Morning briefing

Tryout with an unusual signup sheet

Amazing what love, devotion and a whole lot of nagging can accomplish.

Patty Rodriguez has successfully petitioned Chivas USA to give boyfriend Mike Munoz a tryout with the Major League Soccer team.

After a season on the Chivas developmental squad, Munoz, who starred at Los Alamitos High, injured his ankle and ended up on a minor league team in San Francisco.

But Rodriguez wouldn’t stand for a long-distance romance. She obtained more than 1,000 signatures on the website gopetition.com and learned this week that Munoz will be given a December tryout.

Chivas USA co-owner Antonio Cue confirmed the news Monday morning on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show, and even invited Rodriguez to be a cheerleader for a week. She will appear at a team rally in Lynwood on Thursday night.

Trivia time

Which defensive linemen composed the L.A. Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome” in the 1960s?

Fleeting fame

It was a magical run to the World Series by the Colorado Rockies -- until they were swept aside by the Boston Red Sox -- but will it leave a lasting impression on baseball fans?

Writes Bernie Lincicome in the Rocky Mountain News: “They came out of nowhere, did the Rockies, and so shall they return, a brief footnote, not too unlike their manager once upon a time, a momentary curiosity, intruding on the world like the Macarena or Tickle Me Elmo.”

October sweeps

At least the Rockies have company. There have now been three sweeps and one five-game series in the last four seasons, making the World Series perhaps the most anticlimactic major sporting event.

Brit on the bandwagon

The first NFL regular-season game on foreign soil has been played and, suddenly, poking fun at the still-winless Miami Dolphins is an international pastime.

Wrote Tom Lutz in the London Guardian, after the Giants’ 13-10 triumph on Sunday at Wembley Stadium:

“Some Dolphins fans have complained that they’ve been deprived of a home game, but judging by their teams’ inept performance, the NFL has done them a favor.”

Appropriate title

The movie enjoyed by the Dolphins on their long flight across the pond, according to the Miami Herald: “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

Curbed enthusiasm

ESPN Magazine has given NBA teams a “curb appeal,” or excitement ranking, from 1 to 5.

Three received 5s: Phoenix, Dallas and Golden State. Four received 1s: Indiana, Minnesota, Sacramento and -- you guessed it -- the Clippers.

The Lakers received a 2.

You might also add the World Series to the bottom of that list, along with the UCLA and USC football teams.

Apples and oranges

Boxing is often referred to as the sweet science, because of the polish and refinement among the sport’s top fighters.

Now Men’s Journal has come up with an equally appropriate term for mixed martial arts, specifically the Ultimate Fighting Championship series: human cockfighting.

Trivia answer

Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier, Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones.

And finally

Tony Siragusa, a Fox NFL reporter, to USA Today on what it’s like to stand 6 feet 4 and weigh 340 pounds in London:

“I’m lying in bed and my feet are hanging two feet over. In showers, I have one leg out. Everything here is, like, miniature. I’m in Wonka land.”

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