In This Corner

Redlands East Valley climbed to 12-0 last week with a 38-7 spanking of Norco, and it seemed as if the Wildcats were headed for a CIF title game at the Home Depot Center. All they had to do was get past Corona Santiago, which was 7-4 and had lost in league to Norco.

But it didn't work out. Not even. Final score: Santiago 25, REV 10.

Here is what went wrong for REV:

1. Three lost fumbles, two interceptions by REV.

REV's turnovers: A lost fumble by Chris Polk on first-and-goal at the 9 when it was 8-0; a lost fumble by Tyler Shreve on a sack at the Santiago 39; a Polk fumble at the Santiago 29 when it was 22-10; a Shreve interception at the Santiago 6 at 25-10 in the fourth quarter; a Shreve interception from the Santiago 22 with 1:39 to play. That's four turnovers inside the Santiago 30.

2. Zero turnovers by Santiago. This includes at least four fumbles that the Sharks got back. Including a snap that flew right past their quarterback and was pounced on by their tailback for a loss of 8, and an Anthony Dye fumble that bounced right back up to him.

3. Santiago had more speed and skill players than did REV. B.J. Iverson, Kenroy Davis, Derrick Dawson, Marlion Barnett and Dye all were dangerous in the open field. REV had only Polk. Santiago's backs broke "outside contain" several times; REV did, oh, never.

4. Dye outplayed Polk. These two were THE star players on the field. The former is verbally committed to UCLA, the latter to USC. Dye not only ran for 169 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries (to Polk's 163 on 32), he played defense all night and was in on at least a dozen tackles, including three or four of Polk in the open field when a whiff would have meant a REV touchdown.

Santiago was a decent team playing a tough schedule until it was trashed by Corona Centennial ... and then got Dye into the offense -- where he now is the main man. The Sharks are now 8-4 and headed for the final, and probably a rematch with Centennial. (Good luck with that.)

REV coach Kurt Bruich, on Dye: "He's an absolutely great football player. He's put this team on his back and he's carrying them."

Plus, REV was just unlucky. Trey Farquhar had a 54-yard field goal attempt bounce off the cross bar on REV's first possession; the rain made passing difficult, negating what should have been a REV advantage; the turnovers that bounced the wrong way. Etc.

But, at the end, REV was a little too one-dimensional: Chris Polk left, right and center. Santiago had more options, made more big plays ... and cashed in on them. REV went 12-1, which is a heck of a season. But, in retrospect, the Wildcats may have peaked back in September, when they defeated North, Compton Dominguez and Colton in succession. They seemed to lose their edge while coasting through a weak Citrus Belt League and, aside from the Norco game ... they weren't quite the same again.

San Bernardino County, shut out from the finals ... unless Colony of Ontario wins its semifinal game in the Central Division tonight.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Five turnovers killed the Wildcats, three lost fumbles and two interceptions. Three of the turnovers came inside the Santiago 30.

REV finishes 12-1. Santiago (8-4) advances to the Inland Division title game Saturday at the Home Depot Center.

REDLANDS EAST VALLEY vs. CORONA SANTIAGO
CIF-SS Inland Division Football Semifinals
At Yucaipa High School, Nov. 30, 2007
Weather: Rain, 60 degrees, 5 mph wind from the south. Kickoff: 7:34 p.m.
Play by play
REV wins coin flip, defers to second half. Santiago to receive and defend south goal.

continues ...

Farquhar kickoff through end zone, touchback.
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 20 at 12:00.
1-10 (20) Dye sweep right for 2 (Denny)
2-8 (22) Dye on dive, dropped for loss of 1 (Aguilera)
3-9 (21) Kruse pass intended for Peoples in right flat, incomplete
4-9 (21) Centeno 12 punt, downed by Connette
REV STARTS AT S33 at 10:14
1-10 (33) Shreve fumbles snap, recovers own fumble for loss of 9
2-19 (41) Polk for 4 on sweep left (Dye)
3-15 (37) Shreve pass incomplete middle right, intended for Ollar
4-15 (37) Farquhar 54-yard field goal attempt out of Aguilera hold, hits crossbar
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 20 at 8:46
1-10 (20) Davis for 4 over left tackle (Aguilera)
2-6 (24) Kruse fumbles snap, covered by Davis for loss of 8
3-14 (16) Kruse fumbles snap, recovers for loss of 2
4-16 (14) Centeno 34 punt, fair catch by Ollar
REV STARTS AT S48 at 6:26
1-10 (48) Polk runs into nothing over left tackle, loses 3 (Dazale)
2-13 (49) Polk bursts through middle for 16 (Berry)
1-10 (35) Polk breaks tackles over right side for 8, shoestring tackle by Charlot)
2-2 (27) Cruz for loss of 1 on trap left (Garcia, Green)
3-3 (28) Polk for 5 over right side, but holding penalty on REV costs 10
3-13 (38) Shreve sack for loss of 5 (Goldsboro)
4-18 (43) Farquhar 34 punt, no return
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 23 at 3:11
1-10 (23) Hawkins for 9 over right side (Coffin, Hansler)
2-1 (32) Dye for 43 on sweep right, runs up sideline, TD-saving push out (Wells)
1-10 (25) Hawkins for 3 up middle (Aguilera)
2-7 (22) Kruse pass in right flat to Iverson, loss of 2 (Krahenbuhl)
3-9 (24) Kruse pass for 7 to Barnett (Scott, Aguilera)
END OF FIRST QUARTER. REV 0, SANTIAGO 0

4-2 (17) Dye for 3 on dive (Carnes, Galvan)
1-10 (14) Hawkins for 4 over right side (Hansler, Galvan)
2-6 (10) DYE 13 RUN UP MIDDLE, TOUCHDOWN, at 10:36; Encroachment on REV costs 2 yards. KRUSE RUN for 2-point conversion. Drive: 7 plays, 77 yards, 4:35 elapsed time. SANTIAGO 8, REV 0.

Personal foul, 15 yards, on REV during conversion marked off on kickoff

Felix kick off from R45 into end zone, touchback.
REV STARTS AT 20 at 10:36 (Rain intensifies)
1-10 (20) Polk stopped by gang in backfield, loses 3 (Merchant)
2-13 (17) Polk for 8 up middle
3-5 (25) Polk for 4 up middle (Tameifuna)
4-1 (29) Polk hit at line over left side, second effort nets 2 (Charlot)
1-10 (31) Cruz for 1 on scissors left (Tameifuna, others)
2-9 (32) Polk for 7 up middle (Hinger); Berry of Santiago slow getting up, game delayed
3-2 (39) Polk tripped up in backfield, falls forward for 1 (Merchant)
4-1 (40) Polk for 2 over left side, hit hard (Dye)
1-10 (42) Polk for 16 over right side, TD-saving tackle (Dye)
1-10 (42) Shreve keep for 0 left (Garcia)
2-10 (42) Polk for 5 over left guard (Kelly)
3-5 (37) Polk over right side for 27, breaks into clear, TD-saving tackle (Martin)
1-10 (10) Polk fumbles when hit in backfield, loss of 2; Kelly recover for Santiago
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 12 at 4:49
1-10 (12) Dye for 1 up middle (Krahenbuhl, Sofia)
2-9 (13) Davis up middle for 5 (Sofia)
3-4 (18) Kruse pass deep left to Barnett, nice over-shoulder catch for 29 (Brown)
1-10 (47) Encroachment costs REV 5
1-5 (48) Davis for 2 on dive (Krahenbuhl)
2-3 (46) Dye sweep left side, breaks up sideline for 15 till push out of bounds (Aguilera)
1-10 (31) (1:45) Kruse bobbles snap, keeps left for 2 on busted play (Hansler, Savedra)
TIMEOUT SANTIAGO, No.1, 1:23
2-8 (29) Iverson sweep left, gets outside contain, up sideline for 29 and TOUCHDOWN at 1:13; Centeno kick GOOD out of Anderson hold. SANTIAGO 15, REV 0. Drive: 7 plays, 88 yards, 3:36 elapsed time.

Felix squib kickoff to 32, Moreno bobbles, covers for REV, 0 return
REV STARTS AT 32 at 1:09
1-10 (32) Shreve 6-yard pass to Clark in left flat (Murray)
2-4 (38) Shreve pass incomplete deep middle, intended for Ollar
3-4 (38) (:41) Polk bolts for 19 over right side (Dye)
TIMEOUT REV No. 1 at 0:35.
1-10 (43) Cruz 4 pass from Shreve in left flat (Murray)
TIMEOUT REV No. 2 at 0:28
2-6 (39) Shreve sack for loss of 2 (Garcia), fumbles, Green recover for Santiago
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 41 at 0:22
1-10 (41) Kruse pass incomplete on post intended for Berry (Wells)
2-10 (41) (0:16) Dye 59 run over left side, slips three tackles, TOUCHDOWN at :03; Centeno PAT kick out of Anderson hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 0. Drive: 2 plays, 59 yards, 19 seconds elapsed time.

Felix squib kickoff to REV 32, lateral back to Polk, return right, cuts back left for 73-yard TOUCHDOWN at 0:00; Farquhar PAT kick out of Baze hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 7.

HALFTIME
Feliz kickoff to 19, Ollar returns 16, fumble goes out of bounds.
REV STARTS AT 35 at 11:55
1-10 (35) Polk for up middle for 2 (Garcia)
2-8 (37) Polk over left side, runs through two tackles for 8
1-10 (45) Shreve pass incomplete in right flat, dropped by Ollar (Martin)
2-10 (45) Polk sweep right, cuts up for 8 (Berry)
3-2 (47) Polk squirts out of mass, makes 3
1-10 (44) Shreve scrambles for 4
2-6 (40) Polk through big hole over right tackle for 7 (Green) REV’s Peterson hurt; game stopped at 9:25; comes off under own power
1-10 (33) Clark 9 pass from Shreve in left flat (Murray)
2-1 (24) Shreve pass incomplete on deep out left, Ollar intended receiver
3-1 (24) Polk for 4 up middle (Garcia)
1-10 (20) Polk for 2 over left side (Dye and others)
2-8 (18) Encroachment costs Santiago 6
2-2 (13) Cruz into pile for 1
3-1 (12) Polk for 0 up middle (Goldsboro)
4-1 (11) Encroachment costs Santiago 6 (hard count by Shreve)
1-5 (5) Polk hit immediately in backfield (shotgun) loss of 5 (Merchant); game stopped at 5:12, REV’s Peterson hurt; helped off field
2-10 (10) Polk takes lateral, looks to pass, tucks ball away, scrambles for 1 (Garcia)
3-9 (9) Shreve pass incomplete into left flat, intended for Polk
4-9 (9) Farquhar 25 FIELD GOAL at 3:54 out of Aguilera hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 10. Drive: 17 plays, 56 yards, 6:43 elapsed time.

(Rain lessens)
Farquhar kickoff into end zone, touchback
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 20 at 3:54
1-10 (20) Iverson on sweep right, dropped for loss of 3 (Hansler, Brown)
2-13 (17) Kruse pass incomplete, intended for Barnett (Hansler cover). Illegal receiver penalty declined
3-13 (17) Davis sweep left for 6 (Brown)
4-7 (23) Centeno punt with roll 40
REV STARTS AT 37 at 2:12
1-10 (37) Polk for 2 up middle
2-8 (39) Shreve pass incomplete in right flat, intended for Ollar (Dye)
3-8 (39) Shreve pass to Cruz in left flat for 5
4-3 (44) Encroachment on Santiago (Goldsboro) costs 5
1-10 (49) Polk sweep right for 8
2-2 (43) Shreve roll left, pass to Cruz for 5 (Dye)
1-10 (38) Polk up middle for 9, hit by Green, fumbles, Dye recovers for Santiago; Polk down for minute
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 29 at 0:15
1-10 (29) Dye for 1 over left tackle (Krahenbuhl)
END OF THIRD QUARTER. SANTIAGO 22, REV 10
2-9 (30) Martin for 3 up middle; game stopped as REV’s Sofia hurt
3-6 (33) Kruse pass incomplete, ball falls out of hand; no fumble ruled
4-6 (33) Centeno 38 punt, Ollar fair catch
REV STARTS AT 29 at 11:17 (rain has stopped)
1-10 (29) Polk skirts left end for 12 (Dye)
1-10 (41) Shreve pass incomplete intended for Cruz shallow right flat
2-10 (41) Polk for 3 over right side (Merchant, Tamiefuna)
3-7 (44) Shreve pass incomplete intended for Cruz, nice coverage (Martin)
TIMEOUT REV No. 1
4-7 (44) Shreve pass incomplete in right flat, intended for Ollar
SANTIAGO STARTS AT R44 at 10:10
1-10 (44) Dye skirts left end for 6 (Brown)
2-4 (38) Kruse pass to Iverson on deep out for 14 (Brown)
1-10 (24) Dye for 1 on dive (Toailoa)
2-9 (23) Dye for 6 over right side (Aguilera)
3-3 (17) Dye breaks tackles over left side for 13, TD-saving tackle (Hansler)
1-4 (4) Procedure penalty costs Santiago 5
1-9 (9) (7:29) Kruse keep left for 1 (Aguilera)
2-8 (8) Kruse pass incomplete, intended for Barnett
3-8 (8) Dye for 4 up middle (Krahenbuhl, Sofia)
4-4 (4) Delay of game costs Santiago 5
4-9 (9) Centeno 26-yard FIELD GOAL out of hold of Anderson. SANTIAGO 25, REV 10. Drive 9 plays, 35 yards, 4:27 elapsed time.

Felix kickoff, fielded by Ollar at the 17, 17 return
REV STARTS AT 34 at 5:38
1-10 (34) Shreve gets out of pocket, throws deep strike to Clark up left sideline for 50 (Murray)
1-10 (16) Shreve pass to Cruz on slant left for 11
1-10 (5) Polk travel right, slip on cut for loss of 1 (Martin)
2-6 (6) Shreve intercepted in right flat by Merchant, intended for Cruz, return of 8
SANTIAGO START AT 13 at 4:31
1-10 (13) Dye for minus 1 around left end, knocked OB (Wells)
2-11 (12) Iverson for 5 on sweep right
3-6 (17) Dye covers own fumble in backfield for loss of 4
4-10 (13) Centeno punt out of bounds for 20
REV STARTS AT S33 at 2:20
1-10 (33) Shreve pass incomplete in end zone, intended for Ollar (Martin)
2-10 (33) Shreve pass scrambling to Cruz for 6
3-4 (27) Shreve pass incomplete in flat to Ollar
4-4 (27) (1:46) Encroachment penalty costs Santiago 5
1-10 (22) Shreve intercepted late over middle, near goal line by Murray, intended for Clark; personal foul on Clark; face mask costs REV 15
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 17 at 1:39
1-10 (17) Dye for 0 up middle (Underwood)
TIMEOUT REV No. 2 at 1:32
2-10 (17) Dye for 8 up middle
TIMEOUT REV No. 3 at 1:26
3-2 (25) Dye for 5 over right tackle (Underwood)
1-10 (30) Kruse takes a knee for loss of 1
2-11 (29) Kruse takes a knee for loss of 1.

FINAL SCORE: Corona Santiago 25, REV 10

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

REDLANDS EAST VALLEY vs. CORONA SANTIAGO
CIF-SS Inland Division Football Semifinals
At Yucaipa High School, Nov. 30, 2007
Weather: Rain, 60 degrees, 5 mph wind from the south. Kickoff: 7:34 p.m.
Play by play
REV wins coin flip, defers to second half. Santiago to receive and defend south goal.

Farquhar kickoff through end zone, touchback.
Santiago ball 20, 12:00.
1-10 (20) Dye sweep right for 2 (Denny)
2-8 (22) Dye for on dive, dropped for loss of 1 (Aguilera)
3-9 (21) Kruse pass intended for Peoples in right flat, incomplete
4-9 (21) Centeno 12 punt, downed by Connette
REV starts at S33 at 10:14
1-10 (33) Shreve fumbles snap, recovers own fumble for loss of 9
2-19 (41) Polk for sweep left (Dye)
3-15 (37) Shreve pass incomplete middle right, intended for Ollar
4-15 (37) Farquhar 54-yard field goal attempt out of Aguilera hold, hits crossbar
SANTIAGO starts at 20 at 8:46
1-10 (20) Davis for 4 over left tackle (Aguilera)
2-6 (24) Kruse fumble snap, covered by Davis for loss of 8
3-14 (16) Kruse fumble snap, recovers for loss of 2
4-16 (14) Centeno 34 punt, fair catch by Ollar
REV STARTS AT S48 AT 6:26
1-10 (48) Polk runs into nothing over left tackle (Dazale)
2-13 (49) Polk bursts through middle for 16 (Berry)
1-10 (35) Polk breaks tackles over right side for 8, shoestring tackle by Char;ot)
2-2 (27) Cruz for loss of 1 on trap left (Garcia, Green)
3-3 (28) Polk for 5 over right side but hold on REV costs 10
3-13 (38) Shreve sack for loss of 5(Goldsboro)
4-18 (43) Farquhar punt, no return
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 23 at 3:11
1-10 (23) Hawkins for 9 over right side (Coffin, Hansler)
2-1 (32) Dye for 43 on sweep right, runs up sideline, TD-saving push out (Wells)
1-10 (25) Hawkins for 3 up middle (Aguilera)
2-7 (22) Kruse pass in right flat to Iverson, loss of 2 (Krahenbuhl)
3-9 (24) Kruse pass for 7 to Barnett (Scott, Aguilera)
END OF FIRST QUARTER. REV 0, SANTIAGO 0

4-2 (17) Dye for on dive (Carnes, Galvan)
1-10 (14) Hawkins for over right side (Hansler, Galvan)
2-6 (10) DYE 13 RUN UP MIDDLE, TOUCHDOWN, at 10:36; Encroachment on REV costs 2 yards. KRUSE RUN for 2-point conversion. Drive: 7 plays, 77 yards, 4:35. SANTIAGO 8, REV 0.

Personal foul, 15 yards, on REV during conversion marked off on kickoff

Felix kick off from R45 into end zone, touchback.
REV STARTS AT 20 at 10:36 (Rain intensifies)
1-10 (20) Polk stopped by gang in backfield, loses 3 (Merchant)
2-13 (17) Polk for up middle for 8
3-5 (25) Polk for 4 up middle (Tamiefuna)
4-1 (29) Polk hit at line over left side, second effort nets 2 (Charlot)
1-10 (31) Cruz for 1 on scissors left (Tameifuna, others)
2-9 (32) Polk for 7 up middle (Hinger); Berry of Santiago slow getting up, game delayed
3-2 (39) Polk tripped up in backfield, falls forward for 1 (Merchant)
4-1 (40) Polk for 2 over left side, hit hard (Dye)
1-10 (42) Polk for 16 over right side, TD-saving tackle (Dye)
1-10 (42) Shreve keep for 0 left (Garcia)
2-10 (42) Polk for 5 over left guard (Kelly)
3-5 (37) Polk over right side for 27, breaks into clear, TD-saving tackle (Martin)
1-10 (10) Polk fumbles when hit in backfield, loss of 2; Kelly recover for Santiago
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 12 at 4:49
1-10 (12) Dye for up middle (Krahenbuhl, Sofia)
2-9 (13) Davis up middle for 5 (Sofia)
3-4 (18) Kruse pass deep left to Barnett, nice over-shoulder catch for 29 (Brown)
1-10 (47) Encroachment costs REV 5
1-5 (48) Davis for 2 on dive (Krahenbuhl)
2-3 (46) Dye sweep left side, breaks up sideline for 15 till push OB (Aguilera)
1-10 (31) (1:45) Kruse bobbles snap, keeps left for 2 on busted play (Hansler, Savedra)
TIMEOUT SANTIAGO, No.1, 1:23
2-8 (29) Iverson sweep left, gets outside contain, up sideline for 29 and TOUCHDOWN at 1:13; Centeno kick GOOD out of Anderson hold. SANTIAGO 15, REV 0. Drive:

Felix squib kickoff to 32, Moreno bobbles, covers for REV, 0 return
REV STARTS AT 32 at 1:09
1-10 (32) Clark 6 pass in left flat (Murray)
2-4 (38) Shreve pass incomplete deep middle, intended for Ollar
3-4 (38) (:41) Polk bolts for 19 over right side (Dye)
TIMEOUT REV No. 1 at 0:35.
1-10 (43) Cruz 4 pass from Shreve in left flat (Murray)
TIMEOUT REV No. 2 at 0:28
2-6 (39) Shreve sack for loss of 2 (Garcia), Green recover for Santiago
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 41 at 0:22
1-10 (41) Kruse pass incomplete on post intended for Berry (Wells)
2-10 (41) (0:16) Dye 59 run over left side, slips three tackles, TOUCHDOWN at :03; Centeno PAT kick out of Anderson hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 0. Drive: 2 plays, 59 yards, 19 seconds.

Felix squib kickoff to REV 32, lateral back to Polk, return right, cuts back left for 73-yard TOUCHDOWN at 0:00; Farquhar PAT kick out of Baze hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 0

HALFTIME
Feliz kickoff to 19, Ollar returns 16 , fumble goes out of bounds.
REV STARTS AT 35 at 11:55
1-10 (35) Polk for up middle for 2 (Garcia)
2-8 (37) Polk over left side, runs through two tackles for 8
1-10 (45) Shreve pass incomplete in right flat, dropped by Ollar (Martin)
2-10 (45) Polk sweep right, cuts up for 8 (Berry)
3-2 (47)Polk squirts out of mass, makes 3
1-10 (44) Shreve scrambles for 4
2-6 (40) Polk through big hole over right tackle for 7 (Green) REV’s Peterson hurt; game stopped at 9:25; comes off under own power
1-10 (33) Clark 9 pass from Shreve in left flat (Murray)
2-1 (24) Shreve pass incomplete on deep out left, Ollar intended receiver
3-1 (24) Polk for 4 up middle (Garcia)
1-10 (20) Polk for 2 over left side (Dye and others)
2-8 (18) Encroachment costs Santiago 5
2-2 (13) Cruz into pile for 1
3-1 (12) Polk for 0 up middle (Goldsboro)
4-1 (11) Encroachment costs Santiago 6 (hard count by Shreve)
1-5 (5) Polk hit immediately in backfield (shotgun) loss of 5 (Merchant); game stopped at 5:12, REV’s Peterson hurt; helped off field
2-10 (10) Polk takes lateral, looks to pass, tucks ball away, scrambles for 1 (Garcia)
3-9 (9) Shreve pass incomplete into left flat, intended for Polk
4-9 (9) Farquhar 25 FIELD GOAL at 3:54 out of Aguilera hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 10. Drive: 17 plays, 56 yards

(Rain lessens)
Farquhar kickoff into end zone, touchback
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 20 at 3:54
1-10 (20) Iverson on sweep right, dropped for loss of 3 (Hansler, Brown)
2-13 (17) Kruse pass incomplete, intended for Barnett (Hansler cover). Illegal receiver penalty declined
3-13 (17) Davis sweep left for 6 (Brown)
4-7 (23) Centeno punt with roll 40
REV STARTS AT 37 at 2:12
1-10 (37) Polk for 2 up middle
2-8 (39) Shreve pass incomplete in right flat, intended for Ollar (Dye)
3-8 (39) Shreve pass to Cruz in left flat for 5
4-3 (44) Encroachment on Santiago (Goldsboro) costs 5
1-10 (49) Polk sweep right for 8
2-2 (43) Shreve roll left, pass to Cruz for 5 (Dye)
1-10 (38) Polk up middle for 9, hit by Green, fumbles, Dye recovers for Santiago; Polk down for minute
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 29 at 0:15
1-10 (29) Dye for 1 over left tackle (Krahenbuhl)
END OF THIRD QUARTER. SANTIAGO 22, REV 10

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

REDLANDS EAST VALLEY vs. CORONA SANTIAGO
CIF-SS Inland Division Football Semifinals
At Yucaipa High School, Nov. 30, 2007
Weather: Rain, 60 degrees, 5 mph wind from the south. Kickoff: 7:34 p.m.
Play by play
REV wins coin flip, defers to second half. Santiago to receive and defend south goal.

(continued)

Farquhar kickoff through end zone, touchback.
Santiago ball 20, 12:00.
1-10 (20) Dye sweep right for 2 (Denny)
2-8 (22) Dye for on dive, dropped for loss of 1 (Aguilera)
3-9 (21) Kruse pass intended for Peoples in right flat, incomplete
4-9 (21) Centeno 12 punt, downed by Connette
REV starts at S33 at 10:14
1-10 (33) Shreve fumbles snap, recovers own fumble for loss of 9
2-19 (41) Polk for 4 on sweep left (Dye)
3-15 (37) Shreve pass incomplete middle right, intended for Ollar
4-15 (37) Farquhar 54-yard field goal attempt out of Aguilera hold, hits crossbar
SANTIAGO starts at 20 at 8:46
1-10 (20) Davis for 4 over left tackle (Aguilera)
2-6 (24) Kruse fumble snap, covered by Davis for loss of 8
3-14 (16) Kruse fumble snap, recovers for loss of 2
4-16 (14) Centeno 34 punt, fair catch by Ollar
REV STARTS AT S48 AT 6:26
1-10 (48) Polk runs into nothing over left tackle (Dazale)
2-13 (49) Polk bursts through middle for 16 (Berry)
1-10 (35) Polk breaks tackles over right side for 8, shoestring tackle by Char;ot)
2-2 (27) Cruz for loss of 1 on trap left (Garcia, Green)
3-3 (28) Polk for 5 over right side but hold on REV costs 10
3-13 (38) Shreve sack for loss of 5(Goldsboro)
4-18 (43) Farquhar punt, no return
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 23 at 3:11
1-10 (23) Hawkins for 9 over right side (Coffin, Hansler)
2-1 (32) Dye for 43 on sweep right, runs up sideline, TD-saving push out (Wells)
1-10 (25) Hawkins for 3 up middle (Aguilera)
2-7 (22) Kruse pass in right flat to Iverson, loss of 2 (Krahenbuhl)
3-9 (24) Kruse pass for 7 to Barnett (Scott, Aguilera)
END OF FIRST QUARTER. REV 0, SANTIAGO 0

4-2 (17) Dye for on dive (Carnes, Galvan)
1-10 (14) Hawkins for over right side (Hansler, Galvan)
2-6 (10) DYE 13 RUN UP MIDDLE, TOUCHDOWN, at 10:36; Encroachment on REV costs 2 yards. KRUSE RUN for 2-point conversion. Drive: 7 plays, 77 yards, 4:35. SANTIAGO 8, REV 0.

Personal foul, 15 yards, on REV during conversion marked off on kickoff

Felix kick off from R45 into end zone, touchback.
REV STARTS AT 20 at 10:36 (Rain intensifies)
1-10 (20) Polk stopped by gang in backfield, loses 3 (Merchant)
2-13 (17) Polk for up middle for 8
3-5 (25) Polk for 4 up middle (Tamiefuna)
4-1 (29) Polk hit at line over left side, second effort nets 2 (Charlot)
1-10 (31) Cruz for 1 on scissors left (Tameifuna, others)
2-9 (32) Polk for 7 up middle (Hinger); Berry of Santiago slow getting up, game delayed
3-2 (39) Polk tripped up in backfield, falls forward for 1 (Merchant)
4-1 (40) Polk for 2 over left side, hit hard (Dye)
1-10 (42) Polk for 16 over right side, TD-saving tackle (Dye)
1-10 (42) Shreve keep for 0 left (Garcia)
2-10 (42) Polk for 5 over left guard (Kelly)
3-5 (37) Polk over right side for 27, breaks into clear, TD-saving tackle (Martin)
1-10 (10) Polk fumbles when hit in backfield, loss of 2; Kelly recover for Santiago
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 12 at 4:49
1-10 (12) Dye for up middle (Krahenbuhl, Sofia)
2-9 (13) Davis up middle for 5 (Sofia)
3-4 (18) Kruse pass deep left to Barnett, nice over-shoulder catch for 29 (Brown)
1-10 (47) Encroachment costs REV 5
1-5 (48) Davis for 2 on dive (Krahenbuhl)
2-3 (46) Dye sweep left side, breaks up sideline for 15 till push OB (Aguilera)
1-10 (31) (1:45) Kruse bobbles snap, keeps left for 2 on busted play (Hansler, Savedra)
TIMEOUT SANTIAGO, No.1, 1:23
2-8 (29) Iverson sweep left, gets outside contain, up sideline for 29 and TOUCHDOWN at 1:13; Centeno kick GOOD out of Anderson hold. SANTIAGO 15, REV 0. Drive:

Felix squib kickoff to 32, Moreno bobbles, covers for REV, 0 return
REV STARTS AT 32 at 1:09
1-10 (32) Clark 6 pass in left flat (Murray)
2-4 (38) Shreve pass incomplete deep middle, intended for Ollar
3-4 (38) (:41) Polk bolts for 19 over right side (Dye)
TIMEOUT REV No. 1 at 0:35.
1-10 (43) Cruz 4 pass from Shreve in left flat (Murray)
TIMEOUT REV No. 2 at 0:28
2-6 (39) Shreve sack for loss of 2 (Garcia), Green recover for Santiago
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 41 at 0:22
1-10 (41) Kruse pass incomplete on post intended for Berry (Wells)
2-10 (41) (0:16) Dye 59 run over left side, slips three tackles, TOUCHDOWN at :03; Centeno PAT kick out of Anderson hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 0. Drive: 2 plays, 59 yards, 19 seconds.

