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When was the last time Culver City High boys basketball began the Ocean League season with and 8-0 record and a guaranteed tie for the league title? We're still checking the record books. The Centaurs took two more league contests last week to increase their two-game lead over powers Santa Monica Vikings (6-2) and Beverly Hills Normans (6-2) with two games remaining. Culver went on the road twice last week to handily defeat Lawndale High, 94-67, on Wednesday, January 31 before destroying the...
Culver City High girls basketball keeps on ticking. More reliable than Timex, the 2018 Centaur girls are 20-4 and vying once again for the Ocean League title. Road wins this past week over the Lawndale High Cardinals, 54-35, and Hawthorne High Cougars, 82-6, left them in first place. And with two games remaining their toughest challenges await: Santa Monica High and Beverly Hills High. Last season the Centaur girls finished tied for second in league at 7-3 as Lawndale took the crown at 9-1. They...
It was a cliffhanger with the thrilling sequel already scheduled in two weeks time. Culver City High girls basketball practically buried themselves into a deep hole at home but managed to claw their way back for a two-point nail-biting victory over Beverly Hills High, 48-46. The victory gave the Centaurs sole possession of first place in the Ocean League with a 5-0 record. Two nights later Culver easily took care of the visiting El Segundo High Eagles, 62-27. After a close first quarter the...
Home sweet home. Culver City High is flying high and in sole possession of first place in Ocean League boys basketball. After a gut-checking 71-69 victory over visiting league-power Beverly Hills High on January 24 the Centaurs used a balanced attack to shut down the visiting El Segundo High Eagles, 74-38, two nights later to consolidate their 6-0 league record. The Centaurs relied on the dominating play from their two big men and strong team support to smother a late Beverly rally in the 2018...
The UCLA Bruins and the USC Trojans basketball teams will battle each other Friday, Saturday and Monday. The women will play Friday night and Monday night. The men will clash on Saturday afternoon. All three Pac-12 games will have league implications. The women’s game on Friday will start at 8 p.m. and will be played at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. Their Monday contest will be play at the Galen Center on the USC campus at 6 p.m. The men’s game will start at 3 p.m. and UCLA will be the...
The City of San Diego delivered for the PGA Tour once again. It took six playoff holes and an extra day for Jason Day to win the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, San Diego. Even better news for the Tour and more importantly for the fans was the encouraging return of Tiger Woods, who played pain-free for the first time since anyone could last remember. Day birdied the par-5 18th hole on the South Course to outlast Alex Noren and win his second title at one of...
I expected the fan reaction after the Clippers traded Blake Griffin the other day. The people weren’t happy. They didn’t want to lose a popular player and big-time scorer. But after being around the NBA for nearly 50 years I’ve learned a lot about surprising trades. Factoring in everything I often realize that management had a good plan. This could really work. And let me tell you why. Griffin has missed 99 games in the last four years with injuries, as players get older and injuries occur...
After going undefeated in their first four Ocean League contests for the 2018 season the Culver City High girls basketball team is ready to resume its place at the top of the league standings. The Centaurs went on the road to beat rival Santa Monica High, 55-40, last Friday, and are now tied for first place with Beverly Hills. The Centaurs had won the league title five consecutive years before relinquishing the crown to Lawndale High last season. This season the Culver girls have avenged two of...
There's been a seismic shift in 2018 Ocean League boys basketball. Culver City High soundly defeated Santa Monica High, 89-63, for the first time in seven years. The Centaurs ended the drought with team defense and the offensive fireworks of senior swingman Tevian Jones, who poured in 33 points for the victory. Jones scored 20 points in the first quarter as the Centaurs jumped out to a 32-13 lead, including a dunk and five three-point conversions. The team responded with inspiring defense and ne...
Let’s get something straight. This is me thinking. It’s not inside information from anyone associated with the Lakers. But I see that DeMarcus Cousins, the guy nicknamed Boogie, is having an outstanding season with the New Orleans Pelicans and will be eligible to become a free agent after the season. He’s 6-11 and very talented. He’s played his NBA career mostly for the Sacramento Kings and lately with a New Orleans team that also has Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday, all making more than $20 mil...
At the beginning of the season the UCLA men were the surprise team of college basketball. An early season win over Kentucky in December was the highlight of a pre-season schedule that saw the Bruins win 11 out of their first 14 games. Now the Bruins are currently 13-7 overall and 4-4 in the Pac-12. At press time UCLA had lost three games in a row and on Saturday they face one of the hottest teams in the Pac-12 when the take on Stanford at home at 7:30 p.m. One of the main reasons for UCLA’s d...
I watch a lot of games. I see players come and go but now we have one here who deserves a lot of credit – deserves to be appreciated and not traded again and again. “ His name is Lou Williams and he plays for the Los Angeles Clippers. At least I think he does but I haven’t checked yet this morning. So it’s possible he’s been traded just like he has been more times than a player of his caliber should be. Williams’ story interests me a lot because he’s played well for the Lakers and once scored 44...
To be the best you have to beat the best. The Culver City high school boys' basketball team will get that opportunity during the next seven days when they take on Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. All three teams are battling for first place and all three teams play each other during the next week. The 9-8 Centaurs travel to play 9-7 Santa Monica on Friday for a 7:30 game and they play 12-4 Beverly Hills next Wednesday at home at 7:30 p.m. Santa Monica and Beverly Hills have dominated the Ocean...
