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Last week San Diego City Council offered the Chargers a rental fee of $1 if the team would continue playing in Qualcom Stadium. They asked the Chargers to consider that they have 60 years of tradition in their fine city. Most likely the Chargers will deny the offer and move to Los Angeles, joining the Rams in the new stadium being built in Inglewood, ‘We have tried through seven mayors. It is very sad that we’ve reached this point,” the Chargers announced to the media. How will it work to have...
A couple of years ago the new owners of the Dodgers spent $300 million on their roster, the highest amount in the history of baseball. The Dodgers didn’t get into the World Series and they didn’t get there either the next season. That could have been the reason the Dodgers didn’t compete hard enough for several elite free agent pitchers last season and lost a chance to get into the World Series. But a few days ago the Dodgers showed the baseball world they’re serious about putting a highly...
Washington is one of four teams to make the NCAA football championship playoffs at season's end. USC will play Penn State in the Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 2. So, it has been a good year for the Pac-12 Conference even with UCLA, Stanford and Oregon having a disappointing season. A lot of conferences didn't do as well. The Oklahoma schools didn't qualify for the championship playoffs for instance, losing out to Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. Both USC and Penn State had to overcome slow...
When free agent center Dwight Howard left the Lakers after the 2012-’13 season fans were very angry. Ever since then Howard has been treated harshly at Staples Center from the opening introductions to the final buzzer every time he’s played here. Every time he’s handled the ball in fact. It happened again Sunday night when the Lakers erased an early deficit to defeat the Atlanta Hawks. I don’t expect Laker fans to ease up on Howard because of anything I write. But I’d like to tell you what I th...
I went to Staples Center Saturday and Sunday nights. That’s no surprise since my job requires keeping up with the Lakers and Clippers. But the weekend had a special significance. The Chicago Bulls were in town. They’re not a great team but a good one. They’ve added free agent Dwayne Wade and I expected them to provide a test for the LA teams. Could they meet the challenge? The Clippers passed the Chicago test but the Lakers didn’t. The Bulls were tearing the Clippers apart early in the game bu...
It’s good to be a fan of an LA team so far in the 2016-’17 National Basketball Association season. The Clippers are 10-1 at this writing, the best record in the NBA. And they’ve been routing opponents, building several 30-point halftime leads. The Lakers can’t match that but as of Monday they had a 6-5 record and that’s encouraging considering their slow starts in recent years. They even had a three-game winning streak before losing at Minnesota Sunday. I credit new coach Luke Walton for doing...
How bad was the UCLA basketball team last season? When the season ended Coach Steve Alford returned the money he had been awarded for an additional year on his contract. Yes, the coach was taking the blame for a 15-17 season which included a 10th place finish in the Pac-12 Conference. Yes, we’re talking about UCLA, the school with all those NCAA championships. Crosstown rival USC beat UCLA twice and finished in sixth place. Oregon was the champion. Well, a new season is starting and it’s lik...
There’s a big difference between having a good team and going all out to have a championship-caliber team. The 2016 World Series champion Chicago Cubs illustrate that point remarkably well. The Cubs hadn’t won a World Series in 108 years but accomplishing what seemed impossible became the goal that surfaced in 2009 when the Ricketts family bought the team for $845 million and Tom Ricketts began running the show. You may be familiar with the Ricketts family. They’re heavily involved in polit...
In a great World Series someone has to lose. This year it was the Cleveland Indians but they should be proud of their performance in a classic series that wasn’t decided until the extra inning of the seventh game. Terry Francona is a manager who is probably headed to the Hall of Fame. He guided the Boston Red Sox to two World Series championships and came close this time. His work this season was superb. The Indians lost some key players early in the season including two important pitchers. F...
A lot of Dodger fans are disappointed that their team didn’t make the World Series again this season. I see the season in a much different way. The Dodgers were phenomenal in overcoming an eight-game division deficit to finish in first place over the Giants. Then they won their first round playoff series and gave the heavily favored Cubs a battle before losing in the second round. All of this without the addition of any elite free agent pitchers last summer. They lost one, in fact, when they w...
Walter Alston’s 20 years as the Dodger manager and Tommy Lasorda’s 20 years brought a lot of joy to Los Angeles fans. Now Dave Roberts has done something to bring more joy. Roberts’ brilliant strategy in the seventh game of the 2016 first round playoff series against the Washington Nationals allowed the Dodgers to reach the next round. Of course the Chicago Cubs are heavily favored to eliminate the Dodgers and deprive them of their first World Series appearance since 1988. But fans can dream...
Gail Goodrich is the greatest lefthanded guard the Lakers have ever had. He played on two NCAA championship teams at UCLA, then teamed in the backcourt with Jerry West on two Laker NBA championship teams including the 1972 squad that set the still-standing record of 33 consecutive wins. In 14 NBA seasons Goodrich averaged 18.6 points per game. Although he was the shooting guard and West handled the ball more often Goodrich managed to average 4.7 assists per game throughout his career. I bring...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Walter Alston's 20 years as the Dodger manager and Tommy Lasorda's 20 years brought a lot of joy to Los Angeles fans. Now Dave Roberts has done something to bring more joy. Roberts' brilliant strategy in the seventh game of the 2016 first round playoff series against the Washington Nationals allowed the Dodgers to reach the next round. Of course the Chicago Cubs will be heavily favored to eliminate the Dodgers and deprive them of their first World Series appearan...