Felix squib kickoff to 32, lateral to Polk, return right, cuts back left for 73-yard TOUCHDOWN at 0:00; Farquhar PAT kick out of Baze hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 0

HALFTIME

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

REDLANDS EAST VALLEY vs. CORONA SANTIAGO
CIF-SS Inland Division Football Semifinals
At Yucaipa High School, Nov. 30, 2007
Weather: Rain, 60 degrees, 5 mph wind from the south. Kickoff: 7:34 p.m.
Play by play
REV wins coin flip, defers to second half. Santiago to receive and defend south goal.

Farquhar kickoff through end zone, touchback.
Santiago ball 20, 12:00.
1-10 (20) Dye sweep right for 2 (Denny)
2-8 (22) Dye for on dive, dropped for loss of 1 (Aguilera)
3-9 (21) Kruse pass intended for Peoples in right flat, incomplete
4-9 (21) Centeno 12 punt, downed by Connette
REV starts at S33 at 10:14
1-10 (33) Shreve fumbles snap, recovers own fumble for loss of 9
2-19 (41) Polk for 4 on sweep left (Dye)
3-15 (37) Shreve pass incomplete middle right, intended for Ollar
4-15 (37) Farquhar 54-yard field goal attempt out of Aguilera hold, hits crossbar
SANTIAGO starts at 20 at 8:46
1-10 (20) Davis for 4 over left tackle (Aguilera)
2-6 (24) Kruse fumble snap, covered by Davis for loss of 8
3-14 (16) Kruse fumble snap, recovers for loss of 2
4-16 (14) Centeno 34 punt, fair catch by Ollar
REV STARTS AT S48 AT 6:26
1-10 (48) Polk runs into nothing over left tackle (Dazale)
2-13 (49) Polk bursts through middle for 16 (Berry)
1-10 (35) Polk breaks tackles over right side for 8, shoestring tackle by Char;ot)
2-2 (27) Cruz for loss of 1 on trap left (Garcia, Green)
3-3 (28) Polk for 5 over right side but hold on REV costs 10
3-13 (38) Shreve sack for loss of 5(Goldsboro)
4-18 (43) Farquhar punt, no return
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 23 at 3:11
1-10 (23) Hawkins for 9 over right side (Coffin, Hansler)
2-1 (32) Dye for 43 on sweep right, runs up sideline, TD-saving push out (Wells)
1-10 (25) Hawkins for 3 up middle (Aguilera)
2-7 (22) Kruse pass in right flat to Iverson, loss of 2 (Krahenbuhl)
3-9 (24) Kruse pass for 7 to Barnett (Scott, Aguilera)
END OF FIRST QUARTER. REV 0, SANTIAGO 0

4-2 (17) Dye for on dive (Carnes, Galvan)
1-10 (14) Hawkins for over right side (Hansler, Galvan)
2-6 (10) DYE 13 RUN UP MIDDLE, TOUCHDOWN, at 10:36; Encroachment on REV costs 2 yards. KRUSE RUN for 2-point conversion. Drive: 7 plays, 77 yards, 4:35. SANTIAGO 8, REV 0.

Personal foul, 15 yards, on REV during conversion marked off on kickoff

Felix kick off from R45 into end zone, touchback.
REV STARTS AT 20 at 10:36 (Rain intensifies)
1-10 (20) Polk stopped by gang in backfield, loses 3 (Merchant)
2-13 (17) Polk for up middle for 8
3-5 (25) Polk for 4 up middle (Tamiefuna)
4-1 (29) Polk hit at line over left side, second effort nets 2 (Charlot)
1-10 (31) Cruz for 1 on scissors left (Tameifuna, others)
2-9 (32) Polk for 7 up middle (Hinger); Berry of Santiago slow getting up, game delayed
3-2 (39) Polk tripped up in backfield, falls forward for 1 (Merchant)
4-1 (40) Polk for 2 over left side, hit hard (Dye)
1-10 (42) Polk for 16 over right side, TD-saving tackle (Dye)
1-10 (42) Shreve keep for 0 left (Garcia)
2-10 (42) Polk for 5 over left guard (Kelly)
3-5 (37) Polk over right side for 27, breaks into clear, TD-saving tackle (Martin)
1-10 (10) Polk fumbles when hit in backfield, loss of 2; Kelly recover for Santiago
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 12 at 4:49
1-10 (12) Dye for up middle (Krahenbuhl, Sofia)
2-9 (13) Davis up middle for 5 (Sofia)
3-4 (18) Kruse pass deep left to Barnett, nice over-shoulder catch for 29 (Brown)
1-10 (47) Encroachment costs REV 5
1-5 (48) Davis for 2 on dive (Krahenbuhl)
2-3 (46) Dye sweep left side, breaks up sideline for 15 till push OB (Aguilera)
1-10 (31) (1:45) Kruse bobbles snap, keeps left for 2 on busted play (Hansler, Savedra)
TIMEOUT SANTIAGO, No.1, 1:23
2-8 (29) Iverson sweep left, gets outside contain, up sideline for 29 and TOUCHDOWN at 1:13; Centeno kick GOOD out of Anderson hold. SANTIAGO 15, REV 0. Drive:

Felix squib kickoff to 32, Moreno bobbles, covers for REV, 0 return
REV STARTS AT 32 at 1:09
1-10 (32) Clark 6 pass in left flat (Murray)
2-4 (38) Shreve pass incomplete deep middle, intended for Ollar
3-4 (38) (:41) Polk bolts for 19 over right side (Dye)
TIMEOUT REV No. 1 at 0:35.
1-10 (43) Cruz 4 pass from Shreve in left flat (Murray)
TIMEOUT REV No. 2 at 0:28
2-6 (39) Shreve sack for loss of 2 (Garcia), Green recover for Santiago
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 41 at 0:22
1-10 (41) Kruse pass incomplete on post intended for Berry (Wells)
2-10 (41) (0:16) Dye 59 run over left side, slips three tackles, TOUCHDOWN at :03; Centeno PAT kick out of Anderson hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 0. Drive: 2 plays, 59 yards, 19 seconds.

Felix squib kickoff to 32, lateral to Polk, return right, cuts back left for 73-yard TOUCHDOWN at 0:00; Farquhar PAT kick out of Baze hold. SANTIAGO 22, REV 0

HALFTIME

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

REDLANDS EAST VALLEY vs. CORONA SANTIAGO
CIF-SS Inland Division Football Semifinals
At Yucaipa High School, Nov. 30, 2007
Weather: Rain, 60 degrees, 5 mph wind from the south. Kickoff: 7:34 p.m.
Play by play
REV wins coin flip, defers to second half. Santiago to receive and defend south goal.

Farquhar kickoff through end zone, touchback.
Santiago ball 20, 12:00.
1-10 (20) Dye sweep right for 2 (Denny)
2-8 (22) Dye for on dive, dropped for loss of 1 (Aguilera)
3-9 (21) Kruse pass intended for Peoples in right flat, incomplete
4-9 (21) Centeno 12 punt, downed by Connette
REV starts at S33 at 10:14
1-10 (33) Shreve fumbles snap, recovers own fumble for loss of 9
2-19 (41) Polk for sweep left (Dye)
3-15 (37) Shreve pass incomplete middle right, intended for Ollar
4-15 (37) Farquhar 54-yard field goal attempt out of Aguilera hold, hits crossbar
SANTIAGO starts at 20 at 8:46
1-10 (20) Davis for 4 over left tackle (Aguilera)
2-6 (24) Kruse fumble snap, covered by Davis for loss of 8
3-14 (16) Kruse fumble snap, recovers for loss of 2
4-16 (14) Centeno 34 punt, fair catch by Ollar
REV STARTS AT S48 AT 6:26
1-10 (48) Polk runs into nothing over left tackle (Dazale)
2-13 (49) Polk bursts through middle for 16 (Berry)
1-10 (35) Polk breaks tackles over right side for 8, shoestring tackle by Char;ot)
2-2 (27) Cruz for loss of 1 on trap left (Garcia, Green)
3-3 (28) Polk for 5 over right side but hold on REV costs 10
3-13 (38) Shreve sack for loss of 5(Goldsboro)
4-18 (43) Farquhar punt, no return
SANTIAGO STARTS AT 23 at 3:11
1-10 (23) Hawkins for 9 over right side (Coffin, Hansler)
2-1 (32) Dye for 43 on sweep right, runs up sideline, TD-saving push out (Wells)
1-10 (25) Hawkins for 3 up middle (Aguilera)
2-7 (22) Kruse pass in right flat to Iverson, loss of 2 (Krahenbuhl)
3-9 (24) Kruse pass for 7 to Barnett (Scott, Aguilera)
END OF FIRST QUARTER. REV 0, SANTIAGO 0

4-2 (17)

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Prep football fans, anyway, will. At least Redlands East Valley High School fans.

So many of them were in the stands at Yucaipa High School when I pulled into the parking lot at 6:50 p.m. that I thought it might be a 7 p.m. game.

Nope. It's 7:30. They just all got here early.

Doesn't make much sense ... from the perspective of getting wet. The early-comers have an extra 30-40 minutes in the elements.

The rain had let up a bit, for a few minutes, but it's coming down again now.

Luckily, it's isn't particularly cold. No wind. It's bearable ... aside from that soaked-to-the-bone part of it.

Most fans have come wearing ponchos or plastic bags ... and everyone has a hat or a hood or both.

The main grandstand is filled. Might not be tightly packed because of all the umbrellas. The visitors side is very lightly populated, which could be a function of Corona Santiago people struggling to get here, on a rainy Friday night, coming up the 91/215/10.

So far, the extra bleachers REV had put up at the south end (the Yucaipa Blvd side) of the stadium are unused.

Warmups are under way, and it strikes me as a very VERY good thing this is not being played at the U of Redlands, REV's normal home field ... because the U of R field was going to pieces two weeks ago ... and after an inch of rain today ... these guys would have torn it up.

REV and Redlands never have been able to play at the U of R in the semifinal round because the school's annual Festival of Lights is scheduled, and there's no way to get a prep game on campus, too.

Anyway ... Yucaipa went to Field Turf (artificial, that is) just this season, and it's a good thing. No obvious puddles on the playing surface, and no mud, of course. Might make for a quasi-normal game. Probably depends on how wet the ball gets.

I imagine both coaching staffs are talking to their skill guys about making sure they hold the ball, which is gonna get wet.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Darren Collison missed the first three weeks of the UCLA basketball season with a sprained left knee, and it was fair to wonder how rusty the junior point guard out of Etiwanda High School would be when he got back.

He finally returned, Wednesday night, and looked fine -- if a bit encumbered by a knee brace. He scored 14 points and had five assists in 26 minutes of an 83-60 rout of George Washington.

Collison, a preseason All-America, came off the bench. It will be interesting to see if starts when UCLA plays No. 8-ranked Texas on Sunday.

UCLA was concerned how Collison's knee would react to game action. The Bruins didn't practice Thursday, so UCLA coach Ben Howland isn't quite sure how he's doing. But he said today that Collison rode an exercise bike and said he felt fine.

Howland was impressed by Collison's game Wednesday.

“I was really amazed," Howland said of Collison, "No. 1, at how we played after being out of action for 24 days and having had two practices – one of which he was a little hesitant. Monday, he was a little hesitant, thinking about it. Tuesday, he was much better.

"Wednesday, in reviewing the film, he wasn’t even thinking about his leg. Normally, when you’re out for 10 days, two weeks or three weeks, it takes quite a bit of time to get back into a normal rhythm. He’s not where he would be if he had never missed this time. It just speaks to his great athletic ability and what a great player he is to step in and do what he did on Wednesday."

If Collison got through practice OK today, he WILL start in the 5 p.m. Sunday game against Texas, Howland said. And that should make for a serious test of Collison's ability, as well as his knee.

"We’re playing against arguably one of the top two or three point guards in Augustine," Howland said. "He’s really good, and I’m amazed watching this kid on film. We’ve got our hands full just trying to defend him. They’re both really good point guards.”

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This has been ugly and silly. Well annoying, too.

It's this battle of wills between two wealthy and completely unsympathetic industries -- the National Football League and national cable-TV operators.

The upshot of it is this: Most of us with cable TV are NOT watching the Thursday night NFL game, which is going on right now.

And, this time, it turns out it's an attractive game -- the 10-1 Packers vs. the 10-1 Cowboys.

Meanwhile, most of America is held hostage ...because the game can be seen only on NFL Network. Which most cable companies do not include in their basic plans.

Such as Charter and Warner ... which covers nearly the entire IE.

If you don't get DirecTV ... or didn't make a point to get to a sports bar ... you're just sitting around wondering what's going on.

Kinda retro, but kind of ridiculous, too.

So far, neither side is budging. The NFL wants more TV revenue (as if) ... and the cable companies refuse to pay the NFL for its network, which would cost them money and cut into their profits. Each side is trashing the other, and we lose.

So NFL fans just sit and wonder what the game might look like. Presumably you can tune in ESPN around 9 p.m. and see some highlights, anyway, of Favre vs. Romo, et al.

This has to stop, though. I think the NFL should just bag it. Go back to having all its one-a-night games televised someplace just about anyone can find -- a local network or at least ESPN.

Which reminds me ... I hate it when USC or UCLA show up on Versus -- another station not always available on basic cable. I mean, not all of us are ready to spend hundreds of dollars per month for TV stations we don't look at, 360 days a year.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first time I talked to Steve Eckerson, general manager of the arena being built in Ontario, we were talking about potential sports teams that could call Citizens Business Bank Arena home.

Eckerson is a hockey guy, from upstate New York, and he was on-board with hockey, of course. An ECHL club will be Ontario's primary tenant.

And he mentioned arena football ... and I asked him about pro basketball. Specifically the NBA's D-League. I said I thought pro basketball would be THE surest thing the arena could have. I mean, hockey is great to watch, in person, but this isn't exactly prime hockey country. The Inland Empire.

Earlier this year, Ontario city officials seemed to believe the Lakers would be keen to move their D-League team, the D-Fenders, to Ontario.

Now, Eckerson is checking it out ... the Lakers or some other D-League team ... and it could happen. But he had one warning for me.

"I have to tell you," he said, "that after my conversation with you I got a little more intrigued with basketball.

"If we get it and it doesn't work out ... I'm going to come looking for you."

Just kidding, of course. Or I think. The guy DID use to play hockey, so he's probably good with his fists ...

Anyway, I still think that if anything will work in Ontario ... it would be pro basketball, especially the club affiliated with the Lakers and featuring a bunch of guys who can play above the rim.

D-League people will tell you that 44 of their alumni were on NBA opening day rosters, representing nearly 10 percent of the players in the league. And that some 25 percent of all NBA refs came from the D-League.

So it would be serious basketball. Certainly the best league in the country that isn't the NBA.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We make fun of Phil Jackson, from time to time. I mean, he's kind of a Moonbeam sorta Flower Child of a coach ... You're never quite sure he's really aware of where he is, at any given moment. Too blissed out, maybe?

But the guy can coach, and he also gets along with Kobe Bryant, so it's good news for Lakers fans that Phil signed a two-year contract extension today to remain as Lakers coach through the 2009-2010 season.

Phil apparently will get a bit of a raise, from $10 million per season to something like $11-12 million. Which is a boatload of money for a coach ... but he does have nine NBA championship rings.

And he does get along with Kobe. Did we mention that?

Phil's decision to go for an extension hinged, in part, on his latest hip-replacement surgery. He had the left hip done before last season, and bounced right back ... but he had the right hip done this summer, and it's been a slow recovery. He was using a cane, still, on opening night.

He apparently now feels spry enough to envision being around the Lakers an extra two seasons.

Who knows: By the spring of 2010, Andrew Bynum might be one of the league's best centers. And maybe Kobe will have given up on his trade dreams and decided against opting out of his Lakers contract.

If anyone can talk him out bolting, it would be Phil. So keeping him ... good move.

I approve, Jerry Buss.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just feel like doing a list. Everyone loves lists, right?

And I just came across the name of one of the guys I'm gonna put on one of these two lists.

He was my inspiration, really. A guy named after applesauce, or something.

So, two lists, actually: Lakers so awful we probably haven't forgotten them; Lakers so awful we did, in fact, forget them. Isn't it interesting how some guys make one list but not the other?

And one guideline here: The guy had to have been in the rotation. Twelfth men don't count, that is.

Oh, and one more guideline: These are Lakers only from the Magic Johnson Era and forward. That is, 1979 to present.

Lakers So Awful We Will Never Forget Them.

5. Swen Nater. Yeah, Bill Walton's backup, who played more in the NBA than he did at UCLA. The guy the Bruins recruited out of a garage. He actually had the ninth-most minutes for the 1983-84 team. There was a reason John Wooden never played him.

4. Chuck Nevitt. One of the all-time gawky 7-foot-6 no-game centers. Sort of the Shawn Bradley of the late 1980s.

3. Pig Miller. Imagine, the Lakers traded for a guy named Pig Miller ... and he stunk it up for a big chunk of 1994-95.

2. Kwame Brown. Still with the team, but I'm sure we'll never forget this fumble-fingered lout. Rivals Michael Olowokandi as the worst No. 1 overall pick in the draft in the last decade. Or three.

1. Smush Parker. Some day we'll look back on William "Smush" Parker's two-year reign of error as the Lakers' starting point guard and laugh ... or maybe wince. Thing is, he was a no-talent playground baller who actually believes he can play and has the 'tood and bling to back up his madness. The belief; not the game of basketball as conducted in the NBA.

Five Lakers So Awful We Did, in Fact, Forget Them

5. Larry Spriggs. Never heard of him, right? If you're 35 or older, you just forgot him, because he played with the Lakes for three seasons in the mid-1980s, when they were an elite team.

4. Sedale Threatt. All you need to know about the incompetence of the post-Magic Lakers is this: Sedale led the team in scoring in 1992-93. And he's as forgotten as yesterday's comics.

3. DeJuan Wheat. Lakers' first-round pick in 1997. Sure. Out of Louisville. Don't remember him??? Maybe 'cause he was awful.

2. Samaki Walker. Dude got real minutes for two recent seasons, 2002-2004 ... and now you couldn't pick him out of a police lineup.

1. Dennis Rodman. Bet you forgot "Worm" had 23 games with the 1998-99 Lakers, mainly because Shaq wanted him around to help rebound. But Worm had gone bye-bye by then, and now his Lakers days are not even a memory. It's like he went directly from the MJ Bulls to partying in Newport.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is a huge internal issue with renovating the Coliseum.

When does a place with so much history and tradition ... become just an old and uncomfortable dump?

Can the Coliseum be saved as a sports venue ... without destroying its value as a sports monument?

Can it be re-made into a place USC wants to play ... but not lose most of what makes the Coliseum the Coliseum?

I guess we will learn the answers to that in the coming months and years.

Does the Coliseum (and Sports Arena, for that matter) need to be razed? I mean, what grand old abandoned stadium still stands ... anywhere?

Tiger Stadium may still be standing, because Detroit hasn't gotten around to razing it. But I'm pretty sure all the other vacated venues from the 20th century have been torn down. A bunch of other old sites have been massively redone, from Soldier Field in Chicago to Lambeau Field in Green Bay. And isn't New York about to blow up Yankee Stadium?

We do know this: The Romans stopped actually putting on events at THEIR Colosseum (Roman spelling) ... and now it's just a place tourists go. They got more than 80-some years of entertainment out of their venue (parts of which are still standing, nearly 2,000 years after it was constructed). But it appears to have been better-built than L.A.'s structure, too. With marble, instead of cement.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wow. Weirdest announcement by one of L.A.'s Big Two during Rivalry Week in a long time. Like, perhaps ever.

USC released a statement Tuesday saying it is looking at a two-year lease to play its home games in the Rose Bowl, abandoning the Coliseum after 85 seasons.

Not that it's going to happen. USC quitting the National Historic Monument across the street from its campus ... to go play in Pasadena, where UCLA is the major tenant ... seems unnatural and hard to believe.

But USC school officials clearly feel as if this is a good time to put the Coliseum Commission's collective feet to the fire, just days before the biggest event of the year inside the venerable stadium, USC's football game with UCLA. Which also is crazy and nutty because it detracts from the game.

According to the story by L.A. News Group colleague Scott Wolf ...

"USC officials said the temporary move is necessary because the Coliseum has not undergone 'substantive physical upgrades or preventive maintenance' for more than 10 years 'because the Coliseum focused on attracting an NFL team that would renovate the stadium.'

"According to USC, it offered to fund a minimum of $100 million toward the repair, restoration and upgrade of the historic stadium, but the offer was rejected by the Coliseum."

Wolf goes on to quote Coliseum Commission members as denying USC ever had put a dollar figure on the renovation suggestions, and wondering why USC picked the week of the big game to go public with its complaints.

Those are fair observations.

But we also should remember that the Coliseum Commission is the infamous (and unwieldy) crew that has done nearly everything wrong running the property there (in the area known as University Park) for the past 40 years.

In this order, the Coliseum Commission (which also runs the Sports Arena) managed to lose the Lakers and Kings, Rams, UCLA, Raiders and Clippers. What once was THE place for L.A. sports has seen every single team walk away EXCEPT the Trojans. So we should keep in mind that USC isn't dealing with the most adroit crew of negotiators around. In fact, the commission has infuriated and alienated tenant after tenant.

The Coliseum is a wonderful venue in many ways. The history of the place is amazing, and the ambiance of a big-game day still can be grand.

USC has been playing there since October 6, 1923, when it staged a game against Pomona Pitzer.

The 1932 Olympics were based there, and so were the 1984 Olympics. The Rams were a huge draw after World War II. Great track meets were held there, and big high school football games. Even the Dodgers called the Coliseum home, from 1958-1961, despite the place being particularly ill-suited to baseball.

The peristile end is classic, with the Olympic cauldron and "the torsos" ... and anyone old enough to recall the 1984 Olympics remembers Rafer Johnson running up the steps at the east end to light the Olympic torch at opening ceremonies. At the opposite end of the field, the tunnel from locker rooms to field is one of the greatest entry ways in sports. The rush football teams must feel coming out of there and entering the stadium has to be amazing.

But the place is a crumbling mess, too. All you have to do is walk around to see it.

Ground was broken on the stadium in December of 1921, and it was built at a cost just under $1 million.

Now, 1921 is a long time ago, and the age of the stadium shows. In the crumbling steps and primitive facilities. (The visitors locker room is criminally inadequate.) Even the earthquake retrofits of the 1990s already look old, slipshod and tacky, with reinforcing rods sticking out of semi-recent concrete, etc.

About the only major improvement I've noticed in the 40 years I've been going there, aside from the "new" press box of the early 1990s) ... is an underground parking structure put in 4-5 years ago, a structure that helped ease the venue's historically wretched parking problems.

I wonder if Monday's media event at the Coliseum with the Dodgers, drumming up enthusiasm for an exhibition baseball game to be played in the stadium next March, pushed the USC negotiators over the top. One of those, "stop messing with others and start looking at your main tenant" sort of things.

Which comes with the additional backdrop of the Coliseum's utterly pointless pursuit of an NFL franchise, and counting on that non-existent NFL franchise to make improvements. That also must bug the Trojans.

Just isn't going to happen. No NFL team is going back to that stadium in that neighborhood.

The Coliseum needs new seating and improved access, and perhaps something resembling luxury suites, and tons and tons of renovation inside and out. Just to keep the historical monument from falling down.

(The Rose Bowl's revamp of its locker rooms, which includes a massive new (and spiffy) locker room for the Bruins must rankle the Trojans, too.)

If USC is going to foot most of the bill, it SHOULD get an ability to sublet the stadium to try to recoup some of its outlay.

Basically, USC's complaints almost certainly are legit. The Trojans are by far the most important reason the Coliseum hasn't crumbled into a state resembling that of its namesake in Rome ... and the Trojans have a right to be unhappy about what has NOT happened.

But this seems like the worst week of the year to complain about it. It's either really bad judgment ... or USC people are so exasperated that they are willing to risk the football team's attentiveness to the business of UCLA ... to focus attention on their concerns with the old stadium.

We know this: Everyone at Saturday's game will be looking, with a critical eye, around the stadium and the grounds around it more than they would have without this Rose Bowl threat being raised. That's why the announcement was made, I guess.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti on Monday told reporters he doesn't like the looks of the trade or free-agent market, and is thinking hard about just keeping the kids.

Which isn't a bad idea. But does like a little feeble compared to the Angels, who have made a big trade and signed perhaps the most attractice free agent out there ... albeit for $90 million for five years. Real money.

Anyway, both the Dodgers' and Angels' big signing has a name pronounced the same was as B-list actress Tori Spelling.

That would be Torii Hunter, for the Angels.

And Joe Torre, for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers are spending way less money, but Joe Torre is 67 years old and won't be playing third base or eating up any innings. He's a manager, and their ability to influence games is pretty limited.

So, if you're waiting for a big signing ... it's already happened. It was Ol' Joe.

Given that the Dodgers spent big on the feeble Juan Pierre ($45 million, five years) and the fragile Jason Schmidt ($47 million, three years) ... it's probably just as well Ned isn't out there throwing around money.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was at a USC football practice last week, and the marching band was practicing just across the street, in the track and field stadium.

OK, so that's where they work. Since the only football field on the campus already is used by the football team.

What surprised me?

You know that particularly insidious riff (think "It's a Small World") the USC band plays ... over and over ... and over and over?

They PRACTICE that "song."

I heard them doing it ... more than once.

It's the "tune" that's NOT "Fight On" or "Conquest." It's the one they play after a nice play or a big hit ... or just to remind people they're at a USC game.

You know the one ... it begins with drums ... and then a lot of brass ... DUM duh duh DUH duh duh DEE duh ...

Cal fans mock it by singing over it. "Its the only song you know ... it is boring and it's slow ... we really wish you'd go ..."

Anyway, I'm watching football practice, and here comes that roll of drums and the brass blaring, from just across the street, and I'm thinking, "Haven't they played that thing about 1,000 times at the Coliseum already this year?"

And I said to a USC official next to me, "They need to PRACTICE that thing?"

And he said, wearily, "All the time ... ALL the time ..."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ricky Williams is the running back out of Texas who was the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft a few years back ... and subsequently failed drug tests repeatedly, left his team (the Dolphins), was suspended for 18 months ... but now is back, with the Dolphins.

He played in that Mud Bowl game at Pittsburgh on Monday night, carrying the ball six times for 15 yards before he got hurt.

Which makes us wonder why R.Jay Soward, the onetime Jacksonville Jaguars receiver from Rialto and Fontana High School (and USC) can't get reinstated. Or, at least, hasn't yet.

R.Jay's issues, alcohol-related, from what we understand, were marginal compared to those of Williams. But the NFL has dragged its feet on reinstating him. Allegedly, Soward's appeal is before commissioner Roger Goodell, and should be ruled on ... soon?

A little difficult to imagine R.Jay could actually get back into an NFL game, after so many years away from the league. His one and only season was in 2000. But he did have three seasons (2004-06) in Canada after that and, who knows, he would just like a chance to go to someone's camp and see what happens.

At the least, he would like to be taken off the suspended list.

R.Jay this fall worked as an assistant coach at Arroyo Valley High School. I saw him in the USC locker room this season, with some of Arroyo's top kids, and he seemed very happy to be back in the USC fold.

I saw him again at the Arroyo Valley playoffs game game on Friday, a game Colony won handily, 30-7. He said, "Sorry about the show," meaning the game, which had been, yeah, pretty ugly.

Anyway, if eternal doper Ricky Williams can get back ... why not R.Jay?

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, OK, anywhere else in the world that headline would read, "Beckham scores before 80,000 in Sydney," but Landon Donovan is a Redlands guy, and he can play a little ... and he scored, too.

But it wasn't Landon or the rest of the mere-mortal Galaxy teammates who drove the stampede to the turnstiles in Sydney, it was Becks, Mr. Global Soccer.

And everyone went home happy, after the exhibition, because Beckham scored on one of his bend-it-like-me free kicks.

Read more about it here from the Sydney Morning Herald. They even have a photo of Becks' free kick headed over the keeper's head.

Game ended in the middle of the night, our time.

Next, Becks & the Lads move on over to New Zealand, where another sellout crowd no doubt awaits.

Too bad the Galaxy apparently is more than a little rusty ... because I think the club normally would beat these Aussie and Kiwi pro teams.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Landon Donovan, the Galaxy's star forward from Redlands, is with the club in, of all places, Sydney, Australia.