League championships have become part the Culver City high school's girls basketball teams DNA. Five out of the last six years the Centaurs have won the Ocean league title and one of those years they added a CIF championship to their trophy case. Last year Lawndale won the league crown but this season the Centaurs look like the team to beat once again. They are 15-4 and 3-0 in the Ocean league and they appear to have the talent to recapture the title. "This is a resilient team'" said head coach...
Alabama is the national champion. USC loses Sam Darnold and Ronald Jones to the NFL next season. UCLA loses Josh Rosen. It’s our first look at the 2018 college football season and my initial thought is that we usually have at least one of our teams in the national chase. But right now Washington is being considered the Pac-10’s best team. Darnold has NFL talent but his interception early in the Trojans’ Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State put the Trojans in a hole and they didn’t emerge from it. I ca...
It was a heck of a run. The 2017 Los Angeles Rams surprising and captivating season came to an abrupt end at the Coliseum last Saturday night. The Rams were taken to task by the reigning NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons, 26-13, in the NFL Wild Card round matchup before a large and highly partisan home crowd that finally showed up. Behind quarterback Matt Ryan the Falcons jumped out to a13-0 lead, survived a second-quarter Ram response, ate up the clock for much of the third quarter and polished the...
Pac-12 basketball swings into high gear this weekend when UCLA and USC men’s and women’s basketball teams play important games. All four teams are competing for an opportunity to either win a regular season league championship, get a top seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. UCLA men are currently in first place in the Pac-12 with a record of 3-1 and an overall record of 12-4. On Saturday, January 13, they play Colorado at home at 7:30 p.m. Next Thursday the...
I apologize. In the weeks leading up to the Rose Bowl game I had difficulty accepting the fact that our local teams would be sent away. What about the tradition that the Pac-12 champion would play in the Rose Bowl game, usually against the Big Ten champion. That's been good enough for a long, long time. Why make a change? When I learned the game would be between Oklahoma and Georgia I got a little madder. Who cares? What about USC and Ohio State? The Cotton Bowl in Texas. You've got to be...
The last game of the 2017 NFL regular season, a 34-13 loss to the visiting San Francisco 49ers was inconsequential to the Los Angeles Rams. What mattered was the team being able to rest most of its starters in preparation for Saturday night's NFC Wild Card Playoff matchup. The third-seeded Rams will host the wild card Atlanta Falcons starting at 5:15 PST in the Coliseum. Six roster moves and 17 lineup changes by the Rams (11-5) were no match for the 49ers (6-10) and quarterback Jimmy Garappolo,...
By Steve Finley For the past three years two local college quarterbacks have dominated the talk about who is the best NFL ready signal caller. UCLA’s Josh Rosen and USC’s Sam Darnold climbed to the top of the list. Now Oklahoma’s Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield has joined the club. All three players have strong points and weak points. Darnold and Mayfield combine great athletic ability with good quarterback skills and tremendous leader skills and a will to win. Rosen is the best pure passe...
The USC Trojan football team will travel deep into the heart of Texas to play one of the best college football teams in the nation when they face Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on Friday, December 29, at 5:30 p.m. The game will be played inside the AT&T Stadium in Arlington Texas and the game will be televised on ESPN. This is the same field where the Dallas Cowboys play their home games. This may be the last time we will see USC quarterback Sam Darnold in a Trojan uniform. Darnold is projected t...
Christmas 2017 came a day early for the City of Los Angeles. Completing one of the more memorable turn-arounds in NFL history the Los Angeles Rams won the NFC West division title for the first time since 2003. Also significant was the Rams finishing their season road record at 7-1, outlasting a stubborn but struggling Tennessee Titan squad, 27-23. The game became the Todd Gurley Show. The Titan defense had very few answers for the third-year Ram running back including an explosive full-stride...
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This column by sports editor Mitch Chortkoff appeared two years ago in the Observer and is being run again due to recent requests from readers) It was 1996 and I was in Honolulu covering the Lakers’ training camp. It was an especially important one because General Manager Jerry West had made a spectacular move which resulted in the acquisition of rookie guard Kobe Bryant and center Shaquille O’Neal. In the first few days of the camp I found O’Neal to be outgoing, easy to intervi...
The second annual Culver City Winter Track Classic sprinted out of the blocks at Culver City High last Saturday morning, December 16 in ideal weather conditions. Over 100 athletes of different ages and backgrounds competed in the competitive yet fun event that is quickly becoming popular for athletes and future runners preparing for the upcoming track season early next year. The meet has turned into Culver City's version of "If you build it, they will come." Last year's inaugural meet started...
There's a new sheriff in the NFC West... wearing a blue helmet with white horns. The reign of the Seahawks came crashing down at CenturyLink Field as the Los Angeles Rams pillaged Seattle, 42-7. The win gave the 10-4 Rams a two-game lead over the Seahawks with two games remaining in the 2017 regular season. It was the worst beating suffered by Seattle since Pete Carroll started coaching there in 2010. The Seahawks finished first in the NFC West four times in the past seven years including a...
