In This Corner

I like calendars. Always have. It often surprises me when I discover that this or that person doesn't really know why the year is 365 days long (except when it's 366 days), doesn't know an equinox from solstice, doesn't know what they mean ... etc.

So, of course, Leap Year Day fascinates me, too.

I've never known anyone born on Feb. 29 -- which happens once every four years, of course. But you hear stories about people in college celebrating their fifth birthday -- because they were born on Feb. 29 ... 20 years before. See, they have a legit "Feb. 29" birthday only once every four years. Personally, I would hate to have been born on Feb. 29. Like, really, when do you celebrate your birthday, when you're 5, 6, 7? That is a key question to little kids. "My birthday party is March 1 but I wasn't really born that day ..."

So, I had the idea of doing a search for Leap Year sports stuff. And it turns out that a columnist in Augusta, Ga., named Scott Michaux has a column that appeared today listing some Leap Day Year sports highlights.

If he did all the research for this himself, well, bravo, because it would have taken hours, days. And even if he didn't, I appreciate that he collected a lot of this stuff in one spot.

Here it is, Leap Year Day in sports, courtesy of Scott Michaux of Auguasta, Ga.

(We're picking up here about 10 paragraphs in; the top of it doesn't deal with sports.)

"Yet as notable dates in sports history go, Feb. 29 is easily the lamest of them all. Granted, it's operating at a little more than a 75 percent disadvantage, but even that hardly excuses its historical weaknesses.

"The most prominent athlete ever born a leapling wasn't even the most prominent athlete in his on house -- hockey player Henri "Pocket Rocket" Richard. Older bother Maurice got more love, though Henri won more Stanley Cups.

"Johnny Leonard Roosevelt "Pepper" Martin of the pre-war era St. Louis Cardinals was born on leap day in 1904. Dinah Shore -- whose celebrity helped raise the profile of women's golf through a tournament that evolved into an LPGA major in 1983 -- was born Feb. 29, 1916. Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker who helped lift Greg Norman out of his post-1996 Masters funk, was born in 1960.

"There was a Braves pitcher named Al Autry (1952), Cowboys guard John Niland (1952), Stanley Cup winner Cam Ward (1984), Swedish tennis player Henrik Sundstrom (1964) and a host of Olympians you've likely never heard of -- German equestrian jumper Alwin Schockemohle, Russian cross country skier Raisa Smetanina, Mexican speed walker Raul Gonzalez, U.S. rower Cyrus Beasley and American divers Chris Devine and Brian Gillooly (no relation to the more infamous spouse of Olympic skater Tonya Harding).

"If there was a great leapling athletic year, it would be the class of 1968 that includes former N.C. State and NBA notable Chucky Brown, 1995 AFC Defensive Player of the Year Bryce Paup and NFL backup quarterback Cary Conklin.

"If that list seems less than inspirational, the ledger of leap day sporting accomplishments will hardly quicken the pulse.

"Gordie Howe, returning to the NHL for one final season with the expansion Hartford Whalers, became the first player to reach 800 career goals, lighting the lamp for the penultimate time in his NHL career on Feb. 29, 1980 against the St. Louis Blues.

"Hank Aaron became the first baseball player to sign a $200,000-a-year contract on leap day in 1972 -- a richly deserved reward on his record-breaking road.

"Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser set her 36th of 39 career world records in 1964, breaking her own mark (again) in the 100-meter freestyle.

"Dick Button won the world men's figure skating title in 1952 in Paris. Sparky Anderson was elected by the veterans committee to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.

"In 1964, some guy named Frank Rugani established the badminton shuttlecock distance driving record of 79 feet, 81/2 inches in San Jose, Calif.

"The Professional Spring Football League was supposed to start its inaugural 10-team, 16-game schedule on Feb. 29, 1992. It folded 10 days earlier.

"On the last leap day in 2004, Tiger Woods rolled over Davis Love III to win his second consecutive WGC Match Play Championship and 40th career victory in his 149th PGA Tour start."

Hello. In This Corner is back.

That's a pretty good list. It will be augmented tonight by some CIF basketball championships. And maybe Kobe will score 100 or something, at Portland. We'll see. And four years from now we'll recall it.

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

Cal State San Bernardino lost at Humboldt State, which isn't exactly a surprise.

The surprise for the Coyotes came two weeks ago, when they managed to lose at home to Chico State, which is 2-17 in the conference.

Here is the CCAA-generated roundup of CCAA men's action on the second-to-last day of the regular season. Leading off with Humboldt's 65-61 victory over San Bernardino.

Humboldt State 65
Cal State San Bernardino 61

ARCATA, Calif. — Will Sheufelt drained a three-pointer to put Humboldt State back in front with 21 seconds remaining before icing the game with a pair of free throws to preserve the Jacks' 65-61 win over Cal State San Bernardino on Thursday.

The victory pulled the Lumberjacks into a first-place tie with the Coyotes in the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings with only Friday's regular season finale remaining. Humboldt State stays home to host Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino travels to Rohnert Park to face Sonoma State.

"Thank God for seniors," HSU head coach Tom Wood. "They all had their moments tonight for coming up big. I'm happy for them and proud of them."

Sheufelt, one of the four HSU seniors, finished with 16 points to lead the Lumberjacks, who had all five starters in double figures. Devin Peal scored 15 points while Grayson Moyer, Ernie Spada and Cy Vandermeer added 10 for the Jacks. Vandermeer also contributed a game-high 13 rebounds.

Marlon Pierce led Cal State San Bernardino with 15 points, and Jason Gilzene added 10 for the Coyotes, who fell to 21-6 overall and 14-5 in the CCAA. The Lumberjacks, having already clinched a first round home game in the league tournament, improved to 19-7 overall and 14-5 in league.

Humboldt State built an 11-point lead by halftime, the Jacks' defense holding the Coyotes to 27 percent shooting. But CSUSB picked up the pace in the second half, especially from three-point range, with Marlon Pierce and Reggie Brown hitting the mark.

The Coyotes rallied to pull even at 51-51 when Brown hit another three-pointer with eight minutes, 39 seconds on the clock. The game remained tight, but the Coyotes forged their largest lead of the game on Philip Jones' three-pointer, moving up 61-56 with 3:00 on the clock.

The Lumberjacks pulled within a point, scoring first on Sheufelt's pair of free throws and then on Peal's layup. Sheufelt's heroic three put HSU ahead, and the Coyotes squandered their final possession when Pierce lost the ball out of bounds with 2.3 seconds remaining.

Cal State Monterey Bay 84
UC San Diego 66

SEASIDE, Calif. --- Cal State Monterey Bay took one step closer to securing a home postseason game Thursday night, defeating visiting UC San Diego 84-66 to finish the regular season with an 11-9 record in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

The victory completes a remarkable season for the CSUMB men’s basketball team. The Otters started conference play 1-7 before winning 10 of 12 the rest of the way to finish with a berth in the postseason tournament. CSUMB could finish as high as third in the CCAA when the rest of the teams complete their seasons Friday night.

CSUMB jumped out to a 10-2 lead against the Tritons and led 42-29 at the half. UCSD opened the second half with a 9-3 run to get within 10, at 45-38, and later pulled within a bucket at 55-53 at the 10-minute mark. But a Juston Willis trey put the Otters back ahead by five. That three-pointer was the beginning of 18-2 run that ended with CSUMB ahead 73-55 with 3:54 left in the game. From there, CSUMB coasted to victory.

Willis led all scorers with 24 points on 10 of 15 shooting. D’Shon Cannon scored 17 and made 7 of 10 from the floor. Steve Monreal scored 18 and made 6 of 11. Joe Mitchell led CSUMB in rebounds with 11.

“This season has been probably the most special I’ve been involved with,” said CSUMB head coach Pat Kosta. “What you see now is a product of all the hard work when things were going bad.”

Elsewhere in the CCAA, Cal Poly Pomona lost to Sonoma State, dropping their record to 10-9. CSU Dominguez Hills defeated Cal State Stanislaus and improved their record to 11-8. CSU Los Angeles beat Chico State 93-72 and is now 10-9. CSULA holds the tiebreaker with CSUMB, while CSUMB wins tiebreakers with CSU Stanislaus and Cal Poly Pomona.

Cal State L.A. 93
Chico State 72

CHICO, Calif. – A promising first half effort went for naught as the Chico State men's basketball team watched visiting Cal State L.A. make 21-of-26 shots in the second half and run away with a 93-72 victory Thursday night at Acker Gym. Chico State led 38-35 at the break, but the Golden Eagles outscored Chico State 58-34 after the break.

Darroll Phillips scored a game-high 25 points to lead Chico State, and Frank Igbekoyi notched his second career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. But Phillips missed seven of his last eight shots while Christofer Hart and Vincent Camper were taking control of the game. They scored seven straight points to turn a 50-48 Chico State lead into a 55-50 Cal State L.A. lead. Hart scored 16 points after intermission and Camper scored 15 after the half.

Chico State fell to 6-20 overall and 2-17 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) with its 14th loss in the last 15 games.

Cal State L.A. improved to 16-10 overall and 10-9 in the CCAA. Camper and Hart finished with 20 points apiece. Christopher Mark chipped in 19 points and seven rebounds. Junior Rodriguez scored 14 points and had nine boards.

Cal State L.A. snapped Chico State's five-game home winning streak against the Golden Eagles. It's their first win in Chico Since Dec. 8, 2001.

Phillips hit five 3-pointers on the night to give him 79 threes on the season and move him into eighth place on Chico State's single-season list. He needs one more to catch Kenny Gleason in seventh place, three more to catch Scott Land and Jon Baird, who are tied for fifth place, and five more to catch Jake Hodges, who is in fourth. Phillips also made both of his free throws to extend his CCAA record to 48 without a miss. He's 78-of-82 (.951) on the season and entered the weekend ranked No. 2 in the nation in free throw percentage.

Sonoma State 64
Cal Poly Pomona 63

ROHNERT PARK, Calif- Of Andrew Kochevar's team-high 20 points, none were bigger than a pair of free throws with two seconds left that clinched a 64-63 win for Sonoma State over Cal Poly Pomona in CCAA men's basketball action on Thursday. Kochevar's free throws gave SSU a four-point lead before a buzzer-beating drew the final margin to one. The Seawolves improve to 11-14, 7-12 CCAA with the win while the Broncos drop to 11-13, 10-9 CCAA.

The win was the 200th on the Sonoma State sidelines for head coach Pat Fuscaldo. In his 14 seasons at the helm, Fuscaldo, the winningest coach in SSU basketball history, is 200-173. His career record stands at 230-222.

Sonoma State jetted to early leads of 8-2 and 17-10 before extending their lead to 30-16 with 5:42 left in the half. The Broncos then went on a 10-0 run to pull to within four at the break, 30-26.

The Seawolves were quick to push the lead back to double digits in the seocnd half and led by as many as 14 at 50-36 with just under 12 minutes to go before the Broncos started their comeback charge. Trailing by eight at 61-53 with 3:28 left, the Broncos outscored SSU 7-1 over the next 3:24, pulling to within two on an Angelo Tsagarakis three-pointer with four ticks remaining.

The Broncos fouled Andrew Kochevar, the top free throw shooter in Sonoma State history, and he swished both free chances to put the lead back to four. Those free throws proved big when Larry Gordon capped off a 27-point night with a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Kochevar had five three-pointers on the night and was 6-of-12 from the field. Freshman Blake Saunders had 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Steve Cornett owned game-high honors with eight rebounds and six assists.

Gordon, despite getting off to a slow start, finished the night with a game-high 27 points on 8-of-16 shooting. He had 21 of his points in the second half. Angelo Tsagarakis, who played a year at Casa Grande High in Petaluma, had 13 points.

The Seawolves will close out the 2007-08 season tomorrow night when they host CCAA front runner Cal State San Bernardino. The Coyotes, who lost to Humboldt State on Thursday, are in a first place tie with the 'Jacks.

Cal State Dominguez Hills 88
Cal State Stanislaus 79

TURLOCK, Calif. - Although the Cal State Stanislaus men's basketball team lost to CCAA tournament-bound Cal State Dominguez Hills 88-79 Thursday night for their 20th loss of the season, it was a different defeat than many of the previous 19.

The Warriors hung tough from the opening tip to the final buzzer, leading as late as 9 minutes, 14 seconds to go in the second half and pulling to within two with 5:06 to play, only to see the game slip away in the final minutes.

Senior Duane Jones knocked down two free throws to bring the Warriors within four at 79-83 with 55 seconds to go, but two key turnovers by senior Heath Colvin and sophomore Calvin Westbrook sealed the Warriors' fate.

Jones led all scorers with 20 points. Jones also had two steals on the night to give him 59 on the season, moving him into fourth on the Cal State Stanislaus single season all-time record list. Colvin chipped in 19
points and Westbrook added 16. Senior Rick Cardoso notched his seventh double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Free throws were key for the Toros, as they went 5 for 6 from the charity stripe in the final minute and 78.6 percent for the game. Cal State Dominguez Hills had five players score in double figures, led by Nonso
Nibo with 19. Jonathan Toliver had 17 points off the bench, Jamaal Barnes and Mike Steed scored 15 points each, and Michael Hernandez contributed 11 points four rebounds and two steals off the bench.

The Warriors fell behind 8-2 in the first three minutes of the game, but climbed back into it and tied the score at 10 at 15:04 in the first half.

Back and forth the teams went with the Warriors taking a one-basket lead, only to fall behind again by seven with 9:33 to play in the half. The Toros would close the first half with an 11-6 run and take a 40-35 lead into halftime.

Cal State Dominguez Hills outshot the Warriors 57.7 percent to 45.9 percent and held a slight edge in rebounds, 32-29. With the win, the Toros improve to 16-9 overall and 11-8 in the CCAA.

The 20th loss makes the 2007-2008 season only the third 20-plus loss season for the Warriors in 23 years, dating back to 1985-1986. The Warriors have not lost 21 games since a 5-21 season in 1984-1985.

The Warriors host Cal State L.A., another CCAA championship tournament team, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. to close out the season.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As mentioned below, I went to Caltech's season-ending game on Tuesday night because I thought the Beavers could win a conference game. For the first time since defeating La Verne in 1985.

I wrote about it, an unscheduled column that may not have gotten much exposure in the newspapers.

So, I'm putting it here. Ah, the internet.

PASADENA -– They made the movie.

