Sorted by date Results 1501 - 1525 of 1841
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Culver City High baseball opened its 2014 Ocean League season with their biggest offensive thrust to date last Tuesday as they ventured to the Beverly Hills High home field at La Cienega Park and routed them 14-0. It was a reversal of fortune two days later as the Normans visited the Culver campus and beat the Centaurs 2-1, ruining their league home-opener as well as the inauguration of the team's brand new scoreboard courtesy of Grey Block Pizza. Culver is now...
Art Sherman and California Chrome is the best emerging sports story of 2014. It is poetic justice that their successful unveiling has blossomed out of the ashes of Hollywood Park Racetrack's sad and undeserved death on Dec. 22, 2013. Sherman trains thoroughbred racehorses and California Chrome is his lead horse. The chemistry between the 77-year old veteran trainer and the three-year old colt is undeniable. So far their relationship has been flushed in spades. What started out with a handshake...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter It's time to keep score in a brand new way. Culver City High baseball opens its 2014 Ocean League campaign this week on the road against Beverly Hills High on Tuesday afternoon. Two days later the two rivals battle it out in Culver City on the Centaurs home field, complete with a new scoreboard that was funded with a very generous donation from a local pizza restaurant. Culver head baseball coach Rick Prieto invited everyone to show up in appreciation to the...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Culver City High was blessed the day Michelle Curry enrolled at the school in August of 2013. Mutually, she has been accepted, rewarded by and impressed with the school. The time spent in her first and only year at Culver has flown by in meteoric fashion but what a lasting impression she will leave. Not only was Michelle the most dominant athlete in her sport, she is one of the most skilled athletes on campus and certainly should be the clear favorite for the st...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Here's that time of the year again when talented teams with excellent coaches are in danger of finishing as failures. It gets crazier every year because only eight Western Conference teams qualify for the playoffs and several more barely miss. There's even talk that Golden State's Mark Jackson could lose his job if the Warriors lose their first round playoff series against the Clippers. What a shame that would be as the Warriors have won 19 more games than they'v...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The Dodgers have been favored by numerous media outlets as favorites to win the World Series. Their off-season spending spree, totaling a record $240 million, is the primary reason. But championships are decided on the field, and on the Dodgers' home-opening weekend they got all they could handle from the long-time rival San Francisco Giants. As the Giants won two of the three games they proved to be a worthy opponent for the Dodgers. A very worthy opponent. I'm...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Culver City High baseball has initiated the 2014 season the same way the team played all last season: by winning often... with pitching and defense. After embarking on a 6-3 winning journey through the first three weeks of non-league play, the Centaurs continued their success during the first two games of a five-game schedule in the Anaheim Lions Tournament ending this week. Last Friday's home afternoon contest against Mira Costa High, the South Bay baseball pow...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The new Dodger owners spend lavishly and they’re attempting to build a championship team. “Last year we made a lot of progress and reached the playoffs,” said Magic Johnson. “Now our goal is to go all the way.” Many forecasters have listed the Dodgers as favorites to win the World Series. One consideration is their record $240 million payroll. But there’s been enough early trouble for fans to be concerned. Let us count the difficulties – quite a few since it’s on...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Even great dreams and journeys must come to an end. And the campus of Chaminade High in West Hills was that final stop for the Culver City High girls basketball team as the Centaurs lost in the CIF State Division 2 semifinals to the Eagles on Tuesday night, 76-46. The Centaurs brought an 18-game winning streak into the contest against a squad that is realistically and was officially a CIF Open Division team during the recent Southern Section playoffs. Why and...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Centaur Blue and White were the colors flying high over City Hall on Monday night as Culver City High student/athletes were honored not once but twice by local officials. Parents, family and friends packed the chamber to witness the ceremony. Members of the Centaur girls basketball team and their coaches were recognized for having won their league and CIF division championships while one of their classmates was recognized for having attained scouting's highest...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Just a few more weeks and the Lakers' season will be over. No playoffs this time. Of all the negatives that have occurred the one that bothers me the most is the way Pau Gasol hasn't been appreciated. This is one of the top 100 big men ever to play in the NBA, a professional who has had championship seasons here but now is struggling against age and injuries, plus a coach who doesn't want the center to have the ball in the post. Instead of Gasol being celebrated...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The last of John Wooden’s 11 UCLA national championships was won 37 years ago. It’s too bad that Bruin fans remain spoiled. How else can we explain the lack of enthusiasm for the program in the recent past? UCLA has a fine team with a 26-8 record this season, a championship in the Pac-12 tournament and respect from the media across the country as it begins March Madness this week in San Diego. But crowds have been embarrassingly small all season at Pauley Pav...
