Los Angeles Raiders

Oakland, Irwindale and Sacramento tried to woo them in recent years, but came up empty-handed. Los Angeles still claims them as their own, but only during the fall. For the next 10 weeks, the Raiders belong to Oxnard. Yes, the Raiders are back. On Monday, those behemoths in silver-and-black uniforms returned to their summer home for the seventh consecutive year, as training camp opened for rookies and free agents. The veterans will report to the practice field on July 12.

George Anderson, the longtime athletic trainer for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders who devised an innovative knee brace that became standard for football players, died Thursday in Santa Fe, N.M., his daughter Kristi Anderson Ornstein said. He was 82 and had Parkinson's disease and diabetes. FOR THE RECORD: George Anderson: The obituary of former Raiders athletic trainer George Anderson in the April 1 California section gave his age as 82. Anderson was born Jan. 23, 1929, and was 83 when he died March 29. The obituary also omitted his wife, Gailey Vollmer, from the list of survivors.

USC and UCLA square off today at the Coliseum, but it wasn't allegiance to the Trojans or Bruins that brought Ice Cube to the empty stadium earlier this week. He was lamenting a team that hasn't taken the field here in more than 14 years. Rather than celebrating the cardinal-and-gold or the blue-and-gold, the rapper-actor-producer roamed the stands recalling the darker, more ominous colors belonging to the last NFL team to call the Coliseum home -- the Los Angeles Raiders, a band of outlaw athletes who united rowdy football fanatics and hip-hoppers with roughhouse antics and championship play.

Sam Boghosian, former Los Angeles Raiders offensive line coach, has joined Servicon Systems as vice president-public relations/marketing. Servicon is a building maintenance firm headquartered in Culver City.

The Los Angeles Raiders filed a $26-million suit against Oakland, alleging that the football team lost that amount in a six-year battle with the city after moving to Southern California. The Superior Court suit, filed in Salinas, contends that uncertainty caused by Oakland's lawsuit attempting to reverse the move caused several financial setbacks, including preventing the franchise from building luxury boxes at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Los Angeles Raiders owner Al Davis said he will make a decision "shortly" on where his team will play its home games in the future, but, once again, he declined to say exactly when he would make up his mind. Davis was interviewed on television during halftime of the American Football League championship game between the Cleveland Browns and the Denver Broncos. The Raiders owner also said he should have been selected five years ago for the National Football League Hall of Fame.

The Los Angeles Coliseum Commission has voted to amend its charter of operations to allow itself, by a two-thirds voting majority, to retain a private management firm to run the Coliseum and Sports Arena complex. However, Coliseum officials said, the change may be subject to ratification by the Los Angeles City Council, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the state Legislature.

Al Davis, managing partner of the Los Angeles Raiders, spoke to an official at the Oakland Coliseum on Monday about an offer to bring the team back, the official said. Coliseum President George Vukasin declined to specify what was discussed but said he does not expect any problems working out the details of a deal. "It was a great conversation," he said. "It was friendly and cordial and businesslike." The Raiders will play an exhibition game at the Oakland Coliseum on Aug. 26 against the Houston Oilers.

A Los Angeles federal judge has thrown out of court a contentious and long-playing lawsuit pitting the Oakland Raiders against the National Football League, significantly complicating Raider owner Al Davis' chances of returning to Los Angeles. In a ruling filed Tuesday and made public Wednesday, U.S. District Judge George H. King dismissed the suit, which included antitrust claims--and the threat of huge damages--linked to the team's move back to Oakland before the 1995 season.

So, Leigh Steinberg ("Letting Team Go Would Be Irreversible Financial, Cultural Loss," Aug. 21) and some of his business friends want the citizens of Anaheim to spend millions of dollars to keep the L.A. Rams football team in their city. Hasn't anyone informed him that the L.A. Rams never left Los Angeles? All he needs do is check out their name and address in any telephone directory. He'll find them listed as the "Los Angeles Rams Football Club, Main Ofc 10271 W Pico Bl LA" and "Ticket Ofc 10271 W Pico Bl LA" In all the years the Rams have played in Anaheim, the management has never moved its main office to the city nor made the appropriate name change.

Amid accusations that he is trying to steal jobs from an already ailing California economy, Massachusetts Gov. William F. Weld marched through Tinseltown this week in an all-out effort to woo filmmakers to the Bay State. The jobs flap took a strange political twist as California Gov. Pete Wilson, while publicly vowing to defy promotional efforts of his fellow Republican, nevertheless had a private fund-raiser for Weld on Tuesday night.

Who came up with the biggest defensive play in Super Bowl XVIII? "It's funny, but there were so many big plays in that game, I just got the first one," Derrick Jensen said. "So many people looked back and said they remembered the big play in the game. And they all thought I was Jack Squirek."

Four-and-a-half years after rejecting a reported offer of $1.125 million per season from the Rams, leading to his acrimonious trade to the Indianapolis Colts, Eric Dickerson has agreed to those approximate contract terms in Los Angeles. This time around, though, Dickerson will run "47-Gap" for the Los Angeles Raiders.

Oakland, Irwindale and Sacramento tried to woo them in recent years, but came up empty-handed. Los Angeles still claims them as their own, but only during the fall. For the next 10 weeks, the Raiders belong to Oxnard. Yes, the Raiders are back. On Monday, those behemoths in silver-and-black uniforms returned to their summer home for the seventh consecutive year, as training camp opened for rookies and free agents. The veterans will report to the practice field on July 12.

The city of Irwindale on Friday asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles E. Jones to lift his order blocking completion of final financial and contractual arrangements to build the proposed Raiders football stadium in the San Gabriel Valley community. A filing by Irwindale attorneys contended that in preparing and approving an environmental impact report on the stadium project, the city has fully complied with the terms of a September, 1987, court order.

If the Los Angeles Raiders stay in Los Angeles, and if the Los Angeles Coliseum undergoes renovation, then the Raiders would be welcome to play some of their games at Anaheim Stadium, provided scheduling conflicts with the present tenants--the California Angels and Los Angeles Rams--can be worked out, City Manager Bob Simpson said Wednesday.

Raider executive assistant Al LoCasale has been named recipient of the first Tom Harmon Memorial Award by the Boy Scouts of America.

Frederick Barbosa, best known as the man who tried to stop Irwindale from landing the Los Angeles Raiders, felt vindicated on Wednesday. Thought to be a dark-horse candidate, Barbosa swept into office on a wave of public disillusionment over Irwindale's failed bid for the professional football team, winning one of three open City Council seats in the tiny San Gabriel Valley city. The barrel-chested engineer's election was a shock to some candidates, the mayor, and even Barbosa himself.