Recently some readers have asked me who’s going to win the World Series. I’ve given the matter some thought and come up with a reply. The World Series will be won by either the Cubs or someone else. I can’t name the someone else because it could be any of the teams who’ve qualified for the 2016 playoffs. Well, anyone but the Orioles because they were eliminated in the American League wild card game on Tuesday. My point is there isn’t a co-favorite this year. The Cubs were the vastly superior...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor If you've read this column over the years you probably know I traveled with the Lakers for a long time and got to know Chick Hearn very well. We frequently sat together on plane rides and I had the pleasure of knowing his wife, Marge, too. I haven't known Vin Scully as well because I didn't travel with the Dodgers but we became friends through a lot of conversations in the Dodger Stadium press box. The Lakers began flying charter many years ago but they used to...
The Lakers held the annual media day on Monday and opened training camp in Santa Barbara Tuesday eager to please their new coach. Luke Walton has already pleased them. In the off season since Walton replaced Byron Scott the young players who experienced a 17-65 season a year ago were pleased with his positive approach. Without question, Walton and the players bonded. The test, of course will be in how the team does when the wins and losses follow. Nice guy Walton, who encourages them, is great f...
If you’ve read this column over the years you probably know I traveled with the Lakers for a long time and got to know Chick Hearn very well. We frequently sat together on plane rides and I had the pleasure of knowing his wife, Marge, too. I haven’t known Vin Scully as well because I didn’t travel with the Dodgers but we became friends through a lot of conversations in the Dodger Stadium press box. The Lakers began flying charter many years ago but they used to fly commercial and one time Hearn...
The USC and UCLA football teams are preparing for something very important. USC will play Stanford Saturday. UCLA will play Stanford the following Saturday. Last year Stanford beat USC, then beat USC again in the Pac-12 Conference championship game. Stanford has been the Pac-12 champion in three of the last four years and has Heisman Trophy runnerup Christian McCaffrey returning. Stanford has beaten UCLA for eight straight years, including a 56-35 rout last season. So, although UCLA will be...
Yasiel Puig is back with the Dodgers. Possibly a new, improved Yasiel Puig. After careful consideration the Dodgers decided to bring the controversial 25-year-old outfielder back from their Oklahoma City farm club. The announcement was made on Friday, September 2. As a result Puig will be eligible to be with the Dodgers for the October playoffs the same as several other players who were brought up when roster limits were increased to 40 for the season's stretch drive. The Dodgers received...
For many, many years major league teams stationed defenders at first base, second base, shortstop and third base. Then the shift came along. Analytics began proving information on where batters frequently hit the ball. Teams responded by adding an extra fielder to the most likely spot. And, of course, reduced manpower at the least likely spot. So, on Sunday the Dodgers and Cubs were scoreless in the bottom of the eighth. There were two outs, the bases were loaded and the batter was Adrian...
The Lakers will have a new training facility in 2017 and Coach Luke Walton is excited about it. "It will be three times the size of the one we have now," he said. "It will have two basketball courts and a capacity of 750 for games of our D-League team, the LA Defenders. The facility, called the UCLA Health Training Center, will be in El Segundo, just two blocks from the current one. Currently the Lakers are tenants in a facility they share with the Kings and there's an ice rink open to the...
Two seasons ago the Clippers had a 3-1 series lead over the Houston Rockets but faltered and lost their chance to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in their history. Last season the Clippers were eliminated in the first playoff round by the Portland Trail Blazers even though they finished higher in the regular season. So, a lot has been heard since about a Clippers curse. You know, word has gotten around that somehow, some way the Clippers will fall short. Here we go...
The Lakers took awhile but they signed top draft choice Brandon Ingram this week. They also signed former top 10 draft choice Yi Jianlian, who played well for China in the just-concluded Olympics although the team lost all five of its games. Ingram is a candidate to succeed Kobe Bryant at small forward. Jianlian will try to earn a roster spot in training camp. The 6-11 Jilianlian hasn't done well while playing for four NBA teams since he was drafted by Milwaukee in 2007. He has averaged less...
Magic Johnson, the great Laker player and now part-owner of the Dodgers, was warmly received by 42,000 fans on his 57th birthday at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, August 14. Johnson and his two sons threw out the ceremonial first balls before the Dodgers played the Pittsburgh Pirates. In attendance were Johnson's wife, Cookie and former Laker star teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. "It's a blessing for me to be here with the Dodgers and to be in Los Angeles," said Johnson. "This city has embraced me for...
If you’re a basketball fan in Southern California it’s time to consider your plans for Christmas. The Lakers and Clippers will be playing each other that day in Staples Center. It will be a Lakers home game. The teams will play each other four times in the 2016-17 season. The Clippers won all four meetings last season. The NBA annually has five games on national television on Christmas Day. The Laker-Clipper game will be one of them. The featured one will be a rematch of last season’s NBA Final...