It's part of a two-game Galaxy tour of the antipodes .. with a match at Wellington, New Zealand coming up on Saturday.

Anyway, the Sydney game will have 80,000 people at it ... to see David Beckham, of course. Nobody in Australia knows anyone else on the Galaxy, including Landon. Kickoff is Tuesday night there ... which is 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning here.

You can read some Galaxy/Beckham coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald by clicking here.

Landon isn't keen on travel, generally. He's done scads of it, and it doesn't amuse him.

This trip, however, he doesn't mind, he told me via e-mail.

"I will enjoy going to Australia, believe it or not. In reality, these off-season trips are all better because we actually get to go out and do things. Most of the time we have to sit in the hotel and wait for the game and then leave the next day. The trips I least look forward to are the ones to Central America. The entire trip becomes a nightmare from the minute you step on the plane. It's always very hot, the hotels are a crapshoot, you never know about the food and then the gameday experience is miserable. Let's just say that by the end of the trip, I can't WAIT to get home! That being said, there's nothing better than going to one of those countries and beaten them on their soil!"

Landon has to wait till next year to experience anew the pleasures of a qualifier in Central America. For now, we trust he is enjoying this trip. The plane rides aside.

If I can find that the Galaxy match is being televised anywhere ... I'll do another blog item on it.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Coach Anthony Rice's Colony Titans are 10-2 and top-seeded in the CIF-SS Central Division playoffs -- which they won a year ago.

But he says he and his staff approach every game feeling as if they are underdogs. Including Saturday's 7:30 p.m. matchup at Moreno Valley.

"It seems like all the papers pick against us," Rice said tonight. "We know not everybody wants us to win.

"And we always get every team's best shot, because we won it last year. We always feel like underdogs."

For underdogs, the Titans have done quite well. They are 10-2, after going 12-2 last year.

In an era of high-octane, multiple-receiver passing teams, Colony and Moreno Valley could bring back pleasant memories of simpler times, when they collide on Saturday.

Colony's base offense is the I-formation. Moreno Valley lines up in the even more venerable power-I -- with two fullbacks complementing the tailback.

"They're a pretty good team, well-disciplined," Rice said of Moreno Valley. "They do some good things. They come right at you in the power-I, then they do a lot of play-action. They've got a very nice tight end.

"We've just got to be ready to play."

Colony returned eight starters from its 2006 championship team, including quarterback Jeff Ginolfi, who has thrown for 1,825 yards and 17 touchdowns on 62 percent passing accuracy. "It makes a huge difference," Rice said of having a veteran quarterback. "He's a leader."

Another key returning player is tailback Daniel Simmons, a cornerback for the 2006 team who has run for 1,442 yards and 16 touchdowns on 189 carries.

Colony's surge into the semifinals isn't a surprise -- the Titans wouldn't be top-seeded -- but they are succeeding without the three versatile skill players who were the heart of last year's team -- Omar Bolden (now a starting cornerback at Arizona State), Maurice Shaw (a starting corner at Idaho) and Chris Givens (a corner at Boise State).

"It's a group that kind of relied on those guys last year," Rice said. "We weren't getting the blowouts early.

"This team is doing a good job now. In the beginning, it wasn't a comparison (to last year's team), because we were trying to find our identity. They found they've got to be resilient and they have to work harder than last year. A lot of teams are coming after them. Every game is a championship game ...

"It's a collective effort. We were coaching em' up last year, but we're working harder this year."

Simmons was Bolden's backup at tailback a year ago. "He's a different type of runner," Rice said. "He's not as fast as Omar but he has great vision and keeps his legs moving."

He said Simmons is recruitable, probably at cornerback. He had two interceptions in the Titans' 30-7 romp over Arroyo Valley last Friday.

Other key players include Elon Wyatt, the team's leading receiver (with 40 catches for 631 yards and three TDs), receiver Bobby Wagner (31 catches, 497 yards, nine TDs), linebacker/fullback Kyle Stefan and defensive end Jose Chairez.

Jonathan Norton is Moreno Valley's main man, with 814 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. The Vikings run the ball about 70 percent of the time.

Rice isn't taking them lightly. In fact, his team is the underdog, he reminds.

"If we don't play hard and play smart, it will be a long night for us."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Having a Bruich-coached team in the CIF semifinals is nothing new, in these parts.

But, always before, it was Dick Bruich teams. First at Fontana, then at Kaiser.

His teams made semifinal appearances in 1979, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1992 and 1996 (at Fontana); 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 (at Kaiser). The 1987, 1989, 2002 and 2003 teams won CIF titles.

This time, it's a Kurt Bruich team in the Final Four of its division, Redlands East Valley's Wildcats.

Kurt, Dick's son, has REV up to 12-0 and facing Corona Santiago in the Inland Division semifinals on Friday, probably at Yucaipa High School with a 7 p.m. kickoff.

REV and Bruich are riding a gifted senior class. "They were undefeated as freshmen, lost one game as sophomores (in the CIF quarters), four games last year and none this year," Kurt Bruich said of his senior core. "They don't lose much. I think they expect to win every time out."

REV never before has been out this late, but the Wildcats aren't exactly Cinderella. Not with Chris Polk at tailback.

Corona Santiago is 7-4 and lost to Norco, the team REV just rolled over, 38-7, in the quarterfinals.

"The more i watch them, i can't believe they lost four games," Bruich said tonight while looking at film of the Santiago Sharks. "They're really athletic.

"The last three weeks they started running this kind of 'fly-ish' offense. Mostly, they're getting the ball more to Anthony Dye. He's for real. He's committed to UCLA as a DB."

The fly offense involves lots of sophisticated faking and deception and usually is run by teams with marginal speed who need trickery to get yards. Santiago, however, doesn't have marginal skill, Bruich said.

Dye leads the Sharks in tackle from his safety position, and is the team's No. 2 rusher. But he is gaining, in prominence, on Santiago's other speed back, B.J. Iverson, who has 1,100 rushing yards.

REV was impressive its first eight weeks. The Wildcats defeated serious non-league competition in Riverside North, Compton Dominguez and Colton -- all of whom have made the semis in their respective divisions (Eastern, Western, Central).

Next came five Citrus Belt League blowouts against overmatched competition, including three successive shutouts (over Yucaipa, Fontana and Rialto).

Then came a narrow, 28-27 victory over previously unbeaten Miller, a game in which REV had trouble handling the Rebels' spread offense, followed by a 34-14 victory over crosstown rival Redlands and then a 60-53 shootout over Murrieta Valley in which the REV defense was awful.

Then REV shut down Norco, giving up an early touchdown ... but nothing else.

"Nothing changed," Bruich said of his defense's scheme or personnel. "Sometimes we get in bad modes, and we made some adjustments. Basically, our defense started listening a little more to coaching and playing assignment football. Sometimes when you're playing and shutting out people ... guys were doing their own things."

Kurt Bruich has coached in a semifinal game before, when he was running the Cerritos program, his stop before taking over the downtrodden (1-48 all-time) REV program in 2002. He played in a couple of semifinals too, in 1986 and 1987, when he was playing receiver and safety for his dad at Fontana. The 1986 team lost but the 1987 won and the Steelers finished 14-0 -- winning the Big Five (large schools) title at Anaheim Stadium.

Chris Polk, the tailback who verbally committed to USC, has been REV's biggest weapon. He has 2,159 yards on 178 carries, an average of 12.1 per carry, and has scored 28 rushing touchdowns. Dylan Cruz is a versatile fullback/tight end, and Tyler Shreve, only a sophomore, has been steady at quarterback.

Of Polk, Bruich said, "He's been phenomenal. He's doing what we asked and what we expected. It's nice to have a guy do everything you expect."

Bruich stressed the speed of Santiago's Dye and Iverson, but said he wouldn't say his team will be at a disadvantage, in overall speed.

If REV survives this test it gets the winner of Chaparral vs. top-seeded Corona Santiago for the Inland Division CIF title, at the Home Depot Center in Carson. And the Wildcats would have an outside shot at the state D1 title game, a week later.

But first things first: A Santiago team that is better than its 7-4 record indicates. Its defeats: 17-7 to Servite, 17-7 to Chaparral, 28-21 to Norco and 69-7 to Corona Centennial -- the game that prompted Santiago to change its offense.

Oh, and the four teams Santiago lost to? Three are still playing, Chaparral and Centennial in the Inland semis, Servite in the Pac-5 glamour-division semis.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Harold Strauss is one of the good guys. He fosters a sense of family in his Colton High School football team, and he can coach more than a little, and he's done it this year after suffering a heart attack back in February.

Colton swamped Rancho Verde 39-22 on Friday to advance to the CIF-SS semifinals for the first time since 1981, when the Yellowjackets reached the large-schools title game.

Colton was winless in the second round under Strauss, going 0-4. But the Jackets finally got over the quarterfinal hump and now travel to meet Moreno Valley in the Central Division semis at 7 p.m. Friday at a site (perhaps Citrus Hill HS) to be determined today.

Said Strauss: "It's going real well. We've worked harder this year than we ever have. This time of year it's good just to be playing. We made the second round five out of six years, and we're real pleased to be playing.

"It was a long drought, and this team is jelling at the right time. A good chemistry going. Before, we seemed to be tired or worn out or injured when we got to this part of the season."

This isn't Colton's most talented team. That would be the 2005 squad, which boasted future D1 college players Allen Bradford and Shareece Wright, who are at USC, and Jimmy Smith, who started at cornerback for Colorado last Saturday and had a 34-yard interception return for TD that put the Buffaloes ahead of Nebraska in what eventually became a blowout victory.

"This team, the chemistry, it's as good or better than ever," Strauss said. "They've overachieved. I said some things would have to happen for us to be where we are, and they have."

One of those things was the growth of quarterback Nick Vasquez, who was 7-for-8 passing Friday, with a touchdown. For a time, Colton coaches thought they might have to move Dan Sorensen to QB, but Vasquez has established himself, allowing the burlier Sorensen to concentrate on playing tight end and safety.

The Jackets also have a nice collection of skill people, including wingbacks Travell Washington (who scored six touchdowns Friday) and Nick Reyes and fullback D.J. Stallion.

Colton looked a bit battered by halftime last Friday, but Strauss tonight said his key guys should be ready for Canyon Springs.

Stallion suffered a shoulder bruise in a frightening, head-first landing on a two-point conversion try. "The kid hit him right on the knee and broke his face mask. (Stallion) was lucky. His whole body was as straight as an arrow when he came down and landed on his chin. When he came down, we don't know how he didn't hurt his neck. But he should be OK."

Nick Reyes strained a hamstring but is expected to play, and UCLA-bound defensive end Damien Holmes played on a bad ankle. "He didn't practice all week and was maybe 60 percent," Strauss said. "He's working on it, and we hope he will be better by Friday."

Strauss said some alumni -- including Bradford and Wright and linemen Mario Perez and John Villalba (from D2 Minnesota Christian) helped buck up his current players on the sideline. Bradford, in particular, was "all over the kids with injuries," Strauss said. "He was in their ear, not letting them sit down. You could hear the SC attitude coming out of him. It was kinda fun."

Asked whether this will be his final season, Strauss said he hasn't decided ... but conceded some of his players think it will be. "We'll see," he said. "A couple of kids have maintained that's one of the things they're playing for. `We gotta get a ring, to send you out right.' And I said I'm not going anywhere.

"It's going real well," he said of his health issues. "We've worked harder this year than we ever have. End of October, I checked in and everything is going good. I'm a little tired, but this time of year it's good just to be playing."

Canyon Springs was blasted by Rancho Verde earlier this season, but Strauss said his team won't underestimate the Cougars because they were the team that eliminated Colton in the quarters last year.

"Our kids are excited about playing them," he said. "We didn't play a good game last year. We feel like we played the strongest team in the league (last Friday), but Canyon Springs was missing some people (when it played Rancho Verde). It's now a matter of making sure we don't have a let-up, and keeping it going."

If Colton reaches the Central title game, Strauss expects a reunion on the sidelines.

"Allen and Shareece said if we get to the final, they'll be there, no matter what."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UCLA really was fairly obnoxious about this. Sure, take pleasure in defeating your arch-rival, but the Bruins beat this into the ground. Even now you can walk around Westwood and see signs and bumper stickers with "13-9" on them.

Which was the final score of their game with USC. Bruins win, 13-9, knocking the Trojans out of the BCS title game.

I wonder if some UCLA alum somewhere had twins, over the past year, and named them "Thirteen" and "Nine." Maybe as middle names?

Wouldn't put it past them.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

OK, he didn't play well. Especially Saturday, when he was 0-for-7 with an interception, four sacks and minus-6 yards rushing.

But UCLA's coaches did little or nothing to help Osaar Rasshan, the redshirt sophomore out of Pomona Garey, succeed in his brief time at quarterback.

Rasshan is a very mobile guy with limited passing skills.

What he absolutely is NOT is a pocket-passer, and that's all the Bruins allowed him to be today. They asked him to throw "touch" passes downfield into tight coverage ... and that is not his thing. Not at all. That he was 0-for-7 with that one long-ball interception ... well, we could have seen that coming if we knew what he was going to be asked to do.

They allowed him to make a direct run all of one time -- and he gained 11 yards for a first down.

Not once did they roll him out, giving him a run/pass option. Not once did they put him in the shotgun and run some sort of spread offense option stuff.

And remember, Rasshan took over as the No. 1 Qb back at Arizona, when he came on in the second half for Patrick Cowan and led the Bruins to 10 late points.

He played the whole game against Arizona State, and wasn't awful in a 24-20 loss, considering it was his first start. He had one damaging interception late, but had coach Karl Dorrell allowed ace kicker Kai Forbath to try two different 53-yard field goals ... and had Forbath made one ... the Bruins would have needed only a field goal, late, instead of asking Rasshan to make a TD play.

Anyway, Rasshan was benched at halftime, Ben Olson came in, his knee held up ... and now Rasshan is buried. Again. Just like he was a month ago.

Dorrell talked about Patrick Cowan perhaps being back from his punctured lung/concussion next week for the USc game, so even if Olson's knee gives out, the Bruins' other fragile QB will be available.

No, Rasshan's numbers were not good. But UCLA did nothing to use him in a way in which he might have been able to succeed.

I'm thinking Rasshan will never take another snap as a UCLA quarterback. I assume he goes back to receiver, next year. He is too good an athlete not to have on the field. That is, if he sticks with the program, which he will ... even if the program has done so little for him.

Anyway, I think I may have been the only reporter to talk to Osaar, after the game. (He was dressed and out of the locker room before reporters were allowed in.)

He said he was a bit surprised at halftime when offensive coordinator Jay Norvell told him he was being benched in favor of veteran Ben Olson, who had been out with a knee injury.

"They said they wanted to change up the timing of the offense," Rasshan said.

And how would the sophomore QB-turned-receiver-turned-QB out of Pomona Garey evaluate his performance in his second start? "I felt I played well," Rasshan said.

Said Norvell: "Osaar struggled. We were trying to get him some momentum early and we had some deeper balls. Osaar's gotta be ready for us. I told him when we made the change at half, 'be ready,' because he may have had to go back in in the second half and he's going to have to play for us again this year.

"He's done a good job of playing for us, and leading and competing. We just felt like we needed a little bit of a spark, some punch in the passing game."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This was a game that will look a lot better 10 years from now than it does right now.

When we look back on it, it will be ...

1. A UCLA upset of ninth-ranked Oregon.

2. A home shutout, UCLA's first shutout of the Ducks since 1979.

3. The Bruins' sixth victory, making them bowl-eligible.

For right now, though? It was UCLA not stinking up the joint quite as badly as did the Ducks

UCLA's scoring "drives" covered minus-4, 15, 6 and 31 yards. The first three were set up by Oregon turnovers, basically unforced by UCLA ... and the final, the game's only touchdown, came after a short punt, a 19-yard return and a 31-yard "march" against a disspirited Oregon defense.

In point of fact, it was a heinously ugly game. Two teams trying to outdo each other in offensive incompetence, and the Ducks winning. And, thus, losing.

There are scads of negative stats around this game, but this is my favorite: The five quarterbacks who played were a collective 15-of-56 for 169 passing yards with five interceptions and no touchdowns.

And this one: Oregon averaged 1.9 yards per play ... in 78 plays.

Anyone who saw this knows it was an awful game. A beat-up UCLA team catching a gutted Oregon team at just the right moment.

But 16-0 ... it'll look a lot better the farther away from it we get.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hate when this happens. I write a column ... really sweat over it ... get quotations in there ... and then I realize I hate the thing so much I can't stand the idea of it being in the newspaper.

So I did another one entirely. I like this new one better, but I wrote this original one ... and I hate to have it go to waste entirely ...

SO, here is the original columm out of the Oregon-UCLA game. Since we have this marvel known as the internet, with no limits, etc. ...

PASADENA – How will your college football team fare this season?

Tell me in August if your starting quarterback will be healthy. All season.

Can’t do that?

Then we can’t promise anything. Anybody can lose to anyone. Usually depending on whose No. 1 QB just sprained a toe or broke a finger.

And what you would have ... would look a lot like the 2007 season. With teams surging and falling back. From juggernaut to jury-rigged in the blink of an eye and the snap of a ligament.

Perhaps at no time in the history of college football has the game been so QB-centric.

Oregon could tell you about it.

The Ducks were in line to play for a national championship, and their quarterback, Dennis Dixon, was a Heisman Trophy front-runner.

Then Dixon’s knee blew up, at Arizona, and his team all but gave up.

UCLA throttled the rudderless Ducks, 16-0, on Saturday, and it was no upset, despite UCLA’s struggles and Oregon’s No. 9 ranking.

Without Dixon and his sublime run-throw skills, the Ducks are not even ordinary. A team that was 8-1 is now 8-3 and easily could finish 8-5. “It was sort of painful to watch,” Ducks coach Mike Bellotti said of his backups’ Keystone Kops performances against the Bruins.

Oregon is just the latest would-be power to be brought low by a quarterback injury.

USC’s John David Booty broke a finger and that turned into a loss to Stanford. The preseason national-champs-in-waiting lost again before he came back.

Oklahoma lost Sam Bradford against Texas Tech, and there went the Sooners’ championship dreams.

Cal was going to be No. 1 in the nation until Nate Longshore went out and his replacement gave away a game to Oregon State. The Bears still haven’t recovered.

Michigan was thought to be competent, and then Chad Henne tried to play through a season with a shoulder injury. The Wolverines are 8-4.

UCLA knows about this, too. When Drew Olson crumpled to the turf on Oct. 6, the Bruins were down to their No. 3, and they somehow managed to lose at home to Notre Dame.

College teams just don’t seem to be able to absorb injuries at the quarterback spot. Especially now. The idea of a career backup like Norman Dow coming off the bench to beat a great team (UCLA 14, USC 7, 1966) – or even a mediocre one – seems ludicrous.

“I can tell you all about it,” UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said Saturday. “When you lose the primary position in your offense, and that’s your quarterback, it makes things difficult. It’s a big challenge to keep the productivity at a high level.

“There’s nobody that knows that scenario more than we do.”

UCLA played without No. 1 Olson in five games and without No. 1A Patrick Cowan in seven.

And if you run a quarterback-intensive offense – and nearly everyone (including UCLA) does, these days – the dropoff to No. 2 (or even No. 3) can turn a potential champ into a chump.

“College football is so even that the confidence of your team is very fragile,” UCLA offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said Saturday. “When you have confident playmakers and things come easy to you, your confidence soars. When your execution isn’t as good, your confidence kind of wanes a little bit.

“I think you’ve seen that with a lot of teams this year.”

Replacing a quarterback ... it’s not quite like changing a tire. More like trying to replace an engine.

Teams invest so much time of their limited practice time on their No. 1 QB, it’s no wonder the replacements often flail helplessly.

“As an offensive lineman, I have to know a lot of assignments,” UCLA tackle Brian Abraham said, “but the stuff the quarterbacks have to know is ridiculous. They spend three times as much time on it as we do. It’s not that the other guys are bad, they just don’t get the repetitions.

“It’s definitely a hard position just be thrown in there after someone gets hurt. It’s not easy.”

Indeed.

What do the surviving contenders for the BCS title game have in common?

None of them lost their quarterback.

West Virginia and Pat White, Kansas and Todd Reesing, Missouri and Chase Daniel, Ohio State and Todd Boeckman. Two of those four likely will play for No. 1. If their quarterback stays on his feet, that is.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sick and tired of those basketball scores football teams are putting up these days?

Quick, tune in to ABC and watch the second half of UCLA and Oregon.

How overmatched are these offenses?

Halfway through their "showdown" ... both teams aspire to play 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football. Because after 30 minutes, they're not managing even that.

Oregon has 101 yards on 44 plays. That's 2.3 yards per play.

UCLA is worse. The Bruins have 40 yards on 29 plays. That's 1.4 yards per play.

And both offenses are every bit as bad as their numbers indicate.

Oregon was in trouble, with Dennis Dixon down, and then it got worse ... No. 2 quarterback Brady Leaf (yes, Ryan Leaf's little brother) ... went out with what appears to be an ankle injury, and now both teams are using their No. 3 quarterbacks.

Osaar Rasshan is having a nightmarish game for UCLA. He is 0-for-7 passing with an interception and has run for minus-6 yards.

But Oregon's quarterbacks (Leaf, now some redshirt freshman named Cody Kempt) are 5-for-19 for 50 yards and an interception.

It's that awful.

Chris Markey is trying to play tailback for UCLA, and having a rough go. He has had a turf-toe issue nearly all season, so he may not be healthy ... but it's not as if there's much room to run, considering Oregon doesn't have to worry -- at all -- about the pass. He has 45 yards on 15 carries, which is lousy, but almost makes him a nuclear device, in this game..

Oregon has a real tailback, Jonathan Stewart, but he's got turf toe too (what are the odds!) and he has only 24 yards on eight carries.

UCLA could win this game, but it shouldn't reflect well on Karl Dorrell. I am stunned that the Bruins didn't take the two weeks they had since the Arizona State game and seriously rejigger their offense. Put in scads of simple plays for Rasshan that get him in space, and let him run or pass. They could have installed the veer or the wishbone, with the two weeks they had.

Instead, they have Rasshan under center, and trying to make touch passes into space ... not even SHORT passes, for goodness sakes ... and he just doesn't do that well.

Anyway, if you like third-and-long, defenses dominating and lots of punts ... this is the game for you.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oregon is horrible. Dennis Dixon isn't the Ducks' only injury, but he's the one that wrecked them as a serious football team.

Above all else, we can't have this half-a-team in the Rose Bowl. Can't happen. They might not even sell out the "grandaddy of them all" ... as the Rose Bowl likes to be known.

But we can be spared Oregon punting the ball 12 times if they lose one of their last two -- against UCLA or against Oregon State next week.

I would prefer UCLA take care of business today. Even though the Bruins are trying to make poor Osaar Rasshan do things he cannot -- like throw a long pass to a closely guarded receiver. (That was the interception just now.)

Anyway, a Rose Bowl with USC or Arizona State in it ... fine and good. But please oh please, not the Ducks. They may not be one of the top 50 teams in the country right now.

Add: UCLA had a minus-2 yards in the first quarter, with no first downs, yet leads 3-0. Mainly because their offense lost only 3 yards after the fumble recovery, and Forbath can make a 54-yarder.

This is truly ugly.

As my colleague Gregg Patton just noted: At Arizona State we were rooting for the clock to run so we could have some time to write about USC-ASU for the newspaper deadlines. But today, we're rooting for the clock to run ... so this mess of a game will be over sooner.

Oh, an alert: Just saw Osaar Rasshan taking long snaps on the sideline. Like, shotgun formation/spread formation snaps. Finally! Get him in space. Let him run. To this point, this could be one of the low points of O-coordinator Jay Norvell's undistinguised career.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man, this could be ugly. Two teams with no discernible offenses.

Both Oregon and UCLA are trying to play with quarterbacks who don't fit their schemes. Which makes for semi-laughable, semi-pathetic situations.

UCLA has Osaar Rasshan, nice kid from Pomona but best-suited to a spread offense or maybe the veer or wishbone. He runs well, that is, but he can't always throw a ball from here to there.

Meanwhile, with Dennis Dixon done, Oregon is playing Brady Leaf, a classic pocket passer. But Oregon runs a spread offense, and that's not going well, either.

UCLA leads 3-0, but it's no thanks to the O.

The Bruins got a fumble at the Oregon 34, lost 3 yards, and then Kai Forbath came out and kicked a 54-yard field goal. Nice drive.

Actually, it was before that exchange that I announced, here in the Rose Bowl press box, that the first OFFENSE to score 10 points would be your game-winner.

Now, we're debating what constitutes points by your offense. If Matthew Slater returns a kick 98 yards to the 1-yard line, and three plays later the Bruins bang it in ... are those points by the offense? I think not.

I'm going to create a definition of "points by the offense": At least two first downs are necessary, or a play of 50 yards or more. Those are points by your offense.

Update: Yikes! Oregon has strung together three first downs! A couple more, they might be in field-goal range!

Funny thing about this ... funny as in kinda sick and twisted ... is that Oregon is ranked No. 9 in the nation. And we're wondering if they can score.

Oops! Another Ducks first down. They're definitely in field goal range, now. Oh, never mind. Brady Leaf just took a brain-dead sack on third down to take them out of field-goal range.

Meantime, Osaar has looked particularly helpless so far ... but UCLA's coaches also haven't put in any more offense for him. Osaar taking snaps under center, with a couple of backs lined up behind him ... is not gonna work today.

I can just imagine Pete Carroll sitting in his office, sort of watching this game, and when he's not being disgusted at UCLA's offense ... thinking "How come WE didn't get to play Oregon without Dennis Dixon?"

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No one ever will confuse a football sideline with the inside of a church.

There's no quiet reflection going on. Not much decorum. Way too much physical energy. And a lot more spitting.

I accept that.

What I don't accept is the verbal violence that far, far too many of our high school teams engage in. While coaches turn a deaf ear. Or, sadly, in more than a few cases, contribute to with their own verbal violence.

At one of the games I went to Friday night, I was standing on the sideline of a team that had one of its defenders make a big hit on a running back.

Which prompted a teammate, a backup standing near me, to launch into one of the most disturbing rants I've heard in a while. And I've heard plenty of disturbing rants at prep games.

The kid on the sideline began shouting something along these lines:

(Deleted) him up! Kill the (deleted)! Bury him! Kill the (deleted)! (Deleted) KILL him! That's it! KILL the (deleted). Bury him in the dirt! (Delete) him up! The (deleted)!"

And like that. That's just a snippet. It went on and on and on, with little variation on those few "thoughts."

It struck me later it was exactly the kind of language you might expect from a spectator to a prison-yard brawl between rival gangs. It had that much hate in it. The emotions and words were that primitive.

And this was within a yard of a guy who appeared to be one of his team's assistant coaches. I mean, I think he was a coach. if he were a teacher or an administrator, it would be even more disturbing ... because he let this guy rant like that forEVER. Or what seemed like forever.

Finally ... FINALLY ... after a good 20 seconds of the kid's murderous monologue, the adult turned to the foaming, expletive-spewing kid and said something like, "Hey, can you cool it off a little?"

Something like that. Something toothless.

The tenor of that milk-soppy rebuke was this: Sure, we all drop F bombs on the sideline to encourage our teammates and get ourselves fired up, but you've crossed the boundary here by doing it at paragraph length and, now that I think of it, we have visitors here, little brothers and stat keepers and reporters, and maybe, just maybe, they don't think the expletives -- especially laced with the insistence on "killing" an opponent -- is cool. And it might even reflect on me, that I let you carry on like that, so would you please slow it down, or at least lower your voice so that the fans on the other side of the field can't hear it? Thanks much.

It doesn't have to be like that ... kids out of control, spewing murderous venom with no consequences.

At Claremont, coach Mike Collins makes it clear ALL profanity is forbidden. You just don't do it. I've been on that sideline, and if it happens, it's under someone's breath.

At Miller, coach Jeff Steinberg has turned what used to be a rowdy sideline into one with minimal verbal violence. The Miller sideline is a THINKING sideline. Instead of pointless emotion wasted on shouts and street-thug threats, you can almost HEAR the thinking. About the next play. What to do next. How to solve this puzzle of a game. I loved it when Steinberg, clearly unhappy with a certain player, stopped that player as he came off the field and said, in a conversational tone, "Young man, do you intend to make a contribution tonight?" It was so perfect. And so out of the ordinary that it had tremendous moral and intellectual weight.

It can be done.

What I think happens?

One big chunk of coaches just doesn't get around to curbing verbal violence. It's what kids do, and I've got a zillion things on my plate, and making sure Little Joey isn't ranting is not a priority. This is the Blind Eye/Deaf Ear School. The kid I heard last night? His coach has become one of those guys.

Another unhealthy chunk of coaches are part of the problem. They use profanity regularly to communicate with their players. They think that's the way you reach kids. At the least, they allow their (often young) assistants to use it, clearly with their permission (if not their overt endorsement). And when you've got violent profanity, mixed with threats, coming from the authority figures ... well, sure, how can anyone expect kids to behave any better?

