Sports Equipment

From natural cleaning products to hemp clothing, the green revolution has transformed the contents of our kitchen cabinets and closets. Now, sporting and fitness goods manufacturers are taking the trend outdoors, marketing upscale products that boast a new sensitivity to the environment.

Two of the nation's largest privately held sports equipment makers said Tuesday that they were combining to form one of the biggest teams on the industry's playing field. Easton Sports Inc. of Van Nuys and Riddell Bell Holdings Inc. will become Easton-Bell Sports Inc. The deal was orchestrated by Easton and New York-based private equity firm Fenway Partners Inc., which controls Riddell. It is being partly funded with money from Canada's Ontario Teachers Pension Fund. Terms were not disclosed.

TELEVISION is by nature a kingdom of the known; it plays upon our desire to return to a familiar place, for familiar fun, week after week, or even day after day, same time, same channel. Yet there is no pleasure quite like that of happening upon a strange program for the very first time, of being for an instant flummoxed, intrigued, disturbed. In such moments television gets a little of its mystery back. So it was when I first stumbled upon "LazyTown."

Student leaders at Cal State Northridge's satellite campus have purchased almost $400 in athletic equipment, which will be available free for students' use during school hours. The equipment includes footballs, baseball gear, volleyballs and a net, basketballs, croquet sets, horseshoes, Frisbees, Hackey Sacks and soccer balls.

Don't discard Grandpa's old golf clubs, fishing tackle, baseball gloves, tennis balls or other sports equipment. Many collectors have been saving baseball cards since the 1950s, but sports equipment was ignored by all but a few. All kinds of sports collectibles now are seen at the most prestigious antiques shows and at many flea markets.

Oshman's Sporting Goods Inc. said Monday that it may close more than a third of its 11 California stores to cut costs, another sign of hard times in the sporting goods business. Oshman's announcement came as the Houston-based retailer reported a loss of $1.6 million for its fiscal fourth quarter and a loss of $2.1 million for the fiscal year ended Jan. 30. It earned $5.6 million in the same quarter of 1997 and $2.4 million for fiscal 1997.

Marco Rodriguez isn't your typical baseball fan. In fact, he isn't much of a fan at all. Futbol is his game. It's almost everybody's game in this pastoral village. They kick the ball around in the streets and in dirt fields, even on the concrete basketball court that seems so out of place in the community park. If there were a baseball diamond here, well, doubleheaders would still merely be a means of moving the soccer ball down field.

Firefighters and Sav-On Drugs stores are collecting Christmas gifts for needy Orange County children through Dec. 23. Residents are encouraged to drop off new, unwrapped toys and sports equipment at Fire Station No. 1, 17737 Bushard St.; Fire Station No. 2, 16767 Newhope St.; and the Sav-On stores at 17136 Magnolia St. and 18545 Brookhurst St. Banners reading "Spark of Love" identify the exact locations of the collection boxes.

Tennis aficionados in this city are digging through their garages for those old wooden racquets to take part in the second annual Wooden Racquet Classic set for Jan. 13-15 at the Old Ranch Tennis Club. At least the white tennis balls required for the tournament are still sold in some sporting goods stores, event organizers said. Representatives from the United States Professional Tennis Assn. will help coordinate the tournament, in which players will compete according to age and ability level.

A recreation group that is holding a convention here will be giving away used sports equipment and holding a sports clinic at 10 a.m. Saturday for children who live in the Jeffrey-Lynne neighborhood, one of the city's poorest. The 1,800 members of the California Park and Recreation Society have been asked to bring used equipment with them to the group's convention this weekend. It will then be distributed at Audrey Plaza Park. The clinics are limited to 120 who already have registered.