Scenario

Andrew Bynum still has pain in his left knee that has kept him from making his debut with the Philadelphia 76ers. Bynum is in pain when he walks or attempts even light physical activity, except for swimming. He had been recovering from a bone bruise in his right knee and injured his left knee while bowling last month. The 7-foot center will have his knees examined again Dec. 20 and did not know whether he would need an MRI exam. "Worst-case scenario, it's another month," he said Monday night.

The Lakers and Clippers entered the season with more star power than a table at The Ivy featuring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence and Mila Kunis. So much for that. The Lakers are fringe playoff contenders. The Clippers, once owners of the best record in the NBA, are fading fast. It's not all bad news, though. There is a chance these teams could advance to the Western Conference semifinals! A look at the best- and worst-case scenarios for the L.A. teams in the first round of the playoffs: Best-case Lakers scenarios 1. Climb to the No. 6 seeding and play the Clippers.

If life were a movie, the president of the United States (probably played by Will Smith) would be leaping into action to save humankind from the calamity that a new scientific report says is about to befall the Earth.  A paper prepared by 22 international scientists and just published in the journal Nature warns that overpopulation, environmental destruction and climate change have pushed the world toward a tipping point beyond which lie irreversible,...

— If not for their surplus of starting pitchers, these might be anxious days for the Dodgers. In the last 24 hours, the Dodgers scratched flu-ridden Josh Beckett from his Monday start, classified Chad Billingsley as "kind of doubtful" for his Tuesday assignment because of a bruised finger and made plans for previously sore-elbowed Zack Greinke to pitch Wednesday. "The scenarios have been changed a lot lately," Manager Don Mattingly said. The Dodgers came to spring training knowing the state of their rotation was an issue.

We are all too familiar with the following scenario: The irate parent is upset at the bratty little kid, all the time screaming, "If you don't behave: I'm going to wring your neck! One, two . . . " Of course we know that the irate parent never gets to three. And we also know that the kid continues to misbehave. Applying the above scenario to baseball, the baseball gods would be screaming: "Steve Howe, if you don't start behaving, we're going to have to do something! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven . . " What a horrible message to be sending to our younger players.

Your headline and lead article on July 23 were not only in bad taste but disgusting, revolting and repulsive; a blow to the hearts and minds of all people who want peace. Sure, we want all the news, but not the worst-scene scenario highlighted on the Sunday front page when so many positive things are going on in the world. EUGENE DECHENE Los Angeles

Jim Murray is off the deep end again. I do not completely agree with the way Eric Dickerson handled his salary complaint against the Rams, but everyone knows that he was underpaid. If you want to knock Dickerson, go right ahead, but don't use the quarterback scenario to criticize him. Super Bowls are won the same way all other team sports are won--with team efforts, not quarterbacks. LISBON C. MCCARTHY, Oxnard

First the Coliseum, then Pasadena, Carson and now Anaheim. The NFL's scheme is pretty obvious, if you follow the sports-page headlines. One of these cities should offer to build a new stadium in exchange for an expansion team with Green Bay-style ownership. Why not? It is the one scenario in which everyone wins; the Packers are a perennial postseason participant, the franchise is prosperous and the Green Bay community is spared the ordeal accompanying the threat of relocation every decade or so. Steve Varalyay Torrance

Re "Don't tell these guys torture's wrong," Opinion, May 18 Authorizing the use of torture in the "ticking bomb" scenario would not harm Western civilization. Our government routinely permits law enforcement officers to violate an individual's constitutional rights to serve justice. A law enforcement officer may arrest an individual, or seize an individual's property, in carefully limited circumstances without prior judicial approval upon the officer's determination of "probable cause."

Consultant Ray Maietta sees little problem with cellphones on passenger flights ("Up in the Air on Cellphones," Business Itinerary, Sept. 30). "People will work it out," he says. Sure they will: "Excuse me, could you keep your voice down?" (No response.) "Would you at least turn your ringer down so I can read my book?" "Shut up. I'm on the phone here!" "Who are you telling to shut up? You cellphone addicts make me sick! Stewardess, I want to move to another seat right now!"

MESA, Ariz. — Aaron Harang's first start of the spring didn't go his way. The right-hander gave up four runs, five hits and a walk — and that was just the first inning — in the Dodgers' 11-7 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday. For a guy locked in a five-man battle for one of the final two spots in the Dodgers' rotation, it was an inauspicious debut. But Harang appeared unconcerned afterward. "I'm going to try not to worry about that. I need to do what I need to do to get ready, and that's make sure that all my pitches are fine-tuned," said Harang, who has been experimenting with special instructor Sandy Koufax on a new grip for his curveball.

Test Story

LANDOVER, Md. -- Throughout the NFL season, Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III showed he can do just about anything on the football field. Sunday, he showed what he couldn't do. He was incapable of pulling himself from a wild-card playoff game against Seattle — Redskins coaches couldn't, either — and the results were stomach-turning. Washington lost, 24-14, and Griffin suffered an injury to his already weakened right knee, which with 6 minutes 19 seconds left bent in an unnatural way as he chased a low shotgun snap.

If the movies are a feast or famine business - and they are - we are in the heart of the feast at the moment. Both the studios and the smaller distributors, having hidden away their strongest films like squirrels hoarding especially tasty nuts, release them all in a rush in the last months of the year. Ordinarily I would decry this situation, because it means that excellent films will fall between the cracks and get neglected in the mad rush to put quality on the screen in October, November and December.

Andrew Bynum still has pain in his left knee that has kept him from making his debut with the Philadelphia 76ers. Bynum is in pain when he walks or attempts even light physical activity, except for swimming. He had been recovering from a bone bruise in his right knee and injured his left knee while bowling last month. The 7-foot center will have his knees examined again Dec. 20 and did not know whether he would need an MRI exam. "Worst-case scenario, it's another month," he said Monday night.

Things have taken a bombshell Baylor turn since we last convened, but don't worry, this is nothing the eight-team playoff in 2014 won't solve. What … it's only a four-team playoff? In that case, the selection committee replacing the BCS should form now, retreat to a hotel room with a copy of Sunday's Bowl Championship Series standings, and emerge with its clear-cut, no-debate test results. Show us how the new system beats "Death to the BCS. " It is terrific for television executives and scrapbook collectors that Notre Dame and Alabama have supplanted Kansas State and Oregon as the front-runners for this year's BCS title.

It's hot out there. Hotter than it would be if instead of what I see outside my sliver of window --  roads, buildings -- there was grass and vegetation. Hotter, too, than it would be if the buildings were all covered with white paint, a la a Greek island. This is the “heat island effect,” and it happens because the materials used to make roads and structures absorb a lot more heat from the sun than does vegetation.  They slowly release that heat through the night, keeping everything not-so-nicely cooking.

"Oh-My-God! This Is It?" (editorial, Nov. 30) seemed to miss the obvious possibility that our opinions and feelings have no bearing on our entering an eternally good place. Do our opinions and feelings get us into or out of a particular afterlife scenario? It is interesting to consider the broad spectrum of the where and how people will spend their afterlives, but you left out the option of not having a choice. It seems 64% of people polled are confident that they are going to a good place.

CINCINNATI -- It's almost Halloween, so it's only natural to hear scary stories about scenarios that could lead to a tangled and nightmarish denouement in the presidential race.   What if the winner of the popular vote does not prevail in the Electoral College? What happens if we don't know who won the race for weeks? Can we still take Thanksgiving off?   Plenty of political experts expect the outcome of the election will be known shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.