EDITORIAL : GOOD RIDDANCE.

OK, football fans, Wednesday was a sad day for Los Angeles. The news that Houston had bought the National Football League's 32nd franchise for a mere $700 million was disheartening, but, let's face it, life goes on.

Los Angeles needs a professional football team like it needs more potholes, which is what it would have gotten had the city or state shelled out public funds to seduce the NFL.

We applaud the city and state officials who stood up to the greedy NFL owners and refused to turn over the treasury to the league, even though City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas tried to give away about $100 million in football-related taxes.

Houston is kicking in $195 million in public money to help build a $310 million stadium with retractable roof. That makes the Houston bid worth more than $1 billion. That pales in comparison to California's offer to help foot the bill for parking lots.

In the end, Houston wanted it more. They live and breathe two things: oil and football. And oil pays for football. Out here the smog situation is getting better so our priorities aren't obscured.

Football fever, sports fans, just never caught on in L.A.

Radio stations started the cheerleading effort but even that lost steam early.

Not even Michael Ovitz, the superrich supersalesman, could persuade city residents into rooting for a team.

Ed Roski and Eli Broad ought to be bitter at the NFL for promising to place a team in the Coliseum, where they owned the rights, then sandbagging them in favor of Ovitz and Hollywood Park.

Ridley-Thomas ought to be hopping mad for being played the fool. The NFL threw passes his way, just out of his reach, as if he was a rookie cornerback with a sprained ankle trying to cover Jerry Rice in his prime.

But Ridley-Thomas is biting his tongue. He knows he's got the political rights to the only venue in town, as long as Ovitz passes, as anticipated, on the Hollywood Park option later this week.

But all is not lost.

Los Angeles may get a pro football team one of these days if an existing team decides to relocate.

So let's huddle up and count the tax dollars we are saving while we can watch four games on Sundays on CBS, FOX and ESPN. The NFL may one day regret taking the quick cash route and rebuffing the nation's second-largest TV market. But let the owners figure that out when the current billion-dollar TV contracts expire.

Until then, we'll take our public funds and put them to good use. And on Sunday maybe we'll go surfing or in-line skating, while we wait for Al Davis' Raiders or Bill Bidwell's Arizona Cardinals to move into the Coliseum.