This isn't just about priggishness or some out-of-date moral code. It's about discipline and order.

I've been on NFL sidelines, and I can guarantee you the players there aren't screaming obscenities. They have too much to think about. They are under control. Even college football sidelines ... the verbal violence is far less than it is at any given high school game you might be at. Seems upside down, doesn't it?

Keeping your players from indulging in violent language should be part of the discipline that comes from being part of a team. The kid screaming about killing someone ... is out of control. And out-of-control players are a sure sign of a badly led, badly coached team. A team that is dangerously close to being more of a mob than an intelligent, thinking organism. And "mobs" are beaten by "teams" all the time.

I'm sick of it. It happens too often on too many sidelines, week after week. If coaches can get through to kids that jumping offsides isn't acceptable ... they can also get them to grasp that screaming about (deleted) killing someone isn't acceptable, either.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I didn't actually sit in the stands, but it couldn't have been any more fun than moving around no the sideline.

It was cold. And it was windy. That's a bad start.

If you sit, you seem to get colder quicker ... but if you're old, like me, and standing or walking, you feel your back getting tight and achy ... and ugh.

I had on a turtleneck T-shirt, a sweater and a leather coat, and I was still cold. I never learned how to take notes with gloves on, and my cap was just a cap. Nothing with any heft to it. So, yeah, cold hands, cold ears ...

And that was at Colton. It was truly unpleasant over at Arroyo Valley, hard on the banks of the Lytle Creek Wash, just south of the new 210 freeway ...

The wind was blowing harder there because it's right below the mouth of Cajon Pass. It probably was worse at Cajon, where another game was going on. Cajon is (naturally) even farther up the pass ... but it was plenty nasty at Arroyo.

Sitting on the home side was particularly ugly because the wind was blowing right into everyone's face.

Actually, I went over to the Colony sideline to watch the game, just so the wind would be blowing on my back instead of into my eyes. And it was still nasty.

When Colony's lead got to 27-0, a lot of the Arroyo Valley fans left. A Colony parent suggested they weren't showing the proper commitment to their team, but I said I thought it was so miserable -- and this was a minute or two after a huge gust came up and blew about a ton of dust across the field -- that it was fine to leave a game that clearly was decided.

Anyway, I have this theory -- well, more hard experience over several decades than a theory -- that at least one weekend of the CIF football playoffs, every year, is blighted by bad weather.

Let's hope this was it. So we can go to games next weekend without freezing, and maybe even the week after that, when CIF titles will be decided. I'm thinking no wind and maybe 65 degrees. Think we can arrange that?

No wind. That's the first request. Football and wind just don't go well together, especially in this era of passing games and humans who just don't like to face up to Mother Nature when she's acting up.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ugh. That wasn't exactly fun.

I saw parts of two games, and they both were a little weird, and who would have expected anything else? Not only have the Santa Ana Winds returned with a vengeance, there's also a full moon. No wonder we all felt like jumping out of our skin.

Maybe the kids who are seniors will remember tonight's games as "the playoffs when the wind blew" ...

Anyway: Big wins for Redlands East Valley, Colton and Colony, and that's about it.

Everyone else went down ... and most of them went down hard.

REV apparently played some defense, for the first time in a month, and throttled Norco 30-7 in the Inland Division. That's a good victory, because Norco was a two-time defending division champion, and REV had looked vulnerable the past three weeks -- after impressing everyone the first eight weeks.

REV is 12-0 and gets Corona Santiago in the semis ... a team that comes out of the same league as Norco and top-seeded Corona Centennial. Santiago lost to Norco in the regular season, is 7-4, and ought to be someone REV can beat.

REV is the home team, but it probably won't be able to play at the University of Redlands -- because the school typically has the "festival of lights" going on, the first weekend of December. A year ago Redlands High School was "home" for the semis and played at Colton. REV may end up there, too.

Colton hadn't gotten past the quarterfinals since Don Markham was coaching there, a quarter-century ago, but the Yellowjackets got over the second-round hump thanks to Travell Washington, a cat-quick wingback/cornerback/returner who scored six touchdowns in Colton's 39-22 victory over Rancho Verde -- four by running, one on an 88-yard pass from Nick Vasquez and the sixth on a 95-yard fumble return, perhaps the turning point in the game, considering Rancho Verde was about to go in for a tying score, in the first quarter.

Colton is on the road vs. Canyon Springs, and it ought to be a game the Jackets can win -- considering Ranco Verde annihilated Canyon Springs 68-12. But the Jackets seem a little beaten up. Blue-chip DE Damien Hughes, who is headed to UCLA, had almost no impact, while I was watching in the first half, because he's got a bad foot/ankle. Then, during the game, wingback Nick Reyes appeared to hurt an ankle and fullback D.J. Stallion took a hellacious (scary, actually) hit at the goal line on a two-point conversion, flipping upon impact and landing on his head.

Colony, defending Eastern Division champ, rolled over Arroyo Valley, a team that prefers to pass but had lots of issues there because the wind was blowing like mad on San Bernardino's West Side. I saw the second half of this one.

Arroyo quarterback Robert Fuller had a very rough final game, passing for 76 yards on 9-of-33 accuracy, with four interceptions. He got a TD pass to Darious Hooker with 11 seconds left. Until then, it mostly was errant passes aimed at receivers who perhaps were running the wrong routes ... and it just was a fairly total meltdown by the Hawks.

Tailback Daniel Simmons and quarterback Jeff Ginolfi led Colony on offense. Simmons is pushing 2,000 yards rushing and pretty much carved up the Arroyo Valley defense. Ginolfi is a returning starter from the CIF title team, and is a slick operator. Colony is on the road vs. Moreno Valley.

Colony and Colton face each other, if they win next weekend. That would be interesting.

Then the other folks:

Miller of Fontana went down 34-30 to Chaparral in a tough game in Riverside County; Chaparral plays Corona Centennial in the other Inland semi. (The winner to get the REV-Santiago survivor.)

Arroyo Valley, we mentioned. Also in the Central Division, Cajon of San Bernardino was blanked 36-0 by Moreno Valley.

It was a local disaster, in the lower divisions.

In the Central, Kaiser of Fontana gave No. 2 seed Riverside North a game, for which the Cats should be congratulated, but defending champ North moves on, 28-14, and in the semis will get Riverside King, which ousted Hesperia 21-14. And in the biggest surprise of the night, the team I identified as No.1 on my list of "most likely to advance," top-seeded Serrano of Phelan, was routed by Palm Desert, 47-21.

In the East Valley Division, it was a local-team 0-for-4 wipeout: Citrus Hill 10, Big Bear 7; Bishop 33, Aquinas 11; Riverside Notre Dame 31, Twentynine Palms 12; and San Jacinto 23, Ontario Christian 10. This is a division local teams have been dominating in recent years (Aquinas won it two years ago, Big Bear last year), but that dominance certainly has been interrupted, this season.

So, anyway ... we have some prominent schools still playing ... REV, Colton, Colony. But that's it.

Maybe it was the moon, or the wind. Or the other guys were just better.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, I'm driving back from the USC football game in Phoenix late Thursday night, early Friday morning ... just blowing along I-10 at a high rate of speed, and I'm still alert and awake when I get close to the casino at Morongo ... when I see hundreds of red tail lights ahead of me, up the hill and curving to the right.

And none are moving.

Oh, no, I think. Something awful has happened on the freeway, some huge wreck or massive construction, and it's going to be some long, drawn-out affair. Maybe the whole freeway is closed. And I was making such good time ...

But as I got closer I realized all the traffic was over in the right lane. At a dead stop. And there's about a half-mile of it.

And then it struck me: At 1:15 Friday MORNING, shoppers were lined up just to exit the freeway at the outlet mall at Cabazon.

At 1:15 a.m.! And the stores don't even open till, what, 4?

And just as I was digesting how preposterous that looked, I glanced over to the east-bound side of the freeway, and there were even MORE cars in line to exit the freeway. At least a half-mile of them ... and maybe more like a mile. Sitting in the (ultra) slow lane, trying to exit.

This is just to get off the freeway. No telling what sort of hell/hassle all these shoppers were going to go through before they parked, walked, got to the store they're interested in ... and sat around for hours before the place opened.

This is nuts. I mean, you wouldn't catch me throwing myself into that if they were GIVING AWAY electronics. Or whatever it is all these people had to get up at midnight to go get in line for.

I've never understood this Black Friday thing. I refuse to believe bargains exist in any sort of degree equal to the effort that people make to get to the stores. I think X percent of the population is just nuts about shopping, and Black Friday and its alleged bargains gives them an excuse to indulge in their passion/vice. Sort of like Harry Potter fans lining up for days to get the newest book, or Rose Parade geeks camping out for two days to get a prime viewing spot.

It would make far more sense, I'm sure, to wait a day or three and THEN do your hoiday shopping. You wouldn't even have to get up before 7 a.m.

This Black Friday stuff ... It's nuts. You all should be in bed at 1:15 a.m. ... not inching along, desperate to get to the OakleyLevis/Gap outlet store (or whatever) before it opens at 4.

Did I mention this was A.M.?!?

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We called out John David Booty in Wednesday's newspapers, and darn if USC's quarterback didn't respond.

To the tune of a season-high 375 passing yards and four touchdowns on 26-of-39 accuracy in a 44-24 nuking of Arizona State. Which was seventh-ranked and plotting a course into the national championship game -- until the Trojans got their hands on them and beat them senseless.

With Booty fully healthy, some seven weeks after suffering a broken finger in the Stanford game, and with 12 days to work since the Trojans won at Cal, USC coaches overhauled the offense, putting in a bunch of play-action passes and some new screens that paralyzed the ASU defense, heretofore considered to be solid.

Then USC scored on eight of its first 10 possessions, and it was 44-17 before the third quarter was over, and the game was done-done-done.

"This was a really sweet win," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "We've been looking forward to a time where we really felt we were all together and had everything going in the right direction.

"We had a sense it would happen and it is just a great statement for our guys that they know we're capable of playing great football. That's a heck of a team we just beat there."

USC, 11th-ranked in the latest polls, is now 9-2, 6-2 in the Pac-10 with the UCLA game left, at the Coliseum.

ASU also is 9-2 and 6-2, with a home game against arch-rival Arizona.

If those two finish tied for first, USC goes to the Rose Bowl on the basis of the head-to-head score. If not the Rose it will go to SOME BCS game, as long as it beats the Bruins.

Oregon is still in the mix. The Ducks are 8-2 and 5-2, and can finish 7-2 in the Pac-10 by defeating UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Saturday and winning over Oregon State next week.

In that scenario, Oregon goes to the Rose Bowl because it holds head-to-head victories over both USC and Arizona State. But it's going to be tricky, for the Ducks, because their star quarterback, Dennis Dixon, is out for the season with a knee injury.

More about the Trojans and the polls:

Their No. 11 BCS ranking leaves them just too deep in the standings to aspire to the national-title game. Let's see if I can even come up with a scenario.

OK, here it is: No.1 LSU loses to Arkansas this week, No.2 Kansas loses to No. 4 Missouri, No. 3 West Virginia loses to Connecticut, No. 7 Georgia loses to Georgia Tech, No. 8 Virginia Tech loses to Virginia, No. 9 Oregon loses either to UCLA or Oregon State, No. 10 Oklahoma loses to Oklahoma State.

And then next week, Oklahoma or Texas defeats Missouri in the Big 12 title game, Georgia defeats LSU in the SEC title game, and West Virginia loses AGAIN, this time to Pitt.

For USC to get into the top two, that assumes USC jumps ALL those losers (and one of them, Kansas, will have only one defeat), including Arizona State, which was No. 6.

The BCS title game then would be Ohio State (11-1) and USC (10-2). Which almost certainly won't happen, anyway, because the Trojans' strength of schedule has been awful, thanks to the Notre Dame and Nebraska meltdowns. So, idle speculation, really. I mean, it's hard to imagine USC jumping one-defeat Kansas or two-defeat Missouri. Not to mention that perfect storm of upsets (above) to get all the other contenders out of the way.

More about Thursday's game.

USC kicked ASU's butt, basically. If not for a kickoff return for TD, a blocked punt that set up a TD, and a semi-specious unsportsmanlike conduct call on Sedrick Ellis after his ultra-modest celebration of a sack fueled another ASU TD drive ... this could have been a blowout of epic proportions. Something like 47-10.

Rudy Carpenter was sacked six times for 40 yards, four of the sacks by Lawrence Jackson, who also forced a fumble that Booty turned into a TD drive.

Fred Davis was huge, again, at tight end, catching five balls for 119 yards and a touchdown, a tackle-busting 34-yard TD that may have secured him all-America status and the John Mackey Award for the nation's top tight end.

Joe McKnight caught five balls for 71 and a touch, Patrick Turner caught five for 70 (and had only one quasi-drop, a major improvement for him).

And USC's running game, stunted early by an ASU defense primed to stop it, eventually accrued 133 yards on 37 carries, with Chauncey Washington slugging out 80 on 22 carries.

If nothing else, this game demonstrated what a good team can do when all its players are available, and the Trojans had literally EVERYONE available on offense for the FIRST TIME this season.

As Booty told me after practice on Tuesday, "when we've got everyone out there, we're pretty potent."

Arizona State could tell you about it.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ack. What a goofy game. USC has been miles better than Arizona State for most of the first half, but until 10 points in the final five minutes of the half they were tied at 17-17.

Giving up a 98-yard kickoff return hurts you. As does a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Sedrick Ellis to keep alive another ASU scoring drive.

And then there was the Trojans unable to score a touchdown after first-and-goal on the 2. That led to the tiebreaking field goal, instead.

USC had some great play-calling early, discombobulating the Sun Devils, but ASU got the big kick return and 10 points on long drives

It should be something like 31-10 USC. Instead it's 27-17, and it's a game. For sure.

John David Booty has been sharp, but the Trojans are struggling in every other part of the game -- rushing, defense and special teams. They also have been flagged seven time for 59 yards, to ASU's once for 10.

Anyway, I'm not impressed with either team, so far. But a W is a W, and it would be huge for the Trojans if they can escape with one, especially after their sometimes dopey first 30 minutes.

(Clock time: Real-life, the first half took about two hours.)

Oh. Little Richard on the field now.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And we thought five years at $80 million, the original guestimate, was steep.

They're going to give him $90 million -- which makes him the highest-paid player in club history.

Torii Hunter. Good player. I like him. But for $90 million? Hmm.

And say this for the Angels. They may be doing weird stuff, but they're DOING stuff.

The Dodgers signed Joe Torre and haven't done anything we know about, since.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Arizona State was talking about having a sellout to see it's Game of the Decade vs. USC ... but here we are minutes before kickoff and two entire sections of stands, reserved for students, I think, are empty.

There are patches of empty seats all over the stadium.

Which makes sense, given that it's Thanksgiving and ASU is a commuter school and probably some huge number of kids went home for the weekend.

It's got to hurt ASU's spirit a little to come out and look around and see those empty seats.

The place holds 72,000 or so. At this moment, I'd say maybe 65,000 will be here. At best. People ARE still coming in, and this is a stadium famed for its inaccessibility.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just refuse to believe these aren't, at heart, The Same Ol' Trojans.

Have you noticed that we all have trouble appreciating when a dynasty ends?

People still expect Nebraska to be good, and it hasn't been for years. Alabama ought to be good, but the Tide is back to 6-5 again, right?

There's something about traditional powers ... in any sport. You expect more from them even after the great players are gone.

Consider the Lakers. We're finally (three years later) not sitting around expecting an NBA title. The Dodgers haven't won't anything since 1988, but don't Dodgers fans still expect them to amount to something? The Yankees still win most of their games, but they haven't won a World Series since 2000.

USC rates even higher on the "they're still good" list, even in the face of mixed results.

How could this team lose to Stanford? How could it have close games against Cal (6-5) and Washington (4-7) and Oregon State (7-4)?

But those of us with memories ... still think these are the Trojans of 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 ...

Pete Carroll still is the coach. John David Booty is a fifth-year senior. The line is experienced. A few months ago, we thought they had the best linebackers in the nation, and a D-line was not far behind.

I still can't get over that. I can't believe Arizona State actually is better than USC already. Not when these are essentially the same Sun Devils who got Dirk Koetter fired a year ago. Yeah, Dennis Erickson is a smart guy, but I just saw ASU barely get out of the Rose Bowl against a battered UCLA team, too.

USC has its first-team offense starting for literally the first time this season. The defense has been solid all along. The game is being watching by anybody in the nation who has a TV set -- because it's on against nothing.

With everyone watching, with ASU a bit overrated ... I see USC winning tonight. It's a fast track, the weather is no factor, and Carroll has lost only once to a Dennis Erickson team.

I expect USC to handle the Sun Devils. A victory that could move them on the verge of the Rose Bowl, if Oregon loses to UCLA or OSU ... and even on the outer fringes of the national title discussion.

But, then, as I noted above, we all tend to have a high regard for historically good teams, even when they show signs of slippage.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I would like to brag about how fast I got here, driving from the IE ... but I don't want the Highway Patrol of two states on the lookout for me.

Quite a bit of traffic, actually, but very little of it was trucks. So none of those agonizing minutes stuck behind one truck trying to pass another.

Pretty much, I could go as fast as I wanted ... and so did everyone else ... and if you don't stick out as ridiculously fast ... you have a pretty good chance of not being singled out for a speeding ticket.

It's about 330 miles from our office to the parking lot across the street from the stadium. How early was I? So early I parked on the bottom level ... and was about the fifth person in the so-high-I-can-see-New Mexico press box.

But that's OK. When you're early, you can scout out things, make sure your wifi connection is up, poke around, do some blogging.

The tougher trip will be the one back, after the game. I'll be lucky to be on the road by 11 p.m., which puts me in the IE some time after 3 ... if I stay awake. I have brought three diet Cokes with me, just for the caffeine. I've made it every time before, and this is about my 12th time trying this routine. Though it's a bit tougher when you're alone, as I will be.

Oh, and for those of you worried about whether I ever got Thanksgiving dinner ... well, no. I had a turkey sandwich on the drive out. That sorta counts, doesn't it? But the food they're serving here ... looks like chicken fajitas. Which is nice, but it's not Thanksgiving.

But I'm here for the football.

Oh, and a colleague of mine from the Riverside paper ... flew ... but got here two hours later than I did. Fog at Burbank led to some sort of issue with his plane in Ontario ... and he would have gotten here faster had he come with me. The way airports are these days ... I think any trip of 300 miles or less is definitely a better idea via car. Unless gas hits, like, $5 a gallon.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're into the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS prep football playoffs, and there aren't any bogus teams still hanging around. This is competence from top to bottom ...

But somebody has to go to get the CIF down to the semifinals in its 13 brackets.

After looking at the 12 (11-man) area teams still alive, in four divisions, here is our sense of the five most likely to make the semis ... and the five most likely to be excused after a nice season.

Most Likely to Move On

1. Serrano. Ray Maholchic's team probably had a tougher opponent in the first round, Bloomington, than it does in the second, Palm Desert. The top-seeded Diamondbacks should go to 12-0 and face the survivor of the Palm Springs at Riverside Poly game.

2. Aquinas. The Falcons went off on Viewpoint last week, and we have to think they can outscore Bishop, despite the monster drive up the Owens Valley. Bishop won a 7-6 squeaker over Desert Hot Springs. Aquinas, led by Dwaine "Peanut" Radden should be fine if the bus gets there without incident.

3. Colton. I like the Yellowjackets a lot, but we need to remember they have never gotten past this round in Harold Strauss' tenure. Rancho Verde figures to provide a tough test (three Inland Valley League teams are in the second round), but we see Colton taking advantage of home field and advancing.

4. A.B. Miller. The Rebels have to travel to Chaparral, but they should be able to win a close game. Chaparral barely got by Los Osos, 10-7, last week, while Miller was trashing Damien. Miller QB Springer, a sort of prep version of Oregon's Dennis Dixon, will be the difference.

5. Arroyo Valley. Yes, the Hawks, over top-seeded Colony. AVHS is another team that hasn't been to the semis before, which is a little scary, but this is a team with scads of size and skill, starting with QB Robert Fuller. Defending champ Colony has done a great job to get here, but the home team has too much speed.

Most Likely to Pack the Gear

1. Kaiser. Dick Bruich wrung blood from a turnip with this squad, rallying from an 0-5 start to force a three-way tie at 4-1 for the Sunkist League title, and adding a 14-6 victory over Rim in the first round. But now the Cats get defending Eastern champ Riverside North, and the Huskies' speed will be too much.

2. Big Bear. The Bears are home, but they are home vs. top-seeded Citrus Hill, which beat them earlier this year, and they might be without quarterback Kris Proctor, which makes winning an unlikely prospect.

3. Hesperia. The Scorpions have had one of their best football season in school history, but King comes from the Ivy League, which looks like the best in the Eastern Division, and Serrano is out of the Mohave River, which is one of the weaker.

4. Cajon. The Cowboys pulled a first-round upset at Pasadena Muir, and we can never count out a team with Walter Kazee at tailback ... but Moreno Valley won the toughest league in the Central Division (the Inland Valley) and probably will be too much for the Cowboys, even at home.

5. Redlands East Valley. The Wildcats are unbeaten but have shown signs of vulnerability in two of their last three -- the 28-27 home victory over Miller and the 60-53 track meet victory over Murrieta Valley. It isn't clear they can stop the run, and that is what defending Inland champ Norco is going to bring, in spades. REV has never been past the quarters, either.

The others: Twentynine Palms looms as an underdog on the road against Riverside Notre Dame of the rugged Mountain Pass League; Ontario Christian looks like a road underdog vs. second-seeded San Jacinto.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Angels made their second fairly strange, out-of-the-blue -- but very interesting -- roster move in three days, signing free-agent outfielder Torii Hunter for five years at a guestimated $80 million.

Hunter is a power hitter and outstanding center fielder, but the Angels already have a first-rate center fielder in Gary Matthews Jr. -- to whom they gave a five-year, $50 million contract only a year ago.

In a lot of ways, they have the same guy twice. Hunter is 32, Matthews is 33. Hunter is coming off a career year, as was Matthews when the Angels signed him last year. Hunter's career batting average is .271 (Matthews' is .261), Hunter's career on-base percentage is .324 (Matthews' is .334). Neither guy walks much. Hunter has more pop in his bat (192 career homers to Matthews' 92), which I guess explains the extra $30 million he's going to get.

The other weird move was on Monday, when the Angels traded shortstop Orlando Cabrera, their best position player in 2007, to the White Sox for middle-of-the-rotation right-hander Jon Garland.

So, what's going on? It's not entirely clear, but the Angels duo of Tony Reagins (the new, wave-making GM) and manager Mike Scioscia seem to be saying, "trust us, we know what we're doing."

I don't think the Angels are done moving people.

They now have a surplus at two positions: Outfield, where they have six guys for three spots (four, if one of them DHs) -- Vlad Guererro, Garret Anderson, Juan Rivera, Reggie Willits, Matthews and Hunter; and starting pitcher, with John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar, Jared Weaver, Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana and Garland.

Thus, they are in position to trade some of those surplus guys to get better in the infield, where at the moment they have Chone Figgins at third, Erick Aybar or Maicer Izturis or Brandon Wood at shortstop, Howie Kendick at second and Casey Kotchman at first.

Obviously, Miguel Cabrera of the Florida Marlins is The Man at third, in this trading season, and the Angels now can send the Marlins people like Willits and Santana, who are fairly young and seriously inexpensive, and maybe Wood, to Florida, where he could replace Miggy in the lineup -- and not give up any more of the prized kids, such as pitcher Nick Adenhart and Kendrick. Willits, Santana and Wood wouldn't cost the bargain-hunting Marlins much more than $1 million for the three of them, and Miggy figures to get something like $12 million via arbitration.

Another take here is ... the Angels are going to move Matthews. He has an HGH issue hanging over his head, and a suspension for 2008 is possible. Either way, the Angels were far less than pleased when the HGH news came down last spring, starting with owner Arte Moreno. The club basically forced him to make a statement about the reports, which came out kind of namby-pamby. But the Mitchell Report is due in the next few weeks, and if he's going down for a while ...

Matthews, however, may be tough to trade, with four years left on that contract. Certainly, the Marlins won't want him.

Another factor to consider: This is Guerrero's walk year, and Anderson is 36. Willits' career gave no indication of the sort of numbers he put up in midseason, and he faded down the stretch. And Rivera may not be the same player since that badly broken leg limited him to 43 at-bats last year.

So maybe the Angels really DO think they need six first-string outfielders, including two premier center fielders, if not right at this minute, then soon.

Thing is, Hunter doesn't quite fit as The Big Bat behind Guerrero. Almost, but he's not Miggy.

The Angels aren't done. I believe they're still thinking Miggy, and they certainly have the bodies now to make an attractive bid for him.

No matter what, Reagins certainly has our attention. He is making some bold moves, surprising moves, presumably with Scioscia's input and clearly with Arte Moreno's permission -- because the club has a payroll of about $130 million, which represents a jump of about $20 million since the end of the season.

Keep an eye on these guys. They could be spending a lot of money on a club with some glaring imbalances ... or they are getting ready for yet another major move. I'm banking on the latter scenario.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wrote about USC quarterback John David Booty for the daily today.

I think it's time for him to be a football hero ... and not just a friendly, Loo-zee-ana dude who never seems to get too excited -- or to make a play that makes a difference.

You can read that column here.

This is germane because USC plays at No. 7-ranked Arizona State on Thanksgiving night, and the Trojans still can make something of their season if they win.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At some point in my career I probably was one of those guys who clamored for almost any trade that brought a proven veteran to your team -- in whatever sport, but baseball, especially -- in return for "prospects."

I mean, prospects were just that. Guys who MIGHT turn out. But had a good chance of not turning out, either.

I thought only loser teams with timid management and no money kept the kids. "Hey, there's Joe Vet ... go get him, and I don't care how many Double-A all-stars it takes! What? You cheap cowards!"

Now, I've come 180 on this. I don't think much of any veteran is worth two, three, even four of your best young players, and this comes with the Angels and Dodgers both ogling Miguel Cabrera -- for whom the Florida Marlins will want three or four top young players.

My reasoning:

1. The "proven veteran" probably already has had his best seasons. Or maybe just had THE best season of his career. So you're trading for somebody who isn't as good as he seems. Paying retail when you should be thinking wholesale. (This is even more true for football, where guys' time at the pinnacle can be measured in weeks.)

2. Baseball economics -- for anybody who isn't the Yankees -- demand that you stock your club with guys you can control for minimal amounts of money for the most years. That is, especially, the guys who have come up through your system. Russell Martin was the Dodgers' best player last year and probably will be next year, too, and he's not even arbitration-eligible yet. The Dodgers' Best Player costs them something like $380,000.

And consider this: Chad Billingsley, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp and Martin all made less than $400,000 last year. Where would that team have been without those guys? Who collectively equal about one month of Jeff Kent's salary? And the Marlins will want at least one or two of those guys, PLUS one or two more who are coming up behind them. To get a guy who's going to get something like $12 million in arbitration.

3. Organizational stability. You're always better off playing with guys who came through your system, maybe played together, who were taught the fundamentals the same way. You bring in random outsiders, you mess that up. Then you have the Dodgers of 1998-2006.

4. If you want to get better, if you've got millions burning a hole in your pocket, sign a free agent. Don't give up in trade guys who are 1-2 years from being an every day player. Just don't do it.

Like I said, I used to think teams that didn't pursue the Big Name were fraidy cats. Now, I think you've got to be brave not to make the dopey fan-style move.

Nurture the young guys. Keep the payroll under control. Spend big on selected free agents. That's the way to win, and not have to pay New York Yankees prices.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pete Carroll is dervish. He's a whirlwind. He's a kindergartner with ADD who's off his meds.

He also is 56 years old.

How does the man do it? He's older than I am but his body language says "I could play on Saturday, if I had to."

I saw another of his practices, on Tuesday, and was impressed, again, at the energy HE brings to the event. It's as if a team of 90 college kids has to feed off HIS energy ... and none of them are older than 23.

I'm used to seeing Carroll dash from one field to another, as USC's high-paced practices shift to the next drill ... one I hadn't seen, or hadn't noticed ... is Pete taking a place on the kick-cover team.

He was third from the right as the "scout" cover team ran down at the return team ... and he got into the wedge only a step or two behind the scholarship players.

And a few minutes later, HE was throwing footballs as the first-team receivers worked against second-0team D-backs ... and I have to say, Pete throws a very nice football. And an accurate one.

Anyway, when I'm 56 ... heck, I wouldn't even bet on me MAKING it to 56 ... but I absolutely will not have Carroll's energy.

Is it something he eats? Something he drinks? Has he considered writing it down and marketing it as The Pete Carroll Pick Me Up Diet? Maybe he's wired on coffee or Red Bull ... but I think he's just high on life.

