Stadiums

Sometimes people really mean what they say, sometimes it's a flat-out lie, and sometimes it's just very carefully worded to avoid providing a definitive answer. The latter is normally the domain of politicians and lawyers, but big-business types love to swim in these waters too. So Dodgers minority owner Magic Johnson was at Camelback Ranch on Friday to talk to the team and the media, and one of the things he said to the Daily News' Vincent Bonsignore was there had been no discussions between the team's ownership group and the NFL over a potential football stadium at Chavez Ravine.

PHOENIX - The majority of the renovations at Dodger Stadium will be completed by Friday for the Freeway Series exhibition against the Angels, team President Stan Kasten said. The Dodgers will have a new clubhouse and there will be new amenities on every level of the stadium. The team wants to provide improved mobile phone service in the ballpark, but that probably won't be available until the second homestand of the regular season. Wi-Fi will be upgraded throughout the stadium, but in June.

Elysian Park near downtown L.A. is a huge space containing great networks of trails and commanding broad city and mountain views. This introductory walk might make you a regular visitor. The stats Distance: 2.5 miles Duration: 1 hour Difficulty: 2 on scale of 1-5 Details: Dogs on leash are OK, but not bikes. Ample parking on Stadium Way, Elysian Park Drive. 1. Begin at the trailhead and walk uphill, past the big swing gate, into a grove of eucalyptus trees.

The U.S. national soccer team, which will play the first of its five final-round home games in World Cup qualifying Friday in Commerce City, Colo., announced the venues for the remaining four matches Thursday, and all four are Major League Soccer stadiums. "Winning your games at home is crucial and we know that at each of these stadiums we will get amazing support from the fans," U.S. Coach Juergen Klinsmann said. "There are so many great facilities in this country and to be able to play in this many soccer-specific stadiums in MLS cities shows how far this sport has come.

Re "Officials roll with AEG's punches," March 16 While riding a shuttle home from Los Angeles International Airport after returning from a business trip last week, I passed Exposition Park, with its multitude of venues. As a native Angeleno who remembers visiting the museums, attending the circus at the Sports Arena and watching Rams games at the Coliseum, I was struck with nostalgia. How ironic to read just after that about the turmoil surrounding the canceled sale of entertainment giant AEG and the doubtful future of the football stadium it planned on building in downtown L.A. I understand that the neighborhood around USC has changed dramatically over the years, but given this development, are we absolutely certain that nothing can be done to revitalize what's right in front of us?

Lots of good reasons I shouldn't be doing this. I'm not even a little bit Kenyan. I've undertrained. After an hour, we haven't really even left downtown and appear to be circling back to where we started, Dodger Stadium. This is my first marathon. And my last. I was intrigued by the idea of running from the "stadium to the sea," and charmed that it was to happen on St. Patrick's Day, a convergence of pain and pleasure that only the Irish could admire. Ninety minutes in, my legs feel like Roman candles and I still don't have a beer in hand.

PHOENIX - Philip Anschutz says he's ready to talk to the NFL about a stadium in downtown Los Angeles. The NFL says it's ready to talk to Anschutz. Question is, will all that talking amount to anything real? "I think it is a positive that Phil Anschutz is reengaging," Commissioner Roger Goodell said on the first day of the annual NFL owners meetings. "He seems that he would like to get a stadium built in Los Angeles that would be suitable for an NFL team. We look forward to working on that.

About 24,000 runners will take to the streets Sunday morning and participate in the 28th Asics L.A. Marathon. The 26.2-mile event begins at Dodger Stadium and will wind through Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills before ending at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and California Avenue in Santa Monica. Simon Njoroge of Kenya, winner of last year's men's race, leads the 16-man elite field. Deena Kastor, the U.S. women's record holder, is among eight elite female runners.

Throughout AEG's efforts to secure city approval for its proposed downtown football stadium, the presence of CEO Tim Leiweke has been regarded as an asset - he's forged strong relationships with elected officials and organized labor, and those connections have helped overcome some of the reservations local leaders have regarding Phil Anschutz, the conservative Denver billionaire who sits atop AEG's parent company. On Thursday, with Leiweke and the company parting ways, supporters tried to argue that this change helps the stadium deal too, because Leiweke's leaving is part of AEG's decision to take the company off the market, thus ending some of the uncertainty around its possible sale.

National Football League, meet your worst nightmare: a potential team owner who can call his own shots. Or wasn't that the signal flashed last week by Phil Anschutz, 100% owner of AEG and master of the downtown football stadium site that the league has been weaseling over for two slap-happy years? In an interview with my colleagues Marla Dickerson and Mike James following the announcement that he is taking AEG off the sales block, Anschutz declared that if the NFL intends to locate a team near the downtown L.A. Live district owned by Anschutz's firm, the league must come to him. He set his minimum terms: He must have an investment in both the stadium and the team "if they're going to be occupying … the middle of our campus.