Payback

"The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop" Dan Charnas New American Library: 660 pp., $24.95

J.D. Gibbs, president of Denny Hamlin's NASCAR team Joe Gibbs Racing, said Thursday he did not think Hamlin's crash with Joey Logano that left Hamlin with a back injury was a form of payback by Logano because the drivers have been feuding. "My personal take is that I think Joey was just really trying to make a point, he was pushing it" as the two raced side by side for the win on the last lap of Sunday's race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Gibbs told reporters on a conference call.

Re "Scrutiny not new for drug chain," Oct. 24 I for one am elated that CVS may be overbilling my health insurance company, Anthem Blue Cross. I was happy with Walgreens, which provided better service for my family's prescription needs. But Anthem forced me to go with CVS, the only other pharmacy near my home. Since my complaints to Anthem fell on deaf ears, I find some satisfaction knowing that Anthem might be taking it in the shorts because of CVS and its questionable practices.

PHOENIX - The money, all his parents had, was more than Alfredo Amezaga had ever seen. So when Alberto and Maria del Carmen Amezaga called their youngest child in their room and showed him the pile of pesos they had gathered on their bed - money to send him from Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, to the U.S. to learn English and make something of himself - he wasn't sure how to react. Eighteen years later, he shakes his head at the memory. "I can't imagine that," says Amezaga, a 35-year-old veteran trying to win a roster spot with the Dodgers.

Shame on you for printing "Payback Time" (On the Spot, Jan. 27), a terrible piece of propaganda about child support and passports. Writer Catharine Hamm owes an apology and an explanation to every child who has a dad who committed suicide because of unfair family law rulings. Fred Sottile Rancho Dominguez

The NFL is a passing league, but sometimes it's also a league for the passed over, providing opportunities for players who feel overlooked, undervalued, ignored. In some of the bigger Week 3 games, those castoffs can exact some revenge. Arizona quarterback Kevin Kolb faces Philadelphia, the team that traded him in favor of Michael Vick. San Francisco's Randy Moss goes back to Minnesota, where his career began - a Vikings team that now employs fired 49ers coach Mike Singletary.

There goes Kenneth L. Khachigian again (Commentary Feb. 1), gleefully trying to compare what--if anything--President Clinton has done to the calculated, deliberate, pervasive and repeated criminal acts of President Nixon's White House that came perilously close to ripping the U.S. Constitution to shreds. Khachigian has done us a service, however, although I'm sure he doesn't realize it. He has confirmed what most of us have known all the time: "Independent" (read puppet) Counsel Kenneth Starr has been conducting a vicious political vendetta against Clinton for four years at a cost of $30 million to taxpayers instead of a legitimate investigation.

Los Angeles' combative redistricting battle is signaling a new, harder-edged political era at City Hall — one that some are tracing to the rise of new Council President Herb Wesson. On Thursday, Councilwoman Jan Perry accused Wesson of gutting her district during the Redistricting Commission's latest map-making session, saying she was being punished for her refusal to back his bid to run the council. Wesson responded that he doesn't take things personally and isn't paying anyone back.

Violence beat romance at the box office over the weekend, with the grim pornography drama "8MM" and the action-packed "Payback" topping "Message in a Bottle" and "The Other Sister." With Nicolas Cage as a private eye investigating a possible murder captured on film, "8MM" debuted at No. 1 with $14.3 million. The Mel Gibson shoot-'em-up "Payback" had $6.9 million for second place.

It may have been the most dramatic payback for a slight since two men first walked 10 paces and leveled their pistols. And before Eric (Sleepy) Floyd would leave the scene of the greatest individual scoring quarter in the history of the National Basketball Assn. playoffs, the Golden State Warriors' guard made sure his nemesis had received the message.

On opening day of the shortened 48-game NHL season, the visiting Chicago Blackhawks spoiled the Kings' party. It was banner-raising day, a last chance to remember the magical playoff run of last June. The Blackhawks showed up, won the game, 5-2, and have been winning ever since. Chicago is the last remaining NHL team undefeated in regulation (11-0-3), which means now the Kings can return the favor Sunday. Kings Coach Darryl Sutter has deep Blackhawks roots, having played his entire 406-game NHL career in Chicago and then breaking into the coaching ranks with them.

