Is the Ship of State Iceberg-Bound?

Steven Arthur spotted a sale of board games that caused him to wonder if the company was saying that the White House would “go down as quickly as the Titanic did” (see accompanying).

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DON’T CRY FOR ME, L.A.: In a ranking of the “saddest sports cities,” Cleveland was No. 1, San Diego was No. 2 and “L.A. / Anaheim” was No. 4, according to Sport magazine. The ratings were based on such factors as the number of years between championships for the cities and the number of pro teams in each.

L.A.’s last championships were the Dodger World Series victory of 1988 and the Lakers’ NBA championship that same year. Sad, but true. But still, how heartbreaking can it be here when Al Davis and the Raiders are gone?

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IMAGE ISN’T EVERYTHING: Kevin Wilcox of Signal Hill received a letter from a life insurance company in Austin, Texas--based on Slaughter Lane.

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TALKING POINT: Making his debut on KRLA-AM (1110), Michael Jackson declared: “My aim is to make this the station of record in L.A.” Tom Bratter of West L.A. complimented Jackson on the pun, inasmuch as KRLA, a former oldies outlet, had “stopped being a station of records in order to take on his and other talk shows.”

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THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES, BODY: When Minnesota Gov. Jesse “the Political Body” Ventura wound up his inaugural speech, he exclaimed, “Whooya!” Which prompted Jeff Bliss of Newbury Park to recall that “Whooya!” used to be a sort of motto for the old rock station KMET-FM (94.7). “Bit of L.A. creeps into everything,” Bliss noted.

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: On Jan. 7, 1947, The Times reported that Truman B. Carl, a city employee, “today rounded out 27 consecutive years of coffee drinking from the same oversized china cup. Carl, who handles the cup with extraordinary care, said he dropped it 10 years ago and broke off the handle.” (OK, it was a slow news day on Jan. 7, 1947.)

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DUELING ARROWS: Jim Barton found a set of signs in a Pasadena parking lot that would confuse a Caltech grad (see photo).

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SPEAKING OF PARKING: The other day, I told the story of a motorist who received a parking ticket at 1:48 Christmas morning and reacted by saying, “What Christmas spirit from the guys and gals who ‘protect and serve.’ ”

A couple of police officers phoned to say that “protect and serve” is the motto of the LAPD, while parking tickets are dispensed by the city Department of Transportation.

“Give credit where credit’s due,” one cop said, with a touch of irony. Will do. And while I’m at it, I’m willing to take suggestions from my trusty readers on what the motto of the Parking Enforcement Bureau should be. All I can think of is: “Snoop and . . . Whooya!”

miscelLAny:

Adding to our “Duh!” files, Jenise Plourde of Venice bought a fire log that came with this warning: “CAUTION--RISK OF FIRE.”