“Quantum Hoops,” it’s called, and it came out last fall to warm and fuzzy reviews.

Yeah, we get it. Caltech basketball is cute and cuddly, gutsy and inspiring.

All those boy geniuses scratching out time between astrophysics and thermodynamics classes to play a little round ball. IQ titans, hoops tyros.

Accurate. Charming.

Old.

Caltech hasn’t won a conference men’s basketball game in 23 years.

That’s enough.

Caltech has lost 273 consecutive Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Conference games.

That’s more than enough.

Perhaps the best Caltech team in two decades completed its season Tuesday night. It gave Whittier a scare, leading 25-22 in the second half before fading to a 72-60 defeat in a nearly packed gym.

And the beatings go on, another 0-14 SCIAC season in the books, and perhaps more to come if Caltech doesn’t do a little something to help itself.

We’re not talking about the players or coach Roy Dow. The former give all they can in an academic climate so rigorous most of us can’t even fathom it. The latter recruits every kid who can walk and compute cube roots at the same time.

They have produced results. To a point.

Caltech basketball no longer is a joke. Ask Redlands, which needed overtime to fight off the Beavers, 97-88. Check with La Verne, also pushed to overtime before escaping Braun Center, 80-74. Or Whittier,
whose 86-84 OT victory over Caltech in 2006 was the was the nerve-racking climax of “Quantum Hoops.”

“That hopelessness they had seven, eight, nine years ago isn’t here anymore,” Whittier coach Rock Carter said. “Every team in our league prepares for Caltech now.”

Most of that is about Dow identifying math and science whizzes who actually played high school basketball. Maybe even started.

“Not league MVPs,” Dow said. “Guys who played.”

That gives you a chance, in the SCIAC, which never will be confused with the Pac-10. The SCIAC is a eight Division III schools with high academic standards and below-the-rim basketball programs.

Though none of the other seven have standards as rigorous as does Caltech.

And none seems so coldly resistant to allowing qualified kids -– who happen to play basketball –- into the school.

Three seniors played their last game Tuesday. They were among four “basketball” players allowed into the Class of 2008. But only two basketball players got past admissions in the Class of 2009. Zero made it for 2010. And only one for the 2011 class.

Paxon Frady, a senior guard from Georgia who will pursue a PhD in neuroscience, conceded to “frustration” as he completed his basketball career, and he said it may not change for upcoming Caltech teams.

“Not unless the administration starts recruiting some basketball players,” he said. “It’s not like players who could play for us aren’t qualified to go to school here. There’s this big pool of people who are all about the same and it’s kind of random who gets in.”

Said star center Bryan Hires: “As you can see, we’ve hit a spot where we have a lack of talent, with guys with experience. There’s a handful of guys out there that Coach (Dow) recruits that have all the test scores, all the extra-curriculars that your average Caltech person has but for some odd reason they don’t get accepted. That’s the most frustrating part of this because they are just as qualified. That is the one thing that can definitely put us over the top.”

Dow knows he works at a school that is academics first, second, third ... and forever.

But he suggests that elite institutions such as Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams and Amherst manage to find some athletes among eggheads -– with no apparent harm done to the schools’ academic
reputation.

MIT, Caltech’s East Coast doppelganger, has won 11 games this season.

Caltech has won two (non-conference) games since 1996, one this season (Gallaudet) and last (Bard). “First time in school history we’ve beaten an NCAA school in consecutive years,” Dow noted.

But those were baby steps, and didn’t come against Caltech’s traditional SCIAC rivals. An issue that calls for redress.

It is only fair that if a school is going to field teams in sports as popular and competitive as basketball that it should allow those teams a chance of success.

Caltech has not done that. It could. It should.

It would be this easy: Take Dow’s recruiting list and enroll, say, two per year into the 220-some-person freshman class. Two.

Two guys who already have played and practiced basketball. But who also can handle all that being a Caltech student is about. Fill around them with the genius hobbyists. But let Dow have a nucleus.
Give the guys a chance.

Winning SCIAC games isn’t everything. But it’s something ... something Caltech players and coaches and students should taste at least once in their academic careers.

Caltech is all about solving knotty problems. It’s time to fix this one.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have this theory about athletes:

If they are unusually colorful, quotable and interesting ... that's not going to be good for the guy, long term.

It's almost always the quirky guys who end up with a drinking problem or a drug problem ... or whatever it is.

It might be the substances that make the guy interesting.

Or maybe interesting guys are more inclined to dabble with drugs.

Scott Spiezio, World Series hero for the 2002 Angels, certainly fit the description. Deliciously random guy, part of a rock band, a guy likely to dye his hair some weird color and say something off the wall. Never dull ...

Who does that remind you of?

Guys like Dennis Rodman, Ron Artest, Randy Moss, Lyle Alzado, Todd Marinovich (just about any of the Raiders from the 1970s and 1980s, actually) ...

If you're TOO interesting ... there's going to be some hell to pay eventually.

Here's the news story on Spiezio's issues, which could end his career.

He was great fun, as an Angel. Thus, we could have seen something like this coming.

I can think of another guy or two like this, fascinating, live wires who haven't gotten in trouble yet ... but I won't defame them before they get nailed for something. Maybe they will escape the curse.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went to the Caltech men's basketball game tonight ... because I thought the Beavers could end the Mother of All Conference Losing Streaks.

Caltech hasn't won a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game since 1985. Yeah, 23 years ago, for those of you who aren't as good at math as the Caltech kids are.

But they played two overtime home games earlier this month, and they were getting Whittier, which doesn't have a whole lot of size -- which is the strongest part of Caltech's team.

Caltech was tied at the half, and Braun Gymnasium filled up with Caltech students eager to see the Beavers end The Streak ... but, alas, Whittier pulled away to a 72-60 victory. Taking Caltech's SCIAC losing streak to 273 straight.

Wait till next year!

"It's frustrating," senior guard Paxon Frady. "So close ... it seems like nothing breaks our way."

"You would think," senior forward Bryan Hires said, "that when you play a bunch of games that come down to five or six plays ... you would think at least one time the ball would bounce your way and you could win."

Well, we're into some Law of Probabilities Thing here, it would seem. But it isn't working out for Caltech. Or hasn't since Ronald Reagan's second term.

Caltech was whistled for 33 fouls, and Whittier shot 43 free throws (making 30) while Caltech shot 29 (making 18), and there's your game.

Caltech led 25-22 in the opening seconds of the second half on a three-pointer by Matthew Delatorre (who led all scorers with 20 points), but Whittier picked up the pace of the game and Caltech was unable to keep up. Having three key players foul out didn't help, either.

Caltech was as close as 52-46 with 6:12 to play, but their top scorer (Hires) had fouled out by then, and they couldn't keep up with the Poets.

Whittier finishes 14-11 overall, 7-7 in the SCIAC, including victories over co-champs Cal Lutheran and Occidental.

Caltech? The Beavers went 1-24 (they defeated Gallaudet in a non-conference game) and (ack) 0-14 in SCIAC. Again.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This thing was supposed to start at 1 p.m. Sunday.

It finished at 12:16 p.m. on Monday.

It was the 24 Hours of Fontana. Which might be OK had any of us been warned beforehand.

At least the right guy won. Edwards had the best car all day Monday, at a track he likes (seven top-six finishes in eight races here) and pulled away from Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon the final 20 laps.

"Carl was strong," Johnson said. "He was so quick."

Said Gordon: "Carl edwards is in another league. He was awesome."

The only real drama occurred with 28 laps left, when Johnson and Gordon beat Edwards out of the pits on a yellow-flag stop.

Johnson had a lead of a few seconds ... but Edwards had the better car and calmly reeled in Gordon, then Johnson, taking the lead for good with 12 laps left.

Too bad the track didn't have this weather on Sunday. Nice and sunny. Not warm, but not cold. And no standing water on the track.

Very few people in the stands ... and we have to assume the TV audience was a fraction of what it would have been had it gone off on Sunday.

But that's the risk you run when you schedule a race in SoCal in February, our wettest month.

Now we're done with this tour until Labor Day. Fine by me.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been a good long while since NASCAR visited Riverside International Raceway. Nearly 20 years, actually.

But Fox commentator Darrell Waltrip just gave a shoutout to the long-gone, nine-turn road-course track.

RIR, as it was known for short, sat near the intersection of the 60 and 215 freeways in the Moreno Valley area. It went up when there wasn't much of anything in MoVal except March AFB.

The last NASCAR race run there was on June 12, 1988. Rusty Wallace won.

Soon after, RIR was torn down, and a shopping center pretty much covers most of the old course.

:I loved Riverside," Waltrip blurted, when the talk turned to site of today's race. "When you talk about tracks around here ...

"I raced at Riverside two years before I realized it was paved."

Dirt certainly looms large in my recollection of the Riverside track, too. The parking lots weren't paved. And when it was dry, cars bumping into the vacant acreage they called parking lots would raise huge clouds of dust.

And drivers often got off into the dirt when trying to pass.

It was a lousy track, really. It always felt as if it was never quite finished. Like, eventually they'll pave this, right, and put in some decent seating, yes?

But we tend to remember almost all old things fondly, don't we? We probably could find someone who would talk up Ontario Motor Speedway, too.

The last race at OMS was the season-finale in 1980. The next six season-enders were in Riverside, which always annoyed NASCAR's hard-core fans. They didn't think SoCal race fans cared enough about the magnitude of the last race, and we probably didn't.

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

We're back in business, a day later.

Just went green a minute ago after a red flag that lasted 15 hours, 49 minutes and 54 seconds.

It just seemed longer.

Weird atmosphere here.

Well, basically, no one is here. Which perhaps is no surprise, considering most NASCAR fans seem to have jobs and lives ... which might require their attention on a Monday morning.

Even a big chunk of the media is gone. People with plane reservations last night of this morning, I'd guess.

It was a bad crowd on Sunday, because the weather was so miserable ... but today it's just nonexistent. I'd guess maybe 5 percent of the stands across from the start-finish line are occupied. Maybe less. Certainly not more.

It strikes me as something like a makeup baseball game. Moved to a Monday morning late in the season. I mean, this means something ... as much as any of the other 35 races ... but it's hardly being noticed.

f we look at Sunday as little more than a 174-mile exhibition race ... aside from the six guys who fell multiple laps behind because of wrecks or engine problems ... what we have now is a 326-mile, 163-lap event. That is, a really short race, for an oval.

Could be over in two hours.

That is, if the weepers don't rise up and bite someone. Jimmie Johnson was telling Fox just now that he still sees the lines of water in the turns ... the groundwater percolating up from beneath the track and leaking through the seams in the pavement.

The sun is out, but it's not bright, and it's not warm, so the water isn't going to evaporate with any sort of rapidity.

The first 20-25 laps should tell it. If the drivers can get around without slipping and sliding through the weepers ... it could be a quasi-normal race.

Other than it's Monday. And nobody is here.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is silly. Stupid. We all sat around for four hours -- talking here about drivers, crew, officials, track employees, journalists -- waiting for the Auto Club 500 to resume.

And now it won't.

Minutes before the race was set to go back on Fox TV, NASCAR pulled the plug. We found out when the crews on pit road began packing up their gear. A few minutes later, the official announcement came.

A few hundred fans who were still in the house booed -- loudly -- when crews began rolling cars back to the garages.

.

Kerry Tharp, NASCAR director of communications, competition, made the official announcement.

"Despite efforts to work hard to get the race track ready to continue tonight's race, that was our intent, we felt like the fans that hung in there with us deserved to see a conclusion ....

"However, due to the dew point, humidity, we weren't able to get the track into condition to continue racing. ... It wouldn't allow a complete drying of the track."

The race will resume at 10 a.m. and be televised on Fox.

The Nationwide Cup race will run an hour after the Auto Club 500 concludes, and will be televised on ESPN2.

What a mess of a day this was.

The race could have and should have been canceled at noon, when it was pouring rain in Fontana -- but the Monday forecast was for a dry day.

And if the race were stopped at 6 p.m., when everyone knew there was zero chance of the track being ready for two hours (and more like three) ... why not call it a day and send home everyone? Instead, we all waited and waited. And waited.

Weather made it tough. No question. But NASCAR handled badly almost everything around it.

Now we go home, and have to be back in about 10 hours.

Fans who had tickets to today's races will be admitted without charge to Monday's races. If there isn't anyone sick to death with this whole event.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK, the situation:

The rain came back at about 6 p.m. Fairly serious rain. So they red-flagged the race after 87 laps.

Which would have been enough for all of us, except for this: The race isn't official until 126 laps -- more than halfway.

Once the rain doused the track ... we were hours away from a restart. Most of the NASCAR veterans here in the press room were predicting we were done racing. Which meant we all would have been back here tomorrow.

But no! From the moment the rain stopped, the track-drying equipment was out on the track, and now the word is that they will resume the race sometime in the next hour. And hope to go 500 miles.

And that would be very, very weird.

For one, the fans have left. There were never many here, but they're gone now. For good reason. It's been cold and wet all day. So whatever racing goes on here ... will be done in near privacy.

For another, if the race resumes at 10 p.m. ... that's 1 a.m. East Coast.

Let's suggest the Sprint Cup guys have body clocks on EDT.

That means those guys could be going around a track at midnight local time -- and 3 a.m. on their body clocks.

What kind of uproar would we have if somebody got hurt driving 200 mph at 3 a.m.???

Anyway, this isn't going to appear in much of anybody's newspaper. Unless you live in Hawaii, maybe.

But I'm not leaving now. It's a freak show, and I don't walk away from freak shows. Especially when I've been here all damn day.

And, actually, I'm rooting hard that the race resumes and gets at least to Lap 126. Because if it doesn't finish tonight, I'm back out here tomorrow, remember? I don't want that. I want this over with, and I want to see it the proof -- of a checkered flag flying.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm sitting here at Auto Club (nee California) Speedway and going through a countdown:

To Lap 126.

If we can get in 126 laps, that's more than halfway to 500 miles and it's an official race. We have a winner. They distribute points, etc.

And we all go home.

I think everyone is rooting for 126 laps. Fans, organizers, journalists (certainly), even the teams.

Let's get this over with. It's been messy, the rain has made a hash of things ... and let's get the show out of town.

Another yellow flag has gone out, 87 laps in -- leaving us 39 short of an official race.

