It wouldn’t be a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim playoff without a little flap over city pride, would it? An aide to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg tweaked Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle in the N.Y. Daily News for declining to make a friendly wager on the Yankees-Angels American League Championship Series. Apparently there was a communication breakdown—Pringle’s office didn’t like the idea of the losing mayor having to record a message. By the time Anaheim counter offered, Bloomberg’s people said “fuggedaboutit.” It could have gotten uglier: Bloomberg spokesman Andrew Brent told the Insider that after Anaheim’s initial rejection he contacted—what else?—the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Brent says the L.A. people responded positively to a wager but by then, as with Anaheim, New York said “fuggedaboutit.” However, Brent and Pringle said there would be an Anaheim-NYC wager if the series reached a seventh game, a possibility as of Friday …
ESPN.com’s Jim Caple quipped that umpire Tim McClelland’s blown calls in Game 4 were “the worst umpiring performance at an Angels game since Leslie Nielsen in ‘The Naked Gun’” …
Speaking of Nielsen, New York audience numbers for telecasts of the first three Yankees-Angels games were roughly double those in the L.A. market—and no wonder, given the early (lousy) start times on the West Coast …
Law firm Greenberg Traurig has lured another name to its Irvine office—Wayne Gross, who moves from Snell & Wilmer …
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi keynotes the OC Democratic Party’s Truman Awards dinner Dec. 4, location TBA …
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is expected to announce her candidacy for Democrat Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat Nov. 4 when she appears at Earth Friendly Products, maker of household cleaners, in Garden Grove. Another Republican, OC Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, already has declared …
Chapman U honors leggy legend Mitzi Gaynor at this year’s American Celebration Nov. 4. Reflecting the hard times, the fundraising goal is $1.5 million, below the $2 million-plus raised for scholarships each of the past two years. The student-show theme is the Great Depression. (The Insider would like to see Prez Jim Doti cast as Charlie Chaplin’s famous Little Tramp character) …
Forty-five is the number for Children’s Hospital of OC: It is one of 45 freestanding children’s hospitals in the U.S. and this is its 45th anniversary. And XIII is the number of the next CHOC Follies, April 1 to 3 at Orange Coast College. For those with talent (or a fat wallet or named Mickadeit), auditions are Sunday and Nov. 4 at the Island Hotel. More info at (714) 532-8690.
