Morning Briefing

Getting down to the basics Writer-director Ron Shelton and partner John Norville are writing a script based on "Game of Shadows," the Barry Bonds book written by San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. The film is being developed for HBO and probably will air on the network sometime next year. One person involved in the story in a small way is former Chronicle executive editor Phil Bronstein, who sometimes used to be referred to as "Mr. Sharon Stone."

Of all the towns on the planet in which to spend this last Saturday night, the best -- remarkably -- might have been a smallish city way, way down on the serene latitude of 41 degrees south, 6,706 miles from Los Angeles, 7,388 miles from Johannesburg and 11,642 miles from London. There, in Wellington, on the south edge of the north island of New Zealand, a rare bacchanalia blossomed, as the New Zealand Herald reported, "Cars hooted horns, flags were everywhere, a happy conga line waddled past the Beehive" -- that's the executive wing of Parliament -- "and fans got happily hammered."

The timing seemed right. The UCLA football program was riding high in the fall of 1965. Behind sophomore quarterback Gary Beban, the Bruins had rallied for a miraculous comeback victory over USC. They were headed to the Rose Bowl, where on Jan. 1, 1966, they would upset top-ranked Michigan State, finally winning in their fourth trip to the New Year's Day showcase. In a time of great expansion on the Westwood campus -- Pauley Pavilion had opened its doors in June 1965 -- plans were in the works to build an on-campus football stadium.

Canceled, perhaps in the nick of time: One shipment of mustard, originally targeted for Heinz Field. Or, to put it another way, Marvin Lewis intercepts the best-laid plans of Chad Ochocinco. Trying to stir up more interest in the Cincinnati Bengals' rare big game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ochocinco announced in a Twitter feed this week that "I got a nice present for the Steelers -- sending them some mustard since they'll never ketchup when we play Sunday." Last week, Ochocinco sent some members of the Baltimore Ravens sticks of deodorant before their game in Cincinnati.

No offense to James Worthy, but an all-time Lakers starting five should include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Kobe Bryant. . . . Johnson or Bryant would have to line up at forward, but that's OK because both were better rebounders than Worthy. . . . As was West. . . . Worthy averaged 5.1 rebounds a game during his NBA career, Johnson 7.2 and West 5.8. . . . Bryant averages 5.3. . . . Bryant, making $23.03 million this season, is the NBA's highest-paid player, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

The Times' high school football rankings by Ben Bolch: -- Rk. Team (Rec., Sec.-Div.) Comment (Last week's ranking) 1 CRENSHAW (8-0, City-Division I) Throw out the records during rivalry week? Not when Cougars and Dorsey are a combined 15-1. (1) 2 OAKS CHRISTIAN (8-0, SS-Northwest) Proposed show about inner circles of Montana, Gretzky and Smith tentatively called "Entourages." (2) 3 EDISON (8-0, SS-Pac 5) At this rate, game against Fountain Valley will be moved to the Coliseum by Friday.