Calf

In these days of intense religious and political controversy, how comforting it was to turn to page 2 of The Times and find Associated Press' photo of young Abe Cobb and his ribbon-winning calf (Part I, Aug. 12). The enduring beauty of love, awareness and anticipation captured there have "made my day!" Thanks! EDWARD C. BAIRD Covina

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker is expected to sit out two to four weeks after straining his left calf muscle in a win over Memphis. The Spurs announced Monday that their star point guard won't accompany them to Memphis and Cleveland this week. It will also leave the NBA-best Spurs without Parker for their first game against the Miami Heat on Friday. Parker left Sunday's game in the second quarter when he collided with Grizzlies guard Mike Conley . He did not return.

A male Rothschild giraffe calf born late last month at the Prague Zoo is gunning for the title of World's Cutest Zoo Baby. He has some tough competition -- an Amur leopard cub in Germany, a red-necked wallaby joey in Australia, a pair of Asian lion cubs in Germany, a parma wallaby joey in Ohio and a koala joey in Germany, to name a few -- but we think the sweet, snuggly relationship he has with his mother Nora just...

The last time they met, UCLA and Oregon each played a man short. The Ducks were missing Joevan Catron, sidelined by a calf injury. The Bruins were missing Reeves Nelson, rendered pointless by E.J. Singler. UCLA's heavily tattooed forward let his Oregon counterpart get under his skin with a physical style of play that resulted in Nelson's being called for retaliatory fouls. Nelson went scoreless and fouled out in only 15 minutes during UCLA's 67-59 victory, the first time he could recall not scoring at any level of basketball.

A rare Right whale and her newborn calf were sighted Monday near the southern tip of New Jersey, but a marine mammal expert said that both appeared healthy. He said they probably had floated into shallow waters in search of food. The Right whales, members of an endangered species, were first seen swimming about a quarter-mile off Stone Harbor, said Robert Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. Schoelkopf said the female had likely given birth to the calf in the Caribbean and was making her spring migration north to cooler waters.

Two unemployed, hungry men stole a calf from a neighbor's barn, shot it with an arrow, slit its throat and roasted it, police said. David Lochner, 21, and Timothy Welch, 18, were camping outside Palmyra, 20 miles southeast of Rochester, several weeks ago when a dairy farmer reported his calf missing, said police. The two were arrested and arraigned Wednesday on burglary charges. Police said more charges are pending, including cruelty to animals.

Team Tumult took another hit Wednesday despite defeating the New York Yankees, 7-1, as Angel Manager John McNamara was found to have a blood clot in his right calf, a condition that will hospitalize him in New York for the next four or five days and sent another tremor through a shellshocked organization.

The last time they met, UCLA and Oregon each played a man short. The Ducks were missing Joevan Catron, sidelined by a calf injury. The Bruins were missing Reeves Nelson, rendered pointless by E.J. Singler. UCLA's heavily tattooed forward let his Oregon counterpart get under his skin with a physical style of play that resulted in Nelson's being called for retaliatory fouls. Nelson went scoreless and fouled out in only 15 minutes during UCLA's 67-59 victory, the first time he could recall not scoring at any level of basketball.

Home again, naturally. The Clippers returned from their whirlwind adventure in Mexico, having answered some of their preseason questions with four games left before the regular-season opener. Some ? but not all. Namely, how would the knee and/or calf of point guard Baron Davis respond the morning after his first game this exhibition season. Davis said there was no trepidation getting up and taking that first step Wednesday morning. Davis played 16 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs in a 100-99 loss Tuesday night at Mexico City, recording seven assists and six points and committing one turnover.

Your coverage of the new Hansen Dam location for the San Fernando Valley Fair ("Fair in the Air," June 8) was good but should have gone one step further: How does one get there by bus? I know the MTA 233 bus route goes to Lake View Terrace, and routes 234, 166, 168 and 92 or 94 go near there, but I wonder how many readers know the best way to get there by bus. Making it worse, streets in the area run northwest or southeast, instead of north-south and east-west. RICK ROFMAN Van Nuys I wish to bring some needed clarity to the meaning behind the photos and narrative on the annual Valley junior livestock auction ("Fair Market Price," June 11)