A rain cell is the problem this time. One of the last in the area, if the radar is accurate. But it's coming down pretty good, and it's going to be hard to dry -- given that night has fallen and it's maybe 50 degrees.

Ack. We may not get to 126.

Some drivers just came off the track, because the cars are parked.

Said Dario Franchitti: "The seams on the track are like ice. Each time I hit one I lost 3-4 spots. It's a shame. Fans have been sitting around all day waiting ... I don't think we're going to do much more racing tonight."

And the weather? "I'm bloody freezing," Franchitti said. "It's California, and I'm freezing."

Said Tony Stewart: "Mother Nature, she's tough today. We didn't need that red flag, for sure. It got us behind. ... The biggest troupers are the ones (fans) over there behind the fence. They're cold and wet and they haven't given up."

There seems to be a consensus this spate of rain could end the racing for the day. I hope not. I don't think anyone wants to come back tomorrow and start from scratch. Not at all.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Man, this is like pulling teeth. Some rain has fallen on the track here the past few days, particularly last night, and it's a major issue as they try to run the Auto Club 500 in Fontana.

The "weepers" we mentioned earlier have become an enormous issue. Drivers maintain that a four-car tangle on Lap 21 was a direct result of Casey Mears driving over one of the long wet spots, losing control and getting into the wall.

Mears touched the wall, came down the track and was clipped by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sam Hornish saw the chaos developing ahead of him and clipped the back of Reed Sorenson, bending his hood and eliminating his ability to see where his car was going. Said Hornish: "After that, I was just along for the ride."

Hornish eventually slammed into the rear of Mears, getting underneath Mears and rolling him over onto his roof. Hornish's engine burst into flames, and it looked scary there for a bit before track workers got the fire put out and extricated the two drivers.

Several drivers were very unhappy that the race went off with water leaking, clearly, from the weepers.

None was more blunt that Earnhardt.

"That's a dirty old race track out there," Earnhardt said.

Asked if he were OK, after being flipped around and smacking the wall, he said, "Just frustrating."

"The track isn't ready today. Just a bad move" to try to race.

Denny Hamlin hit the wall a few laps earlier, and he was critical of race conditions, too.

"I think we can get back out there but I think there are 42 other drivers that would agree that we should not be racing on that race track right now," Hamlin said. "I hit a slick spot and my car took off. You can see it on television. Right at the seams it's seeping a lot of water.

"I hit a wet spot and I'm not going to be the last one."

Jimmie Johnson, unscathed so far, said the "weepers" are diabolical.

"It's tough to see those wet spots until you drive over the top of them," he said. "You get on that water and you lose control. ... We might be getting things under control. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of cars in the process."

So, a recap:

Today's race started 2:30 hours late as they dried the track.

It was halted for 67 minutes after the four-car wreck. So it's 5:20 p.m., and the race should have ended something like an hour ago, had it gone off on time.

And now rain is falling again, and a yellow flag has come out. It the rain keeps up ... we're in for a very long night or a very short (and probably postponed till tomorrow) race.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The rain has stopped. Looks like the bigj storm may have come in a bit early -- and left a bit early. So we might actually have a shot at getting this race (the Auto Club 500) off by 3 p.m. or so. Or two hours late.

The big issue? Well, aside from no more rain coming through?

Weepers.

In Turn 3.

Back on Friday, they had some rain here, but then it stopped, and in theory they could have tried to qualify ...

But there was moisture coming up through the track -- especially near the entry to Turn 3.

Officials here said rain earlier in the winter had left the ground fairly saturated, and that led to moisture percolating up through the seams in the asphalt/concrete.

The process is known as "weeping" ... and the long lines/spots where the water emerges are known as "weepers." And that's what we're talking about a lot here.

Wouldn't seem like that big a deal, a little bit of moisture in one spot. But drivers seemed quite alarmed. They said Turn 3 here is a little squirrely to begin with, they say, and if you have to drive over wet spots just as you're braking and turning ...

So, that's the question. We've got the main track fairly dry, as the jet engines are towed round and round.

But what is the condition back there in Turn 3?

What are the weepers up to? If they're leaking water ... the race may not happen after all. Even without any rain falling.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been saying for a couple of years that Fontana has THE two worst dates possible on the NASCAR schedule.

Right after Daytona, in February, is a horrible idea. February is out wettest month and often the coldest, too. The idea of luring SoCal weather sissies into an outdoor venue to sit and shiver for four hours is laughable.

And the second date is Labor Day, which is Southland shorthand for "hottest weekend of the year." Again, who wants to go through the physical punishment of sitting in the elements (because it isn't really a night race) when they could be in an air-conditiioned room somewhere.

The potential good news is this: Fontana could get at least one different date.

Apparently, Atlanta isn't keen about its late-October date. It's college football season, in Georgia, which has an NFL team in Atlanta, too (which L.A. doesn't), and it also tends to get cold there in October.

Fontana, meanwhile, has a very good chance of being nicely temperate in late October. Also, getting that race would put Fontana into The Chase -- the 10-week season-ending sprint to the season championship.

No one is stepping up and offering to take this February weekend off Fontana's hands. Not yet.

But some relief in October ... that could make a big different in attendance for this track.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is something particularly forlorn about a wet race track. It is astonishingly dead.

Those huge grandstands empty. Cars parked in the garages or covered with plastic.

People sitting around twiddling their thumbs on the off chance that somehow the track can be dried out and cars can start circling it. Well-bundled people, hoping to fend off the wet and cold.

Fontana's track (now known as Auto Club Speedway) didn't need this.

The track already is something of a joke on the NASCAR circuit. Everyone has noticed they haven't sold out the 92,000-capacity grandstand for eight consecutive races and suggest at least one of its two Sprint Cup dates ought to be taken from it.

There is some animus toward the track, too. Hardcore fans hold it responsible for taking Darlington's Labor Day date, killing the hugely popular Southern 500 ... and for stripping a race from Rockingham, which is now closed.

One of the biggest laughs in the media room today went up with word came through that track officials estimated today's attendance at 37,000.

"Maybe 37,000 drove by on the freeway," someone said.

The weather sites I'm looking at has the rain going right through tomorrow night, which means the Auto Club 500 won't happen until Monday morning, at earliest. Probably at about 11. Unless this rain front blows through much faster than expected.

And that will make for thousands of unhappy consumers who had tickets to Sunday's event and can't go to a race on Monday ... and another publicity black eye for the track and one of its two NASCAR races.

Anyway, this place is depressing. Hard to imagine anyone staying here who isn't getting paid to do so.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rain washed out qualifying on Friday.

They managed to get the trucks race to the finish line early this afternoon, but now it's raining again ... or drizzling, anyway ... and the Nationwide race appears in peril.

And on top of everything else ... rain is forecast for ALL day Sunday. Which means the main event almost certainly isn't going to happen on time.

The leader in the clubhouse is NASCAR opting for an 11 a.m. start Monday.

And how many of the tens of thousands of ticket holders actually will be able to go to that race?

But no refunds, as I understand it.

That's the peril of scheduling a race for SoCal in February. Historically, our wettest month. It can rain here, in February. And it is.

The website weather.com puts the chance of rain at 40 percent or better for every hour from tonight until 5 p.m. tomorrow. The race COULD start as late as 8 p.m. Sunday, if the rain ends early enough. But that would involve drying the track and hoping it doesn't ooze water, as it did at Turn 3 on Friday.

What few fans were in the stands a few hours ago are gone. Under the grandstands, maybe. Perhaps in their cars driving home.

Just what this track did NOT need. Another underwhelming event. Actually, almost a non-event, if it happens Monday.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

But this isn't a survey question you want to be mentioned in.

"Which player gets the least out of the most talent?"

Not surprisingly, barking dog Kwame Brown, ex-Laker, leads the way.

Which reminds me of something I was thinking the other day ... how the Lakers HAD to get better just by getting rid of two massive stiffs they gave serious playing time to for two years: Kwame Brown and Smush Parker. Each of them stunningly flawed players with an unwillingness to acknowledge those flaws and severe problems with teamwork. You know, that Branch Rickey saying about "addition by subtraction."

Some day we'll look back and ... wince? ... that Smush started 162 consecutive games for the Lakers the previous two seasons (until Phil Jackson FINALLY benched him, just before the playoffs last year), and that Kwame started 77 games during the same span. It's a marvel the Lakers made the playoffs both seasons.

Here is the SI survey:

Which player gets the least out of the most talent?

Kwame Brown, Lakers C...... 17%
Tim Thomas, Clippers F...... 10%
Eddy Curry, Knicks C...... 7%
Vince Carter, Nets G...... 6%
Darko Milicic, Grizzlies C/F...... 5%
Tracy McGrady, Rockets G...... 4%
Darius Miles, Trail Blazers SF...... 4%
Stromile Swift, Grizzlies C/F...... 3%
J.R. Smith, Nuggets SG...... 3%
Gerald Green, Timberwolves G/F...... 2%

Based on a survey of 242 NBA Players

FAST FACTS: Drafted No. 1 out of high school by the Wizards in 2001, Brown has averaged more than 10 points in a season only once (2003-04); this year he was averaging 4.8 points in 20 games through Sunday.... The 6'10" Thomas has played for six teams in 11 years, never averaging better than 5.0 rebounds a season.... Carter has averaged more than 20 points in nine straight seasons.

OK, I'm back.

A note on Tim Thomas: Interesting that the Clippers gave him such a big contract (four years, $24 million) when his reputation as a dog has been so well-known, around the league. Not surprising, considering these are the Clippers, but interesting. And I didn't think the rest of the league would have a sense that Thomas is an underachiever. I mean, don't you have to be higher-visibility for your name to be called out 10 percent of the time? But maybe if you're 6-10 and don't rebound and stand around the three-point line for long enough, people DO notice.

And Kwame ... in a small way, the survey isn't quite fair. Kwame IS a massive (6-11, 270 pounds) disappointment, considering he was the top overall pick in 2001. And his attitude DOES appear to be shaky. He always seemed, to me, utterly indifferent to how he performed. I was a little surprised when he said he was hurt by Lakers fans booing him, not long before the trade.

But his most basic problems are perhaps not something he could have "fixed" with hard work and a good attitude.

The man has horrible hands. He can't catch. He can't dribble. And that is the real basis of his ineffectiveness. Why he can't score, can't pass, can't finish.

I'm not sure you can correct that with more time in the gym. I believe you're born with that. Hand-eye ... you've got it or you don't. You might be able to refine those skills, but if you're starting out at the bottom, like Kwame ...

Amazinng, really. How many dextrous people there are in the world ... but so few of them are a chiseled 6-11. Kwame is a klutz. But a big, muscular one with athletic ability. He just was born with ping-pong paddles for hands.

And now? He's just an expiring contract. A guy whose big salary comes off the books this season, which is why the Grizzlies wanted him, in the Gasol trade. So they can spend that $10 million on a real player.

A year from now Kwame will be playing for the NBA version of peanuts ($2 million, maybe?) ... and I bet that will be his last contract. Hope he's saving his money, because he's not gonna make much more from the NBA.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sports Illustrated surveyed a big chunk of NBA players, asking a variety of questions.

Here's one with a Lakers overtone:

"Which opposing player scares you the most to play against?"

The winner? Kobe Bryant. By a wide margin. When I thought it would be LeBron James.

Here are the SI numbers:

Which opposing player scares you the most to play against?

Kobe Bryant, Lakers G...............35%
Shaquille O'Neal, Suns C.............12%
Kevin Garnett, Celtics F............... 6%
LeBron James, Cavs F.................. 4%
Dwight Howard, Magic C.............. 4%
Allen Iverson, Nuggets G...... 4%
Tim Duncan, Spurs F...... 4%
Steve Nash, Suns G...... 4%
Tracy McGrady, Rockets G...... 2%
Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks F...... 4%

FAST FACTS Poll was completed before O'Neal (page 35) was traded from the Heat to the Suns last week. . . . Bryant particularly unnerves forwards, who gave him more than 41% of their vote. . . . Among players 35 and older, 63% voted for Bryant, who has led the league in points, field goals and field goal attempts in each of the past three seasons

[Based on a survey of 242 NBA Players] • For more on the poll, and to comment on it, go to SI.com/players.

Me again ...

Why does LeBron rate so low? He's the most unstoppable physical force in the league? Kobe might have more skill, but LeBron is just a LOAD ... who would scare me.

Maybe Kobe gets points from players for his rep as having "an assassin's mentality." That must be it. But LeBron isn't exactly a softie, either. Hmm.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Weird, sloppy, fairly ugly game. But it got San Bernardino closer to the CCAA title, and pushed Pomona a little closer to the danger zone of missing the first conference playoffs.

Cal State (20-5) now has won 20 games for the 10th time in 11 seasons and is 13-4 in the CCAA -- leading 11-5 Humboldt State and UC San Diego -- which plays at Coussoulis Arena on Friday night.

Pomona fell to 11-12 and 9-8, and needs to win only one of its last three to clinch a top-eight finish in the CCAA, which puts it into the new conference tourney ... but its last three are against UC San Diego, and at Sonoma State and Humboldt. And Sonoma is the team with a chance to catch the Broncos -- if it can finish with four victories.

Anyway, good win for San Bernardino because it had a four-game losing streak against Pomona. It just wasn't particularly attractive. Actually, it was passionless and dull. But it still counts.

Pomona took only 27 shots. Larry Gordon scored 12 points ... all at the line. Pomona made 21 turnovers, but Cal State committed 18.

Both teams choked off the other team's offense, pretty much. But San Bernardino occasionally worked it inside (mostly to Jason Gilzene, who had 17 points on 8-for-8 shooting) ... while Pomona eventually got to the line when Cal State hacked somebody. Cal Poly was 26-for-34 at the line.

Cal State got 13 points from curious backup guard Renardo Bass, a guy who doesn't look like he could make a difference but does, in a quiet, inobtrusive way. He's almost invisible.

Smallish crowd; official attendance was listed at 815, which is disappointing for what is supposed to be one of the CCAA's top rivalries. But with school tomorrow and, more significant, a light rain falling (and people have noticed it's a long walk from the Cal State parking lot to Coussoulis) ... well, there you are.

Pomona has issues in the backcourt; that's been talked about all year. Bounce-back guard Angelo Tsagarakis, who was at Oregon State for four seasons, was supposed to be The Man, and he thinks he is, but he's a semi-annoying player who appears to be lecturing teammates during games. Maybe it's because he was born in France.

