Those of you who have ESPN Classic will no doubt be thrilled to know that it will be rebroadcasting tonight, for the first time in over two weeks, the fourth game of the 1993 World Series. Tomorrow, in between the half-hour team films it shows in lieu of replaying an actual NFL game, will be the woman's semifinal of the 1988 Australian Open. And don't forget, there's twelve straight hours of the "award-winning" SportsCentury this Friday !!

Well, I guess none of it is going to interfere with my watching the two big series involving the Golden State's baseball teams this week. In most years, if the Dodgers and Angels were in contention late (as happened in 1978, 1982, 1985, 1995 and 1997), most of the local attention would be on the Dodgers; the Angels have always been more of an after-thought for the local media, and if you live north of O.C., they are viewed more as an appetizer than the main course. This year, its been different. Even though the Dodgers are a game back, with a huge 4-game series with Giants starting tonight, almost all the local attention is on Anaheim, which has, for all intents and purposes, assured itself a playoff spot (after '95, though, nothing is certain). It's easy to see why: the Angels are an exciting, never-say-die team, while the Dodgers, now in the midst of a season-ending choke, are a team whose bland, boring nature reflects the personality of their manager, Jim Tracy, and come up well short in comparison not only with the Angels, but more importantly, with the team that has been its local rival for the affection of SoCal sports fans for over three decades, the Los Angeles Lakers. As a team, they haven't played with a sense of urgency since Kirk Gibson was here, and its no wonder that one of the truisms of LA sports is that the baseball season doesn't really begin until after the Lakers playoff run ends.