UFC 91 behind the scenes

Kim Couture is unlike most fighters’ wives. There’s no staying at home with the television off, or a continual frightened downward look at the arena floor throughout the husband’s battle.

“I don’t have any nerves, I’m there with him training every day,” Kim Couture said. “I see exactly what’s going on.”

Indeed, in a backstage meeting I had with Kim Couture early Saturday evening, she calmly talked of locker room jokes with her husband and said his heavyweight title defense tonight against Brock Lesnar, 31, is being approached as business as usual despite a near 15-month layoff.

“Randy’s fully confident in his ability, he knows how to break people,” Kim Couture said.

That’s something she’s getting better at as a women’s mixed martial arts fighter. Couture not only stages “Night of Combat” MMA shows -- her first two were in Las Vegas and one in February is destined for Southern California, she said –- she is 1-0 as a pro and is scheduled to fight Lina Kvokov on Friday at the Strikeforce show in San Jose.

“I’ve had a great camp and have great energy,” she said.

While she’s resigned to the belief UFC President Dana White will never bring a women’s match to his organization, she said female fighting is steadily building an impressive audience, as evidenced by the popularity of former Elite XC star and Xtreme Couture stablemate Gina Carano.

“The crowd digs it,” Couture said, adding that Carano may ultimately fight in her “Night of Combat” shows once Elite XC’s economic collapse is settled.

Also backstage was lightweight champion B.J. Penn, who conducted a pre-fight news conference to tout his Jan. 31 battle against welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

“This is the biggest fight of my career,” said Penn, a Hawaiian. “I feel like I’m better than him. He’s athletic, but I believe his athleticism overshadows issues with his technique, and I have better technical skills than him.”

In action before the pay-per-view broadcast began Saturday night, welterweight Matt Brown forced Ryan Thomas to tap by second-round armbar, Mark Bocek produced a rear naked chokehold on lightweight Alvin Robinson at the 3:16 mark of the third round, and lightweight Jeremy Stephens became poised to earn knockout of the night with a crushing right uppercut that rendered Rafael dos Anjos briefly motionless in a third-round technical knockout. And Victorville’s Aaron Riley defeated Jorge Gurgel by unanimous decision.

--Lance Pugmire

Kings offer break to fans affected by fires

Fans who had tickets to the Kings' game against the Nashville Predators on Saturday at Staples Center but couldn't attend because they were affected by the fires raging in the area can exchange those tickets to one of three games.

People with unused tickets can exchange them for tickets in the same price range, subject to availability, for: the Dec. 6 game against Columbus, Dec. 13 against Minnesota or Dec. 29 against Columbus.

More information is available at 1-888-KINGSLA.

--Helene Elliott

Tour of Georgia gone

   The U.S. is losing one of its top cycling races, the Tour of Georgia. The race, won by Lance Armstrong in 2004, had been receiving $400,000 in state funding, which was expected to be taken away this year because of the economic climate.

     Before the Amgen Tour of California came into existence four years ago, the Georgia race was the most prestigious stage race in the United States. Even last year there were rumors the race was in trouble and it didn't help when Armstrong didn't commit to riding in Georgia during his comeback that begins in Australia in January. Armstrong has listed the Tour of California on his schedule.

-- Diane Pucin

    

Yorba Linda/Corona fire gives John Force a scare

The brush fire that was spreading in the Yorba Linda/Corona area on Saturday came too close to home at the NHRA Finals drag races at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona.

As plumes of black smoke from the fire filled the southern horizon at the drag strip, John Force -- the 14 time funny-car champion and a team owner -- burst into the media center to say the fire was threatening his Yorba Linda headquarters, along with homes of some team members.

"They just evacuated Robert's house," Force said, referring to driver Robert Hight, who's hoping to win the sport's funny car championship Sunday.

Force, wearing his racing fire suit because he still had one more qualifying run ahead, leaned over reporters' shoulders to look at websites tracking the fire. He pointed to maps displayed on their laptops and tried to calculate the distance between the flames and his property.

"It will be all right," said the irrepressible Force. But some reporters who live in the fire area, or have relatives there, already had packed up and left Pomona.

