Sorted by date Results 1526 - 1550 of 1841
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor It happens every year late in the National Basketball Association season. Teams believing they have a chance to win the championship add potentially important players. Teams out of contention release players to lighten their payroll. What's different here is the reversal of roles by the Lakers and Clippers. Hopelessly out of contention, the Lakers have traded away Steve Blake. Usually they're adding a key part. With a championship on their mind, the Clippers...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor At the start of the 2014 baseball season most authorities believe the Angels' Mike Trout is the best player in either the American or National League. Trout is only 22 and has spent just two years in the major leagues. But he has batted .314, hit with power and stolen 86 bases. In addition he has played superbly in the outfield. The Angels are so impressed they've begun talks that could bring Trout $150 million over six years. The baseball authorities I've talked...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Defying the odds, the Culver City High boys basketball team has made the CIF Southern Section playoffs. Despite losing their final six Ocean League contests, most of them in the last agonizing minutes of each game, the playoff committee felt the Centaurs earned an invitation. And for added respect, the committee rewarded the team a favorable matchup against a 14th seeded team. Head coach Adam Eskridge gave a rundown on what he learned this past Sunday...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Let the games begin. Having taken care of business during the regular season the Culver City High girls basketball team began preparing this week for the CIF Southern Section playoffs. The team will host a Division 2AA first round match with Elsinore High from the Sunbelt League this Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Del Goodyear Gymnasium. The Centaur girls were given an indifferent seventh seed despite having swept the Ocean League for the third year in a row. Last...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor When Jim Fregosi died last week I was jolted into a trip down memory lane. I was fresh out of college in 1963 and had an ambition to become a sportswriter. I sent out resumes and received a call from Bud Furillo, sports editor of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. We set up an interview. He seemed to like the articles I had included from the college newspaper but he was a no-nonsense kind of guy. "I have a position for you but I know it isn't what you want," he...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter It wasn't the kind of Senior Night ending the Culver City High boys basketball team had dreamt about. The team was on the verge of having staged an against-all-odds comeback when Wes Dixon buried a clutch three-pointer from the left corner that tied the score at 77-77 with 7.3 seconds left in regulation. The Centaurs clearly had the momentum on their home court in Del Goodyear Gymnasium as their fans went wild in celebration. But the tides were not with them as...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Senior Night was fittingly special for the Culver City High girls basketball team as it captured the Ocean League championship while cruising in the second half over Hawthorne High, 61-41. It was the Centaurs' third straight league title and the girls have won 29 straight league games. They play their last league game of the season this Thursday, February 13, at Beverly Hills High, the last team to beat them in league. The Centaur girls took a 23-12 first quarte...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter It's beginning to play like a broken record but it certainly sounds like a finely tuned instrument. The Culver City High girls basketball team won two more 2013-14 Ocean League contests to retain sole possession of first place with a 6-0 record. And they did it rather handily once again compliments of pin-point shooting from three-point range. Even head coach Julian Anderson has been impressed with the team's recent exploits, "We're shooting the ball...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter It's back to the fundamentals after the Culver City High boys basketball team took two more Ocean League hits the hard way. And it's become apparent the fourth quarter is the Centaurs' Achilles heel this season in the consecutive four-point losses. The first came at home against Beverly Hills, 60-56. Two nights later host Morningside High in Inglewood added to the pain, 68-64. The team returned to Monday's practice with a renewed commitment and determination to...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The Super Bowl game was decided early as Seattle humiliated Denver. But the controversy surrounding Richard Sherman will linger for awhile. This was the featured sub-plot of pro football's biggest game. Is Sherman a jerk, as he appeared to be two weeks earlier in a classless interview following the Seahawks' victory over the San Francisco 49ers? Or is he a bright guy as appeared to be the case when he earned straight A's at Dominguez High in Compton and went on...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Stop me if you've heard this story before -- like last month -- but the Lakers are trying to trade Pau Gasol. If you don't follow pro basketball closely you probably wonder why they'd trade a proven player who averaged 20 points per game in January. If you do follow the NBA you know it's a common practice for teams out of playoff contention to unload players with high salaries. These teams aren't going to get the lucrative playoff revenue, so reducing the...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor It's official. Culver City High football star Stanley Norman has transferred to Serra High in Gardena. Serra football coach Scott Altenberg confirmed the speculation that began last week that Norman had taken out transfer papers. Norman then enrolled in classes at his new school in Gardena. Altenberg also said the player's family has moved into the Serra area. The Observer was among the media outlets that had gathered information leading to the likelihood Norman...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter A self-imposed wakeup call was made as a sense of urgency fell upon the Culver City High boys basketball team late in the fourth quarter of Friday night's game at Hawthorne High. Looming in the background was the Centaurs previous two losses, also due to not securing the fourth quarter. And a sigh of relief went up after the Centaurs withstood a valiant comeback attempt by the host Cougars, 77-66. Culver had a 65-47 lead with seven minutes remaining in the...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporteri The Culver City High girls basketball team put an exclamation point on its week after Saturday's non-league victory against Ridgeview High, 53-32, in the MLK Extravaganza tournament hosted by Narbonne High. The win followed two more Ocean League successes days earlier on the road at Inglewood and Hawthorne. Coach Julian Anderson was succinct in describing the game, "We played Ridgeview from Bakersfield and we won. Right now we're doing a good job at staying...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The most interesting part of the remaining NBA regular season games involve teams driving toward favorable playoff position. There’s a big difference between having home court advantage and not having it. There’s a big difference from playing a powerhouse opponent right away or getting a series first to work your way in. I’ve traveled with great Laker teams with players who understood this. Shaquille O’Neal used to emphasize to me the Lakers had to finish...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor A bombshell announcement may be heading to the Culver City High football program. If Stanley Norman transfers to Serra High in Gardena, as is being speculated, the Centaurs would be without perhaps their best player next season. The Los Angeles Times' Eric Sondheimer, the premier high school sports reporter in Southern California, writes that Norman has taken out application papers to transfer to perennial powerhouse Serra. Norman is considered one of the top...