The guy is a force of nature. I'm pretty sure he's not the smartest guy around, and he's not the best sideline coach ... but, man, I can't imagine anyone else from his generation who brings as much to practices as he does.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, I'm rolling down the vegetable aisle ... and I hear somebody say, "Nice hat."

And I looked up and there was a guy who looked like Ralph Perez, except about 10 years older than I remembered him ... from about 10 years ago.

Yes, it was Perez, now the University of Redlands soccer coach. He liked the cap I was wearing, because it had the U.S. National Soccer team logo on it.

Perez was an assistant coach on the 1990 U.S. World Cup team.

He's had an interesting career, to say the least.

It was a bit tricky to figure out how he could make the 1990 World Cup coaching staff because, at the time, he had limited national/international experience. Actually, he was coaching at Cal State San Bernardino.

After the World Cup, he moved into other Soccer Federation roles, and then was an assistant for more than one Major League Soccer team, including the Galaxy.

He interviewed for a couple of MLS head coaching jobs, but never got them ... and went for the UCLA job, as well. And, things happen ... and now he is coaching (well, we should note) at D3 Redlands.

His Bulldogs just got all the way to the NCAA D3 quarters before losing to Loras of Iowa 3-1. A game he thought his team could have won and deserved to win, but that's soccer, as soccer guys say. He said forward Max Bowman and goalkeeper Andrew Roraff were particularly valuable in the playoffs run.

Oh, and there's this: Had the Bulldogs won on Sunday, they would have stayed on the East Coast this week for the run-up to the final four this weekend in Orlando -- rather than go home and turn around to make their third trip to the east in three weeks. "We'd already cleared it with everyone," Perez said.

We talked about the 1990 U.S. team for a bit. That was the group of college kids who scraped into the World Cup on the strength of Paul Caligiuri's long goal at Port of Spain, Trinidad, in 1989. All Trinidad needed was a tie, but Cal's goal won it, and there we all went, off to Italy the following June for the Americans' first turn in the World Cup in 40 years. (They went out in three matches, but that was expected.).

Perez, like me, said Italy 1990 "seems like yesterday, but it was a long time ago." He reflected that "we were naive, and our players were immature." Basically, it was amazing that the Americans even got there, but by making it they assured the 1994 World Cup would stay in the USA, and that became the turning point for soccer in this country.

Anyway, Perez was probably under-qualified for the U.S. job he held 17 years ago ... and now he's over-qualified for the Redlands job. He probably ought to be running an MLS team, but while he's not, he's Redlands' boon.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another trade by a local team that doesn't make a lot of sense, at first glance. Or second.

The Lakers today traded 6-9 forward Brian Cook and 6-5 guard Maurice Evans to Orlando for 6-8 forward Trevor Ariza.

And what's up with that?

The Lakers gave up two fairly solid bench players for one. And that one was buried on the Orlando bench.

Trying to puzzle this out, Mitch Kupchak might have been thinking ...

--Brian Cook basically is a shooter, and with Vlad Radmanovic signed for another four seasons, you already have your designated soft-defending, bad-rebounding, three-point-shooting big man.

--Cook is in Year 1 of a three-year $10.5-million contract. So the club saves about $3.5 million per year. Maybe to use in a free-agent signing this coming summer? Or to get back closer to the salary cap?

--Ariza is more a banger, in the 3 spot, a good defender, and maybe the Lakers wanted one of those off the bench, with Luke Walton and Lamar Odom being less-than-stellar defenders.

Otherwise, this doesn't make much sense. Phil Jackson didn't sound exactly sold on the concept. "We gave up two players that were veterans, experienced players who fit into our system relatively well," Jackson told The AP today.

I think the Lakers will miss Evans more than Cook. He was the most athletic guy on the team, even moreso than Kobe Bryant. A great leaper and very quick. Under-utilized, as well. Now, all the Lakers' guards who aren't named Kobe are small or unathletic or both.

Hmm. You'd like to think Kupchak knows what he's doing.

I'd feel a lot better if it were Jerry West making this deal.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Been a weird year for the Heisman Trophy.

The candidates at the start of the season (such as John David Booty, Arkansas running back Darren McFadden) flamed out ... and then some guys appeared (the Matt Ryan kid at Boston College) and disappeared ... and then it looked as if we had a really strong candidate in Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon.

They Dixon blew a knee in Oregon's loss at Arizona, and even if Dixon was the best player for nine weeks or so you can't really give the Heisman to a guy who didn't play the final chunk of the season.

Which leaves me pondering two guys, at this point. Both quarterbacks.

Looking at Pat White of West Virginia and Tim Tebow of Florida.

Tebow has the better stats. He already has 20 rushing touchdowns and 20 passing touchdowns, and that's never been done. Without him, Florida might have disappeared into a swamp this season.

But White has advantages:

1. He leads a better football team (West Virginia, still in the running for the national title game) ...

2. He has better people around him, which in part explains why he doesn't dominate statistically as Tebow does.

3. He is a senior and Tebow is a sophomore.

No sophomore has won the Heisman. That doesn't make Tebow a non-starter for me, but it definitely is something I'm going to think about before I vote him in the top slot. (We are asked for our top-three players.)

Also, Florida has lost three times already. I like White's 9-1 a lot better than Tebow's 8-3.

This weekend may help me figure things out. Florida plays rival Florida State and West Virginia is home against Connecticut, which is ranked No. 20. Both should be good tests of our Heisman hopefuls.

If both blow up ... then maybe we actually look at the winning QB in the Kansas-Missouri game, Chase Daniel or Todd Reesing). Or even Colt Brennan, and his puffed up stats at Hawaii. Honest. It's that nutty a year.

Which reminds me: Remember when the Heisman almost always went to running backs? We're seeing QBs as the top candidates in recent years because the position has become so overwhelmingly dominant ... and because almost nobody gives the ball to a running back 25 times a game, 12 games a year anymore.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pete Carroll once coached the New England Patriots, and wasn't bad at it.

The Patriots were 10-6, 9-7 and 8-8 on his watch and made the playoffs twice, winning a postseason game in his first year, 1997.

Then he was forced out, spent a year doing not much of anything and got the USC job in 2001.

Anyway, he was asked today about the current batch of Patriots, who have been thrashing people and appear to have a good shot at being the NFL's first unbeaten team since the 1972 Dolphins.

Said Pete: "They're having a tremendous year. Definitely, they're dominating."

He said he knows one of the coaches on Bill Belichick's staff, and said the play of quarterback Tom Brady is the key to the Patriots' 10-0 start.

"Brady is playing at a level no one has seen before," Carroll said.

If only he could get his current quarterback, John David Booty, to play at another level. Say, "above average."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You don't have to be the Amazing Kreskin to have seen a lot of this coming. Mike Tyson, onetime scariest boxer in the world, a pathetic shell of himself.

Seems like an occupational hazard for pugs. They burn bright and early and then they flame out. With a descent of varying speeds.

Tyson's is one of the more rapid declines.

He is still only 41, but he looks like he could be 61. Puffy, bloated, often confused.

He was arrested in Arizona for driving under the influence. He was high on cocaine, and had more in the car.

In court, he told the judge he will use cocaine "any time I can get my hands on it." And there was a discussion about sending him to rehab, but it also was noted he's been there 3-4 times.

So, he got one day in jail. Today. Wearing an orange jump suit and pink underwear. (True story; that's what they do in Arizona.) Then he's turned loose again.

Tyson is a troubled guy. Pretty much have to be, to attack the sports of boxing the way he is, like a pit bull on raw meat. Now he wanders around with his face tattooed, trying to scrounge up whatever drugs he can find.

This is not going to end well. There will be no graceful retirement or gradual shift to Life After the Ring. He won't do TV commentary. He won't even be able to get hired as a greeter at a casino, which is how other pathetic former champs earned a few bucks in their dotage. Too dangerous.

We're going to find Iron Mike under a bridge some day, or dead with a needle in his arm, and no one is going to say, "Wow, who would have thought?"

It's sad. Such a damaged dude. He did one thing really well -- beat up people. But there isn't much call for that outside the ring.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Didn't see this one coming, and don't believe anyone who says they did. There was no buzz about this. None. This is a bolt from the blue.

The Angels this morning traded their Gold Glove-winning shortstop, Orlando Cabrera, who is coming off a career year and, arguably, was the Angels' best player in 2007 ... to the White Sox for Jon Garland, a soft-tossing, middle-of-the-rotation right-hander who just went 10-13 with an ERA of 4.23.

Oh, and the Angels ALSO sent the White Sox cash. How much, they weren't saying.

This is just a bizarre trade. Even if we assume it is just Step 1 in new GM Tony Reagins' plan to remake the team. Or at least get another hitter to go with Vladimir Guerrero. And maybe replace him, when his contract expires after this season.

OK, how weird is this:

1. Orlando Cabrera, Angels' best player. Guy had 192 hits, scored 101 runs, had 35 doubles, drove in 85 last season, and won a Gold Glove. A career year. And he just turned 33, so he's not done.

2. OC, clubhouse leader. The unofficial spokesman for the team's Latin players because his English is solid and, well, he's just a leader-type. Like a lot of shortstops.

3, OC, semi-cheap one more year. The Angels signed him for four years for $32 million. He had one more year on that contract.

4. Garland, career mediocrity. He doesn't strike out anybody (90 in 203 IP, or something like that) and gives up a lot of homers. He won 18 games in both 2005 and 2006, but the White Sox won a ton of games those years. EVERYBODY won a lot of games for the White Sox. The best that can be said of him: He eats a lot of innings and doesn't miss a start. Maybe because he doesn't throw hard enough (90, tops) to hurt himself.

5. Garland, groundball pitcher ... for an infield that's about to get very sketchy. Howie Kendrick can charitably be said to be "learning" at second base. Is anyone sure Erick Aybar or Maicer Izturis can play be an everyday shortstop? May be about to find out. Figgy at third, or maybe Miggy Cabrera (if that trade goes down) are brutal with the leather.

6. Garland, out of the Angels' control after he gets $12 million in the last year of his current contract. If they don't re-sign him, he's a one-year rental.

Anyway, this move, in a vacuum, makes almost no sense. Even with Bart Colon gone, the Angels now have six starting pitchers: Lackey, Escobar, Weaver, Saunders, Santana, Garland. That's either a lot of depth ... or the Angels are stockpiling pitchers because they intend to trade one.

One idea? They send one of their pitchers (presumably Santana, who doesn't cost much) as part of the deal that brings the Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins. Figure Brandon Wood goes, too, and another prospect or two ... Then the Angels try to wrap up Miggy for the next 3-4 years.

THAT would make some sense. But the Miggy situation is so fluid, and so many teams seem to want the chubby, ham-fisted third baseman (23 errors last year, fielding percentage of .941) ... it may take a bit more in the way of people.

It is a trade that makes no sense, for now. Maybe if it is the first move in a long game of chess. But if it isn't ... We'd have to say the first move of the Tony Reagins Era was a weird one.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A silly story in Chicago recently had Kobe Bryant looking to buy Michael Jordan's mansion in suburban Chicago.

You know, after that inevitable trade to the Bulls went through.

Kobe had some fun with that, Sunday night, when asked, in jest, if he had changed his mind about buying MJ's manse.

"You know, I actually thought about purchasing it, decided not to. I like Oprah's penthouse better."

A rare bit of humor from KB. Maybe he's loosening up a little. Being with a team off to a 6-3 start against some pretty solid competition ... could be part of it.

"Our guys are realling jelling," he said. It comes from working hard at practice, and they're playing really well."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Lakers played the Bulls tonight, and it was a blowout. By the Lakers.

The Lakers' kids looked better than the Bulls' highly-touted youth, and the Lakers pulled away to a 106-78 rout.

We should note the Luol Deng, the Bulls' best youngster, didn't play. Out with a sore back.

But the rest of them were out there, muddling around, and now a trade of Kobe Bryant for Ben Gordon, Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah and Deng looks like it wouldn't be much of a deal.

Even if the Lakers and Bulls could somehow figure out a way to make it work, in terms of contracts and rosters, etc.

Bryant didn't even have to work hard in this one, scoring 18 points in 32 minutes.

The kids in his current locker room were more impressive than Chicago's crew. Andrew Bynum had 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, and Jordan Farmar contributed 14 points and eight assists.

Not that Kobe is going to Chicago. Or anywhere, any time soon.

Before the game, Bulls coach Scott Skiles conceded a Kobe trade was "talked about incessantly for 2-3 weeks," but he added that the idea is "over. It's dead. Dead story."

The Lakers are 6-3, the Bulls are 2-7. And even given that the Lakers labor in the difficult conditions known as the Western Conference, and the Bulls perform in the East ... Kobe's current team looks quite a bit sharper than the one he presumably hoped (hopes?) to join.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It must be a little tricky, to be a coach and an educator ... say, a high school coach ... and you consider taking part in a social event a little edgier than church, the latest Disney movie or a block party.

Say, a movie with lots of sex and violence. Or having more than a couple of beers at the neighborhood tavern. Maybe the cheesy tavern. Or visiting a comedy club with a guy doing a shtick blue enough that it would have made Lenny Bruce blush.

Or maybe even a trip to a strip club?

Do schools have rules/guidelines for this? Or it is sort of self-governing? Like, "I'm not going to the strip club because somebody could see me ... and there goes my rep."

Anyway, I went to the Improv in Ontario tonight. And comedy clubs, not on TV, Saturday night ... you figure the chances are oh, about 99.9 percent you're going to hear stuff that couldn't make Jay Leno's monologue.

So, who do I see in the crowd?

I won't name names. But it was a coach from the east side of I-15, a guy who is very well-known and has coached a batch of good teams, prominent teams. A good coach. Somebody I've interviewed in person dozens of times.

He saw me, as he walked past, just before the show. But seemed to look right through me. It took me a second to realize who it was ... and I was about to greet him ... but he never looked back at me. I decided he didn't want to acknowledge he had been seen.

The show was, yeah, fairly blue. Nothing unexpected, really. But does a coach/teacher want to be known that he or she attends that kind of thing? Does it make it tougher to tell the kids to avoid trouble, etc.?

The rest of us, real civilians ... we don't really have to worry about this.

And this isn't a first. One prominent coach was pulled over more than occasionally, back in the day, for driving drunk, given a slap on the hand and led home by the local cops.

Another incident I heard several times ... several football coaches were knocking back beers in a public place, and a coach from another team came in, and got angry when insulted ... and there apparently was a physical confrontation. Fairly tacky.

And the all-timer: A former colleague was celebrating a bachelor's party, and he and the group of guys who were leading him around entered a strip joint ... and there near the door, wearing a letterman's jacket with his school's colors ... was sitting a prominent coach.

Whether they chatted up each other ... I can't remember.

But I suppose the idea is ... that our prep coaches sometimes want to get outside the school-marmish box that perhaps we think they should remain inside. I'm not sure any real harm is done ... as long as they don't get drunk and disorderly and arrested. And the coach I saw tonight seemed to have a good time but clearly could walk a straight line on the way out of the club.

It's just a little weird, is all. Not quite like seeing your clergyman ... but not all that far off, either.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ohio State defeated Michigan today, 14-3, and that's fine.

Michigan is a team we already decided on, way back when it lost to Appalachian State and was routed by Oregon ... and then it lost to Wisconsin last week, and we really, really didn't want the Wolverines out here for the Rose Bowl. Since they've been coming here routinely of late, and not doing much.

Ohio State hasn't been here for a while, and they're not great, but they're at least a little different.

This assumes Ohio State doesn't slide back up into the top two, which seems unlikely ... even in this season.

And something we can look forward to, on New Year's Day:

The script "Ohio" ... with a tuba player "dotting the I" ... before the game.

The Buckeyes' opponent will be Oregon, Arizona State or USC. And I'm gonna say it will USC, because Oregon will lose to Oregon State, now that its QB is done, and USC is going to beat ASU in Tempe on Thursday night.

A game I'm really starting to look forward to now.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This college-football season has been a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows ... of stunning ascents and stomach-wrenching falls.

One weekend we had, what, five top-10 teams lose on the same day?

And just when this seemed like the first Utterly Ordinary Saturday of the season ... we have Texas Tech leading No. 4 Oklahoma, 34-13, midway through the third quarter in Lubbock.

So, what does it mean?

If Oklahoma loses ... we are in a fairly crazy position where the winner of the No. 3 Kansas-No. 5 Missouri game next week is set up to play for the national championship.

I'm not sure either team really is among the top 10 in the country, let alone the top two, but with everyone else falling down around them (including No. 2 Oregon back on Thursday) ... one of them has an outstanding chance to be there, playing for that crystal ball in New Orleans.

The winner of their head-to-head wins the Big 12 North ... and plays Oklahoma (probably) in the Big 12 title game.

Oklahoma is in the fix it's in because its starting quarterback went down (sound familiar?). Sam Bradford has been the key to their offense, but he has an apparent concussion, and now the Sooners have issues. Just as USC had issues when John David Booty suffered a broken finger, just as Oregon was dead when Dennis Dixon went down, just as UCLA was fried when Ben Olson and Patrick Cowan got hurt ...

If Oklahoma can't extract a victory today ... they might not even win the South. Though with a week to get backup Joey Halzle ready you'd think they could defeat mediocre Oklahoma State next week and wrap up things.

But if the No. 1 QB can't play against the Mizzou-Kansas survivor ... one of those two schools (far better known for basketball and journalism than football) ... would probably rate as the favorite in the Big 12 title game ,.. and probably would get LSU for the national title. Assuming LSU wins out.

If LSU or the Mizzou-Kansas winner stumbles ... that opens things up for West Virginia which, frankly, looks like one of the top two teams to me, these days.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There was a stretch of, like, 5-6-7 years when the San Andreas League was something like 1-15 in the playoffs. Just couldn't get out of the first round.

But check tonight's scores in the Central Division"

Colony 20, Burbank Burroughs 17
Arroyo Valley 35, Paloma Valley 32
Moreno Valley 36, West Valley 10
Cajon 28, Muir 19
Colton 51, Don Lugo 0
Rancho Verde 53, Arcadia 28
Canyon Springs 30, Elsinore 14
Pasadena 51, Chaffey 38

Colton, Arroyo Valley and Cajon finished 1-2-3 in the SAL. Colton was expected to win, and did ... Arroyo Valley looked like a tossup but won it ... and Cajon is an upset of a league champion.

In the quarters, Colton and Rancho Verde could be a close game. Colton ought to win, but the Inland Valley League (MoVal, Rancho V and Canyon Springs) went 3-0 and clearly is the other strong league in this division. Arroyo Valley has a very good chance against defending champion Colony; Arroyo is physical and fast, if a little ragged, but if it shows up and takes care of the ball, at home ... it could get to the semis for the first time in school history. Cajon has the toughest time; MoVal won the Inland Valley and has to be the favorite. But Cajon can move the ball, and has a shot, at home.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I saw parts of two CIF football playoffs games tonight. And not that this one unfolded slowly, but I left Aquinas at halftime ... walked out to the far reaches of the parking lot, drove the 10 miles or so to north Redlands ... parked, walked in ... and they were just finishing the first half. A half-hour later than Aquinas.

And it was 42-24.

And they were just warming up. It finished 60-53, which is interesting and scary, too.

Murrieta had no answer for Chris Polk, Dylan Cruz and Tyler Shreve ... but REV also couldn't stop a Murrieta offense that had a decent-looking quarterback, an undersized back, a batch of scrawny receivers and an unremarkable line.

But REV couldn't stop those guys, aside from three consecutive series in the second quarter when they got interceptions and went from 17-14 down to 42-24 up.

Observations:

1. REV often runs four receivers, and must practice against a throwing offense all the time ... but the 'Cats seem to have major problems stopping that kind of offense. They didn't get many stops in the 28-27 victory over Miller, and two weeks later they give up 53 (!?!) to Murrieta? Is it a lack of talent on the D side? Bad execution? Bad scheming? Sloppy tackling? Keep going ...

2. It seems to be kind of popular to suggest REV coach Kurt Bruich is a better Xs and Os guy than his dad, Dick Bruich, now at Kaiser after 22 seasons at Fontana. Well, for sure, Kurt's teams do things no Dick Bruich team has ever done, like throwing the ball early and often and quite well. But, oh my goodness, Dick Bruich never had a team that gave up 53 to an opponent with about two athletes on its team. If Dick had been coaching REV's guys tonight he would have had them pounding the ball behind Polk and Cruz and the game would have ended an hour earlier and the score would have been something like 42-21.

3. REV may be the top drawing football program east of the I-15. They almost pack out the home side every time around. Redlands would be second, and maybe Yucaipa and Colton tied for third.

4. Murrieta Valley has a hell of a band. REV should check it out. Dump some of the high-concept halftime show stuff and learn how to play the instruments loudly and well. It's a football game, not an art show.

5. REV's public address announcer is perhaps the biggest menace behind a microphone in the history of IE football. He spends THE WHOLE GAME talking up every advertiser in the program. It's awful. Just awful. Between EVERY single play. People on the sidelines complain about it. "Thanks to Fill in the Blank Insurance, where you're in good hands" ... I mean, it's a nonstop droning. Like the "Radar" character in the original "M*A*S*H." Except never funny.

6. The field at the U of R is as beat up as I've ever seen it. Torn up, dead spots ... it usually is so immaculate, but it's fairly well thrashed. Maybe it's good that Redlands High School will play on its own campus next season -- because that is five fewer games on the field in 2008.

7. REV appeared to lose a couple of defensive guys to potentially serious injury. Jonathan Raedel hurt his foot and was on crutches the whole second half, and Randall Crum went out with a knee injury.

8. REV is going to have to play some defense next week, against Norco, if it wants to make the semifinals for the first time.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I hadn't been on the Aquinas High School campus in north San Bernardino for a couple of years.

I was back tonight to watch part of the Falcons' CIF football playoff game with Viewpoint of Calabasas ... and the school has changed. And all from the better, from what I could see. In the dark.

Start with the field: It's immaculate. I remember Aquinas's field as a big patch of weed and rocks. Going back 30 years, here.

Now ... somebody has done some serious work on it. From a distance, it looks like artificial turf ... but it's just really nice, well-tended grass. Nicer than the University of Redlands (which I saw later in the evening), and the U of R field is the gold standard when it comes to football turf.

There's also a sort of circular pickup/dropoff area, in the parking lot, and it's got a new planter with a plaque noting the school's founding ... and the exit from the parking lot, onto Sterling, is triggered by some sort of electronic sensor. There is also an entryway with benches ... and it's nice.

Then there was the football team.

Aquinas doesn't have that one monster star, as it has most of this decade. Glenn Ohaeri, for the 2000 CIF title, then a batch of Amajoyi brothers -- Dozie, Chike, and their cousin Chibu.

Those guys were horses. But now they are in college (Chike at Stanford, where he gets playing time as a freshman, I should note).

But Aquinas circa 2007, overall, looks like a better team. There were recent years when the team was however many Amajoyis happened to be on campus at the time ... and then a batch of little guys running around.

This team has more guys who LOOK like football players. But only one Amajoyi, Uche, a sophomore who plays only occasionally at D-tackle.

Aquinas does, however, have one serious player on offense, tailback Dwaine Radden, who is a ball of muscle who stands maybe 5-foot-7. But he is fast, and he runs so low to the ground that he must look like nothing but helmet and thigh pads to defenders.

Oh, and he answers to "Nut" or "Peanut" ... and (this is my favorite part) plays DEFENSIVE TACKLE when the other guys have the ball. Just your basic tailback/D-tackle combo guy.

Aquinas was out of sync in the first half, and led only 14-6 at half (on two Radden touchdowns), which is when I left, and I could envision them having trouble ... but the Falcons pulled away bigtime in the second half, and won 61-18.

That's five consecutive victories, and these guys could be around for a while. They travel to Bishop next week, which is a brutal trip, but they ought to win.

I also like their coach, Josh Henderson, who played for Dick Bruich at Fontana and coaches just like DB. He likes power running and shortening games and big hits. He has coached two CIF title-winning teams, and this one may not get THAT far ... but it could get close.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, Jason Giambi ... what do those disgraced sports stars have in common?

Performance-enhancing drugs obtained from the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) run by Victor Conte.

And just a few minutes ago, I had one of those, "Hey, wait a minute" moments of clarity ... you know, where you think of something that perhaps you should have thought of right off the bat,

And that is this:

What is Victor Conte about? What is his motivation? What was his plan?

From here, what he did looks rather like this:

--I will create a place where athletes can come and cheat the system.

--I will create drugs that will improve their performances, against the rules of their sports, and my stuff will be so clever they won't get caught. At first, that is.

--I won't tell the athletes what sort of risk they take by using my drugs. All that life-shortening stuff. They ought to know that.

And to what end? For monetary gain? To be in the company of elite athletes? To beat The Man or The System? For the sheer rebellious fun of it? All of the above?

Because, ultimately, so much of this comes back to this one guy, Victor Conte, and this one company, BALCO. It is the source of the infection, the disease. And this one guy sat in the middle of it and made it possible. Maybe Barry and Marion and all the others 'roid up without Victor Conte ... but I am fairly certain now that wouldn't have done it so well, masked it so long and gotten so much illicit benefit, without him.

So, we're wringing our hands over Barry Bonds, and trying to assess the damage he wrought on the game of baseball ... and a month or two ago we were aghast that Marion Jones made a travesty of the 2000 Olympic Games ...

And where does it all lead back to? Victor Conte. Victor Conte. Victor Conte.

He is this malignancy at the heart of the wickedness. Satan in the Garden of Eden. The bringer of darkness.

Forget Barry Bonds and Marion Jones. They were just the Adam and Eve in this story.

Victor Conte is the serpent, and he ultimately is the figure that is most intriguing. Does he have motives we finally can identify as something vaguely human? Greed? Envy?

Or is it just pure evil for the sake of evil?

Think of all the good he could have done. A guy that clever, that ingenious. But he chose not to.

Victor Conte ultimately is the most fascinating figure in all of this. And he remains in the shadows, impossible to get a clear look at while his clients go through the nine circles of hell.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You've heard about this, right? Barry Bonds, indicted.

What I think will happen:

1. His baseball career is over. No one will sign him for the 2008 season, and at his age ... even if he is found innocent, he won't be able to make a comeback in 2008 at age 45.

2. He is NOT found guilty. It's the Bay Area. At least one member of any jury will be unwilling to convict Bonds. Even if the government's case is strong.

3. He will not make the Hall on Fame on the first ballot. Baseball writers will want to send a message, as they did with Mark McGwire. (Even though Bonds had a fairly good HOF case BEFORE he started 'roiding up.)

4. If he is found innocent ... maybe someday he gets in the Hall. Ten years from now, maybe. When he's ill from something exotic because of all the damage he has done to his body with the drugs.

5. He will be remembered as the most divisive, controversial figure in baseball history. The superstar who made a deal with the devil to be something almost inhuman for about 10 seasons ... and paid a heavy price. He didn't go to jail, but his reputation was ruined, he was widely loathed and his health was compromised.

Was it worth it? We'll still be arguing over that, too.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was all out there for the taking. The Heisman Trophy. The Pac-10 championship.

A national championship.

And then Dennis Dixon's spindly leg buckled, his left knee gave out ... and the grand and glorious 2007 season that had come into focus for Oregon's football team ... all went "poof" in the Arizona desert. Like a match touched to a tumbleweed.

Arizona 34, Oregon 24.

I feel bad for the Ducks. Which is a little weird, because I'm certainly no Oregon fan. Maybe there's a little sense of Pac-10 solidarity going on ... the last (West Coast) man standing with a chance to do great things, and there they go, down the drain before a national TV audience.

I suppose it demonstrated again ... hammered home, really ... what happens to a team, just about any team, when its star quarterback goes down.

Dennis Dixon ran for a touchdown and looked as if he and the Ducks would be too much for Arizona. Then came the running play, on the Arizona 15. He planted his left foot, and his knee gave out. He was done. And so were the Ducks.

Brady Leaf came on and did nothing. Arizona kicked a field goal.

On the Ducks' next possession, Leaf threw an interception returned for a touchdown, and Arizona took a lead (17-11) -- a lead it would never surrender.

Remember how we trashed Karl Dorrell for not having McLeod Bethel-Thompson or Osaar Rasshan ready to go when Ben Olson went down? Against Notre Dame? Bethel-Thompson came on in the first quarter, was guilty of four turnovers and UCLA lost 20-6.

Leaf's preparation/situation was at least as egregious a coaching gaffe as was that committed by Dorrell & Co. He threw two interceptions, and was 22-for-46 for 162 yards.

At least the Bruins had a guy (Bethel-Thompson) whose skill set was intended for the same offense Olson has been running.

Brady Leaf's skill set had ZERO connection to what Oregon does with Dennis Dixon.

The former is a pocket passer with no running skills. The latter is a decent passer, a dangerous runner and an adept at the option out of the spread.

So Leaf was out there in the spread, unable to sell the Arizona defense on those running play fakes, unable to carry it himself, unable to get wide .... Unable to run that offense in any way shape or form.

