They're going the distance to bring back the mile

There can’t be a better day than the 50th anniversary of the first sub-four-minute indoor mile to note the formation of a group dedicated to restoring the mile as a competitive event in this increasingly metric world.

On Feb. 10, 1962 Jim Beatty added to the lore of the mile by running it in 3 minutes 58.9 seconds at the Sports Arena, beating the existing indoor record by 2.5 seconds. But over time, meters replaced yards and the mile became a somewhat neglected event. The Olympic distance is 1,500 meters.

“There is just something about the mile that makes it special and different than other events,” said Ryan Lamppa,"  a founder of the running industry group Running USA and founder of Bring Back the Mile, a group dedicated to reviving that distance at all levels.

“No running distance, or field event for that matter, has the history, the appeal, the magic of the mile. Think about the continued impact of Roger Bannister’s first sub-four-minute mile, which still resonates today throughout the world.

“Also, the 1,600 meters at the high school level makes no sense in the context of the sport because beyond U.S. high school the event doesn’t exist.”

Lamppa said he has enlisted an impressive array of supporters, including former milers Jim Ryun, Marty Liquori and Ruth Wysocki, and he has started a website, bringbackthemile.com. The site contains a form that can be sent to state high school federations supporting the return of the mile, and it has a video of Beatty’s record run.

Beatty, who ran for the Los Angeles Track Club, is alive and well at 77 and living in Charlotte, N.C. According to a story in the Charlotte Observer, he drives a car whose license plate reads “1st3:58.9.”

-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Lakers center Andrew Bynum runs on a track in August. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times.

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Serena Williams upset by Samantha Stosur in French Open quarterfinals [Updated]

Top-ranked Serena Williams failed to convert a match point in the quarterfinals of the French Open and lost, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 8-6, to Australian Samantha Stosur on Wednesday.

Seventh-seeded Stosur used a forceful forehand to build a lead and won 17 consecutive points during one stretch. Williams was able to mount a comeback and was a point away from winning the 10th game of the final set, but her forehand sailed an inch long.

After hitting consecutive cross-court winners to break for a 7-6 lead, Stosur then served out the victory, with service winners on the final three points.

Stosur was coming off a fourth-round upset victory over four-time champion Justine Henin, who had won 24 straight matches at Roland Garros.

[Updated at 12:40 p.m.: Williams and her sister, Venus, advanced to the doubles final with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Liezel Huber of the United States and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.]

-- Chuck Schilken

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Photo: Serena Williams acknowledges the crowd after her loss to Samantha Stosur on Wednesday. Credit: Michel Spingler / Associated Press.

Maple Leafs to attend Brendan Burke's funeral

In a fitting tribute, the Toronto Maple Leafs will attend the funeral of Brendan Burke, son of general manager Brian Burke, as a team on Tuesday.

Brendan Burke, 21, died Friday of injuries he suffered in a two-car crash on a snowy road in Indiana. He will be buried in Canton, Mass., where he lived when he wasn't attending Miami University of Ohio.

His passenger, Mark A. Reedy of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., 18, also died in the crash. Reedy, a student at Michigan State, is scheduled to be buried Tuesday in his hometown. The driver of the other car in the crash was not hurt.

Like the Maple Leafs, the Miami RedHawks pulled off a win in their first game after Burke's death.

-- Helene Elliott

Brendan Burke, son of Brian Burke, dies in a car crash

It’s impossible to know where to begin with this.

To say Brendan Burke was far, far too young at 21 when he died as the result of injuries he suffered in a car crash in Wayne County, Ind., on Friday?

That he had a passion for hockey he inherited from his father, Brian, the former general manager of the Ducks and current GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he made that passion his own as the student manager of the hockey team at Miami of Ohio?

That he had the manners and smarts to have made a heck of a hockey executive, which he had dreamed of becoming?

It’s impossible to sum up the life of this charming young man who inspired discussions about homosexuality in sports a few short months ago when he talked to ESPN’s John Buccigross about being a gay man in a macho sport.

People in hockey who know Brian Burke and knew Brendan had similar reactions to his death. Sick to my stomach. Just sick. Very upsetting. So sad.

Brian Burke is the general manager of the U.S. men’s hockey team for the Vancouver Olympics, and he had planned to march in the opening ceremony next Friday. It’s too early to think about whether Brendan’s death will impact Brian’s participation in the upcoming Games, but you have to think that because it’s hockey-related and so much of Brendan’s life revolved around the sport, Brendan would have wanted him to be there.

The Burke family—his father, mother, stepmother and five siblings—lost a son, a brother, a friend. The hockey world lost a shining spirit.