Nature already has taken a toll on Force this year. In July, several crystal trophies broke when a 5.4 earthquake shook the Yorba Linda area.

-- Jim Peltz

Photo (top): Traffic flows in the same direction on both sides of the 241 toll road after a brush fire shut down the 91 Freeway in Yorba Linda on Saturday. Creidt: Mark Avery / Associated Press

Photo (inset): Funny car drag racer John Force during the NHRA Carolinas Nationals at the Zmax Dragway in Concord, N.C., on Sept. 13. Credit: Rusty Jarrett / Getty Images.

Obama still pushing for college football playoffs

President-elect Barack Obama tells "60 Minutes" that he will continue to push for a college football playoff system.

Obama had raised the idea during an election-eve interview conducted by ESPN's Chris Berman.

"If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner," told "60 Minutes." "We should be creating a playoff system."

"Eight teams," Obama said. "That would be three rounds to determine a national champion. It would add three extra weeks to the season. You could trim back on the regular season. I don't know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I'm going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it's the right thing to do."

Obama's full interview will be aired Sunday at 7 p.m. on Channel 2.

An eight-team playoff? USC coach Pete Carroll probably supports the president-elect. But few university presidents want to add even one game to the season.

Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive's proposal for an extra game, the so-called "Plus-One" model, was resoundingly rejected during meetings last spring in Florida.

The six Bowl Championship Series commissioners announced they will continue the current model at least through the 2013 season.

And, with the war in Iraq, tax reform and a health-care overhaul among the issues on his plate, one suspects that if Obama runs for reelection in four years, he'll still be appearing on halftime shows to tout a college football playoff system.

Unless he signs an executive order?

-- Chris Dufresne and Diane Pucin

Photo: Barack Obama during an October campaign stop in Tampa. Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Ducks lose Francois Beauchemin to injury

Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin will be out six months after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a 4-3 overtime loss on Friday to Nashville.

Losing one of their top defensemen is a big blow to the Ducks. General Manager Bob Murray will try to plug the hole by recalling a player from minor league affiliate Des Moines.

The injury, however, will free up some salary cap room. The Ducks are about $800,000 under the NHL’s $56.7-million cap, and will receive credit because Beauchemin will be placed on the long-term injury list.

But the loss of Beauchemin robs the Ducks of a quality defenseman during a time when the team has struggled to be consistent.

The Ducks won only one of their first six games, then went on a 7-0-1 streak before losing their last three games.

-- Chris Foster

Mexico's Monterrey Tech advances to championship game

Monterrey Tech, the top college football program in Mexico and one featured in a Los Angeles Times report Nov. 7, advanced to its 12th straight Mexican national championship game with a 49-12 win over the University of the Americas on Friday in Monterrey.

Monterrey Tech scored on its second possession when quarterback Gilberto Escobedo threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to tight end Alejandro Del Bosque, putting the Borregos Salvajes ahead to stay. Monterrey Tech scored the game's first five touchdowns before the Aztecs finally got on the board on Juan Manuel Macias' 101-yard touchdown return in the third period.

Monterrey Tech, chasing its fifth consecutive championship, will meet the winner of tonight's semifinal between Tec Estado de Mexico and the University of Nuevo Leon next weekend.

-- Kevin Baxter

Totally Random

    

Thirty years have passed and Joe Pisarcik still can’t catch a break.

On Nov. 19, 1978, Pisarcik was quarterbacking the New York Giants to an apparent victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, running out the clock, when he fumbled a handoff to Larry Csonka. Eagles defensive back Herman Edwards recovered and returned the ball 26 yards for a touchdown that gave Philadelphia an improbable victory — and Pisarcik headaches when he attends a sports autograph show.

He recalled signing autographs once with other retired NFL players when an older man walked up and exclaimed, "Hey, you were the 'Miracle at the Meadowlands' guy."

"He was a nice guy," Pisarcik told the Associated Press. "He probably didn’t mean any harm. I said, 'Oh, I hadn't heard that one all day today. Glad you brought that to my attention. Thank you for sharing.' He looks at me like I’ve got four eyes.

"Then there was the guy who just walked up to me and said, 'You’re the guy who fumbled the ball! You’re the guy who fumbled the ball!'

