Interesting news release sent out by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. The team had just played what they hope is their last game at the Dodgertown complex in Vero Beach, Fla., where they’ve had spring training since 1948. It was a nostalgic, emotional and, for many, sad time.

The news release primarily was a statement from team owner Frank McCourt and it was titled “DODGERS TO TAKE DODGERTOWN TO L.A.�

The first sentence said: “Dodger owner Frank McCourt said today that the ‘Dodgers will not leave Dodgertown; we will take Dodgertown with us to Los Angeles.’ �

But just what he means by that was very ambiguous. It sounded much more like platitudes and a sense of being and attitude than anything concrete.

A survey I happened to receive recently, however, may shed some light on McCourt’s plans.

This was a survey sent out by the Dodgers, which I received randomly, I presume, because I’ve purchased tickets online. It had many questions, mostly about how I would feel about a large development of stores, restaurants and activities in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. One of the possible names for this development was “Dodgertown.�

“As our family prepares to move from this [Vero Beach] neighborhood,� McCourt said in the statement, “it strikes us that we can incorporate so many elements of this place in our home in Los Angeles. After all, Dodger Stadium is Dodgertown, and for that matter, L.A. is Dodgertown.�

It is obvious that McCourt plans something big for the area surrounding Dodger Stadium (and if you think traffic around the parking lot is a problem now, just wait). It appears from the owner’s statement that McCourt plans to incorporate Dodgertown themes — such as, perhaps, the street signs (“Don Drysdale Drive�) — into whatever he’s planning. And whatever he’s planning appears to be huge.

Over the next four years, the survey said, the team is considering changes for the stadium and the fan experience, including “new amenities and entertainment options.�

The choices on one page of the survey did not say “There may be this� or “We might do that.� They all say “There will be.� Some may be good; some may not:

■ “The outfield will feature batting cages, pitching mounds and other baseball participatory opportunities for fans of all ages.

■ “The Dodgers will offer fans the largest sports shopping arcade in all of baseball — on a private closed street similar to Yawkey Way at Fenway Park and Eutaw Street at Camden Yards — as well as other retail venues.

■ “There will be a dozen new restaurants, sports bars and other dining and drinking options from high end to fast and fun — and all will be open two hours before the game and stay open two hours after the game.

■ “Part of the outfield wall will be opened and fans will be able to stand at the warning track and catch fly balls and collect player autographs. …

■ “There will be a landscaped park that rings the entire stadium with trees, grass, benches and places to walk, sit, relax and picnic.

■ “There will be a state-of-the-art 50,000-square-foot fully interactive Dodgers museum similar to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., with changing exhibits and programs about the Dodgers of today and yesteryear.�

As I said, some of it sounds intriguing and inviting; some of it is worrisome. Those who like Dodger Stadium just the way it is may recoil from the shock. Those who need something more than just baseball to entertain them on a trip to the ballpark may rejoice.

But whether you’re recoiling or rejoicing, it’s clear that Frank McCourt has something enormous planned and that he plans to unveil it all very soon.

The first-round primary games for KCBS (Channel 2) have been selected. USC plays Kansas State at 4:10 p.m. Thursday and UCLA plays Mississippi Valley State at 6:40 p.m. Thursday.

That leaves the Cal State Fullerton-Wisconsin game -- which will be played at almost the same time as the UCLA game -- to go to Orange County station KDOC (Channel 56), which appears on Channel 29 on Time Warner cable systems in Ventura County.

CBS always tries to schedule times to enable regional teams to be shown in their own markets, but Channel 2 said no request was received by Cal State Fullerton. Normally, such a game would have been put on KCAL (Channel 9), which is also owned by CBS, but Channel 9 will be carrying a Lakers game on Thursday night. So an arrangement was worked out with KDOC.

On radio, KLAC (570 AM), which usually carries UCLA games, will also be carrying the Lakers on Thursday, so the game will shift to KTLK (1150 AM). KSPN (710 AM), which is the flagship station for USC, will broadcast the Trojans game. KSPN is also airing other tournament action from the Westwood One network.

The TV and radio schedule for Thursday and Friday follow:

Thursday:
9:25 a.m. NCAA Tournament: Kansas vs. Portland State at Omaha, Neb., KCBS (Ch. 2), KSPN (710 AM)
11:30 a.m. NCAA Tournament: Kentucky vs. Marquette at Honda Center, KCBS (Ch. 2), KSPN (710 AM)
4:10 p.m. NCAA Tournament: USC vs. Kansas State at Omaha, Neb., KCBS (Ch. 2), KSPN (710 AM)
6:40 p.m. NCAA Tournament: UCLA vs. Mississippi Valley State at Honda Center, KCBS (Ch. 2), KTLK (1150 AM), KSPN (710 AM)
6:50 p.m. NCAA Tournament: Cal State Fullerton vs. Wisconsin at Omaha, Neb. KDOC (Ch. 56)

