The Man. For one of the best teams in the league. With talent around him, but talent that defers to him. That allows him to pace himself a bit before "winnin' time" ...

That must be what Kobe Bryant had in mind when the Lakers traded Shaquille O'Neal in the summer of 2004. How he saw his future. Like, his immediate future.

No more deferring to The BIg Aristotle, no more "sidekick" zingers aimed at him.

Well, the "who's in charge" thing went away, the moment Shaq left.

But the other half of Kobe's plans didn't happen. He didn't have enough talent around him, for three years. Which is about how long it took him to figure out that, no, he could NOT be a contending team all by himself. Prompting last summer's monthlong rants directed at management and teammates.

Continue reading "This Must Be What Kobe Had in Mind" »

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The women's half of the CCAA postseason basketball tournament was formful.

Aside from No. 7 seed Cal Poly Pomona upsetting No. 2 seed Cal State San Bernardino, that is.

Vanessa Wilt had foul trouble for the Coyotes, and if you've seen them play, you know they've got issues, without Wilt.

Here are the CCAA-generated game capsules. Semis and final of the women's tourney are Friday and Saturday at Cal State San Bernardino. Which, no, won't be playing on the men's OR women's side. Oops.

Continue reading "On Women's Side, Cal Poly Pomona Stuns S.B." »

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I did a piece on Brett Favre's retirement for the Wednesday newspapers.

And I came across the quirky bit of information:

Brett Favre's career ended, it now turns out, when New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes nailed a 47-yard field goal in overtime.

Continue reading "Weird Favre Fact Found while Doing Research" »

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow. The California Collegiate Athletic Association went through a season where almost everybody could beat almost everyone else ... but NOT all on the same night. And NOT all on the road.

But that's what happened in the CCAA first round tonight.

EVERY lower-seeded team won. In the other team's gym. Four out of four. Including No. 8 seed Cal Poly Pomona at top-seeded Humboldt State; the Broncos won 73-70 in the toughest venue in the conference.

At the same time, No. 2 seed Cal State San Bernardino, the co-champ with Humboldt, lost at home to No. 7 seed UC San Diego -- which.won 63-59.

And there's more: No. 6 San Francisco State defeated No. 3 Cal State L.A. 60-57, and No. 5 Cal State Dominguez Hills topped No. 4 Cal State Monterey Bay 56-53.

What does this mean for the losers? They're not going to get an automatic berth into the NCAA Division II regional. But San Bernardino and Humboldt should still get in on the strength of their overall records.

It also means the four losers, none of which were likely to make the NCAAs, are now two victories (Friday and Saturday at Cal State S.B.) from getting into the NCAA tournament.

Continue reading "Underdog Day in CCAA Men's Playoffs" »

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Galaxy forward Landon Donovan, the Redlands native, isn't in China with the team. He's back home, rehabbing a balky right knee. His injury has been diagnosed as "patella tendinitis."

The Galaxy is on an extended preseason trip ... two games in Hawaii followed by a game in Korea, and then one in Shanghai and another in Hong Kong.

The Galaxy split two games in Honolulu, lost in Korea ... and play the other two matches this week.

Landon, however, sat out the Hawaii matches, which were played on artificial turf, and then flew back to California rather than continue on across the Pacific.

Continue reading "Donovan Skips Asia Trip to Rehab Knee" »

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kobe Bryant had it all goin' on Sunday.

He scored an NBA season-high 52 points as the Lakers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 108-104 in overtime before the (again) reliably noisy Staples Center capacity crowd.

Bryant had 22 in the fourth quarter and 30 in the second half, also NBA season highs. And he passed Walt Bellamy for 25th on the all-time scoring list (with 20,941 points).

When it was over, he still had energy enough for a couple of witticisms.

Continue reading "Kobe Scores 52, Then Cracks One-Liners" »

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)