The Ducks imploded. And Mike Bellotti, veteran coach, had no real Plan B. Dorrell, at least, DID, in fact, have two basically competent quarterbacks entering the season (Patrick Cowan, Olson), and they BOTH went down.

Oregon's season depended on one guy, and when he went down ... they were meat.

Thing about Dixon ... he had played well enough that he was the Heisman front-runner, about five hours ago. This is a season where no one had stood out, and if the Ducks could have won their last three "eminently winnable" games (at Arizona, at UCLA, home vs. OSU) ... Dixon wins the Heisman and they probably play for the national title.

And it's not as if this should have been a complete surprise. Dixon was knocked out late in the Ducks' last game, when he was tackled by Omar Bolden (the Ontario Colony kid who starts at cornerback) in the Arizona State game. Oregon people said it wasn't a serious injury ... but it seems clear now Dixon was close to a breakdown.

So, Ducks are done. Though they can still make the Rose Bowl, if they win their last two. They have two Pac-10 defeats, but they have head-to-head victories against USC and ASU, and if the Trojans beat ASU to create a three-way Pac-10 tie ... the Ducks win the tie-breaker.

Anyway, what happens next? Those three Big 12 teams (Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri) move up right behind LSU ... and if one of them can win out .. and if LSU wins out ... there is your BCS title game.

Now waiting on deck ... is West Virginia. The Ducks are down for the count.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UCLA defeated Cal State San Bernardino 76-41 at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday, and after it was over Coyotes coach Jeff Oliver was open and candid and insightful, as he almost always is.

Cal State was competitive early and late ... with a really bad, really long siege in the middle.

I reminded Oliver that Cal State had a 7-0 run in the first half that brought them to 18-11 with 9:23 left in the half. David Reichel made a three, then Lance Ortiz boldly drove the lane and put up a high-bank layup that went in, and then Marlon Pierce made a steal in the back court and went in for a layup.

So they go from 18-4 to 18-11 in a matter of seconds, and maybe they're going to make a game of it ...

Said Oliver: "Maybe we should have warmed up the bus right there."

Well, yeah. Considering UCLA outscored Cal State 36-6 over the next 17 minutes, and for a while there it looked as if Cal State might be involved in the most lopsided game in UCLA history.

Other Oliver quotes from after the game, stuff I didn't get around to transcribing till now:

"What i just told the guys, we're going to be in hostile environments. Take Humboldt, for instance. This week when we play Seattle-Pacific. When we play Seattle-Pacific, are we gonna get away from what we do? That's what we did tonight. We weren't real sharp with our fundamentals and it hurts.

"The key is, when we're put in this situation again, in this type of environment, hostility, we can't go in this direction. We have to learn from that."

On UCLA's defense: "That's the best defensive team in the country right now. I'd bet money on that one. Even with the guy sitting out (point guard Darren Collison) that's the best defensive team in the country at the Division I level and they're playing for a national championship for a reason. ... It's not going to be easy to score against them. We didn't do things great, but that's probably a product of the way they played.

Any positives in a game like this? "I told the guys thank you. They gave the institution, the school, the program national recognition, so they should be commended for that and thanked, which I just did. And the other positive, for them, is they'll remember this the rest of their lives. There's positives there. We didn't play well but there's definitely some positives there."

Did he think Lance Ortiz played well? "I thought Lance and Marlon both played well. There's a handful of good things, but there's a lot of 'deer in the headlights', too. It made us play a little tentative, and that hurt us."

Was UCLA just in another world than you're used to seeing? "Just size and strength. I mean, they're so physical. Away from the ball, the contact away from the ball was so strong and it hindered the ability to run whatever you wanted to run. And that was a little more extreme than I probably anticipated.

"Every time out, I would tell my guys, this is about this weekend. We're here, but we have to get better. We have to get back to our roots, back to our roots. We don't have much cleanup time. We have a day off tomorrow, by NCAA rules. We're traveling Thursday and play Friday at noon."

Well there be any hangover from a lopsided defeat? "I think they're a good group of guys and understand. They're mentally tough, they're mentally tough. I think they'll be fine with it. We'll find out on Saturday.

On UCLA's 8-for-12 accuracy on three-pointers in the first half: "They shot the ball well, but they weren't challenged. They weren't contested. They did a good job of clogging it up. Again, their big bodies are hard to maneuver around. They're so big and strong. You run into an arm, it's tough."

Cal State has two games against D2 opponents this weekend in Seattle and, strangely, they will mean more to the team's long-term goals than did the UCLA game. Go figure.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, Lakers coach Phil Jackson is in trouble for being insensitive ... for making inappropriate comments after the Lakers' game in San Antonio on Tuesday. Actually, the NBA reprimanded him for what he said, and it wasn't a shot at NBA referees, either.

I imagine this came as a surprise to Phil, who is seriously progressive ... or seriously liberal ... in terms of his politics.

Apparently, not all the aging flower children out there on the left end of the political spectrum got the memo about public figures and saying things that might offend ... oh, just about anyone.

Anyway, the Lakers played awful defense, allowing the Spurs to get into the lane and score -- or kick the ball back out to the perimeter and get open jumpers.

The Lakers lost, and Phil thought he would be funny, making a reference he thought was witty, one that also would demonstrate how he remains up to date in his cultural references. But you parse the line, and it has sexual overtones ... and Phil found out "humor" is a very slippery slope these days.

Here are excerpts from today's AP story:

"We call this a 'Brokeback Mountain' game, because there's so much penetration and kickouts," Jackson said. "It was one of those games."

The 2005 film, which won three Oscars, depicts two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.

"But in retrospect, it wasn't really funny," Jackson said before the Lakers played Houston on Wednesday night. "When you take it out of context, it wasn't funny. It was a poor attempt at humor and I deserved to be reprimanded by the NBA."

Still, Jackson couldn't resist making another joke as he apologized.

"If I've offended any horses, Texans, cowboys or gays, I apologize," Jackson said.

Jackson thanked beat writers and other journalists who covered Tuesday's game for dismissing the comment as an innocent joke. He said several of them laughed when he said it.

The NBA did not.

NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre said: "The remarks are in poor taste, and the Lakers have assured us such remarks will not occur in the future."

Jackson admitted he should have known better -- that coaches can't get away with the jokes that Jay Leno and David Letterman do for a living on their late-night talk shows.

"It's societal right now," he said. "Some people can do it. Some people can't. That's something that's appropriate for certain categories."

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) president Neil G. Giuliano issued a statement saying: "Phil Jackson's been coaching long enough that he should be able to talk about the Lakers' performance without resorting to cheap gay jokes."

End of story. Back to me.

Anyway, the thing that struck me about this was ... Phil's bona fides as a liberal are pretty much impeccable. And maybe that can make a guy think he can say whatever pops in his head.

But, no. The PC rules apply to everyone. Even Phil.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, I'm sitting here watching SportsCenter, after the Lakers game, before the Sopranos ... and I get to hear one of the great all-time, off-the-cuff rants by a sports personality.

That would be Mercury Morris, running back on the 1972 unbeaten Miami Dolphins, talking about the New England Patriots -- who a lot of people believe could go 19-0 this season.

I wish I'd taped the whole rant ... because I can't find it online anywhere yet.

But the gist of it was Mercury going off about how the Patriots have a ways to go before they can join the Dolphins as a "perfect" team.

Some of the things he brought up, apparently when someone caught him just as he was coming off the golf course:

"They've comparing them to a 17-0 team if they're 17-0 ... but I think they are about 10 games short now," Morris said, and I'm doing this from memory. "They have 10 more icebergs to go on this Titanic trip they're on. We're over here docked, waiting for them ...

"Don't call me when you're in my town, call me when you're on my block. Call me when you're moving your furniture in. ... Then I'll show up in my tux and wait for my bride."

That's not all of it. When/if I see the thing in type, I'll link to it. It was just great stuff.

I almost always love it when some old-timer goes off on current players. Every single player, ever, is convinced the modern players are coddled and weak and not as tough and not as deserving as the guys were when THEY played ...

And Mercury was a kind of edgy guy, a quarter-century ago. The kind of guy who probably would have mocked the Bart Starr Packers as old news. But now, he's all about the Way Back Machine.

I like it when the old guys stick up for themselves. And the 1972 Dolphins are particularly aggressive; the rumor always has been that they toast each other with champagne when the last unbeaten NFL team goes down. I guess it makes sense; that 17-0 they put up is what most of those guys are remembered for.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cal State center Michael Earl said that the Coyotes' goal, once UCLA got a big lead, was to make the final score semi-respectable.

"We just wanted to cut into their lead," he said.

"We wanted to stop the bleeding; it was gushing there for a while.

"We didn't give up."

Cal State actually outscored the Bruins 13-10 over the final 5:16, a period when several of UCLA's regular rotation players were still in the game.

Next up for Cal State: A trip to Seattle and games vs. D2 opponents that actually will have more bearing on the season than the UCLA game.

Said Earl: "One thing we talked about, we can't go nowhere but up from this. We're not going to see anybody like UCLA for the rest of the season."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The commentators, by the way, are Dave O'Brien and former UCLA coach Steve Lavin. With O'Brien doing most of the talking.

There was criticism in the second half for UCLA playings its starters despite the big lead.

"You never catch UCLA off defensively. They might have an off night on
offense."

"This is exactly what you'd expect from a game between UCLA and Cal State San Bernardino -- a blowout." This from the Dick's Halftime Report analyst, who also suggested "UCLA isn't sharp, with only 36 points."

John Wooden, UCLA coaching icon, who was in the crowd, did an interview with Lavin.

Wooden said officials are "permitting the game to become too physical. It takes away from the finesse and the beauty of the game."

Wooden also suggested too many games are televised, leading to "entirely too much showmanship."

"Not just basketball, i saw it on football and a player scored a touchdown and you'd think they'd just won the game."

And Wooden remains a holdout against the slam.

"I never liked the dunk because for the most part it's showmanship."

Anyway, there they were, the Coyotes, on national TV. Who'd a thunk it?

Said Cal State coach Jeff Oliver: "I just thanked the group for giving the program and the university a level of exposure it's never had before."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I called UCLA 80, Cal State 40, so I wasn't far off. Though for a long time it was hard to imagine the Coyotes getting to 40. Like, when Cal State had 17 points with 12 minutes and change to play.

Cal State picked up the scoring pace in the final minutes, just as we were looking up "fewest points allowed by UCLA, all time" stats. (Oregon had 27 in 1967, pre-shot-clock era.) Cal State blew past that with plenty to spare.

When it was over, UCLA coach Ben Howland was semi-complimentary of the visitors from the IE.

"Our defense really came out and got after them, defensively, forced a lot of turnovers," Howland said.

"I think they've a very good team," he said of San Bernardino. "They beat Weber State last night, a Division I team, they were in the Final Four in Division II. They're well-coached.

"I was really worried, coming in. They packed their zone, and we didn't get it inside very well ... I was pleased with the overall effort and I'm looking forward to going to Kansas City to play Maryland and either Michigan State or Missouri" in the CBE Classic semifinals.

It could have been worse, for sure.

UCLA's starters, and its top reserves, were WAY too much for the Coyotes. To the tune of 52-17, midway through the second half. (Actually, UCLA barely outscored Cal State from that point till the end, 26-24.)

I thought senior point guard Lance Ortiz was San Bernardino's best player. The point guard from Mission Viejo was the first Coyotes player to shake the timidity that seemed to grip the team. He finished with seven points and three assists in 31 minutes, which doesn't sound like much, but it was something, in this game.

Also, Cal State seemed to struggle even more when he was out.

I also liked the overall play of Cal State's 6-8 center, Michael Earl, who scored eight with a couple of rebounds and two steals on a night when he was surrounded by UCLA's beefy big men.

Marlon Pierce led all scorers with 10 points ... and career backup James Estrada got a basket inside in the final minute. He'll always have that -- two points in Pauley Pavilion with John Wooden in the stands and maybe the NCAA national champs on the other bench.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Got a colleague watching Cal State-UCLA on TV, and this is a sampling of what's going on.

I've asked for special attention to be paid to references to Cal State, and to see if Bernardino is mispronounced, or the name is otherwise garbled.

And BTW ... the game started almost a half-hour late as ESPN2 waited for a MAC football game to end.

Ah, a UC San Bernardino reference ... going to the game from the football game.

Then the local announcer saying Cal State San Bernardino. The football
guys had been very good about Cal State and San BernaRdino.

But the bkb guys so far have been good. The grafics say CSSB which is
close enough, I think. Obviously they're focused on UCLA. "Cal State is
Division II and went 26-6 last year and advanced to D2 Final Four. Lost four
starters from last year's team. Expected to be very competitive in the
California Collegiate Athletic Association this year.

"Cal State San Bernardino coach Jeff Oliver has in mind a monumental
upset tonight."

Consistently San Bernardino, with an R.

"With 9:53 here to play the opening half UCLA with three consecutive
turnovers. Coyotes trying to capitalize here.

"This is what San Bernardino likes to do ..." and gives explanantion

"Last night, easily handled Weber State and staying competitive with
the bruins. Only seven points down (at 18-11).

"(UCLA point guard Darren) Collison still out, that's made a big difference for UCLA. Still
watching. They want him desperately. He is cat-quick. Coach Ben Howland will have a big sigh of relief when Collison is playing."

"The winner of this goes to Kansas City to take on Maryland."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The things you figured would happen ... are happening, so far.

Cal State can't get an open look. UCLA has scads. UCLA is taking rebounds over the back of the Coyotes.

Cal State has to foul UCLA's big men to keep them from dunking. And the Bruins can get a wide-open three seemingly any time they want.

The highlight for Cal State so far: Lance Ortiz's driving layup out of the half-court offense. Showed some moxie there. Like, "here I come, and I don't care if your UCLA."

UCLA 9, Cal State 4, TV timeout at 15:36.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Game about to begin. Probably going to be the biggest crowd ever to see Cal State San Bernardino play.

The Coyotes look calm, but they have to be nervous.

The band is blaring, the crowd is getting fired up, the announcer is shouting the UCLA player introductions, and the Cal State guys have to know ESPN2 is going live across the country.

They're doing "eight-clap" now ...

Cal State has a handful of fans, and the cheerleaders have shown up, which is a good move. Biggest opportunity for them to get some exposure, too.

Final score prediction: UCLA 80, Cal State 40. I hope it's closer, but I have severe trouble figuring out how the Coyotes are going to score.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As opposed to his UCLA teammates, Darren Collison might actually know where Cal State San Bernardino is located ... since he grew up in Rancho Cucamonga and attended Etiwanda High School.

Dave Reichel of Cal State said the Coyotes played against some UCLA players in "the L.A. Summer Pro League, in the Pomona Division "

Collison conceded he has played with/against some of the Cal State guys, though he couldn't quite say whom.

"I know a few of them," he said. "I don't know any names, specifically, but I know some of them. I can't tell you their names. I know them by their face. They were in that summer league."

And can he imagine San Bernardino being competitive? In Pauley?

Said Collison: "From the jump, maybe, because, you know, teams come in and they be so intense ... their adrenaline be rushing, and then that trap, I know they had got a good trap.

"But throughout the game, I just think we got too much power for them. We can't let down because a couple of D2 teams beat some D1 teams already."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland did his regular postgame Q&A after UCLA's rout of Youngstown State on Monday night.

A question posed was how disappointed he was that his team, ranked No.2 in the nation, gets Cal State San Bernardino tonight -- instead of NCAA Tournament regular Weber State -- in the second round of the CBE Classic at Pauley Pavilion.

Howland said he isn't disappointed at all. (Even with a D2 team on UCLA's schedule dampening its "strength of schedule" rating. Even with ESPN2 probably disappointed "Cal State Who" is UCLA's opponent, sted the semi-known Weber State.)

Said Howland: "I think San Bernardino is a very, very good team and a good program. They went to the Final Four last year in Division II. And you look at some of the upsets already -- Grand Valley State beat Michigan State, Findlay State (sic) beat Ohio State, both on their home floor, so I know that they're thinking that right now, San Bernardino.

"They've got good players, they're very well-coached. A Division II game on your schedule, we're going to play a lot of games this year."

(Findlay State is a misnomer; it's the University of Findlay, a private school in Ohio.)

Other concerns Howland found/invented about the li'l ol' Coyotes included:

"Gotta get rested here because we're playing a team tomorrow that's much different than most in that they press for 40 minutes -- and they're even pressing on missed shots. So as soon as I'm done here I'm going to watch that film ...

"This will actually be good for us because it's a team that presses. It really, really plays different. You've got to be able to react to everything. This will be a good experience. I just hope we can come out on top."

Asked about the Bruins' trouble against Youngstown State's 2-3 zone, Howland said, "We're going to see it all night tomorrow. So we'll be fine against it. We gotta screen it better."

He said UCLA has room to grow. "We're still learning," he said. "We've got a long way to go. Obviously, the defense is ahead of the offense, which is typical. We're a good defensive team, and that's what we gotta rely on. On our offense, we're gettin' better and better, especially when we get (injured guards) Darren (Collison) and (Michael) Roll back."

Howland clearly already had warned his players against talking down Cal State San Bernardino.

Said forward Luc Mbah a Moute: "Every team, every single weekend .... talking about Grand Valley State ... We don't take anything for granted. We're going to come out and play hard against anybody we play."

Said freshman center Kevin Love: "Every team is going to come out and play their hardest against us. We have a bull's-eye on our chest. Every team is going to try to come out and play their best game against us because they want to win.

"As far as adjusting to them, they are going to come out and press probably the whole game, so that's something we haven't seen. We just need to come out and adjust to it as best we can. That will make us get better because it's something we haven't seen but we still have to adjust."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Everyone's first impression is indignation.

The guy wants HOW MUCH? For HOW LONG?

Ten years at something like $350 million???

No way. NO way. Never.

And all those people -- me included -- are right.

But here's the thing: Alex Rodriguez is going to sign with SOMEBODY. He is going to play next year. And there is a number -- maybe even a number no bigger than what he was making in that 10-year, $252-million contract he has renounced -- that might be enough to snare A-Rod. If the timing is right.

In fact, this is far more complicated than it appears.

Let's start with the assumption that A-Rod's vile agent, Scott Boras, is trying to invent interested teams in an attempt to start some sort of ever-upwards bidding war.

But he's not doing a very good job of inventing those teams.

Let's look at the clubs we keep hearing mentioned as "interested in A-Rod."

The Angels and Dodgers. The Mets. And, a new entry, the Giants.

The Angels and Dodgers are teams we know. And it is flat impossible to imagine they are going to give anybody $30 million per season. Not for one season, let alone 10. Not going to happen. We know their operations well enough. Arte Moreno is too smart. Frank McCourt is too cheap.

Then there are the Mets. New York team, maybe they have the wherewithal. But now we're hearing that the Mets GM has told incumbent third baseman David Wright -- one of the most popular players in New York, by the way -- that he is their third baseman. Meaning no A-Rod there, either.

That leaves the Giants, who have no salable name with Barry gone. But will a team that has had a payroll well below that of the Dodgers and Angels take that big a bite on ONE guy? They were paying Barry something like $16 million last year, and idiot Giants fans probably liked Mr. Roid better than the mercenary A-Rod.

So who, exactly, IS going to pay for A-Rod? The rest of the big leagues ... just don't have the scratch.

UNLESS the Red Sox jump in, and they might, with Mike Lowell not a sure thing to come back ... UNLESS the Red Sox jump in, A-Rod's price is going to fall like SoCal real estate.

Sure, Boras wants $30-plus mill a year. But if no one will pay it???

So, A-Rod goes a month without being signed. Then two months. Then it's January. Now he's starting to sweat, and so is Boras, even though he's telling A-Rod to stay calm. Nobody is biting.

Then it's February. Still unsigned. Pitchers and catchers are getting ready to report. A-Rod is panicky. He's used to that $25 million a year. He has bills to pay, strippers to hire ... and he HAS NO CONTRACT for 2008, let alone 2018.

At some point there, Boras' outrageous demands are going to have to soften. What, A-Rod is going to sit out a year of his prime?

That's when a GM might be able to make a move that doesn't utterly break the bank. One year at $20 million, maybe, which is still a ton of cash, but ...

I'm just thinking this could be weird. With no SERIOUS bidders for what Boras wants ... and with A-Rod practically guaranteed to play for somebody ... maybe one of the best players in ball can be had for a lot less than we all think.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the late game, UCLA rolled over Youngstown State 83-52.

Frankly, Youngstown State LOOKS more impressive than does Cal State San Bernardino.

The Coyotes are going to have to run around and play great defense, force turnovers, hope some shots fall .... or they could lose as badly as Youngstown did.

Actually, they would be expected to. Youngstown State went 14-17 last year and belongs to the D1 Horizon League.

UCLA was led by Kevin Love, the freshman center, who had 21 points -- and presents huge problems for San Bernardino.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Got to give Cal State San Bernardino coach Jeff Oliver and his team lots of credit for the way they handled their victory over Weber State tonight.

Even when it was clear they were going to win, when they had a victory over a well-regarded Division I "mid-major" in hand ... they didn't act foolish on the bench. They didn't preen or jump around. Oliver didn't light up a victory cigar.

They acted as if they did this all the time ... defeating a program (Weber State) that was in the NCAA Tournament last year ... to set up a meeting with, yes, U-C-L-A.

They celebrated a bit more raucously, once inside their locker room, of course. "There was a lot of yelling," Lance Ortiz said.

Some post-game reaction from the Coyotes:

Coach Jeff Oliver:

"It's great exposure for our institution. We've never been in a game of this magnitude before. Last year, we were in the (D2) final four, but nothing of this magnitude.

"I'm glad we took our practice time last night (in Pauley Pavilion) because it wasn't very good. I think our guys were looking around a lot and were kind of in awe of the place. It really helped to be in here. It made today a lot easier.

"Our defense is better right now than it was at any time last year. I think we were a little tentative offensively, not really aggressive ..."

On how the Coyotes became the only D2 team in the 16-team tournament: "I got a phone call late in the summer. I don't know how it all transpired, but to allow our guys to play in such a prestigious event ... we had games available, so we jumped at the opportunity. ... I think when somebody dropped (out of the tourney) they shuffled the regions, too."

About what it means for the Coyotes' record: "For Division II, it's exhibition games, so it doesn't go on our record. We're still 3-0. It's just experience, getting us ready for regional play when we go up to Seattle (this week)."

Thinking about UCLA: "I won't sleep very well. It's just a tremendous opportunity to play such a storied program. It's a great opportunity and great exposure for the university, and the exposure for our basketball program is really priceless.

"We're not as talented as we've been in past years, if you look on paper. We're picked to finish third in our (CCAA) conference. We're not scaring anybody. ... we just are trying to get bettrer offensively."

On senior point guard Lance Ortiz, who led all scorers with 16 points: "He was the MVP of the Disney Classic last week (where Cal State went 3-0 against D2 competition). He's really stepped up from a leadership standpoint and production -- points, assists, steals, rebounds, all those things have really increased a lot."

Oliver, on playing UCLA: "We'll have to execute and limit our turnovers. We'll have to try to keep them from getting easy opportunities, and rebounding will be huge. Their size, especially with Collison out, they just get bigger and bigger. And offensive execution will be huge."

Is he thinking TV viewers will be asking, "Cal State who?!?" "Yeah. We get that all the time. But hopefully, after tomorrow, we won't have to answer that question anymore."

Dave Reichel, on his four first-half three-pointers: "Actually, I was coming off a pretty bad game. My last game I was 1-for-6. It was brutal. I usually shoot a fairly high percentage of threes. But I knew I had to come out and just let it go because that's my role on the team, shooting it. I just have to stick to my role, keep putting them up, have confidence in myself."

Did Weber State take the Coyotes lightly? "Any D1 playing any D2, especially if it's a good D1, I don't know really if there's a whole lot of respect there for the simple fact of the numbers of guys they recruit. But we definitely showed tonight we could play with them."

How big is Tuesday's game? "We definitely have never been on ESPN. That's a whole new thing. But we're not really worried about the win. It's really about the journey. We're just trying to take this tourney, which doesn't count on our record, just take this tournament and build on what we do."

Is it the biggest victory in program history? "I'd say no because this doesn't mean a banner going up in our arena. That's what we're trying to do, hang banners. Trying to hang a conference banner, trying to hang an Elite Eght banner, trying to get that (D2) national champiosnip ring. This has nothing to do with that."

Isn't UCLA a mismatch? "Yeah, they have all the all-Americas, whatever, but we play these guys in summer league in Pomona. We're just going to see what happens. We just gotta play hard and who knows what happens? ... We've seen these guys before. We just have to give it our best shot and see what happens."

Lance Ortiz, on Cal State's early nerves: "I think it went away at the end of the half, the first half, when we got on that run. that's when we started to believe we could play with these guys."

And UCLA? "It's an opportunity to see what we've got, going against a great team like UCLA, with great tradition, and it will be exciting to see how the game goes. ... I think we'll be a little bit nervous, but I think it will go away and we'll start playing."

The state of mind of the team? "We're all pretty excited. (Against UCLA) we have to limit our turnovers, play defense, make open shots. We're all playing real hard. I think we're deeper than last year. (After the game) we were all cheering and jumping up and excited."

And being such monstrous underdogs, vs. UCLA? "That's great. We'd be shocking the world. No better feeling than that if we can actually do it."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man, oh man. Cal State San Bernardino has had some big victories ... you don't win seven CCAA titles and get to three Elite Eights without them.

But never, ever at this level. Never. Cal State had never beaten a D1 program. Anytime.

Cal State just took down the defending Big Sky champions, a D1 program of some repute (Ben Howland's alma mater, as it turns out) ...

AND FACES UCLA ON NATIONAL TV TOMORROW NIGHT!

Second-ranked UCLA. Final Four team UCLA last two years running..

WOW!

Gonna go talk to the Coyotes now. Game story to follow in the daily newspaper, and I'll have some stuff here, too.

UCLA will be a much much tougher nut, of course. By a factor of, oh, about 10.

Cal State beat Weber with some lights-out three-point shooting (12-of-27), fevered defense and more speed than the other guys had.

It's over. What a huge thing for this program.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coyotes up 54-43 with 11:09 to play.

They have been unconscious from three-ppint range. I think they are 4-for-5 this half, after going 6-for-14 in the first half.

Weber is rallying, a little. Weber is bigger and has more physical talent. Weber is outrebounding Cal State and shooting layups.

The question is whether Cal State can make a few more threes, which is practically its only offense. And whether the Coyotes can force some turnovers.

Now 54-44. And 10:29 from a game with UCLA.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The guy who put Cal State San Bernardino basketball on the map, Larry Reynolds, is here in the stands at Pauley Pavilion watching the Coyotes play Weber State.

Asked what he is up to now, now that Long Beach State decided not to renew his contract, Reynolds said only, "I'm watching a basketball game."

Are you employed? Living off that Long Beach State money? Do you get a paycheck?

"I'm watching a basketball game," Reynolds said, with a smile.

Living in the IE again?

You can guess the answer.

Added Reynolds: "The great thing about being a private citizen: I don't have to answer any questions."

But, geez. I went to high school with the guy!

He is sitting with another guy we went to high school with, at L.A. Lutheran, Leo Wills, who played with Reynolds at UC Riverside.

I told Leo I may have to call HIM to find out what Larry is up to.

It was Reynolds who turned around a struggling program in 1998, and led Cal State to two Elite Eight appearances, and five consecutive CCAA titles.

Current Cal State coach Jeff Oliver was a Reynolds assistant.

And by the way, it's Cal State 47-41!

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dogged defense and Dave Reichel's torrid outside shooting has been enough to give Cal State San Bernardino a 34-31 halftime lead over Weber State -- a Division I team from the big Sky Conference.

Oh, my. They can taste the upset now. Twenty minutes away.

Lance Ortiz is playing well, running the offense with more confidence and seeming to get his hand on lots of passes.

The Coyotes looked tentative, nervous, maybe even scared the first few minutes, and it seemed as if Weber might blow them out, early.

But Cal State's defense never flagged, and now their offense is coming around.

Twenty minute! And then they get UCLA in an ESPN2 game!

That would be HEE-YOOGE for Cal State San Bernardino. A school a lot of people -- even in SoCal -- don't know exists.

Renardo Bass looks athletic, but a little shaky on the finer things. Michael Earl, the 6-8 bounce-back from Utah State, has been a solid presence inside.

Another thing about this game: It puts very different ways of putting together a team. Like a lot of Utah schools, Weber State has a significant foreign legion.

Among the guys who got serious minutes in the first half ... guys from Lithuania and Uruguay. Both of them started.

Cal State, meanwhile, is a collection of JC transfers and a handful of four-year kids recruited mostly from the IE. Cal State doesn't have the money to spend on out-of-state tuition.

Anyway, the Coyotes not only are IN it ... the could WIN it. It would be only the latest D2 over D1 upset of the young season.

Geez. This would be big. Have I mentioned that?? A win over the defending Big Sky champ, an NCAA tournament team from last spring? Oh-my-goodness ...