The Culver City High boys basketball fans were treated to an early Ocean League showdown between the Centaurs and visiting Santa Monica High last Friday night in Del Goodyear Gymnasium. But to their dismay the Centaurs fell to their arch rival, 62-53, as the Vikings' consistent pressure and execution earned them a comeback victory. The loss dropped Culver into a third place tie with Inglewood at 1-1 each in early Ocean League standings. Santa Monica's victory kept them in a first place tie with...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Home cookin' was all the Culver City High girls basketball team needed to get back on the winning track as they matter-of-factly took down their first two opponents to kick-off the 2014 Ocean League season at Del Goodyear Gymnasium. The Centaurs easily finished off Morningside High in their league opener, 53-19, on Wednesday. Two nights later they summarily dismissed rival Santa Monica, 58-29 in likewise fashion. It was a welcome relief after the girls had...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The Dodgers will be paying Clayton Kershaw more than Sandy Koufax ever was paid. More than they've paid any pitcher in club history At 25, Kershaw has had six spectacular seasons. In one year he would have been a free agent. Can you imagine what the upcoming season would have been like if the Kershaw negotiations were going on? The new Dodger ownership preferred to get the matter settled early so everyone could concentrate on baseball. That was the right...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Speaking to several members of the media recently, the subject came up of outstanding college football coaches who had failed in the NFL. Lou Holtz was high on that list. His college teams won 388 games, including 132 at Notre Dame, but one year he went into the NFL and his New York Jets had a 3-11 record. When Pete Carroll was presiding over a collegiate dynasty at USC from 2000 to 2009 he seemed to find his niche. His Trojans were nationally prominent, so why...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Culver City High's 2013 championship football season was officially honored when 15 members including the head coach were named to the 2013 Ocean League all-league team. The basic procedure for determining the all-league team is that the six league coaches are not allowed to vote for players from their own team. Each coach ranks all the players that are nominated from the other teams in the league. The Centaurs also brought home three of the league's four most c...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Any player on the roster of a National Basketball Association team on January 8 has his contract guaranteed for the rest of the season. In view of that, the day of decision arrived for franchises this week. Teams out of playoff contention, especially, sought to reduce their financial obligation. The Lakers and Clippers both made a salary-cutting move. The Lakers released forward Shawne Williams, who had started several games at forward. The Clippers released...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Until Monday night, Texas' comeback win over USC in 2006 was considered the greatest championship game in the 16-year history of the Bowl Championship Series. But in the last game of the BCS, which will be replaced by a new system next season, Florida State's thrilling come-from-behind victory over Auburn, matched it. Florida State, seeking a perfect season, trailed 21-3 before taking command. Both teams scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. And Auburn,...
By Fred Altieri Observer Reporter Fans of the Culver City High girls basketball team know that the team played in the 2013 CIF State Basketball Championships last season while compiling a record 24 wins under the tutelage of Julian Anderson and his staff. The girls can no longer can fly under the radar. Despite the team losing its top player and leader from last year due to graduation and the fact they are now a marked date on their opponents' calendar, the girls have quietly embarked on their...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The Lakers announced that Kobe Bryant will be out for six weeks with a broken bone in his left leg. Doctor Robert Klapper, ESPN radio’s medical expert with a distinguished reputation in his field, told listeners that because the injury is on a lower extremity Kobe won’t be able to train during the six weeks to get back into playing shape. Most likely, then, the Lakers can expect to be without the Kobe they’ve come to rely on for probably two months. Well, two mon...