Friday:
9:25 a.m. NCAA Tournament: Gonzaga vs. Davidson at Raleigh, N.C., KCBS (Ch. 2), KSPN (710 AM)
11:50 a.m. NCAA Tournament: San Diego vs. Connecticut at Tampa, Fla., KCBS (Ch. 2), KSPN (710 AM)
4:25 p.m. NCAA Tournament: Oregon vs. Mississippi State at North Little Rock, Ark., KCBS (Ch. 2), KSPN (710 AM)
6:30 p.m. NCAA Tournament: Arkansas vs. Indiana at Raleigh, N.C., KCBS (Ch. 2), KSPN (710 AM)

If you've got HBO, it would be worth checking out one of the upcoming showings of "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel." There is something good in every segment of the show.

The review copy sent to me didn't have the feature, however, that I most wanted to see, the profile on Lenny Dykstra, who HBO's news release called "the business world's most unlikely mogul." Dykstra, who runs a large car wash/auto repair outfit in Simi Valley, has become quite an investment guru and stock columnist for TheStreet.com.

What I did see was very good. First, the feature on Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl, who has made men's basketball every bit a hot ticket as coach Pat Summitt's women's team. Summitt is interviewed by Andrea Kremer. While you've seen Pearl interviewed a lot lately, especially by ESPN, Kremer brings out elements that have been underplayed.

One is how Pearl blew the whistle on an Illinois recruiting scandal while he was still a lowly assistant at another school. Dick Vitale berated Pearl after that, saying Pearl had committed "coaching suicide." It took Pearl a long time to work back through the ranks in Division II before he finally worked his way up to Tennessee.

Another is that Pearl is the first Jewish coach Tennessee has ever had. Pearl wears his faith, as he says, "on his sleeve," and there is footage of the coach taking his team on a tour of a Nazi concentration camp during a trip to Eastern Europe.

Another segment is on Mike Marshall, the former Dodgers relief pitcher who has a doctorate in kinesiology. He is trying to promote a different kind of pitching motion that he says eliminates pitching-related arm injuries. But Marshall has received nothing but silence from major league pitching coaches and general managers.

The last segment is on Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer, who recently earned her 800th career victory. I didn't get a chance to see this segment (my DVD flooped out on me; if I get a chance to see it, I'll issue an addendum). But Stringer certainly deserves respect among her peers and among fans.

One thing that was impressive when Stringer won her 800th was that no wire story I saw stooped to mention the run-in her Rutgers team had last season with talk show host Don Imus. That whole incident was completely unsavory and certainly had no place in defining Stringer's career.

It's difficult to grasp how deeply some NFL fans have been affected by the news Tuesday of Brett Favre's retirement.

I heard grown men crying Tuesday on "The Dan Patrick Show." I heard a teacher tell Chris Myers and Sean Farnham on Fox Sports Radio how every Monday during the football season she devises a math or English problem based on Favre's game the day before.

Of course, these people knew Favre would retire someday. For crying out loud, he danced around retirement every offseason. He was accused of holding the Green Bay Packers hostage once or twice as he tried to decide whether he would come back for one more season or not and they held off on making draft decisions.

But now that Favre has finally decided he's done, people are truly shaken.

Why? Probably because of the way he played. The word "gunslinger" has been used several times not only Tuesday but all during the 2007 season to describe Favre's style of play. He took chances; that much is evidenced by the record number of interceptions he threw during his career (288). But he was also successful, as made clear by the record number of touchdown passes he made (442).

Favre wasn't the cookie-cutter Quarterback Club-type of signal-caller so prevalent in the NFL. He wasn't like Tom Brady or Carson Palmer. He wasn't like Joe Montana or Roger Staubach either. He was much more like you and me. He was plain folk, right out of south Mississippi. My dad was from the same area, so I know: You can't get any plainer than that.

Favre always did his job, setting a record for consecutive starts (253). He played in pain, not only physical — including probably one entire season with a broken thumb — but also emotional when his wife was battling breast cancer and when his brother-in-law and father died.

In the case of his wife, Favre was ready to retire right there and then to support her. When his father died — on Dec. 21, 2003, the day before a Monday night game against Oakland — he went ahead and played anyway. The Packers won the game and Favre won a nationful of hearts.

That night was full of sorrow, but Favre's biggest contribution to the game of football was joy. In fact, the most lasting image from Brett Favre's career will likely be the jumping for joy he did after nearly every touchdown pass he threw; the way he would hoist his receivers over his shoulder after a scoring catch was a unique celebration. Even opposing fans had to appreciate that.

Brett Favre's last pass was an interception, in the NFC Championship Game to the New York Giants. That last game was not the way a quarterback wants to close out his career, so many thought Favre would be back in 2008.

But last season's surprising 13-3 record was a great closing act, and Favre decided to seize upon it and make it his final statement in a career that was full of class, joy and legendary ability.