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I’m impressed by the way the Clippers built their roster for this season. Recently, I was explaining to a friend that the Clippers could be a championship contender. I made a strong case. I pointed out the Clippers have the best set of guards in the NBA with Chris Paul, Chancey Billups and reserves Eric Bledsoe, Jamal Crawford and Willie Green. I said Blake Griffin is close to becoming a superstar, Caron Butler is a pure marksman, DeAndre Jordan has improved, Ryan Hollins is a 7-foot backup c...
When the Oklahoma Thunder traded NBA Sixth Man of The Year James Harden last weekend, many fans were shocked. How could the Thunder send away such an important player? The answer is that economics have become increasingly important to NBA owners because the new collective bargaining agreement with the players includes harsh financial penalties for spending more than the salary cap. Harden is the latest example of this reality. The Thunder have several huge contract extensions coming up, led by...
The Lakers didn’t draft Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Wilt Chamberlain. All three came to the Lakers after they hsd established themselves with other teams. Combined, they won nine NBA championships with the Lakers. Today, Dwight Howard is the Lakers’ center and he similarly has arrived from elsewhere. Following a soap opera stretch in which Howard demanded a trade from the Orlando Magic, changed his mind and opted to stay there another year, then agreed to a trade with the Laker...
After all Laker exhibition games didn’t become available on Laker-sponsored television, more of the same looks likely as the regular season begins. The Lakers’ season opener Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks at Staples Center will be nationally televised on TBS, which is available on most local cable outlets. But starting with the next night’s game at Portland fans who used to watch on Channel 9 will be shut out. Time Warner owns the new station that will televise the majority of Laker...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Inglewood won the Ocean League football championship in 2010 and Santa Monica won it last season. Before that Culver City was the winner four times in five years. Those three teams are the likely contenders for first place this season and the Vikings are right in the middle of the action. Last Friday Inglewood defeated Culver City, 12-9. Santa Monica, which has beaten Morningside and Beverly Hills, will host Culver City at Corsair Field Friday night. “We’ve com...
I was impressed by the large turnout for UCLA’s victory over Utah Saturday, and also the way the Bruins conquered a tough opponent. Coach Jim Mora has brought enthusiasm to the Bruins’ football program in his first season as head coach. Brett Hundley is a big improvement over Bruin quarterbacks of recent seasons. There are more quality athletes on defense than in the recent past. And Jonathan Franklin is an outstanding running back and senior leader. So, I would like to tell loyal Bruin fan...
If you’ve been to a Lakers’ game in the last 28 years you’ve heard the voice of Lawrence Tanter on the public address system welcoming the crowd and announcing the lineups for both teams. Tanter has signed a new two-year contract. “That will make 30 years and I’m extremely proud of that,” he said. Tanter has also been a radio disc jockey best known for his appreciation of jazz. He was on the air for many years on The Wave when it operated in Culver City. He has also been a regular on the Lake...
It was the rarest of Sundays for me on October 7. I declined all invitations to do things because I wanted to watch all four major league baseball playoff games on television. What a treat I expected. The A’s and Tigers at 9 am leading to three more games until nearly midnight. Playoff baseball is far different than the regular season, from the fans’ enthusiasm to the intensity of the players, with a lot riding on every pitch. Well, the ballgames were terrific, but an unexpected development mad...
Well, they made it exciting anyway. The Dodgers won six straight games before losing to the Giants, 4-3 Tuesday night to fall out of playoff contention. The Angels made a gallant late season rush, only to be eliminated when the Oakland Athletics, a team in their same division, did even more spectacular things and took the playoff berth the Angels sought. Both the Dodgers and Angels waited too long to make their serious runs and that’s what they should think about this winter. But let’s go bac...
Early in my sportswriting career several prominent coaches in different sports taught me a valuable lesson. They instructed their players and a few sportswriters to stop focusing on officiating. Their message was the calls even out over the long run, so concentrate on things you can control. I’ve accepted that theory through the years, and rarely in this column can you read very much about officiating. But today I’m devoting the entire column to that subject, so you know something major has occ...
Like a lot of you, I’m anxious to see how the Lakers will look with Steve Nash and Ryan Howard in their lineup. But I’m equally anxious to find out something else – something, in fact, that may be just as important as the acquisition of these star players. With the start of training camp just a few days away, there’s a lot of speculation about what’s happening in regard to the team’s offense. John Kuester was the assistant coach last season who was in charge of the offense. Last week the La...
When Brett Hundley arrived at UCLA a year ago as a heralded football recruit he was walking on campus when a coed recognized him. “Here comes the savior,” she said. A bit embarrassed, Hundley replied: “I’m not the savior. I’m just a freshman trying to find my way.” Today Hundley is a redshirt freshman, and Saturday night in the Rose Bowl he certainly appeared to be the savior. He directed UCLA to a eye-popping 36-30 victory over Nebraska, a victory that propelled the Bruins into No. 22 in the we...
Chapman will Be Assistant Principal Jon Chapman, who coached the Culver City High boys basketball team the last seven years, has given up the position to concentrate on being the school’s assistant principal. Chapman has been assistant principal in the recent past in addition to coaching the team. Adam Eskridge, his assistant coach last season, will take over as head coach. Eskridge has coached the Centaur junior varsity and freshmen teams in the past. He’s the son of former School Board member...
