THE WRITING ON (AND OFF) THE WALL : GET READY FOR THE WORST.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

You knew this was coming. So bring it on.

We're taking nominations for our own annoying millennium sports project: The 100 worst athletes of the 20th century.

Early candidates include: Eddie ``The Eagle'' Edwards, Jack Haley, Chuck Nevett, Buster Douglas, Peter McNeeley, Butterbean, Brian Bosworth, Mel Rojas, Herb Washington (remember the Oakland A's one-time designated runner?), Bob Uecker, Marv Thornberry, Mario Mendoza and the entire 1997 Clippers roster.

No golfers, bowlers or dart throwers will be accepted, for obvious reasons. . . .

Former Kings owner Bruce McNall has been in solitary confinement the last four months in the Lompoc pen for abusing his phone privileges and failing to rat-out a prison guard who assisted him. . . .

John Elway's first big post-retirement endorsement is from a Denver-based jewelry store. It's a trade-for-merchandise deal - which Janet Elway fully endorses as well. . . .

What could L.A.'s Arena Football League Avengers possibly be avenging before they even play their first game? . . .

The latest promotions we're fighting to support are the local sporting events that stage a live boxing card. Saturday at Los Alamitos, it's ``Rumble at the Races'' with the scheduled pugilism taking place a half-hour before the night's first harness race. It's happened at Del Mar last summer as well. And on July 18, ``Showdown at Mo Town'' features six pro fights starting three hours before the Angels-San Diego Padres game at 5 p.m., specifically aimed at drawing more Latinos to the game.

The Dodgers ought to consider this, too. How about some sort of Jackie Chan-Ho-Park kickboxing exhibition followed by a Carlos Perez water-cooler Samuri demolition show? . . .

If the U.S. women's national soccer team wins the World Cup, each player gets a bonus of $12,500 on top of $2,500 for making the team. The U.S. men who finished last in France a year ago received $20,000 just for making the team. . . .

Valerie Still, a former ABA player who was passed up in the recent WNBA draft because she has been outspoken against the league, wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece recently, ``I still believe the WNBA was trying to hide the fact that a majority of the players in women's professional basketball are homosexual by selectively marketing heterosexual players. And I said so. Why must these players have to hide who they really are?'' . . .

The NBA will probably avoid scheduling games on Dec. 31, 1999 or on Jan. 1 or 2, 2000 because of the Y2K scare. That, and the scare that Dennis Rodman will stumble into one of their games naked in a New Year's Eve stupor. . . .

ESPN The Store in Glendale and Torrance have Rodman No. 73 Lakers jerseys out on the racks. Just $44. . . .

Our local Toys R Us also had a Katarina Witt ``Stars On Ice'' Barbie-like doll on the sale-item shelf going for three bucks. And that's including her skating outfit. . . .

And yes, we do watch in horror as Steve Garvey pitches on that infomercial for stuff called ``Exercise in a Bottle'' and ``Fat Thrasher.'' That's not how he developed those forearms, ladies and gentlemen. . . .

The NCAA recently said it supports a ban on betting on college sporting events and has renewed its call for media outlets to stop publishing point spreads on college games. Except the odds of either of those two things happening are pretty darn slim.