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You might think Cal State San Bernardino fans, students, etc., might be excited about the idea of playing in Pauley Pavilion ... but if there are any here .. they are well=disguised.

I can hear a smattering of people up in the second deck. Doesn't look like anybody behind the Cal State bench, though.

I have to figure the new athletic director is here ... though I wouldn't know him if I saw him. He might not actually be on board yet. I forget.

I was looking for Nancy Simpson, longtime AD ... but she is in South Carolina now. Old habit.

It's 20-19 Weber with 7:52 left in the first half.

Cal State has found at least one threat -- Dave Reichel from the corner. He hit consecutive threes a bit ago to give the Coyotes a 19-18 lead. He has eight of their 18.

Cal State hasn't shot a free throw yet, which perhaps indicates how non-aggressive they are in going to the basket.

Hard to envision San Bernardino winning this game. But they're still close.

Maybe some San Bernardino fans will turn up, as the game goes on. Or maybe they figured it was just too much of a hassle to get here ... for Weber State ... and will show up for the UCLA game tomorrow. If it happens.

It's 25-23 Weber.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cal State San Bernardino is playing in Pauley Pavilion for the first time, and hanging in there.

They aren't playing UCLA, unfortunately, but they CAN ... if they can somehow upset Big Sky champion Weber State, from Utah.

Cal State trails early, 15-9. The Coyotes are playing all right on the defensive end, but they have little or no discernible offense.

And Weber just hit a couple of threes to make it an 8-0 run and that the 15-9 lead.

The winner of this game plays the winner of the second game, which pits nationally No.2-ranked UCLA vs. Youngstown State.

Cal State would love love love to be in that game, to be televised live nationally on ESPN2.

But Weber is no joke. They made the NCAA Tournament a year ago, and got blitzed by UCLA in the first round ... but it's a jump from D2 to making the D1 tournament.

The Coyotes need offense. From SOMEBODY ... if they're going to stay in this.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dan Dickau is one of the Clippers' three point guards. He's running in a sort of tie for "backup PG" with Brevin Knight, behind Sam Cassell -- who might be the Clips' best player, as long as they're without Elton Brand.

Sam gets hurt a lot, of course. He's 38, which is 98 in point-guard years. If there's an older PG in the league, I don't know whom it might be. (Which reminds me, speaking of old; I heard on the radio today that "fewer than 25" World War I veterans are still alive. Maybe we should go talk to the guys who are still lucid, for the heck of it. "Dude, what was it like in the trenches? Did you ever get sick of hearing "Over There?" Was Black Jack Pershing 'all that'?" We're not going to have a chance, a few years hence.)

But I digress.

Dickau played at Gonzaga, and was a very good college player. I thought he was smallish ... but not until I saw him at person at a Clippers shoot-around did I realize he is shockingly frail-looking.

I mean, 10th-grader in high school-frail.

It's not just that he's barely 6 feet tall ... it's that he has such a noodlish body. Scrawny legs. Narrow chest. He can't weigh 160 pounds.

Thing is, in the NBA, the handful of sub-6-footers who survive (and I'm thinking of Muggsy Bogues, in particular) are thick, solid, strong guys. Just short, by NBA standards.

Dickau isn't "just short." He's small ... but he's also built like a teensy person.

The fact that the guy is earning an NBA paycheck is fairly astounding. I may have to talk to him someday just to ask him about being the Runt of the NBA Litter. Can't be easy.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NBA locker rooms are eye-opening places. I mean, it's not as if I've never been one, but my capacity to be surprised by how TALL those guys are ... I almost never get over it.

Your first clue is ... when you're looking uphill at every single person in the place. And I'm not a short person. I'm just not a tall one. Certainly not NBA-tall.

Looking uphill? That's just the 6-6 guys like Kobe, or the 6-7 guys like Walton.

Then there are the truly tall guys. The 7-footers like Chris Kaman. Or the 7-6 guys like Yao Ming. It's just ridiculous.

And you think, "Wow, it would be great to be a 7-footer and play in the NBA and make $4 million a year."

But I'm certain it's not worth it.

Thing is, what about the rest of your life, if you're a 7-footer? The 99.9 percent of your life you will spend someplace OTHER than on a basketball floor?

The rest of the time, it's a bad trade. Normalcy for gigantism.

Nothing fits. Not your clothes. Not your furniture. You have to buy a special bed. Special chairs. You have to watch your head all the time, so you don't bang it on something.

EVERY car is a sub-compact car, when you're 7 feet tall. Airplane rides in anything but first class ... a nonstarter. Six-footers can barely fit into modern domestic airlines. Add 12 inches of legs? Hah.

You are an obstruction in movie theaters and plays and concerts. You can't sit in desks at school.

And then there's a reality of nature. Those same glands/genes that turned you into a 7-footer very likely have left you proportionately cock-eyed. Look at any NBA aircraft carrier. Almost all those guys have legs far longer than they ought to be, even in proportion to their bodies. They often have heads no bigger than yours or mine ... but on a 7-foot frame, making their craniums look too small. Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who I saw last night, is just one example. He probably has a 7 1/4 hat size, like you or me, but his head on that body ... just looks like Dr. Frankenstein got his parts mixed up with those of some jockey.

And really tall people often have health issues. Weird stuff. Connective tissue issues. Heart problems, even.

No. You do NOT want to be 7 feet tall. I'd MAYBE take my chances at 6-6, and play "small" forward in the NBA ... but I think I'd rather be 6-3 or shorter (hey, if you're 5-2, EVERY airline has tons of leg room!) and live a quasi-normal life and make do without those handful of years when I got enormous paychecks. I'd just waste it on cars and gadgets and clubs, anyway, like current NBA players do -- and then get stuck the rest of my life trying not to walk into door sills.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

LeBron James and the Eastern Conference-champion Cavaliers were in Staples tonight, to play the Clippers ...

And there were empty seats, hundreds of them, at what appeared to be just about every price level in the arena.

Attendance was announced as 15,541, and my recollection is that capacity in Staples, for Clippers games, is in excess of 19,000.

I saw empty seats behind both baskets. Rows of them. I saw empty seats between the baskets.

I saw entire empty SECTIONS up on the top level, the cheap seats. (Well, comparitively cheap.)

So if you've never seen an NBA game ... and don't want to break the bank to do so ... pick out an interesting Clippers home game, buy some up-in-the-rafter tickets and come on down.

Looks like seats will be available. If they can't sell out the place for LeBron James, on a Sunday night with not a single other event going on in town ...

Well, you should be able to see any Clippers game you want to see. Including their "home" games with the Lakers, I'm guessing.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It just shows our parochialism when Americans get all agitated about Joe Torre signing to manage the Dodgers.

He's a New York guy, going to Los Angeles, and my, what a huge story.

In point of fact, if we want to think globally ... the Los Angeles Galaxy signing Ruud Gullit to be their coach next season ... is a FAR far bigger story internationally.

Let's just make up a stat that probably isn't all that far off:

Maybe 1 percent of people outside the United States even know who Joe Torre is. And something less than that 1 percent know he's now with the Dodgers.

Meanwhile, 90 percent of soccer fans (and all of them over the age of 25) know exactly who Ruud Gullit is. Arguably the best player in the world in the late 1980s, two-time world player of the year, former coach at Arsenal, etc.

Tens of millions of Americans, almost solely, know who Joe Torre is.

Hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of people around the globe know who Ruud Gullit is.

It's a big deal, the Galaxy signing Gullit. Though it wasn't treated like one by American media.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LeBron James caught some flak in Cleveland for attending an American League Divisional Series playoffs game, in Cleveland, and wearing a New York Yankees cap.

LeBron is a Yankees fan. And he wasn't afraid to show it.

As a Yankees guy, he was asked if there is any chance the Yankees will make up with third baseman Alex Rodriguez and re-sign him.

Uh, no, LeBron said. A couple of times.

"No," he said. "No. That’s not going to happen.

"He might end up out here. But he ain’t gonna be in New York."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Asked before the game if the Cavaliers would "have trouble sneaking up on anybody" this season, after playing in the NBA Finals last June, LeBron James didn't exactly bristle, but he didn't agree with the premise.

Said LeBron: "Any team I’m going to be on, we can’t sneak up on nobody. It’s not like I come into a building and nobody knows I’m here. So that’s always been something I’ve never got, never understood ... when people say we sneak up on team. Will never happen."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is what I wrote about, for Monday's newspapers: That LeBron could replace Kobe as the Lakers' main man.

And it wouldn't require some complicated trade. It would just mean the Lakers keeping Kobe for this season and next, letting him go ... waiting out one bad season ... and signing LeBron after the 2009-10 season, when he is an unrestricted free agent.

LeBron played "only" 36 minutes Sunday, but his reappearance in the fourth quarter quashed the Clippers' spirited comeback.

LeBron scored 20 points, and added eight assists, six steals and five rebounds. He also guarded whoever happened to be the Clips' biggest threat. Corey Maggette early, Sam Cassell late.

Anyway, I'd rather have this guy than Kobe. Right now. I'd much rather have him three years from now, when Kobe will be 32 and LeBron will STILL be only 25.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Even when the Clippers had that 45-37 season, two years ago, and made the playoffs ... even then the club markets itself in large part by pointing out which stars will be in town.

This is one of those games, those "sell the other team" games, and it's pretty easy when it's LeBron James ... and, yeah, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

About to go out in the Staples seating area to see what sort of receptions Bron-Bron gets from Clippers fans.

I'm thinking of writing something about how ridiculous it is for the best player in the NBA (yes, better than Kobe) to be stuck in Cleveland.

I have nothing against Cleveland ... it's just that a star of LeBron's magnitude ought to be in one of the big cities. Like, say, L.A.

Lakers fans might cringe at this, but I would trade Kobe for LeBron, straight up, in a heartbeat.

LeBron appears genuinely interested in getting his teammates involved, in making them better ... and Kobe has never really done that. And is doing it very little, in these "I still want to be traded" days.

Anyway, let's hear the reaction, watch the big guy play (and he IS big ... way broader in the chest and shoulders than 90 percent of the guys in this leagus) ... and come back and write for the daily.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man, tough game. UCLA could have won. The Bruins played with desperation, with elan. They played with their fourth-string quarterback and their fifth-string tailback ... and they were 28 yards from taking the lead with five minutes to play.

For one day, they were the Gutty Little Bruins again.

But all that moxie, all that "want to" ... was negated by too many bad choices and too many instances of brain cramp. So they lost, 24-20, and that long shot chance at winning the Pac-10 title is over now, and with games left against Oregon and USC ... the Bruins could be looking at a season-ending five-game losing streak, a 5-7 finish, no bowl game -- and maybe the end of the Karl Dorrell Era.

As in all games, there were numerous turning points, but the final, the most obvious and pregnant, came with five minutes left, when Christian Taylor blew up ASU quarterback Danny Sullivan and forced a fumble that Tom Blake recovered at the ASU 30.

The next two plays all but sealed UCLA's fate. Down four, unable to put together drives on any significance, they had a chance to take the lead by going just 30 yards. That seemed manageable.

But on first down, UCLA offensive coordinator called a toss play to Chris Markey -- the first designed play of the game to the former star tailback, who had ankle and turf toe issues. It went for a loss of 5.

UCLA had trouble enough getting first downs when they only needed 10 yards and had three plays to get it. Fifteen yards in two?

Seemed unlikely. It was.

Osaar Rasshan rolled right. Two receivers were running stop routes. The play broke down, and Rasshan waved at Joe Cowan, asking him to get deeper, and he did. Rasshan threw the ball as he was leveled.

It sailed over Cowan's head by about a yard, near the goal line ... and was intercepted by safety Josh Barrett 1 yard deep into the end zone, for a touchback.

UCLA didn't get the ball back until there were only 37 seconds, and the Bruins were at their own 3, and nothing came of that.

UCLA is up against it now. Hard to imagine they win either of their last two, even if they get Ben Olson back at QB, and they might.

What was disspiriting for the Bruins was playing so hard, spending so much emotion, and not getting a result that they wanted.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I checked in with Landon Donovan, via e-mail.

Landon is the Galaxy (and U.S. national team) soccer star out of Redlands.

I asked him about his upcoming travels, which are grueling: Trips to South Africa with the national team (next week), and a match in Johannesburg on Nov. 17, then to Australia and New Zealand with the Galaxy for matches on Nov. 27 and 30.

I also asked for his impressions of his new coach, Ruud Gullit, and whether he has heard anything about the designated player situation. The Galaxy currently has a waiver to have TWO designated players -- David Beckham and Landon.

(If the rule remains unchanged, the Galaxy will have to trade for someone else's DP spot.)

Landon's responses:

"Yeah, it's going to be a busy couple of weeks! Lots of travel. Fortunately it's in the offseason and not during the season. I will be home for Thanksgiving before heading to Australia.

"I don't know much about Ruud as a coach but he was a terrific player and seemed very nice today (Friday) when we met him. I'm optimistic that he can help turn things around here.

"No news on the Designated Player issue, just assuming I'm going to be here next year, somehow.

"I will be playing here next year, no question about it.....I'm not going anywhere!"

Actually, the Galaxy DOES need to figure out a way to keep Donovan, because losing him to keep Beckham really represents no appreciable gain in talent, for the Galaxy.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When UCLA gave up its second touchdown of the half, a 71-yard run by Keegan Herring, to fall behind 24-13, I declated "Game Over."

Then Matthew Slater returned the ASU kickoff 89 yards for a UCLA touchdown, and it's not over quite yet.

The crowd is back in the game ... just when my keen ears started to detect a smattering of boos from UCLA fans.

UCLA's defense now has to DO something. Get some stops. Force a turnover or two.

The offense can't be expected to do much. The special teams already has accounted for both touchdowns.

UCLA's D was aggressive in the first half, but it has been largely passive so far this half, and it isn't working.

DeWayne Walker needs to blitz often and in numbers. Run-blitzes as well as pass-blitzes.

They have to get ASU off the field, and give the offense good field position.

It's up to them, in my mind. They say they're good, Bruce Davis and all those guys. Let's see you prove it. Give your team a chance to win ... give Karl Dorrell a chance to keep his job.

It's not as if ASU is that good, and it certainly isn't that smart. I mean, Slater already had two KO returns for TDs, and the Sun Devils kept kicking to him. That was almost like a gift touchdown -- and Slater's three TD returns on kicks in a season ties a Pac-10 record and sets a UCLA record.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 13-10 at half, and it's not really reasonable to expect UCLA's offense, with Osaar Rasshan at quarterback, to score much more. If at all.

It's up the UCLA defense (and maybe the special teams) to win this game.

UCLA's one touchdown came on a 1-yard "drive" following a 68-yard punt return. One field goal came after a short drive. The other came on a really short drive.

UCLA's D claims to be the strength of the team.

It's going to have to show it. Starting with this next play, third-and-7 at the UCLA 28. Even if they get a stop, ASU might kick a field goal.

ASKING Rasshan to make plays is going to be a very dangerous thing.

UCLA needs a sack, or a blocked kick. For sure, it can't give up any more touchdowns if the Bruins are going to win. At least, I'm sure of it.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UCLA's band, which usually is limp in the extreme, actually had an interesting halftime show.

A tribute to "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut".

If you watch South Park ... you know the drill. If you don't, it's a unashamedly profane cartoon that appears on Comedy Central and has millions of devotees.

The creators of the series have made two movies, and the first was the one mentioned above. It was a musical, which made it all even funnier.

Anyway, UCLA's band, The Bland Band, took several songs from the movie and had some sort of skit going on, involving the main characters. The songs are a little, oh, ribald, so the whole thing was a bit bold.

Among the songs used: "Quiet Little Mountain Town" ... "Blame Canada" (which was an Oscar-nominee for best song), and the one that Saddam Hussein sings.

At the end, the Kenny character gets killed ... as he always does ... and the whole thing was fairly amusing, and semi-interesting, which represents a breakthrough for the Bruins band.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bruce Davis is a great player. Just ask him.

Among recent collegians, he may be as self-congratulatory as anybody. He's the leader, he's the soul of the team, he's ready to take credit.

Well, fine. But with that sort of "it's all about me" mindset ... you better deliver.

And you certainly shouldn't do something really, really stupid.

Which Bruce Davis just did with no time left on the clock at the end of the half, which rewarded ASU with three points.

Situation: Five seconds left, Arizona State on its own 49, it's a Hail Mary situation.

UCLA rushes only three guys, dropping eight. Carpenter stands in the pocket and chucks the ball into the end zone, where a ciuple of guys get their hands on it, but it falls to the ground, incomplete. Half over, UCLA leading 13-7.

But wait! There is a flag on the field. And it's a personal foul on Bruce Davis for hitting Carpenter WAY late. A gratutitous two-handed push. A borderline penalty, but the fact that Davis allowed it to become a borderline call is inexcusable. It also gives ASU a play with no time on the clock, because a game/half can't end on a defensive penalty.

The ball moves up to the UCLA 36, and Arizona State sends out kicker Thomas Weber ... who nails a 53-yarder in bonus time.

Thanks, loads, Bruce Davis. We'll give you a chance later to explain how YOU and you alone gave away three points.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The teams that high schools schedule for their homecomings ....

It's no accident.

Every AD/principal/acitivities director looks at the home schedule and picks the home game -- and it generally has to be past Week 1 -- that it thinks it has the greatest chance of winning.

Thus, teams perceived to be weak might see 4-5 homecomings. Which generally include a longer halftime.

Meanwhile, the perceived powers may go years between being the visitor for somebody's homecoming.

Perfect example,. Friday night.

Pomona was the designated home team against crosstown rival Ganesha, which hasn't won a game since Sept. 11, 2003.

Sure, that makes sense. But it happened in Week 10 of the season. Late. Very late. Most schools schedule homecoming in October.

But Pomona isn't very good (it finished 3-7), and presumably its administrators looked at the schedule ... and decided they would be OK with waiting until the last game of the season to stage homecoming.

And it worked out: Pomona led 22-0 at halftime, so everybody on the Red Devils side was quite cheerful when they crowned a homecoming queen.

It made me wonder how many homecomings Ganesha has been "party" to, so to speak, during its five-year losing streak. I bet they've seen 3-4 homecomings a season for years now.

Meanwhile, Fontana, back in its days as a power, probably went a couple of decades without being the visiting team for a single homecoming. And I'd bet that Dick Bruich, now at Kaiser, probably hasn't had to wait out the extra five minutes for a homecoming ... maybe in his career. I doubt Don Markham teams have been around for many other people's homecomings, either.

I bet it's been a while since Serrano has seen someone else's homecoming, too. And maybe some other schools usually expected to be strong. Redlands, Redlands East Valley, Aquinas, etc.

Anyway, it's no accident, the team on the other sideline, when you celebrate homecoming.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UCLA could win, but the Bruins' fans don't seem to think so.

Even with a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter, over a ninth-ranked team, the fans are curiously inert.

The Old Guy Who Leads Cheers is trying to get the fans interested ("I need every man, woman and child to help me make some noise!") ... but without much success.

Will the fans get into this?

I'm thinking yes, if UCLA can hold this lead into the second half.

UCLA's defense is playing well, and it pretty much has to.

DeWayne Walker, the D-coordinator, needs his guys to make the sort of effort they produced against UCLA here last season.

So far, they're doing it.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to Joey Mariani, Osaar Rasshan's coach at Garey High School in Pomona, USC and Pete Carroll tried to recruit Rasshan back in 2004 as a receiver.

"They thought he could be the replacement for Mike Williams," Mariani recalled, referring to the tall receiver who was about to go to the NFL as a first-round pick.

Mariani said Rasshan stuck with his early commitment to UCLA because the Bruins told him he could play quarterback.

We know how that worked out. Or didn't, till today.

Recruiters will say almost anything to get a kid. Witness Pete Carroll telling Allen Bradford of Colton that he could play defense. Sure. And Bradford has been stuck deep on the tailback depth chart since he got on campus.

Anyway, if Rasshan leads UCLA to an upset today ... it will be a surprise vindication for Rasshan's belief he could play quarterback in the Pac-10.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, it's 10-0 UCLA late in the first quarter, but I thought this before kickoff. I just couldn't get the tweaked blog system to handle my deathless prose -- and who knows, this may be the only item I manage to get into print.

But I liked UCLA's chances for a couple of reasons.

UCLA is great in the Rose Bowl, 15-2 in its last 17 games here.

UCLA plays better when its expectations are down around zero, and that's where they are today. Arizona State is ranked No. 9 in the country, the Bruins just lost at Arizona, and they're battered.

Osaar Rasshan changes the look of the offense. He gives the team speed and mobility at quarterback, which they haven't had since Cade McNown. Rasshan clearly isn't the passer that Ben Olson or Patrick Cowan are, but he's a far far better runner.

UCLA is still a decent defensive team. Not the defense the Bruins THOUGHT they had, but pretty good. Fast and mobile. I don't see ASU scoring a ton of points, and it wouldn't surprise me if UCLA had a return TD..

ASU is overrated. That 8-0 they had to start the season included only one game that impresses me, and that was a semi-shaky home victory over Cal -- after Cal had lost the previous two weeks.

UCLA could win. Not saying they will. But it absolutely would not surprise me.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NFL better look into this.

The NBA got an estimated 250 million viewers tonight for the Houston-Milwaukee game.

Why?

Because China's best two players were on opposing teams in the world's top basketball league.

And, in the process, got a TV audience bigger than any that ever has seen a Super Bowl live.

Yao Ming plays for the Houston Rockets, and Yi Jianlian is a rookie with the Bucks. They never had played against each other. But they did tonight.

And China went nuts, apparently.

The NBA clearly is far ahead of other American sports ... and maybe ahead of soccer, too ... in getting traction among the 1.3 billion-person China market.

Yao helps. And Yi now does, too. No native of mainland China plays in the majors or in the NFL. And that may not mean much to you or me today, but it may mean everything to these leagues 10 years from now.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pomona Ganesha has lost 48 consecutive games, on the field, and I spent big chunks of two days talking to people about the program and watching the Giants practice and play (tonight, vs. Pomona) ... and I've decided this:

This is not a good football program. Not at all. And it may have the longest losing streak in state history.

But there are lots of teams Ganesha could beat. Their problem is, they haven't scheduled any of them, over the past 48 games.

When the wheels began coming off the Giants' wagon, the administration should have tweaked the schedule. Gotten somebody small and eminently beatable on the non-league schedule.

Fontana did that. The Steelers had 29 consecutive defeats entering this season, so they went out and scheduled Banning to open this season ... and there went that losing streak.

Another example: Redlands East Valley was winless its first two seasons, 1997-98. Then REV scheduled little Redlands Arrowhead Christian Academy in Game 5 of its third season ... and REV was big enough and deep enough to defeat a team from the CIF-SS's lowest division.

REV then lost its next 25 games. Hence, if REV hadn't scheduled ACA ... it could easily have lost 49 consecutive games

Ganesha has decent size. Ganesha can line up. It has one decent (if fairly slow) back in Julian Garcia, who is a junior. Quarterback Devon Carter has some speed and a decent arm, and he's only a freshman. He could be the real deal, if he doesn't transfer.

Ganesha would handle all sorts of little schools. Practically all of the privates who aren't in the Trinity League. But it hasn't scheduled any of them, the past five years. Ganesha didn't schedule tough, but it needed to go soft. At least a couple of times a year. It didn't. And that's why the Giants now are the owners of the state record for losing streak.

New AD Jesse Altamirano at least finally is easing off on the schedule. Duarte and La Puente come off the 2008 schedule, to be replaced by more-beatable Bassett and Riverside Patriot.

That should have happened 2-3 years ago. But now there's hope for 2008, anyway. The Streak may not get much longer.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just when you thought the Inland Empire flavor of Major League Soccer might be fading ... Maurice Edu, Toronto FC rookie out of Etiwanda High School, has won the MLS rookie of the year award.

Edu was the No. 1 pick in the MLS draft last spring, then started 25 games for Toronto, an expansion franchise in its first year, and scored four goals with one assist while playing defensive midfield.

He got his first call-up to the national team last month and played well in a 1-0 victory in Switzerland.

Most of the MLS guys from the neighborhood have been in the league awhile, though not all of them are old.

The others, who come immediately to mind:

Landon Donovan, 25, forward, Galaxy
Ante Razov, forward, 33, Chivas USA
Nick Rimando, 28, goalkeeper, Real Salt Lake
Orland Perez, 30, defender, Chivas USA

Edu is 21, so not exactly "the next generation" ... but he wasn't in high school at the same time as any of these guys.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few days ago I wrote about my version of "Wilson" ... referring to Tom Hanks' volleyball from the movie "Cast Away" ... that had appeared on the verge of my property. (And don't homes in suburbia seem like islands, figuratively, as little as we interact with our neighbors these days?)

Anyway, it was a Spalding basketball that appeared on my yard, and I kept waiting for someone to take it back ... I mean, when I was young enough to shoot baskets in the street I knew where ALL my sports equipment was at any time. From ball glove to bats, ball, football, etc.

I decided I was going to call my accidental friend "Major Spalding." I don't know where that came from, but it popped into my head. The "Major" part. Maybe a Beatles lyric?

So I googled it, and there was a Major Spalding involved peripherally in the Zulu Wars of 1879. He led a British regiment that wasn't quite involved in the massacre at Islandhlwana, and managed to avoid the just-as-famous Rorke's Drift stand, too ...

Maybe that's the Major Spalding I'd heard of?

Anyway, back to the basketball. A couple of days ago I picked it up as I was going out for my slog-jog ... and tossed it onto the lawn of the house I thought most likely to have been the point of origin for the basketball.

By the time I came back, the ball was off the lawn. So it must have belonged to the kids there. Who probably were at least momentarily curious about where it had been, the previous week, and how it washed back up on THEIR suburban island.

Also, I wasn't remotely as attached to my spherical friend as was the Hanks character on "Cast Away." Didn't shed a single tear.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An admission: I've been in this business since 1976, but I have never, ever been to a UCLA football practice.

It wasn't my job to go to Bruins practices, for a long time. But even in recent years, as the sports columnists ... it never quite worked out. Mainly because just about any USC football story was more significant than any UCLA story.

And even if we factored in the concept of "local" players ... USC always had more. And has for most of this decade. (Currently: Sedrick Ellis, Allen Bradford, Shareece Wright, Terrell Thomas, Averill Spicer, at USC; at UCLA, Brian Abraham, Jess Ward, Osaar Rasshan ... and we're about done.)

And then there's the accessibility factor. USC is an awul drive from the IE ... but UCLA is nearly an impossible one. You have to really want to BE at UCLA to drive there, and about 99.9 percent of the time that's for men's basketball, not football.

Today, however, I am in Westwood to talk to Rasshan, the sophomore quarterback from Pomona Garey who will start for the Bruins against Arizona State on Saturday.

Anyway, the differences in the feel of UCLA and USC ... are distinct.

USC has more of a monied feel to it. The kids, that is. Just something about them says "upper-middle class, and only if the stock markey just took a dump."

UCLA doesn't exactly reek "common man" ... but the kids seem that way compared to the Trojans. More bohemian-type kids at UCLA, for sure. USC has a far more preppy feel to it.

USC's campus is in a bad neighborhood. UCLA's is in a very nice (if nearly grid-locked) area.

USC's campus is far more compact. You can walk from one end of it to the other in 10 minutes. It's navigable. To cross UCLA, figure more like 30 minutes. UC:LA is enormous, and that can make it seem a little disconnected.

USC doesn't have as much greenery, and zero topography. UCLA has lots of vegetation and all sorts of hills and steps and slopes. Which makes USC a bicycle and skateboard campus; hard to get around like that, at UCLA.

USC isn't small (16,000 undergraduates), but it creates the illusion that everybody there knows everybody else. UCLA has something like 40,000 undergrads, and no one bothers to pretend they know each other. It's like a big city.

USC doesn't seem to be as ethnically diverse as does UCLA. I don't have the numbers here, but that's the sense I get, just walking around the two campuses.

As a kid, I was a UCLA fan. Because the Bruins offered my father a football scholarship in the early 1950s. (He didn't take it; he went to work to support his mother.)

As an adult, I'm fairly neutral.

Well, actually, as a journalist I'm a partisan of the team more likely to be highly ranked and play for a national championship. Because that drives reader/public interest and we, as journalists like to go to the games that more of you care about.

Now, over to my first UCLA football practice.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jim Walker, Redlands' football coach for almost two decades, isn't ready to cede district football supremacy to Redlands East Valley, which is 9-0 and ranked No. 6 in the state by maxpreps.com

"People forget that this was a Terrier Town just last year," he said today. "We beat them 45-28 and they scored with about 30 seconds to go.

"We're 8-2 against those guys, 3-2 against (current REV coach Kurt) Bruich. Yeah, they're rolling and have things going, and this year is a special year for them. But I don't know if one year makes it a Wildcat town.

"Ten years from now, if they've gone 8-2, the tide will have turned."

