Text messages from press row ...

It’s not only the scoring, the rebounding, the passing and the joie de vivre in Kevin Love’s early season play that have caused former UCLA great Bill Walton to sit up and take notice of the heralded Bruins freshman. . . .

It’s also the beard. . . .

Notes Walton, who famously and unsuccessfully rebelled against John Wooden’s restrictions in the early 1970s, “They certainly have changed the facial-hair regulations since the days that I played there.” . . .

Not that Walton has a gripe with UCLA Coach Ben Howland. . . .

Says the ESPN analyst, “The alumni are extremely pleased with the direction and the accomplishments and the success of the UCLA basketball program. It’s so much fun to watch the team play with exuberance and passion. We’re extremely excited now that order has been restored in the universe.” . . .

Karl Dorrell could only dream of such an endorsement. . . .

BTW, the hyperbolic Walton is scheduled to introduce Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Sunday in Kansas City when the former UCLA and Lakers center is enshrined in the NABC Hall of Fame but says that organizers have asked Walton to limit his comments to no more than 2 1/2 minutes in length. . . .

“Somehow,” Walton says, “that e-mail got misplaced.” . . .

Among the others who will be enshrined Sunday is Dick “Fallback Baby” Barnett, a former Lakers and Knicks guard who led Tennessee State to three consecutive NAIA championships in the 1950s and was a three-time All-American. . . .

Where he’ll play next season -- and whether any team is going to be willing to sign him -- suddenly seems like the least of Barry Bonds’ worries. . . .

Headline in the New York Post: “A-Rod Crawls Back.” . . .

The Angels still have K-Rod, but it’s just not the same. . . .

College football fans who also enjoy wildly expressive, over-the-top 1950s rock icons are in for a treat if they attend Thursday night’s Pacific 10 Conference showdown between USC and Arizona State at Tempe, Ariz. . . .

Little Richard is scheduled to perform at halftime, though his agent says this will “absolutely not” be his “final public performance,” as ASU is touting it. . . .

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who ran for five touchdowns Saturday in a 51-31 victory over South Carolina, has scored 19 rushing touchdowns, eight more than UCLA has scored and two more than USC. . . .

Reggie Bush of the New Orleans Saints plays at Houston on Sunday for the first time since the Texans passed on the former USC star to make defensive end Mario Williams of North Carolina State the No. 1 pick in the 2006 NFL draft. . . .

Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans, a Houston native and the No. 3 pick in that draft, ran and passed for more than 300 yards in his Houston pro debut last December, scoring on a 39-yard run to give the Titans a 26-20 overtime victory. . . .

Stephon Marbury and Isiah Thomas deserve one another. . . .

The unbeaten Boston Celtics, who play the Lakers next Friday at Boston, have outscored their first seven opponents by more than 17 points a game, with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all averaging more than 20. . . .

The 2003-04 Lakers of Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton started 5-2, albeit in a more difficult Western Conference, then won 13 of 14 before injuries and the Detroit Pistons derailed their title hopes. . . .

Does anyone miss Smush Parker? . . .

In six games with the worst-in-the-East Miami Heat, the former Lakers guard has averaged 4.7 points and made only 28.2% of his shots. . . .

Producer Don Franken reports that Marco Antonio Barrera, who won world boxing championships in four divisions, will play himself in “Chamaco,” a film starring Martin Sheen that begins production Monday in Mexico City. . . .

If series leader Jimmie Johnson were to win Sunday’s NASCAR season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he has never won, he would become the first Nextel Cup driver to win five consecutive races since 1971, when Richard Petty won five in a row about a month after Bobby Allison did. . . .

Allison, by the way, ended Petty’s streak, then Petty ended Allison’s. . . .

In 1967, Petty won 10 in a row. . . .

The late, great Allan Malamud, whose breezy “Notes on a Scorecard” column was a favorite among L.A. readers for more than 20 years and served as the blueprint for “Text Messages From Press Row,” would have turned 65 next Monday. . . .

Malamud, a bit actor, had credited roles in nine films, among them “Raging Bull” and “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” according to the Internet Movie Database. . . .

He died Sept. 16, 1996.

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