But Pomona also has issues inside, which the rebounding totals reflected. Pomona had only 17 rebounds in 40 minutes, which is a stunningly low total. San Bernardino had 15 just on the offensive end, 28 total.

What I missed: The Cal State band (where were they?), a competitive Cal Poly team (I know, they'd won the previous four, but you had to wonder "how?", especially this year), a strong game by Cal State leading scorer Marlon Pierce (3-for-10, eight points).

Pomona never got closer than seven down the stretch. That made things a bit less interesting, too.

In the women's game, it was San Bernardino 68, Pomona 64. That game apparently was uglier, which is saying something.

The women shot 69 free throws on 53 fouls, spending even more time hacking and standing at the line than did the men, who shot 56 free throws and were whistled for 43 fouls.

Vanessa Wilt had 19 and 14 for Cal State (20-4), her 23rd double-double of the season.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scott Smith is one of the top prep basketball coaches in the Inland Empire ... but perhaps the least-known, given his accommplishments.

If his current team can win in the CIF quarterfinals on Friday, he will have 11 20-victory teams in his 13-year coaching career, and seven CIF semifinalists. That's some serious winning.

Maybe Smith, 42, would have higher visibility had he won a CIF title. None of his teams has done that. And he's played for only one title, in 1998, when his Pacific Pirates lost to Glendora and Casey Jacobsen, 56-50, at Anaheim Arena.

Smith is in his sixth season at Arroyo Valley, and the Hawks play Valencia at 7:30 p.m. Friday for a place in the CIF Division II-A semis.

At Pacific, he had seven seasons of at least 20 victories, including five consecutive semifinal appearances, 1996-2000.

Yes, he had some good players (Bobby Burries, Chris Smith, Demond Huff, Ryan Nece, Michael Hall, Chaun Ballard, Donny Jury, Chris Adams), but he wasn't having transfers parachute in, like most of the elite teams in the Southern Section. Nor did he have kids from prominent club teams with big shoe connections.

And he coaches in a district that often struggles to get basic tasks accomplished.

Said Smith: "All the schools in the city have the same kids. The key is to get them to respect you, because if they do, they'll play hard for you.

"I'm very demanding in practice. It's not fun and games. I'm not their friend. I'm not their enemy, either."

He said a dependence on playing with whomever walks into the gym makes for some tough starts. "Every year we get a new team because I don't get recruits in. I start over every year. ... We haven't had a transfer in so long ...

"The reason we win at Arroyo and Pacific is, No. 1, we challenge the best teams year in and year out and don't worry about wins and losses and get better. No. 2, we prepare hard. No. 3, a league title is great, but our focus now is not making the playoffs but winning games in the playoffs."

Smith's teams have been good at that. By his accounting, his teams are 31-12 in the CIF playoffs.

This Arroyo Valley team is winning with guile, cohesion and quickness. The Hawks have 6-6 Joe Richard, who is the school's first D1 basketball recruit (Tulsa), but no other starter stands taller than 6-1.

Valencia, Friday's opponent, goes 6-6, 6-6, 6-6 across the front, Smith said.

If Arroyo Valley can win (and it beat a bigger team, Pasadena, last week), it already is guaranteed a home game Tuesday against the winner of the Colony-Serra game..

More about Scott Smith in Friday's editions of the newspapers.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shaquille O'Neal floundered around for a half, but when the Lakers-Suns game was over tonight he looked like a guy who could take the Suns to another level.

To the NBA Finals, that is.

Shaq scored 15 points, took nine rebounds and had three assists in nearly 29 minutes ... and didn't pass out from the exertion.

He was a force late in the game, and a big reason the Suns almost pulled out a game the Lakers led almost throughout.

His arrival seems to have energized the Suns and their fans. They had gone limp, even after winning 61 games last year and being significant contenders these past three seasons.

For starters: The Suns crushed the Lakers on the boards, which is not what the pre-Shaq Suns were likely to do, outrebounding them 46-33.

Said Lakers coach Phil Jackson: "We got beat on the boards. It's one of the features that the Suns have always been vulnerable at. Obviously, now with Shaq and (Amare) Stoudemire they are a much better rebounding team and they showed it tonight.."

The Lakers played very well in an extremely entertaining game that had the energy and intensity of a playoffs game.

Had the Lakers not played so well, they would have lost.

Kobe Bryant scored 41 points on 16-of-25 shooting, Pau Gasol had 29 points and Lamar Odom had 22. The Lakers shot 56.5 percent from the field and commited only nine turnovers.

And the Suns pushed them all the way.

I've written a column about Shaq, mostly, for the Thursday newspapers.

Kobe was impressed by the dive-on-the-floor, hard-charging Shaq. And how he almost took over the game at the end. "When the game was on the line, he went back to ground-and-pound," Kobe said of Shaq. "It was pretty awesome to see."

O'Neal was complimentary toward Kobe, as well.

"He’s the best player in the league," O'Neal said. "He really is. I’ve been saying that since I’ve been playing with him ... a fabulous player."

The thought for the Suns here is ... if they can play this well, with this much energy, with O'Neal not really integrated into their system, how good could they be a month from now?

The flip side? Can Shaq, who will be 36 in a few weeks, keep up the effort he gave tonight against the Lakers on national TV?

If he can, the West just went from tough to ridiculously tough. With 10 good-to-very good teams, two of which won't even make the playoffs, and about a half-dozen legitimate title contenders. Including the Lakers. And the Suns, now that they have what appears to be a revitalized Shaq.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Shaquille O'Neal hasn't exactly turned around the Phoenix Suns just yet.

OK, yeah, it's hard to expect too much from a nearly 36-year-old big man who hasn't played in one day shy a month.

But so far ... Phoenix is in the game (65-57 Lakers) despite him.

He's been a big, slow lump in the middle of their game.

His stat line at the half:

12 minutes, 1-for-3 shooting, 2-for-6 from the line (it would be 2-for-8, but two FTs were waved off because of people in the lane too soon), 5 rebounds (2 on offense), 2 assists, 3 fouls, 3 turnovers, 1 block, 4 points.

Kobe Bryant played all 24 minutes of the first half. Not sure what that's about. He's been the Lakers' best player, but that's always the case. And he played last night.

Anyway, he's been sharp. 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He's tearing up Raja Bell, who usually gives him a bad time. A Phoenix reporters suggests Raja isn't the player he was, say, two years ago.

On the other hand, Steve Nash is destroying Derek Fisher. Fish can't keep up with the little guy. Nash is 7-for-10 (with only two assists; hmm) for 15 points.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Both coaches talked a bit about Shaquille O'Neal and his Suns debut, before the game.

Well, Phil talked a little bit. Mike D'Antoni of the Suns talked a lot.

Jackson, asked if O'Neal would be comfortable in the Suns offense: "I think he’ll have an idea. As far as minutes, I’m sure his minutes won’t be heavy tonight. I would guess that would happen. With minutes comes the adjustability to play in the system. So I imagine that will happen. He plays more minutes, he’ll adjust more to what the game is about."

On the importance of the game: "This is just our attempt to wrest the season series against them, so if we get close enough or they get close enough to forge a tie (at the end of the regular season) we have an opportunity to step ahead of them. That’s the value of this game. It’s a game on the schedule, yet it’s meaningful because they can tie us with a win and we can win the season series with them with a win."

(The Lakers won two of the first three matchups this season; they're done, unless they meet in the playoffs.)

Asked whether he embraces spectacle or tries to ignore it: "There’s going to be a lot of energy in the arena. You just have to warn the players not to get wrapped up in it too much. Just let the game play itself. Don’t try to do too much in the game. Let basketball be kind of the dictator."

D'Antoni, on Shaq getting a new start in Phoenix: "Steve (Nash) was an 'old' 31 when we got him and now he's a young 34. We really think Shaq will benefit from being here. It might be the sunshine. I just feel like we have a really good chance of Shaq being healthy and playing the next 2-3 years. It’s a gamble, but it’s a gamble worth taking."

About why the trade was made: "As a team, we got stale. It was like we were going up hill. For whatever reason it wasn’t the same. We got stale. We maybe could have made a run, and then Shaq is available and we had to decide if he had something left or not."

On Shaq and Steve Nash: "We just thought they would be a great complement for each other. .... We hope Shaq and Amare will draw some attention down there (in the paint) and free (Nash) up for some open shots."

Asked how comfortable Shaq would be in the offense: "It’s more how comfortable Steve is. Every time he looks down low, you see Shaq because he’s blocking out the guy behind him. Tonight, we’ll probably over-pass."

How long before Shaq is in shape? "It’ll take him about 10 games to really get in game shape."

What does Shaq do for your offense? "We should be better, offensively. We should be more efficient."

On Stoudemire having to move to power forward: "Amare shoots the ball so well now he doesn’t have to be in the paint. He’s a floor-spreader now."

On the Western Conference loading up: "A year ago, we wanted to stay away from Dallas and San Antonio. ... I don’t think it matters this year. I don’t care who you play. You just try to get as good as you can get. Obviously, you’d like to be first and have home-court advantage."

On the competition in the West. "Every game here on out, regular season, you’re going to see great games. That’s great for the NBA."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

He jumped (if that's the word) against Pao Gasol on the opening tip. Neither guy controlled uit, but Shaq got the second whack at it and Suns controlled.

First time he touched the ball, he threw it back out to Amare Stoudemire, who hit a 17-footer.

Soon after, he got beaten going back up the floor, and Gasol scored on a layup.

A trip down a bit later, the Lakers dallied around the basket long enough that Shaq hove into the picture, and blocked a shot. Maybe Lamar?

A bit later, Shaq got the ball semi-low, against Gasol, and a fan right behind me shouted, "Back him down!!"

Instead, Shaq tried to turn and shoot, but Vlad Radmanovic stripped the ball before Shaq could elevate it above his waist.

He had an actual shot, maybe the next trip. A jump hook from about 7 feet that he missed badly. But, then, he he couldn't make in L.A., either.

And then he came out. With 8:58 left in the quarter. He had played 3:02.

He sat down heavily on the Suns bench.

Dude hasn't played since Jan. 21, and he hasn't been in shape during the regular season since about 2000.

Phil Jackson before the game suggested it would take Shaq 5-7 games to get into the Suns' system.

Mike D'Antoni, Suns coach, said before the game he thought Shaq would need 8-10 games "to play himself in shape."

Hah.

So far, he looks like an old chubby guy. He can take up space, maybe rebound. But he can't jump, doesn't run much ... hard to envision him making a difference here.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lakers now being introduced. Booed vociferously, of course. Especially Kobe.

Now about to introduce Shaquille O'Neal, a guy we thought was washed up but has taken Phoenix by storm. Like, the people here have been out in the sun too long and think they're getting something vaguely resembling the guy who led the Lakers to three consecutive titles five-plus years ago.

Anyway, they're going nuts.

They've got a video of Shaq already put together ... it shows him towering above the skyline -- Phoenix's, maybe? And letting out a roar. Like King Kong in Manhattan, I guess. Godzilla in Tokyo, maybe.

Intros of the Suns now.

Amare Stoudemire first, then Grant Hill and Raja Bell, then Shaq -- who walked onto the floor, perhaps to save energy. And then Steve Nash last, because he is, after all, a two-time MVP.

Gametime about here. When we get back from ESPN commercials, presumably.

Ack. I forgot Phoenix is one of those places where fans like to STAND for big chunks of the game ... and I can't really see the court from my seat on the south side of the arena, about two-thirds of the way up the main level.

Here we go. Let's see if Shaq has anything left.

PA guy now shouting, "They got bigger, we got bigger! They got better, we got better!"

We'll see.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not exactly a shock here. Baseball continues to reel from steroids/HGH announcements and pronouncements, and Barry Bonds' agent is surprised no one has called?

No one is seeking out the Poster Child for Unnatural Growth?

I'm shocked.

Here is the news story.

You would think the agent would understand: Barry Bonds is radioactive. No team wants to have that glowing lump of plutonium sitting in their clubhouse.

Actually, you hardly want Bonds around even if he were clean. Well, for one, he probably would shrivel up like a vampire exposed to sunlight. But also because he commands/demands such special pampering by the home team. The extra lockers, the PR people running interference, the play-when-he-feels-like-playing stuff. Making sure the third baseman, shortstop and center fielder run into left and take any ball they can possibly reach because Barry can't move enough anymore to play defense.

And do you want to win with Barry? Wouldn't it kind of ruin the whole effect, having Big-head Barry around?

You certainly don't want to lose with a 40-something chemically created monster in your lineup.

I'll be shocked if anyone picks up the guy. Shocked.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lots of energy in the building tonight as Pau Gasol played a Lakers home game for the first time.

Gasol was cheered when his face appeared on pre-introduction highlights.

He was cheered even more loudly when he was introduced in the starting lineup.

And he got a thunderous ovation when he took a behind-the-back pass from Kobe Bryant (the kind of pass Kwame Brown would have whacked out of bounds with his ping-pong paddle hands), took a few dribbles along the baseline and athletically put up a reverse layup.

The Lakers destroyed the Atlanta Hawks, going up 41 in the second quarter before coasting to a 122-93 victory.

That's five consecutive victories and nine in 11 games. The Lakers are 19 games over .500 (at 36-17) for the first time since the last Shaquille O'Neal team (2003-04).

Gasol and Kobe Bryant each scored 23 points; neither played one second of the fourth quarter as Phil Jackson rested his regulars for the Wednesday night game in Phoenix vs. the Suns and, yes, Shaq, who will make his Suns debut.

"It was great. It was a pretty big deal for me," Gasol said. "I'm excited and honored to be here with my teammates and these fans. The way we came out and played defense in the first half was pretty impressive.

"Obviously the crowd had a lot to do with it. They gave us a lot of energy. I had a chance to play my first home game as a Laker, and I wanted to give the fans a little taste of what it's going to be from now on with me and the team."

Fans seem to expect Gasol to be a difference-maker. He could be He seems like the perfect complementary player for Bryant: A known scorer who doesn't demand the ball and doesn't mind being The Sidekick.

Lakers fans are almost giddy at the thought of how good their team could be if Andrew Bynum (knee) comes back strong.

Definitely, some deep penetrations in the playoffs are coming up. Maybe even this spring.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That was a basketball season you don't often see.

A team starts 24-0 ... and finishes 0-3.

