WINNERS & LOSERS

Here are the results of a random, mostly-from-the-gut survey of the winners and losers in the aftermath of Houston’s victory over Los Angeles in the who-gets-to-make-existing-NFL-millionaires-even-richer derby:

BIGGEST WINNER

* The tag team of Al Davis and Nate Holden.

WINNERS

* NFL owners: They made a great short-term decision. They took the money and ran. After years of meetings and posturing and attempts at sincerity, mostly for the sake of TV cameras, they confirmed what has become their true rallying call: SHOW ME THE MONEY! Bob McNair showed them $700 million.

* Bob McNair: He stayed the course while L.A. kept tripping and falling on it. He can ride the streets of Houston on a white horse these days.

* Ed Roski: He also stayed the course, and although he lost this battle, he will be seen as a big winner in these parts in a week or so, when the Staples Center opens and the NFL goes on the back burner for a while.

* Peter O’Malley: This is the man the NFL wanted at its owners’ cocktail parties. He is also the man who was shoved out of the process by Mayor Riordan so the city could curry the favor of Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas for the Staples Center deal. Many in the know felt that, all along, O’Malley was the only unifying hope to getting a team here. Apparently, those in the know knew.

* Mark Ridley-Thomas: He lost the battle and won the war. He really stayed the course, representing--fighting all out for--his Coliseum district constituency, as he was elected to do. In the midst of the most heated moments, when others were crumbling and bickering, Ridley-Thomas was there, preaching the same theme, and believing it.

* R.D. Hubbard: He had an idea, had a site and had the flexibility to keep L.A. alive at the end. He even blew up a hotel to make some space, but the NFL rejected his land, not to mention the big city to his north. His only mistake was letting Marvin Davis use Hollywood Park real estate to kick some tires.

* Phil Anschutz: He took one quick sniff of this situation and didn’t like the odor, dropping out almost immediately. This guy didn’t get to be worth $16 billion by being dumb.

* Los Angeles TV viewers: Those Tampa Bay-Philadelphia telecasts will continue to go only to people from Tampa Bay and Philadelphia.

* Gov. Gray Davis: He stayed the course on using no state funds, and the public, which secretly wanted an NFL team but will now convince itself that the best thing happened, will see Davis as a hero in this.

* Al Davis: The dream of returning remains alive. The Silver and Black may be back.

* Nate Holden: He kept telling us that Al Davis was coming back. Everybody kept laughing. Will Nate get the last laugh?

BIGGEST LOSER

* City of Los Angeles sports fans, who may have to start paying homage to the Davis-Holden tag team and who also may start understanding terms such as “header” and “corner kick.”

LOSERS

* NFL owners: They made a bad long-term decision. The TV ratings in Los Angeles are OK now, but there will be erosion as L.A., feigning indifference these last couple of years, will really embrace it now. This might be the best thing that ever happened to soccer in this country. Check those Coliseum crowds on a Wednesday night.

* Bob McNair: The “Final Fool Theory,” as put forth by a number of tapped-in NFL insiders and media, holds that, in franchise situations like this, the NFL is a master at playing two or more sides against each other until, at the end, somebody steps forth and throws all caution and business sense to the wind and writes the big check the NFL wants. Does $700 million sound like a big check? Does it also sound like a foolish one?

* Ed Roski: This week’s final foray, the last-ditch effort to get the Coliseum back in the picture, was ill-advised. It ended up being perceived mostly as raining on Michael Ovitz’s parade, rather than helping L.A.

* Michael Ovitz: He marketed, spun, created, innovated and led the cheers. He blew whichever way the wind seemed to be blowing best. He led all competitors in best artists’ renderings. His architects beat their architects. His presentation people beat their presentation people. But in the box score, it says Houston won.

* Mayor Riordan: He mostly cared about getting the Staples Center deal done, and although that may have, directly or indirectly, cost Los Angeles an NFL team and brought about the sale of the Dodgers, it could turn out to be the right choice for the city. One thing is clear. With Riordan and the NFL issue, there was no there there.

* Bill Chadwick: He came on the scene, at the behest of Gray Davis, like a Bengal tiger and left, at the behest of everybody involved, like a beaten lamb. Make that eaten lamb.

* Peter O’Malley: He should have dug a foxhole and done battle. You can hear the whispers, fair or not: “If those guys had tried to mess with Walter . . .”

* Eli Broad: Had money, had bravado, had business moxie, seemed to have the desire and interest. Sadly, never learned the secret NFL handshake. So, in the box score, it says Houston won.

* Marvin Davis: Only enhanced his reputation as the world’s leading toe-on-rubber man.

* Paul Tagliabue: Speaking of enhancing reputations, the NFL commissioner may now retire from his job with a legacy of not being able to get the country’s No. 2 market in his league. He could become known as the “Outpost Commissioner,” a man who brought the game to the frontiers of Jacksonville, Nashville and Charlotte.