Q: Is it safe to assume that the NFL has abandoned the City of Angels for good? Any predictions on when pigskin may make a return?

JA: How about "not in your lifetime or mine." Right now LA does the NFL and its member teams more good as leverage than as an actual league member. The League is very good at holding up municipalities for new, modern stadia and all the trimmings, and it's harder to do when there's not a potential competitor in play.

That said, I know people use the lack of an NFL franchise to impugn LA's status as a sports city. I think it says the opposite. People here vote with their wallets, and they weren't willing to give a free pass to inept ownerships, which is why the Raiders and Rams left town. And they're not willing to write a blank check, in terms of a facility built with taxpayer funds. It's no accident that the last three major league sports facilities built in LA were all privately funded: Staples Center, the Forum and Dodger Stadium.

(As an aside, I remain convinced that Staples Center was built by Phil Anschutz not because of a love for sports but as a wedge to get his hands on that prime acreage across the street, where the "LA Live" entertainment complex is going up. I even hesitate to use the term "Kings owner Phil Anschutz," because the hockey team, as I wrote recently, is now about 91st on his organization's list of priorities.)

Anyway, to get back to your question, if pro football does return to LA it will be, ironically, through the efforts of Anschutz's partner in Staples Center, billionaire real estate developer Ed Roski, and his proposed project in the suburban City of Industry. But I've seen enough stadium proposals come and go in the last decade in a half that I'll believe it when I actually see the building going up.

Q: Who in your opinion is the worst team ever to have Los Angeles draped across their jerseys?

JA: Wow. If I had to do a Top Ten - or in this case Bottom Ten - there would be a lot of Clippers and Kings rosters represented.

If I had to choose one, it would be the 1986-87 Clippers, 12-70 with a stunning collection of has-beens and never-quite-weres: Marques Johnson, Cedric Maxwell, Darnell Valentine and Mike Woodson on the downside of their careers, the always enigmatic Benoit Benjamin, and such head cases as Quintin Dailey and Kenny Fields rounding out the roster. The wonder is that Don Chaney (a) made it through the whole year as head coach and (b) retained some shred of sanity. They improved all the way to 17-65 the next season, after passing up Reggie Miller in the draft and using their three first-round picks on Reggie Williams, Joe Wolf and Ken Norman. Good times.

I guess the Clippers for most of their tenure here, the Kings of the early '70s (and again the last six years) and the Rams toward the end of their tenure in SoCal set the standards for futility, not only on the field or court but in the front office with bonehead trades and draft picks. At least we could - and did - suggest that the Rams had a method in their madness, setting up their eventual departure by stripping down the team. The other two managements have just been lousy.

(At least with the Kings there seems to be some hope and, finally, a plan. Yet, in true Kings fashion, they couldn't even lose when they were supposed to at the end of this past season and missed out on the No. 1 draft choice as a result.)

Q: "Referee-gate," has sprung its ugly head again and it begs the question: In 2002, did the Lakers really beat the Sacramento Kings in game 6?

JA: A lot of us in the press room were suspicious in the immediate aftermath of that game, but consider this: Shaq shot 10 of the 27 fourth quarter free throws the Lakers received in that game. If the fix truly was in, wouldn't the refs have made sure a more dependable foul shooter got to the line? (He made 6 of the 10, by the way.)

That said, Sacramento still had its chance to get to the Finals with a Game 7 at home and blew that opportunity. So any sympathy I have for them over getting hosed in Game 6 is dampened because they still had it in their hands and let it get away.

Q: If it was deemed your last day at The Press-Enterprise, what would be the article you would write as your final dispatch?

JA: If I knew in advance, it would be a heartfelt thank you column, for being allowed to do something I've loved so for all these years. (Knowing in advance would suggest I was going out on my own terms, which would be quite nice. These days in this business, not many people get to do that.)

Q: On a lighter note, we end all interviews with word association. Our favorite is to use our site's mascot. So when I say "wombat" you reply...

JA: Winnipeg. Wouldn't that be a great name for a hockey team? The Winnipeg Wombats. Can I trademark that? God knows what the logo would look like.