"I told him, 'When I was your age I was the starting quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. What are you doing?' "

Today, Pisarcik works on Wall Street, selling bonds in economically troubled times.

"Yeah," he said, "there’s another fumble."

Trivia time
Where did the Giants and Eagles finish the 1978 season?

In tunes
LeBron James' street cred took a hit when he admitted to teammates that he listens to Barry Manilow.

The website for Cleveland radio station WTAM 1100 reported that in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ locker room Thursday, it was mentioned that James' longtime friend Carmelo Anthony admitted last year that he had some Manilow music on his iPod.

James said he probably had some Manilow too — though he caused teammates to laugh when he mistakenly referred to the singer as "Brian Manilow."

James dug out his iPod and unveiled evidence — Manilow tunes "Copacabana," "Mandy" and "I Am Your Child." But then James quickly switched back to listening to rap star Jay-Z.

No turkey here
Oscar De La Hoya, to the Associated Press, on maintaining his fighting weight of 145 pounds for his Dec. 6 bout against Manny Pacquiao: "No tamales, nothing like that. I even have to skip Thanksgiving. It's a tough life."

Trivia answer
The Eagles defeated the Giants in the regular-season finale to finish 9-7 and earned a wild-card playoff berth. The Giants wound up 6-10 and in last place in the NFC East.

Highs and lows
Jacksonville Jaguars running back and former UCLA star Maurice Jones-Drew, on KLAA 830’s "The Sports Lodge," talking about the difference between Los Angeles and Jacksonville:  "In L.A. you have the high life and Hollywood. In Jacksonville, you have alligators."

-- Mike Penner

Photo: In this Nov. 19, 1978 file photo, Philadelphia Eagles' Herm Edwards (46) pounces on a ball fumbled by New York Giants quarterback Joe Pisarcik (9), right foreground, in the last minutes of the game. Credit: G. Paul Burnett

Lightning strikes--and hits Melrose in the mullet

The Tampa Bay Lightning fired coach Barry Melrose Friday, 16 games into the season, leading to the question...

...What took them so long??

It was clearly a mistake to hire Melrose, who hadn't been behind an NHL bench since he spun the Kings out of control 13 years ago. He did some bizarre things, including giving miniscule amounts of playing time to No. 1 overall draft pick Steven Stamkos and skipping practice last week because the team supposedly needed to hear another voice.

If you're 52 games into the season, that might make sense. Melrose's game total had barely reached the teens.

Gary Shelton had a prescient take on the whole mess in the St. Petersburg Times after the Lightning's 4-3, come-from-ahead-loss to the Red Wings on Thursday.

To Melrose's successor, Rick Tocchet, we say: good luck. You'll need lots of it.

--Helene Elliott

Melrose's place? Tampa Bay says it's the unemployment line

Barry Melrose had finally found a place where the mullet was still in style when he went off to Florida as the Tampa Bay Lightning's coach last June. Well, Melrose didn't stick around long enough to let his hair grow out, as he was fired today by the Lightning after 16 games.

The punch line? Rick Tocchet was elevated to interim coach. Yes, the same Rick Tocchet who is still serving a two-year probation after pleading guilty in a gambling investigation into a sports betting ring in 2007.

For Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon fans, the connection goes like this:

Bacon starred with Matt Dillon in "Wild Things." Dillon starred with Janet Jones in "The Flamingo Kid." Jones became Janet Gretzky and allegedly booked bets with Tocchet, then an assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes. Tocchet was Melrose's assistant coach.

Melrose walked away from ESPN (three years after ESPN walked away from the NHL), ending a 12-year career as an analyst. That followed two-plus years as the Kings' head coach, taking them to the 1993 Stanley Cup finals. The Kings won the first game against the Montreal Canadiens and were leading by a goal in Game Two when ... ah, everyone knows the rest.

Still, Marty McSorley's illegal stick was the high-water mark in Melrose's coaching career. Grading on that curve, he has a 45-77-16 (12 ties, four overtime losses) record since that moment.

So what will Barry do now? Odds are, he will try to find Versus, just like those with TV remotes.

--Chris Foster

Photo: Barry Melrose, with Rick Tocchet in the background, in September. Credit: Mike Carlson / AP.