From top-ranked in CIF Division II-AA, 32 minutes from at least a share of another Citrus Belt League title ... to second in the league and out in the first round of the playoffs.

"Everybody is still in shock," Redlands coach Brad Scott said today. "If you figure out the number of calendar days ... in 10 days you go from being No. 1 in CIF to losing three straight games at home and being knocked out of a dream you thought would be realistic -- to win the league and go two, three rounds in the playoffs.

"Everybody is in shock. People have come by and said 'You've got nothing to be ashamed of, 24-3 is a great season.' But the kids feel like they didn't accomplish some things. We took a right and a left and then one more (punch), and then it was over."

Scott conceded that the Terriers' first defeat, 83-72 at home to crosstown rival Redlands East Valley, seemed to be a psychological blow Redlands never recovered from.

Another factor? The Terriers had eight very solid prep basketball players, guys who had been together a long time and had great chemistry, guys who were unselfish and expected success.

But it was not a team with remarkable individual talent. The Terriers weren't very big and certainly weren't very fast. They also didn't have that one Go To Guy who could create a shot -- and make it. This is not a team with a Division I college basketball player. Not even a marginal one.

And when this team's belief in itself was shaken ... when some physical problems cropped up, all of its shortcomings suddenly loomed large. At the very time the Terriers were playing some tough and hungry teams.

Other reasons for the stunning turnaround:

1. After growing accustomed to 24 games (26 CBL games, over two seasons) of nothing but success, Redlands never recovered from the jolt of that first loss -- at home to REV, a team the Terriers earlier had rolled over twice, 82-59 and 69-55. Even though REV won by shooting an astonishing 30-of-33 from the line, "that game knocked us on our heels a little, to be honest," Scott said. "We'd beaten them twice and had no reason to believe we wouldn't beat them again and would go into the Ike game with a piece of the CBL (title) already. We were up 58-53, and lost. We finally had a bad game. And hats off to REV. They had everything to play for and we weren't as focused as we might have been."

2. The immediate followup game (two days later) against a very good Eisenhower team, which the Terriers lost, 56-42 when the style of the game turned rough-and-tumble.

"We regrouped for the Ike game," Scott said, "and we were up nine by half, and they made some adjustments, and the second half was called like a college game, and they're more physical than we are. We got knocked off the ball, and a physical game would go ike's way and a finesse game would go our way. That's just how the game was called."

3. The flu that struck Redlands' starting guards, Josh Green and Ricky Peetz, in the days leading up to the first round of the playoffs. Green missed four days, Peetz missed two, and neither started nor played many minutes in the home game against Fullerton -- which won, 51-43. (Alex Wolpe and Tristan Kirk led Redlands with nine points each.)

A team already dealing with a wounded psyche got minimal contributions from its starting guards, and that's a hard way to win.

"Ricky's stat line was one assist and no points, and he's the point guard who led us to 24-0," Scott said. "And Josh looked sick out there. That took us out of our routine.

"Our whole rotation changed for the first time in 27 games. We were out of kilter. We basically didn't miss any players to injury or illness till the last week before playoffs. Last year, when we went 14-0 in CBL, we didn't have anybody injured. We had some luck, no question. Unfortunately, lady luck turned on us.

"And we didn't make shots. We were 2-for-10 from the line, 3-for-14 from three and 16-for-38 (from two-point range).

"Our inability to score the last two games, whether it was confidence, I don't know. Fullerton didn't do anything we didn't expect. For us to be averaging 74-75 points (per game) coming into the last week, and to score 42 and 43 is kind of a shock."

4. Tristan Kirk wearing down as the season progressed. The CBL MVP as a sophomore seemed to fade down the stretch of his junior season. "Tristan played great early on this year but he had multiple injuries at the end of the year and probably should have sat out," Scott said. "Maybe I let him play too many minutes this year. He's the kind of guy who will dive into the stands after a ball with three seconds left in a quarter.

"By the end of the year he was really beat up, worn down. He had a bruise on his hip that was about four inches by four inches. It was huge, and he had to put a pad on it to play. Maybe some of those hustle plays he works so hard at might have hurt him down the stretch."

5. No team wants to lose any game, but Scott conceded pressure built up on his team as it went deeper and deeper into the season without a defeat. And when it finally lost, the damage it created was deeper.

"I would like to say (the pressure) didn't (get to the team), but in the back of my heart there has been a lot of pressure on the kids," Scott said. "We never talked about going undefeated. We talked about tournaments and winning the CBL and a chance to make the playoffs ... It became one of those things nobody talked about. ... And the pressure went up more for the Ike game, and then even more for CIF.

"I don't think I saw it till this weekend; I went to the beach for three days just to get away. ... The pressure wasn't something you could see or feel. ... I just think with the flu, that was the kicker.

"It was like, 'How many things can we overcome the last 10 days?' And we just couldn't overcome it."

Scott plans to return next season, his eighth running the program, and he expects back four of his top eight scorers from this season -- forward Nate Fultz, guard Matt Green, Peetz and Kirk.

The Terriers should get some reinforcements from the JVs, who shared the CBL title with REV. But Redlands will be smaller as 6-8 Reyer Van Mouwerik and the 6-5 Wolpe graduate. "We'll be smaller, but we should be faster," Scott said. "We've got some good players coming up and coming back."

The four graduating players hope to play at the next level, Scott said -- Van Mouwerik perhaps at Division II Puget Sound, Wolpe perhaps at the U of Redlands, Josh Green at La Verne or Chaffey College, Chris Duncan at La Verne. "These kids love to play," Scott said. " I feel bad it ended the way it did for them."

Redlands also went out in the first round of the playoffs in 2007, losing to eventual semifinalist Murrieta Valley.

"The thing i don't want to forget for this grouf of kids was the things they did accomplish," Scott said. "That's probably easy right now. We won three tournaments, and that doesn't happen often. We set a (Redlands) regular-season record of 24 consecutive wins. Those are two major commplishments i won't let the kids forget.

"Two years from now nobody will remember you lost the last three, they'll remember you were 24-3 and had a great year. I have to remember that too. The kids had a great run, and I don't want them to think the season was a failure."

And one more thought about that first defeat, and failing to recover from it:

It's something that's not measurable," Scott said. "All of a sudden your cockiness, your swagger is a little questionable. After you lose the first one, to come back and beat Ike wasn't an easy task.

"When that first loss came, we needed to get a win right away to get the swagger back, no matter who we played. We needed a win to get it back. ... Great teams go in slumps, and all it takes is one game to get it back. We didn't have enough games to get that swagger back."

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Finally.

Those of us who always have preferred open-wheel racing know this is a great move. And long overdue.

Neither circuit was particularly viable. Especially Champ Car, which had its Long Beach race to open the season, then seemed to disappear. Indy Car was better only in that it held the Indianapolis 500, and people still pay attention to that race. (Though not remotely as much as they did even 20 years ago.)

The whole thing was petty and weird all along. I blame most of it on Tony George, who ended up controlling the Indy 500. He ran off/was abandoned by most of the top team owners, who created the CART circuit.

And the split did nothing but diminish both surviving entities.

CART had almost all the "name" drivers early on, and clearly was the stronger circuit, competitively. But not racing at Indy eventually sapped the breakaway group ... helping NASCAR complete its near absolute takeover of American motor sports.

This was a petty, ego-driven thing all along. So petty that George went to court to keep CART from calling its vehicles "Indy cars". That's how we came by the Champ Car designation.

Anyway, open-wheel racing had plenty on its plate with NASCAR running at it, but the idiots running the sport chose that exact moment to split into warring factions ... that eventually were warring over crumbs.

Open-wheel racing in this country has been a mess, now, for a decade. With short fields and limited numbers of competent teams and drivers, hemorrhaging stars to NASCAR, where the real money and recognition is. That is, the inverse of the situation a couple of generations ago.

I've never understood the preference for NASCAR. Open-wheel cars are so much faster than NASCAR's "taxi cabs" (as open-wheel folks derisively called them), so much nimbler. Able to race on road courses with ease. And yes, the Indy cars are more deadly, too, and if that gets your motor running, that would have been your preference.

Looks like the first order of business here will be for Indy Car to cancel its first event, scheduled to run the same weekend as the Champ Car race in Long Beach, which is on April 20.

And who won this open-wheel civil war? Nobody. There were casualties. Lots of them. No winners.

The day's most recent news story can be found here.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I may have written about this before. On the old blog. But it's struck me again.

I appreciate Ben Howland's ability to lead UCLA to scads of victories ... but I must concede I can't really give him or his program many style points.

Sure, this may sound as if I want the lily gilded. As if I've forgotten how wretched the Bruins became in the latter days of Steve Lavin, not to mention the Walt Hazzard Reign of Error or the Chaos That Was Harrick.

But, Jiminy Cricket, if Howland can recruit some of the best players in the country, can't he get them to win in a way that is vaguely appealing to watch?

I wrote for today's newspapers that UCLA's 56-46 victory over USC on Sunday was inartistic. (Read that column here.)

UCLA missed 41 of 62 shots. The Bruins missed 9 of 21 free throws.

USC was harassed into 20 turnovers. The Bruins made 13 steals.

It was a sloppy, dive-on-the-floor, climb-over-the-back, loose-ball kind of game.

And so many of them are, under Howland.

He loves his defense. That hand-to-hand, navel-to-navel defense. Which makes for aesthetically wretched hoops.

Yeah, I know, Howland and the Bruins have been to the last two Final Fours playing that way. But I worry that his success at it will lead other coaches to emulate his ways, and the Pac-10 might turn into the Big East, with blood-letting and in-the-paint muggings considered de rigeuer. The way to play basketball correctly.

That would be unfortunate, beacuse basketball should be a soaring, fast-paced game of almost balletic skill and artistry. But that's not how Howland's Bruins play.

I haven't quite reached the point where I would rather see them lose attractively. Not many defeats are attractive, considering how results-oriented we are.

But I'm thinking about it.

Let the dogs off the chain. Let Collison and Westbrooks and Shipp run! See what happens. UCLA still wins 20-plus games, I'm sure of it. And is way more entertaining.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Looks great in the "W" column for the Bruins. They beat their crosstown rival, stay a game ahead of Stanford in the Pac-10 standings, maybe even move up a spot from their No. 6-in-the-nation ranking.

But aesthetically ... it was a mess. Close. Interesting. Great atmosphere at Galen Center.

But one ugly game.

UCLA missed 41 of 62 shots and 9 of 21 free throws.

USC had 22 turnovers (11 of them by O.J. Mayo, who scored only four points and was stunningly awful) and only eight assists. The Trojans also gave up 19 offensive rebounds, and that allowed UCLA more scoring opportunities -- as well as lots more chances to drain the clock, which was a major point of attention for Ben Howland's kids.

USC falls to 15-9, 6-6 in the Pac-10 and is mucking around in a five-team clot in the middle of the conference standings. USC is tied with Arizona and Arizona State for fourth, with Cal and Oregon only a half-game behind.

A couple of NCAA berths are available for those five ... but that means three will wind up in the NIT. (Six Pac-10 tourney teams seems less likely as the league continues to beat up on itself.)

At least the atmosphere was interesting and the "Black Out the Bruins" promotion kinda fun. (Students got black T-shirts, and the USC players wore black jerseys with cardinal trim. UCLA got the victory, though.)

USC played without Daniel Hackett, a key performer, and if he doesn't come back from the hairline fracture in his back (and he might not), the Trojans are in major trouble. That leaves them essentially a five-man team, and one of those five is Angelo Johnson, an overmatched point guard who had four points in 40 minutes.

This team isn't going to make the NCAAs. Just a hunch.

Said USC coach Tim Floyd: "We've got to figure out a way to win the home games and stay in the plus column and sneak a few on the road. We are who we are right now. We have several men not with us. But I like the guys we have."

On Mayo's awful night, which included 2-for-8 shooting, Floyd said, "It doesn't concern me. We know who he is. He had a tough night tonight. I had a tough night in Pullman last week."

Mayo was a bit harder on Mayo. "I feel like I cost my team the game," he said.

An NBA scout told a reporter, after the game, that Mayo was so awful that he might have slipped a spot or three in the NBA draft, which would cost him maybe $1 million in the first year of his contract.

UCLA coach Howland was a bit more cheerful.

"It is a great win for us," he said. "We needed to bounce back from a difficult loss.

"USC is a very good team. I expect them to be a very competitive team down the stretch and into the pac-10 tournament. I thought they played tough tonight. Mayo is a great player. Russell (Westbrook) did a good job defensively on him."

He added, "The game was a defensive battle. They did a good job of getting back into it after being down. ... It was a very physical game. We were very happy to come out with a win."

The Bruins and Trojans get Oregon and Oregon State this week, go to Arizona and Arizona State next week and finish up at home with Stanford and Cal.

UCLA may need to sweep those six to get a No. 1 regional seed. Or win at least five.

USC probably needs to win four of the six to get to 10-8 in the Pac-10 and probably make the NCAAs as an 11 or 12 regional seed. Anything less ... yeah, the NIT is always out there.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK, this venue has no history, no tradition.

But it's a better place than Pauley Pavilion to see a basketball game.

The stuff hanging in the Galen Center rafters is lame. Instead of 11 NCAA basketball title banners, the Trojans settle for four banners dedicated to female USC athletes, two of them volleyball players.

Nothing of serious importance ever has happened in this building, that I know of.

But as a fan venue ... this is just better.

It's new. It's got modern conveniences -- like adequate restroom facilities and concessions.

The seats actually are close to the game. Instead of 10-20 yards from it.

The seats have some padding. And they're seats -- not the bleachers that Pauley mostly has.

Because it's compact, the sound is amplified.

They have a modern message board hanging over the court ... they have messages and scores and stats running along the outer face of the second level.

It's just a better arena. Maybe it ought to be, seeing as how Pauley is four decades older.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ryan Hall won the U.S. Olympic marathon trials and is headed for Beijing this summer, but he fared less well at the national cross-country championships today in San Diego.

Hall, a former prep cross-country state champ while at Big Bear High School, ran with the leaders most of the way, then faded to fifth.

(He lists his hometown now as Mammoth Lakes, but we knew where he REALLY comes from.)

Here is the story filed today by USA Track and Field.

Flanagan, Ritzenhein dominate at USA Cross Country Championships

SAN DIEGO-2004 Olympic team members Shalane Flanagan (Pittsboro, N.C) and Dathan Ritzenhein (Eugene, Ore.) each scored convincing victories at the USA Cross Country Championships at Mission Bay Park in San Diego on Saturday.

