Oh, it’s a sad day in America, readers. The California Angels (sadly re-named the Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim, one of the stupidest things ever done in modern sports) have lost their chance to return to the World Series this year. The Chicago White Sox beat the Angels last night, 6-3.

We (who grew up in Orange County, Calif.) can barely find the strength to go on, but we’ll sure try. Here goes:

• It’s on!

Although some (residents of Fantasyland) may have thought that Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson would have been scared out of the race for governor by his own accumulation of baggage and the near constant attacks by Democratic front-runner state Sen. Dina Titus, it is not to be. The Gibson camp sent us a news release today setting the time and place for a series of campaign announcements on Thursday.

Gibson will kick off his run at 7:30 a.m. at the Great Basin College Solarium in Elko, then move at 11:30 a.m. to the west island of Wingfield Park in downtown Reno, finally wrapping things up at 4 p.m. at the Henderson Pavilion in his hometown of Henderson.

“I am looking forward to sharing my vision with people throughout this great state,” Gibson said in his news release. “As a fifth-generation Nevadan, I care very deeply about our future and I’m excited about our campaign.”

And we at Various Things & Stuff are also looking forward to Gibson sharing his vision with people throughout this great state, especially us media types. Up to now, he’s declined to answer questions about any of the issues facing the state, which has made us wonder if he just didn’t know the answers, or was studying up to find the right ones.

All will be revealed at 4 p.m. Thursday.

• The Tennis Channel wants to bring its ATP Tour to Las Vegas, to the brand-new (and very nice, we hear) Amanda and Stacy Darling Memorial Tennis Center on Washington Avenue. Good for us!

Oh, wait, not so good. It seems the Tennis Channel wants Las Vegas to pony up $1.6 million for the privilege over the next two years. The first $800,000 is being underwritten by Las Vegas Events (a subsidiary of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority), to the tune of $500,000, and city taxpayers, to the tune of $300,000 in cash or in-kind services.

But next year’s $800,000 is in doubt, and on Wednesday, the City Council is planning to divert $800,000 it had planed for a softball center complex to the tennis accounts, just in case Las Vegas Events doesn’t come with the cash next year.

“It’s a gamble on the city’s part. We roll the dice,” Mayor Oscar Goodman told the Review-Journal. Gee, gambling is so much fun when you get to use other people’s money!

Although the convention authority trotted out its usual projections — 2,000 visitors who will drop $2.2 million in non-gaming revenue — one thing is undeniable. The city is still planning to take money provided by taxpayers who want a softball complex and hand it over to the producers of a tennis match, all to get a little face time on TV.

This really is the Goodman Era, isn’t it?

• Quotable, Part 1: “Do we really want a fire department shrunk down to the size of a bathtub? Anyone who’s looked at it will see it’s shortsighted. People on the far right just want to starve government without funding essential services.” — Paul Brown of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, calling it correct on Assemblywoman Sharron Angle’s War on Cops, Firefighters, Teachers and Nurses Initiative, otherwise known as Nevada’s Prop. 13. (The initiative would cap property taxes and limit growth to the rate of inflation or 2 percent per year, whichever is less.) (Quoted in the Review-Journal.)

• Quotable, Part 2: “I was walking home from this very opulent, lavish party [former President Ronald Reagan's 1981 inaugural ball] and I was literally stepping over homeless people on the way to my dorm. It was a turning point. It made me realize I was batting for the wrong team.” — Bob Fulkerson, co-founder of PLAN, on how he became a progressive. (Quoted in the R-J.)

What’s really going on with the Judith Miller/New York Times/CIA leak case? The Times had some extensive coverage on the matter this weekend, which we at Various Things & Stuff analyze on our other blog, Under A Naked Bulb. Check it out when you get time, but hurry, since Miller’s expected in town this week for the Society of Profesisonal Journalists conference at the Aladdin.