Even great dreams and journeys must come to an end. And the campus of Chaminade High in West Hills was that final stop for the Culver City High girls basketball team as the Centaurs lost in the CIF State Division 2 semifinals to the Eagles on Tuesday night, 76-46. The Centaurs brought an 18-game winning streak into the contest against a squad that is realistically and was officially a CIF Open Division team during the recent Southern Section playoffs. Why and how the CIF playoff organizing...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Play by play, quarter by quarter, game by game the 2013-14 Culver City High girls basketball team is raising the bar of success while rewriting the school's record book. After another thrilling victory, 53-52, last Saturday at Del Goodyear Gymnasium over visiting Garces Memorial High from Bakersfield, the Centaur girls have now claimed their first two state tournament wins in the school's history. Their nail-biter followed a first round CIF State Girls Division...
After Phil Jackson was introduced Tuesday as president of New York Knicks basketball operations no player immediately changed teams. But the initial impact is that it was a grand day for the Knicks and a dreadful one for the Lakers. Both teams began the day in horrible shape, both out of playoff contention, both needing a change in leadership. Both with a dominating owner. But James Dolan of the knicks said he is gladly yielding authority to Jackson in building a more cohesive Knicks roster....
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor As of this writing, Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks are making progress on details of a contract that will bring him to the team with total control in running the basketball operation. This is what the man who won 11 NBA championship rings as a coach and two as a player has sought in recent years from the Lakers. Apparently, however, Laker owner Jim Buss isn't interested. Avery Johnson, who played in the league for 16 years and then coached Dallas and New...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Meet the Culver City High girls basketball team: the hottest team in town and the newly crowned 2014 CIF Southern Section Division 2AA champions. The Centaurs captured their first Division title since 1979 with a determined and resolute win over Mira Costa High of Manhattan Beach, 55-49, last Friday night at the spacious and impressive campus of Godinez Fundamental High in Santa Ana. Culver completed unfinished business from the past two years when they made it...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor John Wooden won 10 national championships as the UCLA basketball coach from 1964 to 1976, the greatest dynasty in the history of the sport. Since Wooden retired, UCLA has won only one more in 37 years. In an intriguing new book by Southern California author Steve Bisheff, In The Shadow Of A Legend, the case is made that the Bruins missed out on several more championships because Wooden's prized assistant coach, Jerry Norman left the program at age 38, due...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Darius Banks, one of the most talented quarterbacks in Culver City High history, is planning to resume his career at Bethany College in Kansas next season. Banks has received a full scholarship, which is unusual at an NAIA school. Banks’ last year at Culver City was in 2008. He played two successful years at Fullerton College and also attended Central Washington. Banks may have former Centaur teammate Ijumaa Armstrong on the Bethany team. Armstrong, a receiver a...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter The Culver City High girls basketball team gallantly fought for and secured its second consecutive invitation to the CIF Southern Section, Division 2AA championship game. The Centaurs eliminated another powerhouse on the road, Norco High of Riverside County Tuesday night. The 68-55 final score was the Centaurs’ sweetest victory of the season and especially considering that Norco was the scene of the team’s semifinal heartbreaking loss two years ago by four poi...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Grace, poise, execution and team defined the Culver City High girls basketball team at Del Goodyear Gymnasium last Saturday night as the they went toe-to-toe with perennial Orange County power Foothill High. And the Centaurs delighted the intimate but boisterous home crowd in a third round CIF Southern Section, Division 2AA playoff thriller by seizing victory in the final crucial minutes, 57-49. Only four days earlier the Culver girls took a nice long bus ride...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Based on my actions of the last 30 years or so, I made a startling decision last Friday. Without question, if the Lakers were playing that night I’d go there. It’s been my work. I need to know what’s going on with the team. But reality set in. The story wasn’t at the Lakers’ game. They’re out of playoff contention and they were playing the Sacramento Kings, a similarly awful team. No, I needed to spend the day at the Clippers’ training facility, where there w...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter The quest to return to the CIF Southern Section championship began last Saturday with a solid step from the Culver City High girls basketball team. They squarely beat visiting Elsinore High, 75-47 in the first round of Division 2AA playoff action at Del Goodyear Gymnasium. Centaur senior center Michelle Curry took matters into her own hands as she scored early, controlled the boards often and was the catalyst on numerous fast-breaks. Culver head coach Julian...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter The 2013-14 season ended for the Culver City High boys basketball team on their home court in Del Goodyear Gymnasium as they fell to third seeded Westlake High, 76-68, in the second round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs Tuesday night. The visiting Warriors had just enough in reserve to withstand several late game surges by the Centaurs who could never quite grab the reins and the lead. Westlake took a quick 12-4 lead. Culver tied the score, 16-16, by the...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter What a difference a game makes. Last week, teetering on the edge before finally securing an invitation to the CIF Southern Section playoffs, the Culver City High boys basketball team made the most of it by practicing with purpose and intent. And it paid off as the Centaurs went on the road to convincingly eliminate Westminster High, 68-47, a team that went undefeated in the Golden West League. All the pieces seemed to have fallen into place when the Centaurs...