After Daniel Winnik was cast off by the San Jose Sharks, the Ducks signed the center to a two-year, $3.6-million contract, primarily to assist in their penalty-killing efforts. Winnik, the Ducks' third-line center, scored a club-record four goals in the first two games of the season, which is more than the Stanley Cup-champion Kings scored in their two games. "What's Gretzky's record again?" Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau cracked after practice Thursday with the team finalizing preparations for Friday's home opener against the Vancouver Canucks.

Looks like the Clippers had more than enough energy to play the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night. Then again, this was all about payback on every level for the Clippers, about exacting revenge for the spanking the Warriors put on L.A. on Wednesday night in Oakland. With that in mind, the Clippers had seven players score in double figures, including all five starters, in a 115-89 romp over the Warriors at Staples Center. Energy wasn't a problem for Chris Paul, who had 27 points on 10-for-12 shooting, including five for six on three-pointers.

WASHINGTON -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's endorsement of President Obama on the same day that Washington pledged to pay the full cost of providing emergency power and public transportation to the storm-battered city is drawing charges of "political payback" from a Kansas congressman. "It smacks of cronyism that within hours of being granted a special level of federal reimbursement in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Bloomberg announces his endorsement of President Barack Obama," Rep. Tim Huelskamp, a Republican, said in a statement posted on his website.

Re "Scrutiny not new for drug chain," Oct. 24 I for one am elated that CVS may be overbilling my health insurance company, Anthem Blue Cross. I was happy with Walgreens, which provided better service for my family's prescription needs. But Anthem forced me to go with CVS, the only other pharmacy near my home. Since my complaints to Anthem fell on deaf ears, I find some satisfaction knowing that Anthem might be taking it in the shorts because of CVS and its questionable practices.

ST. LOUIS - The suspense comes early Wednesday. As the home team comes to bat in the first inning, all eyes will be on Matt Holliday. Just how comfortable should he get in the batter's box? When the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals last met, on Monday, Holliday injured San Francisco second baseman Marco Scutaro with a slide so rough that Giants Manager Bruce Bochy called it "illegal. " Scutaro hopes to play in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday, despite soreness in his left hip and left knee.

It is no surprise that innocent victims are fighting state unions who, in cahoots with the California Democratic Legislature and Gov. Gray Davis, conspired to confiscate $45 million a year from 75,000 state employees as a payback for union election contributions ["Cal State Professors Sue State, Union Over Dues," Feb. 25]. Workers found their salaries attached by unions that want money to finance their liberal politics and maintain their power. The union and government taking are no different than a gang claiming its turf by shaking down people in its jurisdiction.

Those recalling Reginald Rose's great old CBS legal series, "The Defenders," may look forward to seeing it resonate more than three decades later as a new Showtime movie arriving Sunday. And more Showtime movies based on "The Defenders" are on the way. The first, called "Payback," has stately E.G. Marshall back as Lawrence Preston, patriarch of the original family law firm that practiced idealism so vividly in the 1961-65 series.

The NFL is a passing league, but sometimes it's also a league for the passed over, providing opportunities for players who feel overlooked, undervalued, ignored. In some of the bigger Week 3 games, those castoffs can exact some revenge. Arizona quarterback Kevin Kolb faces Philadelphia, the team that traded him in favor of Michael Vick. San Francisco's Randy Moss goes back to Minnesota, where his career began - a Vikings team that now employs fired 49ers coach Mike Singletary.

If the New Orleans Saints go from swaggering to staggering this season, no one will be happier than the rest of the teams in the NFC South. Of course those teams want to see the Saints knocked off their perch - they all have their hearts set on the division crown - but there's a personal vendetta in play too. In recent years, the Saints haven't just beaten divisional opponents, they've rubbed their noses in the dirt. In last season's finale, for instance, New Orleans beat Carolina, 45-17, and kept its foot on the gas even after the game had been decided.