Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
Community, Diversity, Sustainability and other Overused Words
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As I look at the Lakers' dreadful record I wonder how much better they'd be this season if Pau Gasol remained on the team. Gasol, a far better big man than anyone on the Lakers this season, was driven away (let's be frank about this) by his dispute with Coach Mike D'Antoni. As I've written before, D'Antoni's offense featured three-point shooting rather than plays revolving around a center. Dwight Howard didn't like that and departed after one Laker season when he became a free agent. He signed...
In 1998 the Dodgers traded away Mike Piazza in what immediately became the most unpopular move in their Los Angeles history. Last week the Dodgers traded away Matt Kemp, and judging by initial reactions this is going to rival Piazza's departure as the worst decision the club has made. Conditions are different. In 1998 new Dodger owners were trying to make a point that they were not going to cave in to players' salary demands. Piazza's contract had expired and negotiations weren't going well on a...
When the National Basketball Association revealed its list of the 50 greatest players of all time I was on the selection committee. When the list was made public, unfortunately so was the balloting of every committee member. For years afterward several players who weren't chosen confronted me to ask me why I didn't vote for them. Really, it was an impossible task. There were 70 or 80 deserving players. No amount of research allowed me to feel comfortable about my choices, especially the last 20...
Giancarlo Stanton recently signed a 13-year, $325 million contract with the Miami Marlins. Although the right fielder hit 37 home runs last season and came close to outpolling Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw for the National League MVP award critics have wondered about the wisdom of the Marlins' decision. You see, the contract will be the largest for any player in the history of North American sports. I wondered too until I heard what Stanton had to say about the negotiations. I gave him the bene...
The committee that settled on the four teams who’ll play in the first College Football Playoff got it right at the finish. But this distinguished group created needless controversy in the manner it operated, first advancing TCU to No. 3, then five days later after the team had crushed its final regular season opponent, 51-3, dropped TCU to No. 6. The committee on Sunday ultimately set up the two semi-finals properly. Oregon (No. 2) will play Florida State (No. 3) on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bo...
The joke in the Staples Center press room a few weeks ago was that new Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had called a meeting of the players. And he told them "if you don't start playing better I'm going to sell the team back to Donald Sterling." Well, no need for that anymore. The Clippers, who got off to a slow start this season, went on the road in the last week of November and did better than any Clippers team in history had ever done – six wins in seven games, After routing Orlando and Miami t...
Reserve guard Xavier Henry is the latest in a long line of Laker players who have been injured in the last two seasons. Henry suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon in practice last week. The Lakers announced he will be out for the rest of the season. Henry was far more successful last season than this one. Coach Byron Scott gave Henry limited playing time and said he was trying to see if Henry could regain his form of last season. The Lakers didn’t immediately announce who would replace H...
I'm old enough to remember Red Sanders' impact when he coached football at UCLA. And the dynasties of John McKay and Pete Carroll at USC, among others. In this city with a remarkable cross-town rivalry the school with the more prominent coach often prevails. That coach currently is Jim Mora at UCLA. Mora has coached UCLA for three years and the Bruins, who couldn't beat the Trojans for a decade, have won the last three meetings. The latest was the Bruins' convincing 38-20 victory over the...
Out of all the major league baseball players on teams throughout the land the MVPs have been chosen and they both play in Southern California. If you're a baseball fan here you can join me in congratulating Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and Mike Trout of the Angels. Neither one was able to lead their team to much playoff success in the 2014 season, but their individual accomplishments could not be questioned in the regular season, and these awards are based on regular season play, not the...
The NBA season began only two weeks ago but already there have been numerous surprises. The biggest one is the Cleveland Cavaliers' 1-3 start and apparent friction between LeBron James and the Cavaliers' talented point guard Kyrie Irving. When James left the Miami Heat and signed with his hometown Cleveland team and the Cavaliers then acquired Kevin Love, Shawn Marion and others the team became the favorite to reach the NBA Finals. Instead the Cavaliers lost their home opener, then lost at...
The father of Laker guard Wayne Ellington was shot to death in a car in Philadelphia last week. Ellington has been granted a leave from the team. “He needs time to grieve and he’ll be welcomed back whenever he decides to return,” said Coach Byron Scott. On Sunday night, November 9, shortly after the Lakers earned their first win of the season, Ellington learned of his father’s death as he was about to depart from Staples Center. “He had the support of teammates and Gerald Henderson, who had j...
The new owners of the Dodgers arrived with a plan – outspend every opponent and win the World Series pretty often. They have produced a couple of highly competitive teams, but there's been no World Series appearance yet while the Dodgers' arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, just won their third World Series in the last five years. I think the Dodgers must revamp their plan. They have to continue spending a lot but don't make the mistake again of spending on free agents who have had success i...
