Sorted by date Results 1051 - 1075 of 1840
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Magic Johnson is returning to the Lakers as an advisor to top executive Jeanie Buss. The announcement was made on Thursday and Johnson's duties will include meeting with coaches, evaluating the team's roster and advising on all player and business decisions. Johnson's success as a player and a businessman is likely to result in highly favorable publicity for the Lakers, who are on the verge of failing to make The NBA playoffs for a fifth straight season. But his...
File it away as a mercy killing. The pain and misery of the 2016 season finally came to an end for the Los Angeles Rams as they were summarily trounced by the Arizona Cardinals, 44-6, on New Year's Day 2017 in the L.A. Coliseum. "Our goal was to start out 2017 with a win and a little bit better vibe. Clearly that didn't happen... as far as the actual offense, defense and special teams just didn't get it done," said interim head coach John Fassel, winless in his three games at the helm following...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor We all have to get used to this. After 20 years without an NFL team we now have two of them. And neither one has a recent history of making the playoffs. Well, if you settle down and keep reading I’d like to tell you a few things about L.A.’s own Rams and Chargers. First, I’d like to tell you that The Observer has an excellent journalist. Fred Altieri, who covers Culver City High sports and this season added Rams coverage to his duties for the paper. I’m so plea...
Dihigi Gladney Interview - Part 1 In Autumn 2015 Dihigi Gladney was blessed by the horse gods. He was employed by trainer Art Sherman as the exercise rider for California Chrome, one of the world's great athletes over the past four years. The celebrated thoroughbred with cult status is preparing for this Satuday's inaugural running of The Pegasus Cup at Gulfstream Park, Florida. This is part one in a short series with Dihigi Gladney as he gives his final thoughts on working with California...
By Fred Altieri Sports Reporter The road to success is a hard drive. The Culver City High girls basketball team over several seasons had won its last 50 of 51 Ocean League games after defeating El Segundo, 53-42, in the 2016-17 league home-opener at Del Goodyear Gymnasium on Wednesday, January 11. Two days later on Friday the 13th the Centaurs lost for only the second time in the past six seasons by getting roughed up at Lawndale High, 45-38. That leaves them tied for third in league play at...
Leaving on a jet plane, won't be back again. Oh Babe, please don't go. Suddenly it was over. Just like that. Yet, for Southern California horse racing fans it was the ride of a lifetime. "Chrome will fly to Florida on Friday, January 6. We'll train him up to The Pegasus. He'll be staying at Gulfstream Park. We'll get a couple of workouts with him over at the track. A day or two after the race he'll get on a plane to go to Lexington. He'll likely never be back in Southern California. He's going...
I love college football. Always have. The NFL is great too, but I favor the unpredictable college games with less experienced players often surprising us. A year ago Alabama gave coach Lou Saban his fourth national championship. On Monday night Alabama was one second away from winning again but Clemson scored and prevailed for its first national championship in 35 years. A 45-40 loss last year. A 35-31 victory this time. The Clemson coach, Dabo Sweeney played on Alabama’s 1992 championship t...
Tiger is back. Tiger Woods is back in Los Angeles and taking charge of the PGA Tours' 2017 Genesis Open from February 13-19 at the celebrated Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades. The official announcement was made on Monday, January 23 in the Grand Ballroom of the preeminent golf and tennis club. "It is truly an honor to be back here and to come back to southern California again and to basically where I started playing professional golf," began Tiger. "For me personally, I'll never forget...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor First it was Blake Griffin with knee surgery. Then it was Chris Paul with a hamstring injury. Then J.J. Redic, also with a hamstring problem. “Something good is going to come out of this,” said Coach Doc Rivers. “Maybe a lineup I didn’t expect to click.” So far the Clippers have lost to Dallas the night after a healthier Clipper team beat San Antonio. Then the Clippers lost to the Lakers and Denver. This is serious because the Clippers are heading out of elite...
By Fred Altieri Sports Reporter It's not a bad losing streak anymore... it's more like the plague. Thankfully for the Los Angeles Rams and their faithful there's only one game remaining in the 2016 season. Their on-field performance has been a literal disaster in sharp contrast to the organization's success in re-establishing its local roots during the past year. The Rams elevated the art of losing to a whole new level on Christmas Eve. The much-maligned San Francisco 49ers, under besieged...
Pac-12 basketball for men and women started this week and if the game between UCLA and Oregon men is any indication this season is going to be a great one. Eleven on the 12 men’s teams have winning records and the one team that is below .500, Oregon State is also a solid team. No. 21 Oregon men beat No. 2 UCLA 89-87 on a last second three point shot by Dillion Brooks last Wednesday to drop the Bruins to 13-1 and 0-1 in Pac-12 play. The game was played in front of a sellout crowd of 12,364 in E...
When the USC football team started the 2016 season with a 52-6 lost to Alabama on September 3, in Arlington, Texas a lot of people brushed it off because Alabama was the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. The next week the Trojans beat Utah State 45-7 but Utah State is not one of the better teams in the nation. USC started their Pac-12 season on September 17 against Stanford and September 23 against Utah. The Trojans lost both of those games and the talk around the USC campus was the Trojans...
