Did Heisler scoop the Times on Marinovich?

Less of a scoop than a little tweak to the nose, maybe. A bit over a month since Mark Heisler was excused as the Los Angeles Times' NBA columnist, his byline showed up last week on a story in the New York Times on Mikhail Marinovich. He's the last football-playing son of former USC star and high-profile dad Marv Marinovich, and Mikhail's trip with Syracuse to play the Trojans at the Coliseum this past weekend was feature worthy in the national sports world. Heisler's story for the East Coast Times (carrying a Los Angeles dateline) ran a few days before today's Column One by David Wharton in the West Coast Times, which waited in classic LAT fashion to do the story after the Marinovich clan gathered to watch the game.

It was Heisler's first byline in the NYT since being laid-off by the LAT. No word on whether it's a regular gig.

Photo of Mikhail Marinovich