Kobe Bryant has an answer for those who think he should request a trade from the Lakers. “I’ve heard the chatter that I should ask out and go to a contender for the last years of my career. But that’s not what I do. I’m extremely loyal to the Lakers.” The chatter began when the Lakers lost their first four games this season, the first time they’ve done that since the franchise moved to Los Angeles from Minneapolis more than 50 years ago....
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor He's 19 years old, one of the most talented players the Lakers have and on the NBA season's opening night Julius Randle broke his right leg. The Lakers figured to have a difficult season. Now it looks more difficult. Randle drove to the basket in the fourth quarter of a 108-90 loss to the Houston Rockets, his leg buckled and he grabbed it. Team doctors on the scene at Staples Center said Randle suffered a broken tibia and a six-month recovery would likely be...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Steve Nash is one of the best point guards ever to play in the NBA. He's been MVP twice and ranks third all-time in assists. Unfortunately for the Lakers, Nash did his remarkable work before he signed here at the age of 38. In two Laker seasons he played in only 65 games, 50 the first year and 15 last season as he was unable to ward off a back injury. Last week the Lakers and Nash jointly announced he won't play this season. He didn't announce his retirement, pre...
Many NBA coaches experiment with new players and new on-court ideas during exhibition games. The theory is that in the eight practice games permitted to each team it's a good time to see what improvements might be made over last season. But not every coach feels that way. The purpose of this column is to point out the differences without deciding which plan is better. How each team performs over the upcoming 82-game schedule and the playoffs will provide the answers. The Clippers were defeated a...
On the day Byron Scott became the new coach of the Lakers this summer three surprise guests attended the press conference. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Jamaal Wilkes were there to support their former teammate. "I was very surprised and deeply touched," Scott told me last Thursday night prior to the Lakers' exhibition game against the Golden State Warriors. "I didn't know they were coming to the press conference. It meant so much to me." Granted a solo interview with Scott by the...
When the Dodgers were quickly eliminated from the current playoffs it was likely a major change was coming. It was a matter of who would be replaced by new owners who expect their big spending to produce a World Series product – manager Don Mattingly or general manager Ned Colletti. The answer was revealed this week when Andrew Friedman was hired to be the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations. Colletti, after nine years as general manager, was relegated to the role of an advisor, The 37-...
It looked for awhile like there could be a Freeway World Series this season. So, how can we explain that neither the Dodgers nor the Angels made it out of their opening playoff series? Well, we can try. The Dodgers did what the Yankees did for many years – take advantage of the fact there is no salary cap in baseball, unlike the NBA which fines teams heavily who go far above the salary cap. With new ownership, the Dodgers collected the most expensive roster in baseball history but learned the h...
During most of my lifetime the New York Yankees have been baseball's biggest spenders and often had the best team. They piled up World Series championships but in some years they didn't win in the best-of-seven final test. So I learned as we went along. It became clear to me that in baseball, where there is no salary cap, a team could virtually assure itself of being in the playoffs by accumulating the most talent for a 162-game season. But in a short series a team with a smaller payroll could...
The Angels clinched their division championship the fastest of any team this season. That's the good news for Angel fans. The bad news is the team that clinches first seldom wins the World Series. As a columnist I'm expected to toss out opinions to help readers make their choices. But, being honest, I'm admitting that I don't have a strong opinion on how the Angels are going to do, The Angels should be taken seriously because of their hitting. They're a scary opponent for anyone because they hav...
Now that the Clippers have a new owner, a proven outstanding coach and two of the NBA's best players they seem equipped for an outstanding season. Where does that leave the Lakers, who were targeting Kevin Love until he decided to sign a five-year contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers? The Lakers made a run at Carmelo Anthony this summer but were saving salary cap money for next summer's free a agent class, led by Love, the former UCLA star. They were counting on Love desiring a return to the...
Donald Sterling tried everything to prevent the sale of his Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion. But when the sale was finalized Tuesday Clipper fans could rejoice. This is the right decision, the proper outcome of the prolonged court cases. Sterling owned the team for 33 years but it was time for a change. The Clippers are now one of the NBA’s elite teams and deserve the opportunity to focus on basketball instead of allowing Sterling to cast a shadow o...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor The San Antonio Spurs are not only NBA champions they have the reputation of frequently being a few steps ahead of opponents in a variety of ways. I admire the Spurs for adding someone to their roster every season, usually a relatively unknown player from Europe or a U.S. collegian who wasn't an All-American. Frequently these players become key additions to support Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Mano Ginobli. So it didn't surprise me when last week the Spurs became...
When Pauley Pavilion was modernized two years go the UCLA basketball team played its home schedule primarily at the Sports Arena. Due to heavy flooding last week which included the Pauley Pavilion playing court being warped, the possibility existed the Bruins would again have to find an alternate site for the upcoming season. However, that isn't likely. UCLA officials have determined there's no structural damage to Pauley Pavilion due to the flooding. However, the playing floor will be replaced...
