Football

Among The Times' letter writers, perhaps no other issue inspires more pessimism than the drama over the downtown L.A. stadium deal . That's saying something. But given the cast of characters (the NFL, which has burned L.A. more than once; entertainment giant AEG, the mega-developer slated to build the downtown football stadium with support from the city; and City Hall, whose support of this project hasn't exactly won over the public), this isn't surprising. From the moment the deal was announced in 2011, the reader reaction sent to letters@latimes.com has been overwhelmingly negative . And with the latest development in the story -- AEG's sale that never was -- the pessimism has continued.

National Football League, meet your worst nightmare: a potential team owner who can call his own shots. Or wasn't that the signal flashed last week by Phil Anschutz, 100% owner of AEG and master of the downtown football stadium site that the league has been weaseling over for two slap-happy years? In an interview with my colleagues Marla Dickerson and Mike James following the announcement that he is taking AEG off the sales block, Anschutz declared that if the NFL intends to locate a team near the downtown L.A. Live district owned by Anschutz's firm, the league must come to him. He set his minimum terms: He must have an investment in both the stadium and the team "if they're going to be occupying … the middle of our campus.

Philip Anschutz doesn't get pushed around. He's a billionaire who makes business deals with his head, not his heart. When he sets his mind to something, he stands firm. In other words, he's not likely to bring an NFL team back to Los Angeles. Throughout the Farmers Field process, it was Tim Leiweke, then president of AEG, who was keeping the concept alive, scrambling to keep all parties engaged, always selling the notion that a downtown L.A. stadium would not only work but would be the gem of the NFL. Without Leiweke as a buffer, we have two behemoths of business - Anschutz and the NFL - poised to bang heads again, each with distinctly different ideas of what a fair deal is. Anschutz told The Times that his decision to pull AEG off the sales block actually makes it more likely a team will return, not less.

In the nearly 20 years that Fernando Ojeda has owned a downtown restaurant, he's seen the expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center and construction of the Staples Center and LA Live. Each time, the increased foot traffic boosted sales at his restaurant, Fernando's Taco Inn, which sits directly across from the entertainment complex. So when news broke Thursday that AEG chief executive Tim Leiweke would be leaving his post -- leading to speculation that his departure could delay or scrub a downtown football stadium -- Ojeda was disappointed.

After seeking a buyer for months, the billionaire owner of entertainment giant AEG abruptly took the company off the market, leaving a parade of high-profile suitors empty-handed and damaging the prospect that professional football will return to Los Angeles any time soon. Philip Anschutz announced Thursday that he is retaining ownership of Anschutz Entertainment Group and parting ways with Chief Executive Tim Leiweke, the company's public face and force behind the development of L.A. Live and the plan to build an NFL stadium downtown.

Marc Groff, the principal at Ventura St. Bonaventure, will soon learn what it's like trying to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. He's facing a challenge that will require him to stay calm, take lots of deep breaths and perhaps pray for divine intervention when things get tough. His assignment on March 20 is to persuade members of the Southern Section Executive Committee to reverse a decision that would force St. Bonaventure's sports teams to start traveling hours away from their campus for athletic contests.

Quarterback Max Wittek sat on a table along the sideline, bags of ice wrapped around his right knee. Receiver Marqise Lee was held out after suffering a left knee injury. So evaluating USC after its first spring scrimmage at the Coliseum on Saturday was difficult. But this much appears evident after the first week of practice: •Third-year sophomore Cody Kessler will seize every opportunity to challenge Wittek for the starting quarterback job, and freshman Max Browne is improving every workout.

Only in the Big East Light, or whatever it's going to by called by July 1, does the commissioner have to put out a press release denying there is a leading favorite for a new name to replace the old name. It was reported by the network with call letters E-S-P-N, that "America 12" was the favored name for the new football league to be stitched together in the aftermath of the Big East's messy divorce. "We have not chosen a new conference name at this time and there are no favorites," Big East commissioner Mike Aresco denied in a statement released Friday.

Marion Adams, 59, the track and field coach and an assistant football coach at Rio Linda High in Sacramento, died after he was impaled by a parking-lot barrier outside the stadium where he coached. Adams was riding his bicycle out of the parking lot Monday night when he turned to wave at a student. While looking back, he biked into the end of the yellow bar that drops down to allow cars access to the parking lot. The bar impaled him in the stomach. Students rushed to his aid and called 911, but he died of his injuries a few hours later at a hospital.

USC Coach Lane Kiffin and his returning players spent the last two months navigating their way through piercing criticism that followed the 2012 football season. A team that featured a Heisman Trophy front-runner at quarterback opened No. 1 and then nose-dived to a 7-6 record and finished out of the Associated Press top 25. Four coaches -- including three on defense -- resigned, moved on to other opportunities or were fired. And a recruiting class that features seven early enrollees would have been stronger if several high-profile players had not broken commitments to USC and signed elsewhere.