Flanagan, fresh off a stint of altitude training in Mexico, cruised to a 70-second victory over runner-up Renee Metivier Bailie (Boulder, Colo.) over the eight-kilometer distance, running 25:26 under picture perfect conditions, with temperatures in the mid-60s.

Flanagan took matters into her own hands early, daring any of the runners in the field to go with her.

Following Metivier Bailie and earning spots on Team USA for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships were Emily Brown (Minneapolis, Minn.), who ran 26:37, followed a second later by Katie McGregor (Saint Louis Park, Minn.).

Recent Notre Dame graduate Molly Huddle (Elmira, New York) finished fifth in 26:52, while world cross country team veteran Blake Russell (Marina, Calif.) nabbed the final team position, running 26:54.

In the men's twelve-kilometer race, Ritzenhein, Jorge Torres (Boulder, Colo.) and US Olympic Team Trials-Men's Marathon champion Ryan Hall (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) pulled away from the chase pack early and ran together. As the trio entered lap three, Ritzenhein asserted himself over the duo, and opened up a thirteen-second lead over Torres at the end of that lap.

By the end of lap three, Torres had a twelve-second lead over Hall, with Josh Rohatinsky (Beaverton, Ore.) closing on the duo.

Ritzenhein, the runner-up to Hall in November's US Olympic Team Trials-Men's Marathon, eventually opened up a 26-second gap over Torres, crossing the line in 35:03, with his former University of Colorado teammate finishing in 35:29.

Rohatinsky finished in third, running 35:41, with Edward Moran (Williamsburg, Virginia) fourth in 35:42. Hall faded to fifth, eight seconds back of Hall.

James Carney (Boulder, Colo.) finished sixth in 35:56, while the Oregon Track Club Elite duo of Max King and Ryan Bak (Eugene, Ore.) finished seventh and eighth, in 35:57, and 35:59. Jorge's twin brother Edwardo (Boulder, Colo.) earned the final men's position, running 36:01.

California prep stars ruled the day in the two junior races, as defending champion Jordan Hasay (Arroyo Grande, Calif.) and German Fernandez (Riverbank, Calif.) held off collegiate competitors Alexandra Gits (Edina, Minn.) from Stanford University, and Ryan Sheridan (Melville, N.Y.) from Iona.

Hasay was pressed for most of the race by Gits, before opening up a lead on the final lap to win her second straight USA junior cross country title, running 20:32 for the six-kilometer distance. Gits finished in the runner-up position, running 20:45.

Georgia high schooler Emily Reese (Dunwoody, Georgia) placed third, in 21:26, followed by a trio of college freshmen, led by Notre Dame's Marissa Treece (South Bend, Ind.) in fourth, running 21:33, followed by Duke University's Emily Schwitzer (Durham, North Carolina) in 21:34, and the University of Washington's Lauren Saylor (Clovis, Calif.) garnering the final junior team position, running 21:36 for sixth.

Fernandez, the third place finisher in last fall's Foot Locker national championships, used a strong finishing kick over the last 400 meters to hold off the challenge of Iona College freshman Ryan Sheridan in the junior men's eight kilometer contest, running 24:18, with Sheridan second in 24:19.

University of Virginia freshman Emil Heineking (Chardon, Ohio) finished third in 24:34. Bobby Moldovan (Fort Wayne, Ind.) was fourth in 24:38, while Kevin Williams (Lakewood, Colo.) finished fifth in 24:39. Benjamin Johnson of Albuquerque garnered the final spot, crossing the line in 24:41.

Sean Wade (Houston, Texas) dominated the masters men's eight-kilometer race, crossing the line in 25:15. In the women's race, Jody Hawkins (Frisco, Texas) emerged victorious, running 29:06. Pete Magill (South Pasadena, Calif.) and Kathryn Martin (Northport, N.Y.), the USATF masters runners of the year, won the age-graded titles.

The 2008 USA Cross Country Championships will be televised in association with the AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships February 24, from 5-7 p.m. on ESPN 2.

For more information on the USA Cross Country Championships, please visit www.usatf.org.

Athlete Quotes

Jody Hawkins-The course was good. For the old body it's going to be tough. It's a fair course. I'm glad that spectators can be everywhere. The hills were fair.

Sean Wade-I figured I could run 5-minute pace. I didn't want to leave it to a kick from Peter Magill. I ran how I felt. I knew they were not far away, as I could hear their spikes on the mat. I felt that I could outsprint them in the last 100. I was trying to estimate how much slower this course is as opposed to a road course. I didn't wear spikes, so I felt that I was at a bit of a disadvantage, but I didn't want to wear spikes one time and be out for six months.

Jordan Hasay-I went out a little fast at the Foot Locker championships in San Diego, so I played it a little conservative. I still have to make a decision on whether or not to go. I knew that I had something left at the end. On the last lap, the hills got to me a little bit. It was a little bit easier today than in Boulder.

German Fernandez-I'm looking forward to going overseas. It was a real good race, and my dream came true today. I wanted to qualify, then go for the win, and that's what I did.

Shalane Flanagan-I had my husband telling me how much of a lead I had. I think that training at altitude agrees with me. I'm excited to start the season with a win. This course played to my strength. If we get conditions like this every time at nationals, you can bet that I'll be coming every year. I was within myself, but I stayed aggressive the entire race. I needed to practice that mental toughness for Beijing today. The thought of Beijing is constantly on my mind.

Dathan Ritzenhein-I really didn't expect to pull away by this much today. When I noticed a bit of a hesitation from the field, I decided to go ahead and go. I liked the course. It reminded me of racing on a golf course. I just kept pressing until the last 400 meters. This field was incredible, with a lot of guys who have been national champions, All Americans, and Olympians. We could have one hell of a team for Edinburgh.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just when we think we live in a world sunk in pessimism and despair ... along comes baseball spring training.

And every broken down vet, and done-nothin' rookie and perennial non-contender is just positive that Things Will Be Different this time.

It's touching, really.

Well, actually, it's kind of annoying, because 90 percent of it will turn out to be hot air. But still ...

Just in the past few days, we've had Andruw Jones explaining how his hitting barely over the Mendoza Line last year was an aberration ... Torii Hunter assuring us that his $90 million Angels contract won't make him fat-headed ... Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher telling reporters how it was a GOOD think that Ervin Santana was horrible last year because now he's "gotten his bad year out of the way."

Etc. And you can count on another 5-6 weeks of this relentlessly sunny, upbeat looks into the future.

Yeah, print journalism IS a negative business, most of the time ... but when it comes to spring baseball, we seem to buy into cock-eyed optimism year after corner-turning year.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I saw this 7 p.m. start on the schedule USC and UCLA basketball schedules and thought, "what the ...?"

College game at 7 p.m. on a Sunday? That's lame. It's too late, it's too weird.

Now that I'm in the Galen Center 90 minutes before tipoff ... I've come around on the idea.

This has a chance to be semi-memorable. Distinct.

We've got the Bruins and Trojans, and that's always a good start. Especially when both are good (USC) to really good (UCLA) and aspire to significant runs in the NCAA tourney.

But this is amped up a bit by USC's decision to wear all black uniforms AND give black T-shirts to everyone in the building ... by the fact that this will be the only sports event on local TV in prime time tonight ... by the Will Ferrell "Semi-Pro" faces on paddles (are they for fanning yourself?) distributed at every seat ... and because the big curtain at the north end of the venue is open, and that means we've got a view of downtown.

I like this. It will be fun. Even a blowout would be fun.

I'm thinking the Bruins win this one. USC without Daniel Hackett has issues.

Another key will be what happens in the paint. USC's two talented big men, Taj Gibson and Davon Jefferson, stayed out of foul trouble (four fouls, between them) the first time and showed their athletic superiority over their Bruins' counterparts -- Kevin Love, Luc Mbah a Moute, Alfred Aboya and Lorenzo Mata-Real.

Gibson and Jefferson are still bigger and faster than UCLA's inside guys, but can they log 70 minutes, between them, as they did in the 72-63 victory over the Bruins back on Jan. 19?

I'm thinking no, they can't. Gibson (especially) and Jefferson are foul machines. And with either of them out, USC is far less effective.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tiger Woods is NOT at The Event Formerly Known as the Los Angeles Open.

But that doesn't mean we're not thinking about him.

Phil Mickelson leads by one shot after three days and 54 holes, and "Lefty" isn't exactly chopped liver.

He's just not Tiger.

In the column I'm writing for Sunday's newspapers, I note that no active golfer has more PGA Tour victories (32) or Major victories (3) than does Mickelson.

Except for that Tiger guy, who has 62 and 13.

The PGA came up with a stat on Mickelson's success when in the lead going into the final round.

And even though Mickelson has a bit of a rep for choking, for coming-from-ahead ... in fact he has 18 victories in the 25 occasions he has been in the lead before the final round.

Which is great, and makes us realize Scott Verplank wasn't smoking crack when he said, "Other than Tiger, (Mickelson is) probably the next best front-runner. He's awful good."

Yes, he is. Which we might already have known ... if Tiger weren't 34-1 in winning tourneys he led with 18 holes to go.

Tiger has that effect. He just eclipses everyone else. Including Mickelson, who might otherwise be remembered as a far better golfer than we think.

Here is the column on Mickelson I wrote for Sunday's newspapers.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Haven't heard much about David Beckham lately, have you?

The king of pop ... or the king of soccer, anyway ... arrived on these shores with great fanfare last July, when he joined the Galaxy. And his starlet wife, Posh/Victoria ...

And now? Have you seen their mugs on TV lately? Heard anything about them?

No, you haven't.

I mentioned the Becks aspect of this in the newspapers the other day. How Beckham is almost overlooked, just now.

A handful of reporters were at a Galaxy practice last week at Carson ... and that was your first tip that the excitement has worn off.

There was no talk about Beckham. No buzz. No cameras overhead. No cameras on the sideline. Just 25-plys players out there running around.

Eventually, I had to ask if he was even out there.

And one of the reporters said, "Yeah, that's him out there ... next to Gavin Glinton."

That's journo humor. Because Gavin Glinton is massively unknown, even among MLS people. So we've gotten to the point where we don't see Becks ... we see Gavin Glinton and then see Becks NEXT to him.

I asked Landon Donovan, a Galaxy teammate, about Beckham being under the radar, and perhaps enjoying it.

Said Landon: "It’s probably nice for him. Obviously that whole initial media frenzy and fan frenzy probably wore off. That being said, when we go to Asia (in a few weeks) that probably will pick up again because it’s their time to see him.

"But I think it’s nice for him to be here training and not worry about a lot of stuff."

This is the season that Beckham needs to DO something on the field. He can't just be famous for being famous. This is sports. He has to produce or he will be overlooked. Forgotten. He already is on his way.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Let's see, Brian McNamee said he gave HGH to Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and Roger Clemens, and the first two admit they used it ... but Roger does not. And he's telling the truth?

I just don't think so.

I don't know if we ever will find out for sure ... if DNA actually can be retrieved off the syringes McNamee says he kept.

Actually, it would be nice to do a test and maybe get some finality on this issue. But I guess DNA that old isn't particularly useful, so we can just guess.

Just guessing, yes, I'm suspicious of Clemens' late-in-life greatness. It's Bonds-like. In that it was unnatural, coming at a time when everyone else in the history of the game (practically) was in their decline.

Those lengthy hearings in Washington didn't seem to solve much. Congressmen seemed to have made up their minds before the thing started -- believing McNamee or believing Roger. Mostly, it seemed about getting some face time on TV on a day when constituents might actually see you. Everybody there seemed to be posturing, one way or another.

Steroids, HGH ... I'm sick of them. I wish there were some way to just announce everyone and everything all at once, and then we could be outraged and disgusted all at once, then put it behind us and go forward.

Instead, it seems as if we've got scandal by drips and drabs ... forever. That's tiring.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This place is so nice. So classy. So plush. I honestly believe the greatest punishment O.J. Simpson actually suffered, after his non-murder of Nicole and her friend ... was getting thrown out of Riviera. Where he used to golf, like, daily.

For starters, this is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Southern California. A couple of square miles of some of the choicest real estate around. Monster houses on winding streets up and down the hills that march down to the Pacific.

And the course here almost always is in impeccable shape. A tract of near-perfect greenery that can make you forget the rat race for an hour or five. Even with thousands of people quietly shuffling around.

Phil Mickelson is leading by a couple of shots, 11 holes into play today.

I'm going to follow him, the final five holes. Lefty never has won here. He lost in a playoff a year ago. Tiger isn't here, so this is another great shot for Mickelson.

Tiger never has won here, either. He's 0-for-11. Phil is 0-for-9, including an amateur appearance.

Riviera is known for being a challenging course. Lots of up-and-down, including the famous finishing hole up the hill to the clubhouse. And it's so easy on the eye.

I'm not sure I've ever seen an ugly golf course ... but then there is Riviera. Unlike a lot of the new courses, carved into huge tracts of empty space on the edges of civilization (think Palm Springs) ... this course seems to fit specifically into this bit of ground. It seems RIGHT here, not like some artificially sectioned-off tract breaking up the flow of some neighborhoods. This acreage ought to be a golf course. It just feels right.

Anyone would love to live here, if he had $10 million lying about. Unless manicured lawns and majestic trees are an effront to you.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's rare these days to see a kid play two "major" sports in the same year. That is, football, basketball and baseball.

But Dan Selway of the University of Redlands is doing it -- at the NCAA level.

Selway played quarterback for Redlands in the fall and was player of the year in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

And now, he is scoring 9.2 points per game for the Redlands basketball team, which is fighting for one of the SCIAC's four postseason tourney berths.

Selway joined the basketball team late, apparently because of the injury he suffered to his shoulder during the football season -- which ended in the NCAA playoffs after the Bulldogs won the conference title.,

Selway, a 6-3 forward on the hardwood, scored 26 points and made six steals for the basketball team last week, key contributions in a 97-88 overtime victory over Caltech.

Caltech came in with a 267-game SCIAC losing streak that goes back to 1985. Losing to those guys would not have been something this or any SCIAC team would like to be known for.

Selway had 21 more in a near-upset of conference-leading Occidental on Wednesday. Oxy won that game 83-80 in overtime.

