Congrats

LONDON — The congratulatory telegram is so last century, the congratulatory phone call so last decade. When Michael Phelps awoke on Wednesday, he scrolled through his Twitter feed and discovered a congratulatory tweet from President Obama . "Congrats to Michael Phelps for breaking the all-time Olympic medal record," Obama tweeted. "You've made your country proud. -bo" Phelps tweeted back: "Thank you Mr. President!! It's an honor representing the #USA !! The best country in the world!

Mayan apocalypse? Avoided. Y2K anarchy? Suppressed. Gigantic asteroid hurled by the sun's gravity toward Earth? Well … Close but no cigar. Better go to Vegas, Earthlings, you're on a winning streak of avoiding disaster. In what NASA officials are calling the closest near-Earth fly-by in at least a generation, Asteroid 2012 DA14 , is expected to buzz by our blue marble on Feb. 15. The 150-foot space rock will cross from south to north in the afternoon, coming within 22,200 miles of Earth.

Congrats to the Rams for a great season playing 10-man football! Let's try it with a quarterback next season. DON YULE Beverly Hills

I admit, I'm playing catch-up here, but I couldn't let another moment go by without acknowledging the Story Prize finalists, which were announced Tuesday. The three short story collections in the running are Dan Chaon's "Stay Awake," Junot Diaz's "This Is How You Lose Her" and "Battleborn" by Claire Vaye Watkins. The winner will receive a substantial prize -- $20,000. The Story Prize simultaneously announced the debut of a new prize, the Spotlight Award, designed for the Story Prize founders to single out a work due additional attention.

Backhanded congrats to the three commercial networks for knocking down my favorite shows as if they were dominoes: ABC's "Hardcastle & McCormick," NBC's "Remington Steele" and CBS' "Crazy Like a Fox." I'm going back to PBS. Patricia Durbin Hotz, Costa Mesa

Congrats and kudos to Al Martinez for his satirical, yet brilliant and well thought-out article. The time has finally come for a few intellects to let the good people of America know that they have to stop and think a little before clipping those coupons off the newsletters of all the animal-activist groups and sending their hard-earned dollars to worthless causes. We must all come to realize that nobody has the right to deny us our inherent freedom of choice when it comes to everyday living habits.

Three cheers and congrats to sponsors Mazola, Wendy's and McDonald's for using upbeat, tasty and jazzy music with a beat in their commercials and for not using rock 'n' roll! For many of us weaned on the great big band sounds, rock is shallow and tiresome music, and a little goes a long way. The 1930s, '40s and '50s were the greatest musical period in our nation's history and those of us who grew up then crave more than rock 'n' roll can give us! Les Helsdon, Thousand Oaks

My humble congrats to Stephen Braun for a story well-written, "Tuning Out the Hype and Gore" (Nov. 2), concerning the seemingly senseless, sometimes grisly video we see every night on television newscasts. I guess I'm part of the problem--I have been a TV news cameraman in Los Angeles for 14 years but would have to agree that airing shots that play to viewers for shock value is irresponsible and wrong. The news media have fed off others' tragedy and misfortune long enough. Local and network news shows need to stop and consider what is sensational video and what pictures may give the viewing audience an understanding of the day's happenings.

There are a lot of things you can buy with $192 million in Arizona, but anonymity isn't one of them. As the Times reported Monday , Matthew Good of Fountain Hills, Ariz., purchased one of the two  winning Powerball tickets for the record-setting $587.5-million jackpot two weeks ago. Though Good wanted to remain anonymous, he bought his ticket in his home state, so he didn't have a choice. Because lotteries like Powerball, which is played in 43 (including California starting in April)

SAN JOSE - The San Jose Sharks were fined $100,000 by the NHL on Saturday because of General Manager Doug Wilson 's public criticism of the league's decision this week to suspend Sharks forward Raffi Torres . The NHL said in a statement that $25,000 was for violating a league rule prohibiting formal team statements to the media within 48 hours of a disciplinary suspension. The remaining $75,000 was for "the inappropriate nature of the comments. " BOX SCORE: Sharks 2, Kings 1 Torres delivered an open-ice hit to Kings center Jarret Stoll in Game 1 of the teams' Western Conference semifinal series, resulting in a suspected concussion for Stoll.