Golden State is the runaway leader in the Western Conference. The coveted No. 2 and 3 seeds seemed to be open when Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City this season and Tim Duncan retired from San Antonio. The Clippers' hopes of claiming one of those spots were somewhat diminished when it was announced this week that Blake Griffin will miss three to six weeks following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Griffin has struggled with the injury since the season began but has managed to compile...
Last week San Diego City Council offered the Chargers a rental fee of $1 if the team would continue playing in Qualcom Stadium. They asked the Chargers to consider that they have 60 years of tradition in their fine city. Most likely the Chargers will deny the offer and move to Los Angeles, joining the Rams in the new stadium being built in Inglewood, ‘We have tried through seven mayors. It is very sad that we’ve reached this point,” the Chargers announced to the media. How will it work to have...
The post-Jeff Fisher era began with a whimper. The Los Angeles Rams under John Fassel's first game as interim head coach lost for the ninth time in the last ten games. The Seattle Seahawks clinched the NFC West Division as the visiting Rams were held to a mere field goal in the 24-3 loss on Thursday Night Football. "Obviously, there was probably, same old story... some missed opportunities, whether it's throwing the ball, catching the ball, faking the punt, getting the goal-line stop, the...
There are 42 college football bowls games this year and next year that will include 84 teams. Every game has special events leading up to the game that makes that particular one stand out and make players, coaches and fans want to visit that city a little more than others. When it comes to special events Lawry’s Beef Bowl is the golden standard. Now in its’ 61th year, the Beef Bowl rivals Disneyland as one of the highlights for the two teams who play in the Rose Bowl. This year 11-2 Penn Sta...
The Trojans and Bruins men's basketball teams are having dream seasons so far this year but the coaches realize college basketball has a lot of parity around the country. On any given day a team can play one of their best games and beat you. But so far this season both teams are unbeaten. The Bruins are 13-0 and ranked No. 2 in the nation and at press time the Trojans are 10-0 and ranked No. 24 and both teams are enjoying being in the national spotlight. "I am having a lot of fun coaching and...
Bernard Hopkins, 51, the future hall-of-fame boxer with an illustrious professional career spanning four decades left the ring for the very last time in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately on Saturday night, December 17, it wasn't the kind of spectacular he and his fans had dreamt about. Rising contender Joe Smith, 27, stunned a partisan and packed crowd at The Forum in Inglewood when he delivered a combination that sent Hopkins through the ropes for an eight-round TKO in the scheduled 12-round...
A couple of years ago the new owners of the Dodgers spent $300 million on their roster, the highest amount in the history of baseball. The Dodgers didn’t get into the World Series and they didn’t get there either the next season. That could have been the reason the Dodgers didn’t compete hard enough for several elite free agent pitchers last season and lost a chance to get into the World Series. But a few days ago the Dodgers showed the baseball world they’re serious about putting a highly...
'Fast and furious' news spread quickly from the Los Angeles Rams on Monday. "Obviously, a very difficult day here for the organization in relieving Jeff (Fisher) of his head coaching duties. It's not a decision that you ever want to make and it's a day you never want to come, as a group," began Rams Executive Vice President of Football Operations and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff. The hammer finally came down on Jeff Fisher's five-year tenure as the Rams' head coach. The team had just...
Don't look now but the USC and UCLA women's basketball teams are duplicating what the men's teams are doing. The UCLA men are 11-0 and ranked No. 2 in the nation and the USC men are 9-0 and ranked No. 24. The USC women are 7-1 and the No. 9 UCLA women are 8-1. The UCLA women have a veteran team that can win games from the outside and inside. They are led by guards Kari Korver and Jordin Canada and forwards Monique Billings and Keli Hayes. Korver is an outstanding three point shooter and Canada...
Washington is one of four teams to make the NCAA football championship playoffs at season's end. USC will play Penn State in the Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 2. So, it has been a good year for the Pac-12 Conference even with UCLA, Stanford and Oregon having a disappointing season. A lot of conferences didn't do as well. The Oklahoma schools didn't qualify for the championship playoffs for instance, losing out to Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. Both USC and Penn State had to overcome slow...
The UCLA's men's basketball program is back according to the latest national basketball polls. The Bruins climbed nine spots to claim the No. 2 position after their surprising 97-92 victory over No. 1 Kentucky last Saturday in Lexington, Kentucky. The Bruins were led by six players who scored in double figures. Their next game is against Michigan on Saturday at 5 p.m. inside Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. UCLA will host UC Santa Barbara Wednesday night and will play Ohio State Saturday...
What does the USC men's basketball team have to do to be recognized? The answer is, keep winning. The Trojans are 8-0 and they are coming off a 91-84 victory over BYU last Saturday at Staples Center, yet they are still on the outside looking in college basketball's top 25 rankings. What's really surprising is USC is producing after six of their top players either transferred or left for the NBA before the 2016-17 season started. To add insult to injury one of their best players, sophomore...
If someone mentioned Rose Bowl around the USC football program back in September even the most loyal Trojan football fan would have said no way. After starting the season with a 1-3 record the young men of Troy reeled off eight consecutive victories in October and November to not only end the regular season as one of the top teams in the nation, they earned a spot in the Rose Bowl. Because New Year’ Day falls on a Sunday the game against Penn State and the parade will take place Monday, J...