Selway is a junior out of Northwood High School and Villa Park. In football, he passed for 2,429 yards on 171-for-303 (56.4 percent) accuracy, with 22 touchdowns against 11 interceptions.

So he's not just hanging around in one sport or the other. He is a serious contributor in both. (Will he play baseball? Stay tuned.)

We can think of one kid who is playing football and basketball on the JC level. That would be San Bernardino Valley College's Sylvester Burel, formerly of Redlands East Valley College. Burel started in football and is one of the first players off the bench in basketball.

The sports world has become so specialized ... it takes a remarkable athlete (and a pretty serious student, too) to play two major sports and stay eligible, too.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I guess I knew this, but I hadn't thought about it in awhile ...

Well, what surprises me here is the precipitous salary dropoff for NBA draftees from No. 1 to No. 30 -- both of whom will be first-rounders.

I'm certain the NFL doesn't fall off this dramatically. I doubt baseball does, either.

While working on a piece on O.J. Mayo, I came across a site named hoopshype.com that predicted the 2008 draft, along with how much each of those guys will be paid yearly in the typical three-year rookie deal.

Here are the projected numbers for the Class of 2008, which likely will be headed up by 6-9 Kansas State forward Michael Beasley:

No. 1: $4.8 million per year.

No. 2: $4.3

No. 3: $3.9.

No. 4: $3.5

No. 5: $3.2 ...

See how it's plummeting? By the time you get to No. 10 it's $2.1 million. At No. 20 it's $1.3 million.

At No. 30, it's $950,000.

So, yeah, you have a coupla-three bad games, you not only suffer the ego blow of dropping in the draft, you can lose serious money. Majorly serious money.

O.J. Mayo is a guy who might have been No. 1 in the draft a year ago, had the NBA not instituted the "gotta go to college one year" rule. Now, he's playing himself down the ladder. As deep as No. 10 in one mock draft I saw online today.

The No. 10 guy, a three-year deal worth $6.3 million. Which is a lot of money until you note that the top pick likely will get a three-year deal for about $14.4 million.

Ought to make a guy want to play hard for all 40 minutes and really work on that free-throw stroke.

Just FYI: People seem to think Love will go around No. 15 ($1.6 million a year) ... and Darren Collison, the UCLA guard out of Etiwanda High School, will go around 20 ($1.3 mill). I mean, enough to live on ... but not Michael Beasley money.

The great thing about the NBA? If you're really good, you make MAJOR money on your second contract. When the club tries to tie you up for four or five years.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

O.J. Mayo was asked about meeting up with UCLA's Kevin Love for perhaps the last time, as collegians, on Sunday.

Does it hold any significance for him?

"No, not really," Mayo said after practice tonight. "I'm just trying to win the ballgame.

"But I wish him the best of luck if I don't see him anymore."

Mayo and the Trojans won the first matchup vs. the Bruins and Love, 72-63, at Pauley Pavilion.

The two came to Los Angeles as perhaps the most heralded freshman duo in Pac-10 history. But both (certainly Mayo) could turn pro after this season. Actually, both likely would be in the NBA right now if not for the have-to-sit-a-year-after-high-school rule The League put into place in 2006.

Thus, they won't meet again as collegians -- unless USC and UCLA meet in the Pac-10 tourney next month.

Mayo was asked what he thinks of Love as a player.

"He's a good player."

Then, looking up at his questioner, Mayo said, "What do you think of him?"

The reporter said, "I think he's a very good college player."

Said Mayo: "Why do you say `college'?"

That is to say, "Why are you qualifying your assessment?"

The reporter said that he knows what he reads, that NBA people aren't sure Love's game will translate from college to the pros. As opposed to Mayo, who might be a better NBA player than college player.

Mayo didn't take his "sticking up for Love" any further.

"I don't watch him that much," he said.

Add: Here is the column I did on Mayo for Wednesday's newspapers, which gives the comment (below) some context.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

USC guard Daniel Hackett will not play Sunday vs. UCLA, the Trojans say, and may not be back this season, either.

Of course, USC said Hackett wouldn't play against Arizona State, and he made that game. So ...

But let's go along with the company line and say Hackett is out.

That could mean problems for the Trojans in their rematch with the Bruins at Galen Center on Sunday.

Said USC coach Tim Floyd: "There's a scenario that (Hackett) won't play this year. I hope he can return. ... He is in no position to play basketball."

Hackett, a 20-year-old sophomore guard (O.J. Mayo is a 20-year-old freshman; go figure) was a key performer for the Trojans in their three-game push into the NCAA Tournament a year ago but has been slowed by injuries this season.

USC describes Hackett's injury as a hairline fracture in the lumbar area (lower part) of his spinal column. With accompanying back spasms that have left Hackett nearly immobile.

He is averaging 9.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 30.5 minutes per game.

Asked what missing Hackett means, Floyd didn't hold back.

"We lost maybe our most passionate player," he said. "Our best rebounder from the perimeter, our best drive-and-kick (player) ... Perhaps our most difficult matchup for UCLA.

"And because of his experience, one of our best game-plan guys .... He's a cerebral player. Arguably more poised than a guy his age should be."

Floyd also said injuries and transfers have left uSC with "what, seven scholarship players?" And neither of the reserves, he noted, is a perimeter player.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mike Sweeney, mentioned earlier today on this blog for signing a minor-league contract with the Oakland Athletics, has a career batting average of .299.

Which is agonizingly close to having a career mark of .300 -- which sounds SO much nicer, in baseball talk.

In fact, Sweeney's career average is .2994.

If he gets one more major-league at-bat, and gets a hit, he would be at .2995 -- which rounds up to .300.

And what's the big deal about that?

Among ballplayers all-time, with at least 3,500 at-bats, only 180 are career .300 hitters. (Led by Ty Cobb, at .366 in his career.)

Sweeney would make 181 -- and the list actually will shrink, because a batch of guys who are in the decline phase of their careers (or have it still ahead) are barely over. 300.

Among them: Lance Berkman and Bobby Abreu at .300, Juan Pierre and Sean Casey at .301, Jose Vidro and Michael Young at .302, Ivan Rodriguez, Moises Alou and Frank Thomas at .303, etc.

Sweeney himself is in the decline phase of his career. He was a career .302 hitter before last season, when he hit .260 in 265-at bats.

But if he gets one hit ... he could retire on the spot and be a .300 hitter! Or 2-for-4 would work, too. Actually, 1-for-2 would get him there, too. But 1-for-3 would not.

And how abvout this: If he had one less at-bat in his career (4,668 sted 4,669) he would be a .300 hitter. It's that close.

Just a thought. Hitting .299 is almost as bad as having 399 home runs. Not as bad as having 499 homers. But it's a great threshold for a big-leaguer.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A minor-league deal? This has to be something of a shock to Mike Sweeney, considering he was "the face" of the Kansas City Royals franchise for a decade -- and their highest-paid player for several years.

But the Ontario High School alumnus was injured much of the past few years (he missed between 40 and 102 games annually going back to 2003, and the club chafed under the five-year, $55 million contract Sweeney had. In several seasons it represented as much as one-third of the entire Royals payroll.

Read the Associated Press news story here.

Given that Sweeney's only defensive position is first base, a job in the American League makes more sense. He can also work at DH, that is.

A key here will be Sweeney showing up at the Oakland camp in a few weeks with the right attitude. I think he will. He's a very solid character guy, and he knows he hasn't demonstrated an ability to go out and play every day for a while ... and that his stats has been sliding even when he does play.

Besides his new contract status, it also will be weird for Sweeney to play on a team that isn't the Royals.

Kansas City may be the saddest franchise in baseball, but it was the only organization Sweeney ever knew.

Another thought: We often worry about the financial status of high-income athletes suddenly playing for a fraction of what they used to get paid.

I would be shocked, however, to find that Sweeney has blown through any major part of the $71.1 million he has earned in his career, according to baseball-reference.com.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The venerable Redlands Bicycle Classic, an event perhaps most noteworthy in that it has survived almost two-and-a-half decades in the blink-and-it's-gone world of pro cycling, is changing again.

And not for the better ... though we can't really expect organizers to pitch it like that.

For 2008, the Classic is bagging what always had been its signature event: The Oak Glen Road Race.

Even when the Classic was at its height, in terms of stages and cash and quality of field, Oak Glen was the one event that really mattered. Almost 100 miles, for the men, with a grueling, 10-mile climb to the quaint, apple-orchard community of Oak Glen, north of Beaumont.

The race finished at Los Rios Rancho, more than 4,800 feet above sea level. And the long push to the finish inevitably pulled the field apart and identified the top handful of competitors -- if it didn't flat-out determine who would win. It was a race where there were several minutes between riders -- in a competition where the other events usually featured minuscule time differentials.

The replacement event? A circuit race around Beaumont. About 85 miles for them men, or five laps of a 17-mile course with 1,200 feet of climbing per lap, organizers say. No easy ride, but an event we're going to predict doesn't blow up the field Oak Glen often did.

Why the change?

My guess: Redlands is looking for ways to trim costs, and Oak Glen always was an expensive proposition. It called for lots of traffic control (much of it uniformed police and CHP) as it wound from Redlands to Lake Matthews and back up to Oak Glen.

Let's assume a 17-mile loop in Beaumont will be much less expensive. (You leave the same roads closed for four hours, instead of making one pass, as per the Oak Glen race.) And though we regret to see the Classic diminished in scope and difficulty, its ultimate responsibility is making sure it survives. If the money isn't there to make Oak Glen viable, then the RBC has to do what it has to do. (There was no Oak Glen race in 2006, either, the year that essentially marked the start of the Classic's apparent financial struggles.)

A bicycle calender with NO Redlands Classic is much worse than a sked with a smaller one.

Following, is the release from RBC:

The 2008 Redlands Bicycle Classic Rolls a Circuit Through Beautiful
Beaumont. April 4, 2008.

Redlands, California- The 24th Annual Redlands Bicycle Classic (RBC) will
host a first ever Circuit Race through the beautiful city of Beaumont. The
rolling 17 mile course will take racers around the perimeter of the city
that lies just east of Redlands. Men will complete 5 laps, and women 4 laps
of the challenging course featuring approximately 1200 feet of climbing per
lap, as well as KOM and sprint points.

Beaumont Mayor Brian DeForge says "The city of Beaumont is honored and
excited to be a part of this year's Redlands Bicycle Classic! We look
forward to working with the organizers, competitors, and viewing public to
showcase our beautiful community." Police Chief Frank Coe adds, "We are
excited the Redlands Bicycle Classic race committee has selected the city of
Beaumont for their Circuit Race. We look forward to welcoming the racers to
our community and hope to develop a continuing relationship hosting future
stages as well."

The 24th Annual Redlands Bicycle Classic will continue its successful four
day format under the guidance of race director Dan Rendler, and the all
volunteer organizing committee. Rendler states "The city of Beaumont is an
excellent venue for the first stage of our 2008 race. We are confident that
the racers will find the new circuit course challenging and look forward to
a long term partnership with the city."

This year's RBC promises four days of world class bicycle racing, beginning
with a torturous prologue Time Trial on April 3rd, the Beaumont Circuit Race
April 4th, the downtown Redlands figure-eight Criterium April 5th, and
finishing with the final stage on April 6th, the famous Sunset Road Race
through the hills of Redlands.

Along with the prologue and three stages of professional racing on USA
Cycling's National Racing Calendar, the Redlands Bicycle Classic will
feature the 2008 recipient of the now coveted "Legends" Award, a full day of
public racing beginning with youth racers at age 3 through adults, the 2nd
annual "School Duel" competition among area schools, a new eco-friendly
environmental festival focused on promoting healthy living, and a full
schedule of hand cycle racing sponsored by the PossAbilities program at Loma
Linda University Medical Center that will be part of the United States
Handcycling National Series.

For more information on the Redland Bicycle Classic, visit
www.redlandsclassic.com

About the Redlands Bicycle Classic
The Redlands Bicycle Classic is an all-volunteer organization, including the
board of directors. The 24th annual Redlands Bicycle Classic is scheduled
for April 3-6, 2008. The event was founded in 1985 by a community group
chaired by then Mayor Carole Beswick to promote awareness of downtown
Redlands. Since that time, professional cyclists from around the world have
been racing in this event centered around the city of Redlands, California.
The Redlands Bicycle Classic is on the United States Cycling Federation
(USCF) National Racing Calendar (NCR).

About PossAbilities
PossAbilities is a community outreach program of Loma Linda University
Rehabilitation, Orthopaedic, and Neurosciences Institute. Membership to
PossAbilities is free and there are no age restrictions. For more
information: www.mypossabilities.com

About the city of Beaumont
The city of Beaumont is a growing community nestled in the San Gorgonio Pass
between Mount San Gorgonio and Mount San Jacinto. Founded in 1912, the
city has a population approaching 32,000 and was named the fastest growing
city in the state of California for the year 2006. Beaumont is attracting a
host of newcomers who are eager to enjoy the city's numerous amenities,
including a strong history, low crime, high quality of life, and planned
growth. Along with an increasing number of residents, many businesses have
also moved into the area, resulting in a well balanced community that is
becoming known as a great place to live, work, and play.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jim Zorn, the greatest player to come out of the long-gone Cal Poly Pomona football program, is the surprise choice as coach of the Washington Redskins, it is being reported tonight.

Here is the Associated Press story on Zorn and the Skins.

Zorn wasn't the first -- or last -- Cal Poly Pomona football player to reach the NFL, but he was the most successful. By miles.

He had huge stats at the "college division" level, which we might expect.

In 1973 he was named Southern California College Division player of the year despite playing for a 4-6-1 team. That's because he passed for 2,367 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Zorn holds the CPP record for total offense (5,314 yards), which we fairly safely can assume will never be broken, considering the school gave up football in 1982, after fielding teams since 1956.

Zorn was among those who tried to save the Pomona football program. When it was in crisis, in the early 1980s, he was at the height of his NFL celebrity.

Other Cal Poly Pomona players who made it to the NFL: Linebacker David Grayson (Browns, Chargers), defensive back J.C. Pearson (Chiefs, Vikings), punter Joe Prokop (Jets, etc.) and linebacker Al Smith (Oilers).

Smith was the last Pomona player to leave the NFL, in 1996.

As a player, that is. Pomona's program lives on in the form of the Redskins' new head coach.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A reader sent me an e-mail Tuesday in which she expressed annoyance/outrage that area newspapers had no mention of a famous sports plane crash.