Your mom always told you hanging out with the wrong kids would get you into trouble. Dolphin mothers should probably warn their daughters too. Social factors, not just genes, influence the reproductive fitness of female dolphins, according to a study based on more than 20 years' worth of observations of a wild Australian bottlenose dolphin colony. In fact, social factors ? whom a dolphin associates with, and how closely ? appear to be more important than genes in determining a female's likelihood of raising a calf to 3 years, an age where it has a good chance of surviving on its own. "Females who do well hang out with other females who do well," said Celine Frere, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and lead author of the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Home again, naturally. The Clippers returned from their whirlwind adventure in Mexico, having answered some of their preseason questions with four games left before the regular-season opener. Some ? but not all. Namely, how would the knee and/or calf of point guard Baron Davis respond the morning after his first game this exhibition season. Davis said there was no trepidation getting up and taking that first step Wednesday morning. Davis played 16 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs in a 100-99 loss Tuesday night at Mexico City, recording seven assists and six points and committing one turnover.

Now it all makes sense. One reason the Clippers got out front on the Baron Davis fitness issue became obvious Tuesday, the opening day of training camp. New Coach Vinny Del Negro opted to sit out Davis. And the point guard said afterward that he is dealing with a couple of nagging injuries, namely some swelling in a knee and a strained calf. And no, those two things did not occur on media day. "It was just happening during training," Davis said after the morning session.

A male Rothschild giraffe calf born late last month at the Prague Zoo is gunning for the title of World's Cutest Zoo Baby. He has some tough competition -- an Amur leopard cub in Germany, a red-necked wallaby joey in Australia, a pair of Asian lion cubs in Germany, a parma wallaby joey in Ohio and a koala joey in Germany, to name a few -- but we think the sweet, snuggly relationship he has with his mother Nora just...

Manny Ramirez and Russell Martin don't appear headed for the disabled list, Manager Joe Torre said. "I don't think that's a consideration," Torre said. Ramirez was pulled in the first inning on Friday because of tightness in his right calf. Martin was taken out late in the eighth inning of the same game because of a swollen thumb on his catching hand. Of Ramirez, Torre said, "He feels better than yesterday." Before Saturday's game, Torre said Ramirez might be available to pinch-hit, but Ramirez did not make an appearance in the loss to the Cardinals.

When the Dodgers rushed onto the field to celebrate their 4-3, 13-inning victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday, Manny Ramirez wasn't there. He wasn't even in the ballpark. Ramirez, who was put on the 15-day disabled list Friday because of a strained right calf, had returned to Los Angeles. The main reason was that Ramirez has a Monday appointment scheduled with team physician Neal ElAttrache , who will review the results of the MRI exam Ramirez had Friday.

Five-year-old Joshua Ledford slowly patted the back of the week-old calf that stood under a tree at Oxnard's Bernice Curren elementary school. "It's like a teddy bear," he whispered to his friend, a 5-year-old girl who didn't seem to be able to take her eyes off the calf. Like most of the 70 children admiring the animal Friday morning, neither Joshua nor his friend had ever seen or touched a calf before. "It's a real treat for the kids," said kindergarten teacher Ann Gramlich.

Becky the buffalo, a popular attraction at the Orange County Fairgrounds Centennial Farm, is back from a four-month excursion in San Juan Capistrano--and she may be pregnant. Handlers transported the Northern American bison to Rancho Mission Viejo in hopes of breeding her, said Erin Hunt, a spokeswoman with the fairgrounds. The bovine gestation period is about nine months. This would be Becky's second calf. She gave birth four years ago to a male, Tatonka, who was later shipped off to a rodeo.

On his way from the clubhouse to the field at Nationals Park on Friday, Manager Joe Torre walked by the batting cages. He turned his head to see Manny Ramirez hitting inside. "I told him to pick up a book," Torre later recalled with a laugh. Ramirez had 15 days to recover from his strained right calf, which officially landed him on the disabled list hours before the Dodgers took the field for what turned out to be a 5-1 loss to the Washington Nationals. Why risk anything?

Reporting from Cincinnati Manny Ramirez, who overcame a drug scandal to reestablish himself as an offensive force, might have encountered the one obstacle that he can't conquer. Age. The 37-year-old Ramirez pulled up as he ran down the first base line, reaching his destination but immediately removing himself from the game with what was later described by the Dodgers as a strained right calf muscle. The end result of Ramirez's sixth-inning single was one of many problems for the Dodgers that led to their 8-5 defeat to the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night at Great American Ball Park.