As usual, the tyranny of space limitations kept some good material out of Friday's column about retiring Associated Press sportswriter John Nadel.
Four specifc stories he mentioned in our conversation were the initial story when he broke the news that Magic Johnson would be retiring with HIV, and three examples of particularly wild turns of events: Kobe Bryant's 81-point game against Toronto, and two Dodger games.
I was unable to find the original Magic Johnson story on line -- 1991 is just a little too soon for extensive internet archiving -- but as for the other three, here are Nadel's memories, and the stories he wrote:

"I remember the ninth inning of a game, the Dodger and the Cardinals. The Cardinals were ahead 2-1 in the ninth, and all of a sudden, the fans started throwing these souvenir baseballs on the field. And the game was forfeited, I think with two outs and nobody on in the ninth inning.
"That was bizarre. I haven't thought about that one in hears, but that was like, Holy cow, what did you say? Who's ever heard of a forfeit?"
That was on Aug. 10, 1995. You can find a copy of Nadel's story on the game here.

Another memorable game was the Sept. 18, 2006 game that saw the Dodgers hit four straight homers in rallying to beat San Diego 11-10 in 10 innings:
"That was a mind-blower. The Padres were ahead 9-5 in the bottom of the ninth, and it was a huge game -- they were tied for first place or whatever [the win put the Dodgers back in first] -- and I remember someone hit a two-run single in the top of the ninth to make it a four-run lead. And so (San Diego closer Trevor) Hoffman did not start the bottom of the ninght, because it wasn't a save situation.
"At that oint, most of the people in the press box, if you're a journalist, who do we cheer for? We cheer for whatever makes our circumstance easier and more palatable, right? In the ninth inning, I'm a fan of whoever's ahead.
"So I remember Hoffman didn't start the bottom of the ninth, and I was kind of going, 'Oh, man.' You never know, of course. But then the guy who started the bottom of the ninth gave up two successive home runs, and Hoffman comes in and it's 9-7, and he gives up two more. And then the Padres score in the top of the 10th, and Nomar hits a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th. Pretty crazy stuff.
"So I'm late down to the clubhouse, for obvious reasons, and I ran into Brett Tomko, and he was muttering about the most amazing game he'd ever seen. And I actually used that quote in the story. Sometimes you never know what you get."
Nadel's story from that game is here.

The 81-point game is pretty memorable for all of us who were there.
"When he kept scoring points, I kept thinking, 'Oh, man. This is getting to be a huge story.' And you don't know how many points he's going to score until the game ends, and then you've got to rush it out as fas as you can. That's my job. And then when it's all said and done, it's like, then you can appreciate what you've seen -- having been a part of it and hopefully having done a decent job of reporting it. ...
"The Kobe 81 was really a trip. And when it was all said and done, I did feel pretty good about that."
That story is here.

Nadel has done some great work. And he's been a great guy to be around. We're going to miss him in the press boxes and work rooms of L.A.