It’s Sunday, and once again thoughts (and TVs) turn to the quick and the bulky playing pro football. If you’re one of those nostalgic for the days when LA had the Rams and/or the Raiders, and you’re pining for a new pro team, there’s bad news in this morning’s Daily News.

Los Angeles officials have refused to talk about it, but the NFL flat out told them three months ago that a professional football team will not be coming to the Coliseum, the Daily News has learned.According to letters obtained by the Daily News, the city’s latest hope of luring an NFL team involved pleading for Los Angeles to host a Super Bowl to try to regenerate interest in moving a team to the city.

It seems “league owners think the “economic risks” are too great to commit $1 billion to renovate the Coliseum.”

If that news makes you want to console yourself with the belief that professional baseball is a somehow purer and nobler sport– which, in addition to being the national pastime, is readily available within a reasonable driving distance– you’ll want to avoid today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

The Chronicle reports that “Paul Byrd, the veteran pitcher who has helped the Cleveland Indians reach the brink of the World Series, bought nearly $25,000 worth of human growth hormone and syringes from a Florida anti-aging clinic that was targeted by law enforcement for illegally distributing performance-enhancing drugs”. Still, the credit card receipts for the hormones, etc., only run from 2003 to the beginning of 2005, so maybe he’s clean and growing normally now. Both Byrd and the Indians are in “no comment” mode.

Tags: human growth hormone, Sports, stadiums