Text messages from press row ...

You’re reminded anew that time is fleeting when an NBA executive who just landed Shaquille O’Neal calls the move a gamble, albeit “a gamble well worth taking,” as Phoenix Suns General Manager Steve Kerr did Thursday. ...

It’s instructive to note that O’Neal, 35, made numerous references to the Suns’ medical staff during his introductory news conference in Phoenix. ...

He also said he was leaving a doctor’s appointment when he got word of the trade that sent Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat. ...

Quad, hip, knee and ankle injuries have slowed The Diesel. ...

Kerr, by the way, played on five NBA championship teams, three with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls and two with Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs, though he started only 30 times in 910 NBA games. ...

Shaq, of course, played a more prominent role in earning his four rings. ...

An NBA Players Assn. rep, the Toronto Star reports, told the Toronto Raptors that 60% of NBA players go broke within five years of retirement. ...

Shaq won’t be one of them. ...

The ex-Laker is due $40 million over the next two seasons. ...

The average NBA salary, by the way, is nearly $5.4 million. ...

Sam Cassell helped the Clippers to their greatest season two years ago, so why not return the favor by trading the 38-year-old point guard or buying out his contract so he can go play for a contender?

The Clippers can finish last in their division without him. ...

Seeing Donald Sterling’s announcement that the Clippers’ practice facility will open in May, you wonder: Does he realize the season ends in April? ...

It’s not only incredibly annoying but mind-boggling in the Internet age that Channel 9 still tape-delays Lakers telecasts from the East Coast. ...

Del Shofner of San Marino, a former New York Giants wide receiver who also wore No. 85, watched on television at his daughter’s home in Glendora on Sunday when David Tyree pinned an Eli Manning pass to his helmet and made perhaps the most memorable catch in Super Bowl history. ...

Says the 73-year-old Shofner, a five-time All-Pro and favorite target of Giants great Y.A. Tittle, “The guy just made an absolutely fantastic catch, and you couldn’t have asked for a better time or place to make a catch like that.” ...

Shofner, a non-smoker, was a Marlboro Man in the 1960s. ...

Former Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos offensive tackle Gary Zimmerman, elected Saturday to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, played his high school ball at Walnut and later spent two seasons with the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League before moving to the NFL. ...

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young already was in the Hall representing the Express, whose staff included Hall of Fame inductees Tom Fears, Sid Gillman and Mel Renfro. ...

And, reminds publicist Bob Rose, the Express’ first draft pick was Dan Marino, who opted instead for the Miami Dolphins en route to the Hall of Fame. ...

ESPN analyst and former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps is excited that UCLA and Notre Dame are planning to renew their basketball rivalry. ...

Says Phelps, whose Irish ended UCLA’s 88-game winning streak in 1974, “It’s the most historic series in college basketball. Notre Dame-Southern Cal in football was big; Notre Dame-UCLA in basketball was bigger.” ...

Say what? ...

Memorable Sports Illustrated headline: “After 88 Comes Zero.” ...

While introducing Rick Monday for induction this week in the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Vin Scully quipped that his fellow Dodgers broadcaster was the first person enshrined “who could hit the curveball.” ...

Actually, as Scully well remembers, 1998 inductee Don Drysdale was a pretty fair hitter too, batting .300 in 1965 and hitting 29 home runs in his career. ...

The appeal of high school sports: It’s as much a kick to have seen John Elway at Granada Hills High or Reggie Miller at Riverside Poly as to have seen Neil Young at the Roxy or Bruce Springsteen at the Santa Monica Civic. ...

Do yourself a favor and check out the Southern Section and City Section basketball playoffs starting next week.

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