Mitch Chortkoff Here we go again. USC, still in the process of escaping penalties from the Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo scandals, now is in the news again about possibly illegal gifts to former football running back Joe McKnight and basketball player Davon Jefferson. Without rushing to judgment in the latest case, I can say it looks like trouble, the last thing the Trojans needed in their first year off NCAA probation. USC is eligible for a bowl game this season but is still paying heavily for the...
Mitch Chortkoff We don’t know how well the Dodgers will do this season but we do know their new owners are committed to spending whatever it takes to field a successful team. The blockbuster trade last week was a statement to every rival and to Dodger fans. The Frank McCourt era is most definitely over. The new owners said they’d be in on everything, meaning trades, free agent acquisitions and giving their own star players generous contract extensions. So the Dodgers now have Adrian Gon...
Observer Editor Having reviewed several Douglas Theatre thought-provoking plays over the years, I went to Elephant Room on opening night realizing this would be different. Three semi-pro magicians. Magic tricks. Nothing very serious. Two days later, when I began writing this piece I struggled to locate a serious theme. Then I gave up and came to the obvious conclusion. This was a fun night out. Nothing more. But there’s nothing wrong with that. The theatre in Culver City has 317 seats and e...
A day I’ve been dreading for awhile has arrived. It’s time to think about the Lakers’ life without Kobe Bryant, which is probably two years away. Bryant has two years left on his Lakers’ contract, and he has said he intends to leave the NBA around that time. In London for the recent Olympic Games Bryant told reporters it would be logical that he’d end his playing career in Europe. He grew up in Italy because his father, Joe (Jellybean) Bryant played there. Kobe speaks Italian and a few other...
When Del Harris became the Lakers’ coach he had a conversation with center Shaquille O’Neal one day after practice. I was listening and he didn’t care. “Shaq,’ he began, ‘the only way coaches and centers are judged in this league is on how many championships they win. Nothing else comes close.” In recent days, as the Lakers were proclaimed a championship contender by the media after they obtained Dwight Howard, that conversation popped into my mind. The Lakers look good now. They have Steve Na...
He walked up behind me Sunday, grabbed both of my shoulders and broke into that infectious smile which became part of Dodger history in 1965. Lou Johnson, better known as Sweet Lou Johnson, wanted to talk about his game-winning home run against the Minnesota Twins in the seventh game of the ’65 World Series that brought a championship to Los Angeles. He also wanted to talk about baseball in general and his teammate, the great Sandy Koufax, the MVP of that World Series. “Sandy and I are good to...
The Lakers have created headlines by acquiring Steve Nash and pursuing Dwight Howard. But quietly, the Clippers have been doing everything right, and right now they have a superior roster. It’s only the beginning of August, so expect more changes. But take a closer look at what the Clippers have done in this off-season. They’ve brought in four-fifths of a second unit, acquiring the quality depth they lacked last season. And they’ve re-signed starter Chauncey Billups, who is recovering from the i...
USC, which lost several football players two years ago when the NCAA penalized the Trojans, got one back this week. Silas Redd, a running back who gained 1241 yards and scored seven touchdowns for Penn State last season, left there and has two years of eligibility left for USC. He is the highest profile player of several leaving Penn State following the NCAA’s harsh penalties to the school, including letting players transfer without sitting out a year, in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child a...
The lesson to be learned from harsh penalties handed out by the NCAA in the Penn State child abuse scandal is a very important one. The Win at All Costs mentality at major universities has to be stopped. Yes, the football programs bring in a lot of money. Bending the rules at times can be expected. But ignoring a grevious offense like the Jerry Sandusky scandal cannot be tolerated. The football program cannot be bigger than the university. I guess it takes something this terrible to drive the...
The Culver City High football team has concluded its summer passing league tournaments, but preparation for the coming season continues. The Centaurs won the consolation bracket championship in the Claremont Tournament last week with a 22-8 victory over Alhambra. The Centaurs will play two more games, hosting Bishop Amat Thursday on Helm’s Field and traveling to Serra on Monday. “I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made this summer,” said Coach Jahmal Wright. Culver lost its opening game in t...
In the Dodger Stadium press box Sunday I asked the same question to three broadcasting legends. I asked Vin Scully, Jaime Jarrin and Dick Enberg if they had ever seen anything like what happened here Saturday night. They gave the same answer. All of these guys with about 50 years of watching major league baseball games had never seen anything like it. The Dodgers had a 6-4 lead in the ninth inning against the last place San Diego Padres, a team which struggles to score runs. The Padres scored...
In my younger days I played on a Slo-Pitch softball team at various local parks. It was a lot of fun and a few times we won the league championship. I was just average, but our pitcher, Dave Blackburn, was outstanding. He was known well beyond Southern California. In fact, he was known all over the world. You see, Dave was the pitcher on the United States World Maccabiah Games Fast-Pitch team 6 times and was the winning pitcher on four championship teams. No athlete in any sport had competed as...