-- Helene Elliott

Kings' Stoll doesn't skate, Coyotes' Gretzky doesn't show

Kings center Jarret Stoll, troubled by arthritis in his right wrist, didn't participate in on-ice activities at training camp today, the second straight day's work he has missed. He had said Sunday that he hoped to get back soon, but he didn't skate with Group B and again was replaced by Oscar Moller at center between Teddy Purcell and Dustin Brown. I'll get an update later.

The Kings will play their first exhibition games -- yes, games, plural -- on Tuesday, when they play split-squad games against the Coyotes at Glendale, Ariz., and at Staples Center. It's not likely that Coyotes Coach Wayne Gretzky will be behind the bench in either place: Gretzky stayed away from his team's training camp today, the third straight day he has not performed his coaching duties, and a Coyotes spokesman said it hasn't been determined whether Gretzky will return Tuesday. The safe bet is that he won't be there while the fate of the club remains uncertain. In the meantime, assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson has been running things at the Coyotes' camp.

A Kings spokesman said that the club would send mostly young players to the game in Arizona and that newcomers Ryan Smyth and Rob Scuderi would play in the game at Staples Center. Coach Terry Murray is expected to disclose the lineup later today, so we'll update you on that, too.

-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Kings forward Jarret Stoll. Credit: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

Dwyane Wade at center of another good guy athlete story

Our Helene Elliott wrote about an act of kindness committed by the Anaheim Ducks earlier this week.

Here's one that's going to be television Sunday, courtesy of ABC and Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade.

Wade has befriended a young heat fan named Michael Stolzenberg who nearly died from a bacterial infection. Wade visited Stolzenberg the day after Wade hit a three-point buzzer-beater against the Bulls in double overtime.

It's worth a look and like Helene said, we're always eager to write about miscreant athletes. Being willing to write about some good things doesn't hurt.

The piece will air at halftime of Channel 7's broadcast of the Detroit Pistons-Miami Heat game Sunday. The game begins at 10 a.m. PDT.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Dwayne Wade during a game against the Lakers on Feb. 28, 2008. Credit: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images

Canadiens 'concerned' about three players' tie to alleged criminal

Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey addressed his team and the media Friday about a report in the Montreal newspaper La Presse that had linked three players to a Montreal man arrested on drug charges.

Gainey said the Canadiens are "very concerned" about the report, which said brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn and defenseman Roman Hamrlik had ties to Pasquale Mangiola, who was arrested earlier this month in what Montreal police have dubbed "Project Axe."

Mangiola faces weapons, drug possession and drug trafficking charges, but the report said the Canadiens players are not suspected of any criminal activity.

La Presse reported that investigators tapped Mangiola's phone and monitored conversations with the Kostitsyn brothers, for whom he did various favors such as having their cars fixed, providing them vodka, introducing them to women and picking them up after games.

After obtaining a search warrant against Mangiola, detectives found financial records, some with the Canadiens' crest, belonging to the Kostitsyns.

The Kostitsyns are Belarusian, and Hamrlik is Czech.

"I can only go on what I know today, and what I know today is not good," Gainey said. "It doesn't reflect well on our team or the individuals.

"It must be extinguished as a possible inhibitor to our performance. Our message today was that we want to do things as players and individuals to come as close as possible to our potential, or surpass it."

The league is monitoring the situation through its security department. "The NHL is aware of the reports and is in the process of gathering additional information," Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement.

Gainey, during a team meeting, cautioned all players to be careful about the people with whom they socialize or otherwise associate.

"We get requests from charities," he said. "But there are also not good people who are looking for trophy friends or the possibility of being close to someone who earns $1 million-plus."

Coach Guy Carbonneau told reporters Friday that the team must "deal with the allegations and try to protect our players better."

Andrei Kostitsyn told La Presse he knew Mangiola but that he didn't know anything about his situation. Neither Andrei Kostitsyn nor Hamrlik was made available to the media Friday.

Sergei Kostitsyn was sent down to the team's AHL affiliate in Hamilton, Canada, a few days ago. He told reporters there that he couldn't comment on the report.

The NHL tries to keep a close eye on players' associations with potentially unsavory characters. The league has a security department, and each team has a security officer.

In the late 1990s, the league's biggest concern was reputed Russian mobsters who were pressuring prominent Russian players for protection money and often blackmailed them with threats that targeted players' families back home.

The revelations are the latest in a tumultuous week in which Gainey acquired defenseman Mathieu Schneider in a trade and told standout forward Alexei Kovalev to stay home and ponder his poor play, moves that haven't stopped the team's slide. The Canadiens, a powerhouse over the first half of the season, are 3-11-1 in their last 15 games. Kovalev is expected to rejoin their lineup on Saturday against Ottawa.

