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The most publicized new member of the Lakers is Lonzo Ball, a slick ball handler who was the second pick in the NBA draft. I think he’ll be a key member of the franchise that’s been in terrible shape for five years. But people close to the NBA for a lot of years, like me, are equally impressed with the addition of a big man who blocks shots, gets rebounds and doesn’t have to score to be happy.. Yes, I think the Lakers have been smart to sign 33-year-old 7-foot center Andrew Bogut this week....
Are the Dodgers great like they’ve been most of this season? Or are they the struggling team they’ve been lately? Can they regain their swagger or will they have an awful lot to explain to their troubled fans? If you’re reading this column to get the answers you’re in the wrong place. I’m as confused as you are. What I can supply today are my thoughts. I’ve been around Dodger Stadium for 45 years. First I’ll say I’ve never seen a Dodgers team look so good and so bad in the same season. How did...
Are the Dodgers great like they've been most of this season? Or are they the struggling team they've been lately? Can they regain their swagger or will they have an awful lot to explain to their troubled fans? If you're reading this column to get the answers you're in the wrong place. I'm as confused as you are. What I can supply today are my thoughts. I've been around Dodger Stadium for 45 years. First I'll say I've never seen a Dodgers team look so good and so bad in the same season. How did...
When I heard the NBA was going to investigate the Indiana Pacers’ claim that the Lakers had tampered with one of their players, Paul George I thought it was a weak case. My reasoning was that George, who grew up in Southern California, has been telling everyone for the last year or two that he intended to sign with the Lakers when his contract expires in 2018. What could the Lakers add to that? But when the NBA announced last Thursday that they have fined the Lakers $500,000 I listened c...
In doing my job I attend a lot of games and talk to a lot of people. Sometimes I hear folks say professional athletes make too much money It’s true that some of them make a lot more than star players of the past. This many million, that many million. It seems like an awful, awful lot, But then something tragic happens and they pitch in. Consider the current flooding damage in Houston from Hurricane Harvey and contributions from the sports world. Leslie Alexander, owner of the Houston Rockets, p...
I considered several topics for my column this week. Topics from different sports. Less than an hour into my thinking I had my answer. It wasn’t a difficult decision. In fact, it was ridiculously easy.The Dodgers getting Curtis Granderson for a very low price boggled my mind. Granderson, now 36, has hit 314 home runs in his 14 major league seasons and driven in 862 runs. He’s made more than $100 million in his 14 major league seasons and been an All-Star three times. Known as The Grandy Man...
In an attempt to slow down the coaches’ new trend of frequently resting players the NBA will start this season a couple of weeks earlier. The NBA and many fans want less times when uninjured players are held out of games. The slightly longer time frame of the same 82 games could work in that direction. The opening night schedule on October 17 will include a game between defending champion Golden State and Houston, which has acquired star point guard Chris Paul from the Clippers. Two nights l...
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has decided that Doc Rivers should concentrate on coaching and has moved Lawrence Frank into the position of overseeing basketball operations. Rivers and Frank have a long friendship and Rivers will continue to offer opinions on personnel matters. “After owning the franchise for three years I see there’s a tremendous difference between coaching and running a franchise,” said Ballmer. “Each one requires a lot of time.”The Clippers are expected to have nine new playe...
At one time in his remarkable playing career Don Baylor played in the World Series three straight seasons. For three different teams. Baylor, who played for 14 different franchises, died Monday and has been praised by teammates and opponents as a special gentleman. Baylor was the 1979 American League MVP after driving in 139 runs. He was later the Angels’ batting coach, In his major league career he hit 338 home runs. But despite his size and power Baylor became known for his ability to be h...
We’ re a long way from the World Series. About 60 more regular season games, then the playoffs begin. But today I want to congratulate the Dodgers. After trying to succeed on the path to the World Series the last four years with inexperienced starting pitchers they made the move Monday that was necessary. They gave up their No. 4-rated prospect, 22-year-old Willie Calhoun to acquire Yu Darvish, a four-time Major League all-star. There’ s no guarantee he’ s going to be the pitcher who allow...
We’ re a long way from the World Series. About 60 more regular season games, then the playoffs begin. But today I want to congratulate the Dodgers. After trying to succeed on the path to the World Series the last four years with inexperienced starting pitchers they made the move Monday that was necessary. They gave up their No. 4-rated prospect, 22-year-old Willie Calhoun to acquire Yu Darvish, a four-time Major League all-star. There’ s no guarantee he’ s going to be the pitcher who allow...
The trading deadline is Monday and it’s anyone’s guess if the Dodgers will acquire an established starting pitcher. Yu Darvish, Sonny Gray and a very expensive Justin Verlander are available for the right price. But the Dodgers haven’t been participating in the bidding for an elite starter for a couple of years. They’re proud of their farm system and reluctant to part with their top pitching prospects. Clayton Kershaw has a back injury considered not as bad as the one last season that resulted i...