There are a lot of things you can buy with $192 million in Arizona, but anonymity isn't one of them. As the Times reported Monday , Matthew Good of Fountain Hills, Ariz., purchased one of the two  winning Powerball tickets for the record-setting $587.5-million jackpot two weeks ago. Though Good wanted to remain anonymous, he bought his ticket in his home state, so he didn't have a choice. Because lotteries like Powerball, which is played in 43 (including California starting in April)

LONDON — The congratulatory telegram is so last century, the congratulatory phone call so last decade. When Michael Phelps awoke on Wednesday, he scrolled through his Twitter feed and discovered a congratulatory tweet from President Obama . "Congrats to Michael Phelps for breaking the all-time Olympic medal record," Obama tweeted. "You've made your country proud. -bo" Phelps tweeted back: "Thank you Mr. President!! It's an honor representing the #USA !! The best country in the world!

From New Orleans -- Alabama's Crimson Tide football team had been hearing the song all week, at every rally and on every street corner of this LSU hyped-up city. Hold that Tiger. Hold that Tiger. And so it did. The Crimson Tide's 21-0 victory, the first-ever shutout in a national title game, got Alabama the $30,000 crystal bowl with the Bowl Championship Series' initials on it, and the final No. 1 ranking too. It will get the Tide little more, certainly not any sort of national groundswell of support as a team of legendary greatness.

Italy's famously impolitic Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi described U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday as "young, handsome and even tanned." Berlusconi appeared to be joking about America's first black president at a news conference after talks with Russia's president. It wasn't the only perhaps unwelcome comment about Obama's victory. In a rare conciliatory gesture, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a letter of congratulations.

Of the 10 horses scheduled to run in the $100,000 Tokyo City Handicap today at Santa Anita, Romeo Plus is coming off the most impressive race. Making only his second start on the dirt in the U.S., the 6-year-old Argentine-bred won an optional claimer by 2 1/2 lengths on March 1. He won at the Tokyo City distance of 1 1/8 miles in his second start for trainer Paddy Gallagher.

When trainer Richard Mandella upset Cigar with Dare And Go in the 1996 Pacific Classic, the winner paid $81.20. But Mandella also has won the Classic twice with favorites -- Pleasantly Perfect last year and Gentlemen in 1997. This time, on Sunday, he's back with another longshot in Congrats, who's 10-1 on the morning line.

Perez Hilton is now a father to a baby boy! The openly gay blogger, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira Jr., took to his eponymous blog Wednesday afternoon in a post titled "A Very Important Message from Perez" to share the news "directly from me, right here. " "I am ready to announce that earlier this month I was blessed with the birth of my first child, a beautiful and healthy baby boy - with lots of hair on his tiny head. My family is overjoyed at this newest and most cherished addition," the 34-year-old wrote.

The Kings had never done a 10-year deal. Not with defenseman Drew Doughty, not with center Anze Kopitar and not even going back to the days of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. That barrier was broken Thursday with the team's 10-year contract extension with Conn Smythe-winning goalie Jonathan Quick. Those familiar with the deal but not authorized to comment on the details said it was worth $58 million, noting it tapered off in the final three years, making it salary-cap friendly. The extension kicks in after next season when Quick is to make $1.7 million, a bargain for a playoff most valuable player.

A year after winning the Dubai World Cup with the since-retired Pleasantly Perfect, trainer Richard Mandella will be trying again in the world's richest race Saturday at Nad Al Sheba in the United Arab Emirates. Congrats, who finished second to stablemate Rock Hard Ten in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 6, is Mandella's hope for a second consecutive victory in the $6-million World Cup. "He's done great since he's been [in Dubai]," Mandella said of the son of A.P. Indy.

In the first 11 days of Santa Anita's winter-spring meet, Richard Mandella already has two stakes victories with horses he has been training only a short time. Nearly two weeks after he had won the Malibu Stakes with Rock Hard Ten, the hall of fame trainer won with another stable newcomer on Saturday when Congrats rolled to a 5 1/2 -length victory in the $150,000 San Pasqual Handicap over a sloppy track on another dismal day in Arcadia.