--Helene Elliott

Kings Coach Terry Murray juggles things, puts Teddy Purcell on top line

Terry Murray has juggled his line combinations again, putting newly promoted winger Teddy Purcell on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Patrick O'Sullivan and moving Kyle Calder to the second line with Jarret Stoll and Dustin Brown for tonight's game against St. Louis at Staples Center.

He also rearranged the defense pairs, putting Kyle Quincey with rookie Drew Doughty and placing veteran Sean O'Donnell alongside Matt Greene to reduce what became a heavier workload than O'Donnell could effectively handle. The third pair will be Denis Gauthier with Peter Harrold. Erik Ersberg is scheduled to start in goal.

Purcell was leading the Kings' Manchester, N.H., farm team in scoring with nine goals and 19 points in 23 games. He played 10 games for the Kings last season but didn't make the team out of training camp this season.

Murray said the changes up front are intended to coax some scoring out of a team that produced only 11 goals in its previous five games and 70 in its first 27 games, the lowest total in the Western Conference. The arrival of Purcell, projected to be a top-six forward, made this the right time to try some new configurations.

"I was thinking of making some changes in the line combinations and in the D pairs anyways," Murray said. "We just need to try to find a way to generate some more offense. ... Just looking through the numbers, I think there should be better numbers from our top two lines."

O'Donnell, 37, was averaging 21 minutes, 18 seconds of ice time per game while partnering with 19-year-old Doughty. Murray had come to realize that was too much -- and that Quincey, one of the most pleasant surprises for the Kings this season -- had earned a chance to play more minutes.

"I just see a difference from the first 15 games, when he was outstanding," Murray said of O'Donnell. "He's still making huge contributions, but there's some situations that have developed over the last few games that I know it's just a matter of having to dig down too deep night after night to get the job done. So this is gonna give him an opportunity to regroup."

Purcell acknowledged that he was upset to be sent to the American Hockey League but then took to heart the suggestions that he should battle harder and more consistently for loose pucks.

"I came with no gear, and I was a little bummed out about that," he said, "and then they tell me I'm playing with Sully and Kopi. You can't really get much better than that. It's a great opportunity for me.

"I've just got to get those guys the puck and get open because they both can make plays."

Derek Armstrong, hit hard into the boards during the Kings' 6-1 loss at Colorado on Tuesday, left this morning's skate early because he didn't feel right. He was scheduled to be examined by team doctors tonight.

"Stuff was happening a little bit too quickly for him out there, so err on the cautious side with that," Murray said, adding that he had not heard anything about the possibility of Armstrong having a concussion.

-- Helene Elliott

Photo: The Ducks' Ken Klee tries to block the Kings' Teddy Purcell from going after the puck in a game in October. Credit: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

What was Colorado Avalanche's Joe Sakic thinking??

We admire and like Colorado Avalanche center Joe Sakic, a stand-up guy and clutch player through the years.

But we have to ask: Joe, since you were already out of the lineup because of a herniated disk in your back, what were you thinking when you tried to clear your driveway and broke three fingers during an unfortunate encounter with a snowblower?

Sakic isn't expected back before March.

-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Colorado Avalanche center Joe Sakic. Credit: David Zalubowski / Associated Press

Kings' Terry Murray: 'We can be a playoff team'

The standings say otherwise -- and so does common sense -- but Kings Coach Terry Murray said Friday that he believes his team can make the playoffs.

That was mildly startling, given the Kings' inability to hold third-period leads against Toronto and Phoenix in the two games they played before facing Columbus on Friday night at Staples Center. And given their lack of depth up the middle -- and erratic scoring, which left them with the fewest goals in the West and five points out of eighth place before Friday's scheduled games.

Murray isn't afraid to say what he thinks, as evidenced by his quote, while coaching the Flyers against the Red Wings in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, that his team was in a "choking situation." Which it was.

Maybe his remarks after Friday's game-day skate were meant as a test to see how his players would react to the bar being set higher than any other Kings team has reached since the 2001-02 season.

They surely didn't pass that test in the losses to the Maple Leafs at  home or to the Coyotes at Phoenix. In the latter game, Murray benched Alexander Frolov for a defensive lapse that helped the Coyotes tie the score, even though Frolov is the team's top goal scorer.

"When I now look at our hockey club after these many games and see how we have played, and (with) 17 one-goal games going into the third period, we are capable of becoming a playoff team this year," he said.

"I didn't know what to expect at the start. With so many new players and young guys that we had in our lineup, you have a group of players, basically. That's all you have, and you're trying