Mike Trout is back and the Angels are in the running for a wild card berth in the playoffs. Who would have thought the Angels could still have a chance when Trout, one of the best players in baseball, had to miss 39 games after damaging a thumb while trying to steal a base. Or when injuries occurred to a whole bunch of teammates. The list is staggering. Pitchers Garrett Richards. C.J. Wilson, Tyler Skaggs, Huston Street, Matt Shoemaker, Andrew Heaney and most recently centerfielder Cameron...
Last weekend when the Dodgers made it 29 wins in their last 33 games Clayton Kershaw and Justin Turner asked the same question. “Has this been a five-week hot streak or is this who we are?”“Í don’t think it’s fair to us to say it’s just a five-week hot streak,” said Turner. After winning nine straight games – six of them on the road – the Dodgers started this week with two wins against the White Sox in Chicago and they’ll complete the week with a four-game series at Dodger Stadium against Atla...
The All-Star break is over as teams resumed play on Friday. The Dodgers hope they can continue being dominant the rest of the way. The Dodgers, at 61-29, have the best record in baseball this season. They have two pitchers, Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood, with 10-game winning streaks. They had the most players in the All-Star game. five with Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, reliever Kenley Jansen, who struck out the side in the ninth inning, Justin Turner and Wood, who replaced Kershaw. The...
Anyone who thought the Clippers would fade away by losing exceptional point guard Chris Paul should think again. Recovering quickly, the Clippers got Paul to sign a new Clipper contract for a few days before they’d trade him to Houston, the team he desired. Then they got three established players and a 2018 first round draft choice from Houston. Don’t forget Paul didn’t have to do that. Free agents can simply sign with another team. Then a few days later the Clippers signed forward Blake Griffin...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Last season 23-year-old Corey Seager was the National League Rookie of the Year. This season 21-year-old Cody Bellinger is well on his way to being the second straight Dodger to win that award. It’s easy to see that the Dodgers have the heart of their batting lineup for what appears to be many seasons. The other half of the story is that these kids are carrying the team’s offense already. Bellinger has hit 24 home runs and has 55 RBI in 57 games. Don’t forge...
Kevin Durant played for the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2008 through 2016. He was recognized as one of the NBA’s best players but he was never on a championship team. As a free agent last summer he signed with the Golden State Warriors who had won a championship two seasons ago then lost in the finals the next season. It made perfect sense to him. He wanted a championship and they had a good chance to get him one. But a lot of fans regarded him as a traitor. Not for leaving but for joining the e...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor What seemed very likely several weeks ago is now official. Jerry West is joining the Clippers. At 79, West still enjoys accurately evaluating players, a talent he's had since his playing days. Retirement isn't for everyone his age. West, a Laker great as a player, became the Lakers' general manager, engineered the trade that brought in Kobe Bryant and presided over six NBA championship years with the team. He left for Memphis, reportedly because of a financial...
Nine players in the history of major league baseball have hit 600 home runs in their career But only one hit No. 600 with a grand slam. That happened last week when the Angels’Albert Pujols hit a towering drive down the left field foul pole at the Angels’ stadium, a ball that barely escaped being foul. Pujols had hit 598 and 599 earlier in the week. Pujols, the Angels’ first baseman, became the fourth youngest player to hit 600 major league home runs. He joined Sammy Sosa as the only playe...
Magic Johnson trying to bring in players to the Lakers and Jerry West doing the same for the Clippers. That surely would appeal to fans of Los Angeles' NBA teams. It could happen. Johnson has already been hired by Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and West recently met with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and coach/general manager Doc Rivers. Nothing is official but West would like to join the Clippers after the Lakers passed up their chance to welcome him back. There won't be many quotes in this story beca...
With Mike Trout going on the disabled list for 6-8 weeks the Angels' chances of making the playoffs this season are dim. The 25-year-old outfielder has been American League MVP twice, including last season and runnerup three times in his five major league years. This season he was hitting .337 and led the American League in walks. Trout suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb on a stolen base attempt Sunday against the Miami Marlins. He had a choice of how to deal with the injury and elected...
The defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs couldn’t score a run in their first two games of a series last weekend against the Dodgers. So I went to Dodger Stadium Sunday trying to learn what was going on. Well, to be honest I went to see which superb pitcher, Clayton Kershaw or Jon Lester would prevail. Neither one was having a good day. Kershaw, in fact, gave up four home runs. But I enjoyed the day because the Dodgers won, 9-4 the 47,000 fans had a good time and most of the crowd was i...
What an upset. After being awarded the 2021 Super Bowl, LA has been moved back a year due to complications of our recent storm. Last week the 2021 game was awarded to Tampa and the LA Super Bowl game in the new Rams stadium in Inglewood was changed to 2022. With the delay the Rams will play their regular season home games in the Coliseum for the third straight season and the Chargers will get an extra year in the Stub Hub stadium in Carson. There’s an NFL rule that a new stadium must be o...
UCLA stars Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf have decided to leave college to go into the NBA. And both are likely to be drafted quickly next month. Ike Anigbogu, a reserve center, is leaving too and is expected to be drafted in the middle of the first round. But the Bruins haven’t lost all the players who had announced they were departing. Junior center Thomas Welsh and sophomore guard Aaron Holiday withdrew their names from the NBA list last week. UCLA, which reached the Sweet 16 round in the NCAA T...