Redlands (3-6) and REV (9-0) meet Friday night at the University of Redlands in REV's last game before entering the Inland Division as the league's top seed ... and Redlands' last game, period. The Terriers are out of the playoffs.

Walker concedes his team ranks as the underdog. "The REV side of town is on top and the Terriers side is down in the valley," he said.

On Bruich's contention that this game is the "Super Bowl" to the Terriers, Walker said, "We're not going to the playoffs and we'd like to go out with a win. There's a lot of bragging rights at stake, so we'll show up."

He noted that REV's two victories over Redlands in their 10 meetings were tight games.

"The years they were supposed to hammer us, with (quarterbacks) Nate Johns and Ronnie Fouch, they beat us ... but by eight one year (2003) and six the other (2005).

"Our guys feel that we can play with REV any given year, and that's been evident by the scores."

Redlands is the designated home team in what will be its last home game at the University of Redlands. The Terriers begin playing in their on-campus stadium next fall. "So this is an interesting game for us for a lot of reasons," Walker said.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The third Redlands high school, now on track to open in the fall of 2009, is named Citrus Valley High School.

They have no buildings on the north Redlands site of the school, but they DO have a mascot:

Blackhawks.

Basically, one of those nondescript, non-ethnic, non-predatory beast/PC names that new schools get stuck with these days, so that nobody can possibly be offended.

Anyway, these guys missed a sure bet:

The Citrus Valley Packers.

Redlands High School football coach Jim Walker was the first person I heard suggest "Packers." Which would have been perfect.

The school will be in what was one of the last big groves of oranges in Redlands ... and one of the last packing houses is just down the street ... and presumably this school someday will be in the Citrus Belt League ... and the Green Bay Packers are one of the classiest professional franchises around.

(And if Citrus Valley ever played Fontana, it would be the Steelers vs. the Packers. Cool.)

And NOBODY in the CIF-Southern Section has the Packers name. No one. Which would make Citrus Valley unique. Now, they're unfortunately close to the Citrus Hill Hawks ... who are in Perris.

Anyway, if you don't like it ... blame the sixth- and seventh-graders in Redlands Unified. They voted in September on the four names presented on the ballot:

Packers
Condors
Diamondbacks
Blackhawks

Blackhawks received 47.5 percent of the vote, according to Terry Shira, Redlands Unified district planner. Diamondbacks was second with 25 percent of the vote from the four Redlands Unified middle schools.

Shira did not have figures for the Packers and Condors.

Anyway, La Quinta High School already is the Blackhawks. And Redlands schools often play La Quinta in some of the "minor" sports.

Packers. Should have been Packers. Green and gold ... "I thought it was obvious," Walker said.

Shira said Phase 1 of the school will open in the fall of 2009 with an administration building, a library, a cafeteria and about 50 classrooms, including science labs. Phase 2 won't go up unless/until a bond measure is passed, and it's up for a vote in February, Shira said.

Phase 2 would include a gymnasium, theater arts building, music building, arts building and about 30 more classrooms.

The Blackhawks' colors: Black, gold and white.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Kurt Bruich, Redlands East Valley football coach, was blunt about what arch-rival Redlands has to play for when the district rivals meet Friday night at the University of Redlands:

"It's their Super Bowl this week. This is what they have to play for.

"They can't get in the playoffs. The best thing they can say at the (postseason football) banquet is, 'We beat REV.'"

REV has clinched a tie for its third Citrus Belt League title in five years and is 9-0 and ranked in the top 10 of just about all state polls, and in the top 20 of this or that national poll.

Redlands is 3-6, 3-3 in the CBL, and even if the Terriers win the best they can do is finished tied in league with a team (Yucaipa and/or Rialto Carter) to whom they have lost. So, yeah, their season ends Friday.

Redlands holds a 3-2 series lead over REV since 2002, Bruich's first year at REV and the point where the annual meeting turned into a rivalry, rather than the yearly blowout it had been from 1997-2001, REV's first five seasons.

REV has had a much better overall record than the Terriers, since 2002: 47-14-4 vs. Redlands' 35-30-0.

Redlands, however, made the CIF semifinals last year, and REV has never gotten past the quarterfinals.

Bruich said he is happy his team was scared (28-27) by previously unbeaten Fontana Miller last week because it means his players won't be fat-headed going into the game with Redlands.

"What happened to us Friday was great," he said. "Our kids realized they're not invincible. They realize they can be beaten. They'd gone 5-6 games without being challenged."

Redlands will be a challenge. Even the Terriers' 1-9 team of 2003 played REV to a 24-16 final score.

The series, since 2002:

2002: Redlands 47-6
2003: REV 24-16
2004: Redlands 22-14
2005: REV 27-12
2006: Redlands 45-28

A curious thing, aside from the alternating winner, is that the designated home team (both teams play at the U of Redlands) has LOST the last five games. Redlands is the designated home team this year.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Redlands East Valley standout tailback Chris Polk verbally committed to USC before the season, but he apparently is now actively considering other schools.

REV coach Kurt Bruich said today that Polk visited Oregon over the weekend "and really liked it."

An issue at USC is the logjam at so many skill positions.

Perhaps also at work: Polk doesn't really fit the recent USC prototype for a receiver, which apparently is what he would prefer to play in college.

Polk has been used as a running back by REV this year, and his most apparent skills are his strength and speed. He's got a fairly well-developed lower body, and he doesn't go down easily.

However, at USC in recent years, the receivers have tended to cluster into one of two groups: The tall guys who can overpower smaller DBs (Mike Williams, Dwayne Jarrett come to mind, Patrick Turner, Vidal Hazelton, David Ausberry, in theory) ... and the smallish, almost-frail speed guys (Keary Colbert, Ronald Johnson, Jamere Holland, Travon Patterson).

Polk fits neither profile. He is neither tall nor blinding fast. He is 6-1, 210, which sounds more like a running back ... but if Pete Carroll shifted him to running back he would enter that mob scene at the position. So that's a problem, too.

REV's Bruich believes there is a niche out there for Polk that, at this moment in college history, is being overlooked. "I think there's a lot of value in a guy who can catch a ball and break a couple of tackles and get into the end zone," Bruich said, basically describing what sort of receiver Polk would be. "But not many guys like that get recruited right now."

Maybe Oregon is making an exception? Also, remember, the Ducks use more receivers than do the Trojans. Better chance to get on the field.

There's more: USC has three commitments from 2008 freshman receivers: Brice Butler from Georgia, Joe Adams from Arkansas and D.J. Shoemate of Anaheim Servite ... and the Arkansas transfer, Damian Williams, who started five games for the Hogs last season, is eligible next fall ... and that's a very crowded group of competitors. Considering, too, literally EVERY current USC receiver is eligible to come back next year except for role-player Brad Walker.

Is USC less enthused about Polk, as well? Could be. A verbal commitment isn't worth the paper it isn't written on.

Anyway, USC is no sure thing, anymore. Not when a kid is off in Eugene watching the nation's fourth-ranked team defeat the No. 5 team and reporting back that he had a great time.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Dodgers' introduction of Joe Torre is going on right now ... and if we set aside the platitudes, etc., we have to concede the Dodgers got one part of this exactly right:

They picked a great setting for the announcement. One I don't think the club ever before has used.

They set up a platform out in center field ... and Dodger Stadium -- which is a big part of the franchise ... is the backdrop for the event.

You can see the grass behind him, about three decks of stands, and even though the season has been over barely a month anybody who ever went to a Dodgers game feels a tug to want to go back.

Over the years, Dodgers media events have been staged in the stadium club down the right-field line ... and then in the past few years they usually have done it in the restaurant down under the stadium, beneath those new, expensive seats.

But those are fairly sterile could-be-anywhere locations. This is different and special.

A great backdrop. I don't know yet who came up with the idea, but kudos to him or her.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

UCLA is 5-4 and at times has looked like the worst 5-4 team ever. I mean, how DO you lose to a Notre Dame team, at home, that is now 1-8? How is it possible to get drilled by a Washington State team that was 0-5 in the Pac-10?

So, anyway, there is a growing sense that UCLA's season is lost and that its coach, Karl Dorrell, finally will be fired for five seasons of going nowhere in particular.

But let's hold on one second. There is this: If UCLA wins its last three games, it goes to the Rose Bowl.

Still.

UCLA still has only two Pac-10 defeats. If the Bruins win their last three, they will be 7-2 in the conference, and there is no way they will not win the conference and go to the Rose Bowl.

The situation: Oregon and Arizona State have one Pac-10 defeat. USC has two. UCLA's three games are against Arizona State, Oregon and USC.

If UCLA wins all three, Oregon will be no better than 7-2 in the Pac-10, Arizona State will be no batter than 7-2, USC will be no better than 6-3.

If UCLA is in a two-way tie with Oregon or Arizona State ... or even in a three-way tie with Oregon or Arizona State, the Bruins win the tiebreaker because they will have beaten both of them head-to-head.

Amazing concept. Because this UCLA team looks so fried. But it's still out there. UCLA doesn't need help. It doesn't need a break from some other game. It wins three times, it goes to the Rose Bowl and there is ZERO chance Karl Dorrell is fired.

Of course, it's practically impossible to think that the Bruins will win those three ... or even ONE of them. But it's out there. Still.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A few days ago ... heck, might be a week now ... a basketball appeared on the very edge of my front yard.

I'm sure it belongs to one of the kids in the neighborhood. A few of them have those portable baskets you can roll into the street and lock into place.

So, obviously, I didn't claim it as my own. And then there was the location ... just barely on my property. If it were about six inches further west, it would be in my neighbor's planter. I keep figuring someone will notice their basketball is missing, and they'll do a "where did you see it last?" thing and come get it ...

Anyway, I just saw the basketball again, sitting there ... and not for the first time I was reminded of Tom Hanks and the volleyball in the movie "Cast Away." You know ... Wilson.

Great movie. Hanks is stranded on a desert island for something like four years, after the Fed-Ex jet he was flying on to Australia crashes somewhere in the South Pacific.

Now and then, a bit of the Fed-Ex cargo washes up on his island, and one of the bits he found on the shore was a Wilson volleyball.

Well, you remember this well if you saw the movie. But as Hanks' days on the island stretch on and on and it begins to become clear no one has any idea where he is ... he starts to lose it, a little. There comes a moment when he cuts his hand, and picks up the volleyball and throws it ... and he later notices that his smeared blood on the white volleyball vaguely resembles a face. And he eventually turns the volleyball into a head, clearing up the face and sticking a tuft of grass above the features to represent hair ... and then starts to talk to "Wilson" as a person. "I know what you're thinking, Wilson ..." And, "Don't look at me like that, Wilson."

It is, essentially, a sad movie. And perhaps the saddest moment comes during a storm as the Hanks character is sailing out to sea in his desperate attempt to get into a shipping lane and be rescued because, basically, he doesn't want to die alone on the island.

During the storm, Hanks' jerry-rigged raft comes apart, and Wilson is flung into the ocean. Hanks wakes from a nap, sees Wilson bobbing about 30 feet away, tries to reach his "friend" and realizes the tether attaching him to what is left of his raft won't allow him to get to the ball.

And he breaks into heaving sobs, shouting, "Wilson! ... I'm sorry, Wilson! ... Oh, Wilson!"

Anyway, call me delusional, but I have at least had the thought pass through my head that I might someday soon pick up that bit of flotsam sitting on the edge of my lawn, bring it inside, paint a face on it ... and maybe talk to it.

My new friend, however, would be called "Spaulding."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The racing is over at the NHRA Finals at the Fairplex in Pomona, and I can still hear out of both ears. So it hasn't been a bad day.

Of course, I wasn't standing next to a car when it roared to life ... at a decibel level only a bit short of a jet engine. Though I tried.

I was at Mike Ashley's pit before the semifinals as his crew worked over his Funny Car, part of a big crowd standing around in anticipation of the engine being turned over. Didn't happen. And NHRA fans were annoyed; they actually LIKE to have their ear drums busted and take a deep whiff of nitromethane exhaust. (It smells like victory, I guess.)

The big winners here were Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Tony Pedregon (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle). Those four won the season championships in the Big Four divisions, and a $400,000 bonus.

All but Pedregon also finished first in Suday's competition, as well.

I did a column for the daily newspapers about how NHRA suddenly has aspirations to big-time national recognition, but they are miles and miles from that. Consider: Schumacher is now the five-time defending champion in Top Fuel, the glamour division ... and I honestly had no idea before I got to the track today.

NHRA needs more TV exposure if it aspires to become a bigger player on the domestic motors scene. It needs bigger venues. It somehow has to find a way to get major media to follow it around the country.

It's a big job. And they can get to working on it while I pay attention to the sports I am more interested in -- which are all of them.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wish I could take credit for this, but a guy who saw my newspaper piece on Joe Torre and the Dodgers today sent this to me.

His name is Richard Witham, and he sent me an e-mail bewailing the Dodgers' situation. Comparing it to the monster Hollywood movie of the 1970s entitled "Tora! Tora! Tora!" ... about the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Here is Mr. Witham's note:

"Ten years from now, Hollywood will release a disaster movie. It will be caled Torre!Torre!Torre! It will show a man going insane because he went from a homerun hitting team to a running-on-a-pitchout team. I agree with eveything you wrote. God save us from McCourt."

If you didn't see the column in the daily, you can read it here.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Can we talk? Can we be honest?

Of all the events I might see in a given year ... the drags are my least favorite. Dead last. The bottom. Behind horse racing, behind any other form of motor sports ...

(Actually, I LIKE most anything I cover. Up to and including hockey.)

Least favorite ... I suppose that means "most loathed."

Is this a sport? Or is it just hobbyists buckled to a rocket engine?

Is it sports when the entirety of your "tactics" involves standing on the gas pedal? If people mock oval racing because "all they do is turn left" ... what does that mean for the drags? They don't turn at all. Not on purpose, anyway.

It's ungodly noisy, they run vile junk as fuel and it stinks, and the exhaust they leave when they take off ... some (no doubt) toxic combination of burned tire particles and nitro/whatever fumes ... ah, breathe deep. Or don't breathe at all, if you can help it.

I'm situated in the press box, which is directly behind the cars as they take off. It's impressive, sure, to see them disappear in about one second ... but after that?

Oh my.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Game starts in the next half-hour. Just want to get on record that I believe New England wins, even with the game in Indianapolis.

The Patriots are just too hot, scalding hot, right now.

I'm thinking ... New England 30, Indianapolis 20.

Tom Brady is playing so well he makes the quarterback matchup with Peyton Manning a push, to use the gambling term, and the Patriots are better most everywhere else. Including at head coach, where the Evil Bill Belichick rates an edge over Lovable Tony Dungy.

I would LIKE to see the Colts win. Those of you who have been following my blog stuff know about my loathing of all things Boston, right now.

And that certainly includes the New England Cheatin' Patriots.

These two will meet again in the playoffs, but that will be outside, in New England, in January.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Friday night matchup of unbeatens, Redlands East Valley and Fontana Miller, turned on two fourth-quarter plays.

We got Miller coach Jeff Steinberg on the phone today and asked him about each play. Both of which were disastrous for the Rebels in a game that REV won, 28-27.

Both of which he had looked at on film today.

The first was a fourth-and-2 at the Miller 28 that the Rebels attempted to turn into a first down.

A.J. Springer threw a swing pass to Cameron Lockley that looked like it would be good for the first down, but REV's Spencer Wells and Leonard Brown closed in a hurry and Lockley went out of bounds on the Miller side of the field. About two inches short of a first down, according to the official on the scene, Alan Hollosy.

Said Steinberg: "We thought he was inbounds by the angle we saw. He had his arm stretched out past the yard marker before he went out of bounds. It could go either way.

"We thought the ball broke the plane at the 30 or the 31. The rule is, you use the first-down marker as an imaginary plane and we thought he was over it. ... But you win some of those, you lose some."

And why did the Rebels take such a gamble, deep in their own territory? "We thought we had momentum .... and we were worried they had some momentum on offense, too."

REV took over on downs and scored in three plays to take a 28-21 lead.

The second key play was a two-point conversion attempt with 37 seconds left in the game and Miller trailing 28-27.

Said Steinberg: "We talked about the two-point play right from the beginning of the drive,. We're going for two. We looked at the chart but switched the play during the timeout."

The new play was doomed almost from the start, Steinberg conceded. He had four receivers lined up to the right (including one that was "covered" and ineligible to catch a pass), and one to the left, who went in motion after some hesitation.

REV defenders shot through holes in the Miller front, and blitzing safety Tanner Hansler dropped Springer far behind the line of scrimmage as he tried to sweep right.

"We weren't aligned properly," Steinberg said. "No fault of our kids. We should have run the other play. We went with the play we shouldn't have."

The original play idea was "a shallow cross series that had given us 5 yards earlier."

And why go for two instead of kicking the PAT and going into overtime?

"We thought the way we had been playing offense, been driving and moving the ball all night. We had two long drives in the second half. ... On top of that, they were having success and getting big chunks of yards with (Chris) Polk. ... We've got an opportunity to win right now. Why go into OT and exchange blows? It's in our hands.

"If we get into the end zone, we're geniuses."

On how the play unfolded: "It wasn't looking pretty from the get-go. Watching film, we still had a
chance, but we missed some assignments. It comes back to coaching."

Steinberg deserves credit for turning around a Miller program that had struggled before his 2006 arrival. His 2007 team appears well-organized, well-disciplined, crisp and intelligent, running a cutting-edge offense with a no-huddle system.

In fact, he could be setting up Miller to be an arch-rival to REV, which is going to win its second CBL title in three years.

Steinberg, 41, is a native of Winnipeg, Canada, and played quarterback in high school and college -- though he has the lean look of a distance runner.

He discourages profanity on the sideline and often refers to a player as "young man." Such as when he addressed a defensive linemen who was getting handled: "Young man, do you plan to make a difference in this game?"

Steinberg was hired by former Fontana Unified superintendent Charles Milligan and former Miller principal Ken Hendershot. (Each of whom has left his job.) Clearly, it was a good hire.

On why he left Ridgecrest Burroughs, where his teams were winning league titles with regularity, Steinberg said: "We wanted to get to a bigger area. We felt like we did our thing at Burroughs and it was time to move on. We were looking for a program in a big-time area, and the Citrus Belt League is big-time. I wanted to be a part of it. It's a good mix of established (coaches) and younger guys."

On the game his team lost by one point and two plays: "It was a great slugfest."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Darren Collison is UCLA's junior point guard out of Etiwanda High School, and really the key guy in the No. 2-ranked Bruins' plans for the 2007-08 season. He knows the offense, runs it well, defends like a maniac and is a dangerous three-point shooter.

So you can imagine the consternation in Westwood when Collison left Pauley Pavilion on crutches Friday night after "feeling a pop" in his left knee.

An examination today indicate he has a sprain of his medial collateral ligament, according to UCLA sources, and will be out at least 4-5 days, and may not be ready for the season-opener vs. Portland State on Nov. 9.

UCLA coach Ben Howland, on Collison's injury: “It is basically going to be a pain tolerance situation with Darren. He can start playing as soon as he doesn’t have limitations because of the pain. He will not play on Monday (an exhibition vs. Chico State) and we will see how he feels as the week progresses. He will be getting treatment every day. Based on the findings today, I can’t see him being out longer than a week to two weeks at the most. It shouldn’t be a long-term issue.”

Howland, on when and how Collison’s injury occurred: “He said that it happened on the first play of the game. He went for a steal in the middle of the floor and he reached out with his right hand and as that happened, his left leg made a funny movement, like a twist. There wasn’t any contact. I saw it on the film and it looked like he tweaked it with a sudden motion of his leg stopping and starting while twisting.”

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ryan Hall is the greatest distance runner to come out of the Inland Empire since Steve Scott, and he proved it today by winning the U.S. Marathon Trials in New York City -- earning a spot on the U.S. team at the Beijing Olympics.

Hall, a Big Bear High School alumnus, finished in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 2 seconds in only his second competitive marathon, winning fairly easily against probably the strongest field of American marathoners ever assembled.

He told me on Thursday that making the Olympic team has been his dream, and he wanted to go as a marathoner because he believes it represents his best shot at a medal.

Hall's big day was marred by the death of Ryan Shay, a prominent member of the elite field of 131 runners.

Shay, 28, collapsed about 5.5 miles into the race and died.

Hall knew Shay well. His wife, Sara, was a bridesmaid in the wedding of Shay and his wife, Alicia, over the summer. Alicia attended Stanford when Ryan and Sara Hall were on campus, and trained with them.

Weird things happen when you run long distances. Presumably, some sort of congenital condition will be found in an autopsy.

Certainly, Ryan Hall can and will feel sorrowful, but the entire event was out of his control, and within a few weeks the joy of knowing he already has made the Olympic team ... and will run for the Olympics' most revered medal -- marathon gold -- will be his focus.

Dathan Ritzenhein was second, more than two minutes behind Hall. Brian Sell got the third Olympics berth.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Osaar Rasshan, a sophomore out of Pomona Garey High School, finally has made his debut at quarterback for UCLA, and it's going quite nicely.

He led UCLA to a field goal on his first drive as a collegian, and just now got the ball deep for a 41-yard reception that set up a touchdown, and the Bruins are back in the game, trailing 34-24 with about 10 minutes to play.

Rasshan was an open-field QB at Garey, running the ball as well as he passed it.

UCLA recruited him as a QB, and he ran the scout team as a freshman, and never really had a chance to learn the offense.

He got moved to receiver during summer practice in August, and pretty much disappeared off the depth chart. Which was a mystery to those who see the Bruins in practice, because Rasshan is by far the most athletic of UCLA's quarterbacks.

One rumor floating out there was that Rasshan had a incident with an assistant coach, and basically was exiled to receiver. Buried.

But then UCLA quarterbacks began dropping with injuries. Ben Olson has a knee situation, and Patrick Cowan does, too ... plus, he took a horrific beating during the Arizona game, and has been benched with some sort of neck/head/spine situation.

And here is Rasshan. Finally.

He clearly is a much better option than McLeod Bethel-Thompson, the guy the Bruins stuck in the game with Olson and Cowan both hurt in the Notre Dame game. Bethel-Thompson is a classic pocket passer, but he barely knows the offense, either ... and unlike Rasshan, he can't make something out of nothing with his legs.

At this moment in history, Rasshan looks like the Bruins' best option, by far, at quarterback. As long as Olson and Cowan are anything but healthy. Completely healthy.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Kurt Bruich wins football games almost as often as his father does, but he generally does it in a style the Old Man can hardly stand to watch: By opening up the game, playing four wideouts at any given moment and throwing the ball around a lot.

But Dad would have been proud of Kurt in Friday's 28-27 CBL title-clinching victory over Fontana Miller:

REV ran the ball 34 times and passed on only eight plays -- and threw it a grand total of ONCE in the second half, when it had become abundantly clear REV was the physically superior team.

That's the way Dick Bruich would have done it. Pound the ball, run the clock, shorten the game, go home.

It's not often a Kurt Bruich team discovers that it is bigger and stronger than the opposition -- but not as quick and not as fast. But that was what this game was about.

Not that Kurt was willing to accept that, right off. REV's first play was a pass. As was its third, and both those plays came inside its own 5-yard line. REV's third possession ended with a three-and-out -- all passes.

Then Kurt & Ko. figured it out. REV opened the second half with 11 consecutive running plays, going 74 yards for a touchdown.

Miller's smallish defense simply couldn't tackle Chris Polk or, for that matter, Dylan Cruz.

Polk ran through two or three arm tackles on a 71-yard run that tied the game at 21-21. And three running plays put the ball in the end zone from the Miller 15 after the Rebels went for it on fourth-and-2 and missed by an inch.

REV will have to pass more effectively if it plans to do much damage in the playoffs. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Shreve finished 2-for-8 for a puny 10 yards, but had several passes dropped. Actually, REV's passing game was so ugly it was hard to imagine these guys normally throw it around with great efficiency.

REV's good fortune was that Miller couldn't stand up to its front line, or to the USC-bound Polk (who looks more like a running back and less like a receiver every time I see him) ... and that was enough to beat game but undersized Miller.

It won't be enough against the likes of Corona Centennial, Norco and Vista Murrieta, in the Inland Division playoffs.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The UCLA game in Arizona probably is starting right about now, but I already am fairly sure how it will turn out.

Arizona wins. Maybe wins big.

UCLA isn't very good, for starters, and now it has some serious injury issues with skill players.

Kahlil Bell, UCLA's best ball-carrier all season, is done with a knee injury. Chris Markey, former starter, dogged by turf toe all season, will try to play, and if he is ineffective the Bruins are in major trouble because their next two guys are D3-caliber running backs -- Christian Ramirez and Chane Moline.

Quarterback is an issue, too. Ben Olson isn't ready to come back (and may not, this season) ... and Patrick Cowan is way less than healthy. He has practiced only sporadically all season.

And now UCLA's best receiver, Brandon Breazell, is nicked up ... well, banged up, with sore/broken ribs. Hard to imagine him lasting much longer than the first hit -- if he plays at all.

With all hands on deck I'm not sure UCLA wins this game. As battered as it is, I'm fairly confident it won't.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At the end of halftime of the Fontana Miller-Redlands East Valley game, the Miller cheerleaders came back across the field, after watching the REV band perform.

One odd sight was a Miller cheerleader carefully leading the Rebels mascot -- a sort of large Yosemite Sam character -- by the hand.

Miller tight end Charles Thomas was sitting on the bench, and he verbalized what I was thinking.

"Is the mascot blind?"

Of course not. It seemed clear, though, that the kid inside was having trouble seeing out the small holes made for viewing out of the cumbersome costume.

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

The Fontana Miller sideline was stunned when its two-point conversion try failed with 37 seconds to play in the Citrus Belt League showdown vs. Redlands East Valley.

Up until that moment, it seemed as if the Rebels were able to convert just about any short-yardage situation they needed to.

In this case, however, Miller faced a tougher task because it had no established running game (aside from A.J. Springer keepers) ... and with only 13 yards behind the Redlands defense, the Rebels couldn't spread out the defense as well.

When it was over a backup on the Rebels sideline became the first to second-guess coach Jeff Steinberg's gutsy call.

"I wish I had a rewind button," he said to a reporter. "I'd punch it and go back and have coach change the play."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Both teams have played better games. But neither has played a more exciting game. Not this season, certainly.

Tanner Hansler came through unblocked on a safety blitz to drop Fontana Miller quarterback A.J. Springer for a loss on a gutsy two-point conversion attempt with 37 seconds to play as Redlands East Valley hung on for a 28-27 victory in a battle of Citrus Belt League unbeatens,

Springer led Miller 80 yards to its last touchdown, a 16-yard scoring pass that Stacey Howard acrobatically hauled in just before he went out the back of the end zone, just behind REV cornerback Spencer Wells.

Miller coach Jeff Steinberg eschewed the potential tie (and likely overtime) with a PAT kick, choosing to go for the win on the two-point play.

Miller called a timeout, and then REV called one, as the tension built.

Finally, Miller came out with four receivers to the right in an empty backfield. Miller tight end Charles Thomas, the only receiver on the left, came in motion to the right, and Springer took the direct snap and attempted to roll right.

It appeared to be a Springer keeper, but the play was compromised immediately as REV defenders poured into the backfield. Hansler, a three-year starter, dragged down Springer all the way back at the 11.

A disconsolate Springer rose to his knees, took off his helmet and held his head in his hands.

REV tailback Chris Polk covered the onside kick for the Wildcats, and that was that.

REV (6-0 in the CBL, 9-0 overall) clinched a tie for the CBL title, and assured itself the No. 1 playoffs berth out of the league. But it wasn't easy in the slightest.

The nation's 20th-ranked team, according to maxpreps.com, and ranked No. 4 in the state, trailed 7-0 and 21-14, but used its size and Polk to fight back. Polk broke several tackles on a 71-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 21.

Moments later, in a huge gamble, Steinberg decided at the last moment not to have his team punt on fourth-and-2 from its own 28.

Cameron Lockley caught a Springer pass at the line of scrimmage near the right sideline, and seemed likely to get the first down, but fast-closing REV defenders Wells and Leonard Brown blasted him out of bounds for a very short gain.

How short? The Miller sideline, which had the play in front of it, thought Lockley had made the first down. But official Alan Hollosy, who was looking right at the play, immediately spotted the ball about three inches short of the 30, and REV took over.

After a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct call on the Miller sideline, REV took over at the Miller 15, and three plays later Dylan Cruz crashed in from 7 yards out, ia play that encapsulated Miller's troubles all night in tackling REV ballcarriers.

Trey Farquhar kicked what turned out to be the decisive PAT.

Big crowd at the U of R. At least 5,000. High emotions on both sides, great atmosphere, a see-saw game.

REV seemed curiously flat for much of the game, and had trouble getting the Springer-led Miller no-huddle offense off the field ... and also lost two fumbles.

Springer and Miller seemed able to convert first downs whenever needed, doing so successfully on three of four attempts. That limited REV's possessions and kept Polk from taking over the game.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:57 PM | Permalink |