Locker Room

BOULDER, Colo. -- The collective primal scream that burst through UCLA's locker room door said a lot Saturday. The way Coach Ben Howland barreled through his postgame opening statement said more. Howland was giddy. Yes, giddy. "He's happy," forward Travis Wear said. "We all are. We're where we want to be. " That would be heading home, after four days in the mountains that was anything but a trip down the bunny slopes. The Bruins couldn't exhale until a three-point shot by Askia Booker clanged off the rim, preserving a 78-75 victory.

Football Coach Willie Brown, a man without a team, often returns to the practice field at Cal State Long Beach. Only now he goes there to teach golf classes as part of his reassignment within the physical education department. Coaches and tutors made special class arrangements for former tight end Dan Early when he was a football player. Now the senior stands in line to register for the reduced number of seats with the rest of the 30,000-plus students.

You can bet it isn't on the head coach's play list, and it won't be diagramed by the TV analysts. Even so, the post-game prayer huddle has become a popular new formation in the National Football League. In what has become a common practice, players from opposing teams--the same hulking characters who may have just spent 60 minutes relentlessly bashing each other in one of civilization's most violent pastimes--quietly gather at midfield in Christian fraternity.

The wild goose chase started with a simple request from an apparently flustered Gil Hodges: Could the young woman please help him find the keys to the batter's box? They'd been lost, he said. That was all the recently hired newcomer needed to hear. Eager to lend a hand but unschooled in the ways of baseball and naive to the childish pranks perpetrated by ballplayers, she ignored the heat and humidity in Vero Beach, Fla., and set off across Dodgertown in dogged pursuit of the missing keys.

USC overcame more than a 15-point halftime deficit Saturday to win the Pacific 10 Conference tournament at Staples Center. The Trojans also had to overcome being assigned to the Clippers' locker room. Once both obstacles had been cleared, one USC official remarked while the Trojans celebrated, "Oh, yeah, there's probably been a lot of trophies brought in here." Trivia time Eleven Pac-10 players have been named outstanding player of the NCAA tournament, nine from UCLA. Name the other two.

Pressure, pressure everywhere, nor any time to think. With apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge and all that, but sometimes the game can get to you. It certainly did in at least a couple of cases recently. Take, for example, what happened to Rene Simoes, the Groucho Marx look-alike who is best remembered as coach of Jamaica's 1998 World Cup team and later as the coach who led Brazil's women to the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Until just the other day, Simoes, 56, was coaching Portuguesa in the Brazilian second division, and things were not going well.

Derek Fisher was known around the league as a leader in the Lakers locker room, the well-spoken floor general who commanded the respect of Kobe Bryant while helping lead the team to five NBA championships. So when Fisher entered Oklahoma City's locker room for the first time, the Thunder players were a bit taken aback. "It was weird," said All-Star forward Kevin Durant, through a big smile. Said All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook: "it was definitely a litltle different.

The Sacramento Kings reinstated center DeMarcus Cousins after a one-game suspension for "unprofessional behavior and conduct detrimental to the team. " Cousins practiced with the Kings on Monday. Cousins and Kings Coach Keith Smart exchanged words in the locker room during halftime of Sacramento's 97-85 loss to the Clippers on Friday night at Staples Center. Smart benched Cousins for the entire second half and ordered him to remain in the locker room. The 22-year-old Cousins has been suspended two other times by the NBA this season because of his conduct.

Eli Manning had his "signature" victory at the new Cowboys Stadium. This season's Dallas Cowboys are still looking for theirs. The 1-4 Cowboys, whose season is slipping away, play host to the New York Giants on Monday night in a critical NFC East matchup. Only five teams since 1990 have made the playoffs after losing four of their first five games. It's the first trip back to Arlington, Texas, for the Giants since the inaugural game at the new stadium last season, when they won, 33-31, and Manning ?

Vancouver Canucks forward Rick Rypien was suspended indefinitely Wednesday pending a hearing for grabbing a fan while heading to the locker room in a game against Minnesota. Rypien was on the way to the visiting locker room in Minnesota on Tuesday night after being assessed a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct in the second period. Rypien reached up and shoved a Wild fan who was applauding at the railing. He was pulled away by teammate Manny Malhotra and the fan was removed from the area.