayne Gretzky as the men to deal with in trades and other matters of substance. Vachon may do the drudge work and have the title, they say, but the major moves are suggested by Gretzky and no deal is made without his approval. "Basically it's looked at as Wayne runs the show," one said.

In the 1995 comedy "Get Shorty," John Travolta's character, Chili Palmer, successfully segues from criminal to Hollywood power player. It was the industry parodying itself in a way that underscored Hollywood's capacity to file away past misdeeds and open itself to all comers so long as they have the right script, financing or relationships.

Bruce McNall is such a great role model for young impressionable kids who read the sports section. As Wayne Gretzky said, "In life, nobody's perfect." A guy who pleaded guilty to defrauding folks of $236 million, who spent six months in solitary confinement (I suspect for not being "perfect") and who was "relieved" to be caught and probably "relieved" that he could find a job as a movie executive isn't a "nobody." If you are "somebody" you can have it all ... with maybe a little prison time tossed in. How nice that Mr. McNall didn't have trouble finding a job ... or a book publisher.

The Mighty Ducks have been portrayed as having skated straight out of Fantasyland, a Disney movie come to life under that company's ownership. But the reality is, they were first Bruce McNall's fantasy, a vehicle for easing his dire financial problems. If it weren't for the former King owner, there probably wouldn't be an NHL team called the Ducks, nor Stanley Cup finals at the Arrowhead Pond this weekend, nor, perhaps, pro hockey franchises stretched across the Sun Belt.

Aresident phoned police to accuse his neighbor of "piping music into his plumbing," the Los Alamitos News-Enterprise said. Not sure I'd mind that so much, as long as I received intermittent traffic reports too. Related item? Oddly enough, I did just read an article about the next generation of plumbing being developed in Japan: toilets that will play music. Nevertheless, I'm sure that the sign spotted by Bob Fenton of Rancho Cucamonga at a restroom at the L.A. County Fair was inadvertently placed there (see photo)

In the 1995 comedy "Get Shorty," John Travolta's character, Chili Palmer, successfully segues from criminal to Hollywood power player. It was the industry parodying itself in a way that underscored Hollywood's capacity to file away past misdeeds and open itself to all comers so long as they have the right script, financing or relationships.

Maybe Rob Blake really did believe that King fans would forget. It has almost been a year since Blake was traded from Los Angeles to Colorado and the former King captain seemed a little shocked to be booed when he returned to Staples Center for two recent visits. But there's a big difference between fans dogging a player when he's playing against his ex-teammates and getting jeered every time he touched the puck in an All-Star game, which happened to Blake on Saturday. "I understand because they supported the Kings and I for 12 years," said Blake, who originally was a little bothered by the rough treatment he received when Colorado played at Staples Center on Jan. 26. "They never cheered for anyone on a different team and I don't expect them to do that for me."

Federal prison officials have approved a transfer itinerary for Bruce McNall, clearing the way for the former King owner to begin a six-month stay in a Los Angeles halfway house next week. McNall, 50, went to prison in March 1997, to serve a 70-month sentence for two counts of bank fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy after he'd defrauded banks and other financial institutions of $236 million. He is in a correctional facility in Milan, Mich.

As I sit here and pay my bills, it's hard to feel sorry for Bruce McNall. I can only wish that Visa, American Express and Discover would be as understanding with me as Bruce McNall's creditors are with him. STEVE ROBERTS Valencia

I read the article about Bruce McNall being one of the world's biggest art smugglers. I watched the Kings--he's been smuggling counterfeits. STEPHEN GILL Los Angeles

Former King owner Bruce McNall, whose dizzying rise from youthful coin collector to owner of the Kings and NHL power broker ended when he pleaded guilty to defrauding banks and other financial institutions of $236 million, is on track to be released from federal prison and placed in a halfway house in Los Angeles next year.

Having been in prison for more than three years, Bruce McNall has been transferred to a federal correctional institution in Milan, Mich., about 50 miles southwest of Detroit. He will observe his 50th birthday there Saturday, on the same day hockey's Los Angeles Kings, one of the many valuable properties McNall once owned, happen to be in Detroit for a playoff game.