Here is the note:

"It was 50 years ago today that the greatest tragedy in soccer history occurred and yet there was no mention of it by any reporter. I find that to be reprehensible in this age of global communication. The team involved are Manchester United, not some unknown team from some unknown country. Is there any way you could mention this at some future time?"

"Greatest tragedy" and "Manchester United" ... sure, that sounds interesting, so I looked it up.

The basics are these: On Feb. 6, 1958, a commuter-sized airplane carrying 44 people crashed on takeoff from an airport in Munich, and 21 people onboard died -- including seven members of Manchester United, one of England's most famous soccer clubs.

A lengthy entry on the event can be found here.

Anyway, it turns it the Man U crash wasn't even the biggest in soccer history. Many more players died a few years earlier in a crash involving a team from Turin, Italy.

I came across this list, compiled in 2003, of air-travel deaths involving prominent athletes.

Active Athletes, coaches and officials who have died in plane crashes:

Oct. 18, 1925 -- Marvin Goodwin, Cincinnati Red pitcher, in Houston.

March 31, 1931 -- Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach, in Kansas.

May 4, 1949 -- 22 members of Torino, the Italian soccer champions, in Turin, Italy.

Oct. 27, 1949 -- Marcel Cerdan, former world middleweight champion, en route to fight Jake LaMotta in Spain.

July 1, 1954 -- John McBride, Alabama halfback, killed in ROTC training flight in Texas.

Oct. 30, 1954 -- Wilbur Shaw, President of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in Decatur, Ind.

Sept. 20, 1956 -- Tom Gastall, Baltimore Oriole catcher, in Maryland.

Nov. 27, 1956 -- Charlie Peete, St. Louis Cardinal outfielder, in Venezuela.

Feb. 6, 1958 -- Eight members of the English soccer champion Manchester United, in Munich.

Aug. 14, 1958 -- Six members of the Egyptian fencing team, in the Atlantic Ocean.

Oct. 30, 1958 -- Philip Scrutton, British Walker Cup golfer.

April 29, 1959 -- Joaquin Blume, Spain's European gymnastics champion, in Madrid.

Oct. 10, 1960 -- 16 members of the Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo football team, in Toledo, Ohio.

Feb. 16, 1961 -- 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team, in Belgium.

April 3, 1961 -- Green Cross, a first-division Chilean soccer team, in the Las Lastimas Mountains.

March 1, 1962 -- Johnny Dieckman, world fly-casting champion, in Chicago.

April 12, 1962 -- Ron Flockhart, Scottish racing driver, in Melbourne.

Feb. 15, 1964 -- Ken Hubbs, 22, Chicago Cub second baseman, in Utah.

July 24, 1966 -- Tony Lema, 1964 British Open champion, in Munster, Ind.

April 28, 1968 -- Six members of the Lamar Tech track team, in Beaumont, Texas.

Sept. 26, 1969 -- 25 members of Bolivian soccer team "The Strongest", in the Andes.

Oct. 2, 1970 -- 14 Wichita State football players, in Colorado.

Nov. 14, 1970 -- 37 Marshall University football players, in Huntington, W.Va.

Oct. 11, 1972 -- 30 members of a Uruguayan rugby club, in Chile.

Dec. 31, 1972 -- Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder, from San Juan, Puerto Rico en route to Nicaragua to aid earthquake victims.

June 24, 1975 -- Wendell Ladner, New York Nets forward, in New York.

Dec. 13, 1977 -- 14 University of Evansville basketball players and coach Bobby Watson in Evansville, Ind.

Aug. 2, 1979 -- Thurman Munson, New York Yankee catcher, in Canton, Ohio.

Jan. 11, 1980 -- Bo Rein, LSU football coach, in the Atlantic Ocean.

March 14, 1980 -- 14 members of the U.S. amateur boxing team in Warsaw, Poland.

Aug. 16, 1987 -- Nick Vanos, Phoenix Suns center, in Romulus, Mich.

Dec. 8, 1987 -- 17 players of the Alianza Peruvian first-division soccer team in Lima, Peru.

Sept. 30, 1988 -- Al Holbert, six-time IMSA champion, near Columbus Ohio.

July 19, 1989 -- Jay Ramsdell, CBA Commissioner, in Sioux City, Iowa.

April 1, 1993 -- Alan Kulwicki, NASCAR's 1992 champion, in Blountville, Tenn.

April 28, 1993 -- 18 players and five team officials of Zambia's national soccer team in Libreville, Gabon.

July 13, 1993 -- Davey Allison, NASCAR driver, the day after a helicopter he was piloting crashed on the infield at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

April 18, 1996 -- Brook Berringer, Nebraska quarterback, two days before the NFL Draft, when the small plane he was piloting crashed in Raymond, Neb.

May 11, 1996 -- Rodney Culver, San Diego Chargers running back, in Florida Everglades.

Oct. 25, 1999 -- Payne Stewart, winner of the 1989 PGA Championship and a two-time U.S. Open winner, two miles west of Mina, S.D.

Jan. 27, 2001 -- Players Nate Fleming and Dan Lawson, and six officials associated with Oklahoma State's men's basketball team, in Beyers, Colo

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Interesting concept, wikipedia. The online people's encyclopedia, or whatever it bills itself as.

A fascinating aspect of it? Any ol' body can create an entry. And take it in whatever direction they want to.

This strikes me every time I look at the R.Jay Soward wikipedia entry. Which so clearly was NOT written by R.Jay or anyone he might consider a friend.

It's fairly relentlessly mocking. It certainly isn't flattering. And granted, R.Jay had a sports career that lent itself toward some of that, but ...

You can see the wiki entry here.

R.Jay is the former NFL wide receiver from Rialto by way of Fontana High School and USC.

He is hoping to get reinstated, after a lengthy banishment for substance abuse problems, and attempt to make an NFL comeback, at age 30.

Getting back to the NFL would be a long shot, and R.Jay certainly would do some things differently, if he could.

Anyway,. if you think you're even remotely famous, that someone might "google" your name or perhaps even want to write about you ... you're best served creating your own wiki entry. Or getting someone who likes you to do it for you. And then to monitor it to make sure none of your enemies gets in their and messes with it.

You don't want an enemy writing your biography.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ken Miller, former University of Redlands football and baseball head coach, today was named head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.

Miller, 66, was offensive coordinator for the Roughriders last season, when they won the Grey Cup -- the CFL championship.

A story from the Canadian Press earlier today gives basic details.

In short, Miller has been coaching in Canada for several seasons, moving up there after he left Redlands about seven years ago.

Miller was known for being extremely calm and patient. Which came in handy when he was handed the Redlands football program after the legendary (at Redlands) Paul Serrao stepped down.

Redlands was heading into perhaps its lowest ebb, as a school and as an athletic department. Football was given little time and attention, and perhaps nothing says more about it that the fact that Miller was BOTH football and baseball coach for a while, there.

Eventually, James Appleton was hired as Redlands president and charged with turning around the struggling liberal arts college, which had seen its enrollment sag dramatically.

Appleton was a football enthusiast. However, he didn't think the Bulldogs could rally under Miller, and Miller was edged aside so that Mike Maynard could be brought in. Miller then continued several seasons as Redlands' baseball coach.

He's a good guy, and did his best in some difficult circumstances. Today's appointment represents the pinnacle of his coaching career, to date.

Here is a feature story on Miller that appeared in the Tryon (N.C.) Daily Bulletin last week, before he got the head-coaching job.

‘Something of a treasure’
Joey Millwood
February 1, 2008

It took Maureen Miller a few times to be able to say Saskatchewan comfortably.
Her husband, Ken Miller, became the offensive coordinator for the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) Saskatchewan Roughriders last year. Ken and Maureen live in Tryon during the offseason.
By November, however, as her husband, coaches and players were hoisting the CFL’s version of the Super Bowl trophy, the Grey Cup, Maureen was able to scream Saskatchewan with all the other fans who were celebrating their team’s championship win.
“It was wonderful,” she said.
It was the 66-year-old Miller’s second Grey Cup win since 2004. That year, he was the offensive line coach for the Toronto Argonauts.
But while he knew of the CFL and was familiar with the team, the journey to Canada was long for the two-time Grey Cup-winning coach.
The resume
Miller has always been on the outer fringes of the CFL. When he was growing up in Oregon, they were far enough north that CFL games were played on the local networks.
Then he went to college in North Dakota, which is just south of where he now coaches in Saskatchewan.
His first coaching job was at his alma mater, Dickson State College in North Dakota. He was a graduate assistant for the football team in 1966.
Miller moved on and coached high school football in Oregon from 1967 until 1969. In 1969, he began coaching high school football in Southern California. In 1977, he was a public school adminstrator and a part-time coach at the University of Redlands. In 1984, he began coaching fulltime at Redlands and continued to coach until 2000.
In 2001, Miller took a hiatus from coaching and instead was teaching biology at a high school in Southern California.
It was then that a friend of his, who was a coach of a competing team when Miller was coaching at Redlands, reached out to him about a job with the Toronto Argonauts.
“It was a big decision financially,” he said. “It was a good decision.”
Without little ones running around the house, the decision was a little easier, Miller said.
And there was no hesitation on Maureen’s part.
“I was for it,” she said.
So in 2002, Miller got his first job in the professional ranks. He was named the offensive line coach for the Argonauts. The first year was rough as the Argonauts squeaked into the playoffs. The coach was fired before the second year and the staff was informed that their contracts wouldn’t be renewed, Miller said.
But sitting at home in Southern California, Miller got the call. The new head coach wanted to retain him as the offensive line coach. Miller returned, but to chaos. The Argonauts went bankrupt in 2003 and the franchise was in chaos, Miller said.
It was during this time that he was working with offensive coordinator and future Roughriders head coach Kent Austin.
Through all the chaos, however, Miller and the Argonauts came out on top in 2004 with a Grey Cup. A couple of years later, in 2007, Miller got the call from Austin to become the offensive coordinator for the Roughriders.
In one year, the Roughriders would give Miller his second ring. The Roughriders have a few names that American football enthusiasts might recognize. Most notably, former NCAA quarterbacks Drew Tate of Iowa, Darian Durant of North Carolina and Marcus Crandell of East Carolina are on the Saskatchewan roster.
The adjustment
The CFL is quite different from the NFL. There are many different rules, Miller said.
For one thing, the CFL game is a lot faster. Instead of four downs as in the NFL, the CFL has three downs.
The field is also a lot larger. Instead of the 100 yards Americans are accustomed to, the CFL field is 110 yards. The endzones are 20 yards deep instead of ten and the goalposts sit on the goal line in the CFL.
There are no backfield motion penalties, which is a rule adopted by the Arena Football League. This means wide receivers and runningbacks can move around in the backfield with no penalties.
There are also 12 men on the field, not 11. The 12th man on the offensive side of the ball is a receiver or runningback. On the defensive side of the ball, the 12th man can be anything, Miller said.
Fundamentally, however, the game is the same, he said. The way athletes train and the plays are very similar.
“It took a while to learn the game up here,” Miller said, “and I’m still learning the game up here.”
Training camp begins at the end of May in the CFL. The eight CFL teams play two preseason games and 18 regular season games in two divisions, East and West. The Grey Cup takes place around Thanksgiving.
A winning season
The Roughriders were underdogs coming into last year, Miller said.
They had a new coaching staff and didn’t really have any standout stars.
“We were really a team of no-names for the most part,” he said.
That underdog status didn’t stop Saskatchewan and the Roughriders rewarded the fans who follow them rabidly.
The Rough-riders finished 12-6 during the regular season and beat Winnipeg 23-19 to win the Grey Cup.
It was only the third Grey Cup in franchise history. The last championship was in 1989 when Austin was the quarterback.
Austin has since stepped down as head coach and Miller is interviewing for the head coaching job. If he returns to the Roughriders, history will be stacked against them. A team hasn’t repeated as CFL championships since Edmonton dominated in the 1980s.
Reflection
Although he didn’t plan it, his time in Canada has been “something of a treasure,” he said.
“(Coaching in Canada) isn’t something that I sat down and planned,” Miller said.
The thought of coaching in Canada hadn’t crossed his mind until a former competitor got a job in Canada.
While he was at Dickson College in North Dakota, he told his football teammates that one day he’d play professional football. He didn’t get that chance, however.
Coaching professionally has filled that void, he said. There are only 40 professional football teams in North America and the idea that he’s gotten to coach for two of them has been a big thrill, he said.
“Having the opportunity to coach professional football has really been a blessing,” Miller said.

All material ©2008 Tryon Daily Bulletin | 16 N. Trade St., Tryon NC 28782 | Phone: 828.859.9151 | Fax: 828.859.5575

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

This is the absolutely insane trade the Phoenix Suns are about to make:

Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for ... Shaquille O'Neal.

Man, the Lakers' Pau Gasol acquisition clearly has driven some Western Conference teams nuts.

Shaq is so far down the backside of his career ... to get back to the zenith of his abilities (like, 1999-2000), he would have to scale Mt. Everest. From sea level. That's how far down he has come.

The Big Has-Been is hurt now, has been hurt off and on for years, and is averaging 14.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. (Which makes him, oh, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, numbers-wise, except without the jumper.) He will be 36 in a month and is owed $20 million each of the next two years.

And if his decrepitude as a player and enormous contract weren't enough to warn off the Suns ... how about this? Shaq in the Suns offense is like Brian Boitano in the Super Bowl. A horrible fit.

The Suns have thrived since the return of Steve Nash by pushing the tempo, shooting first and asking questions later, and outscoring people.

And now they're going to add the league's slowest player (aside from, maybe, Yao Ming) to their roster? A guy who can't run, can't jump yet lives in a fantasy world in which he should still be the center of attention?

And how is that going to work, exactly? Shaq won't even be over the half-court line before the Suns shoot the ball. He may as well just stay in the lane at the defensive end and take up space -- his one remaining "skill."

Plus, the Suns give up Shawn Marion, a 20 and 10 guy. OK, he's been making little protests of unhappiness, but he actually FITS what the Suns try to do. He's athletic and fast and ... well, he's a guy made to play with Nash and Amare Stoudemire.

Shaq so clearly is not.

What the Suns appear to be doing is trying to get more physical, no doubt concerned that their interior defense is a shambles. And perhaps they think that going to a contender will inject a dollop of energy into O'Neal, who is going through the motions in Miami -- which may be more about his decline than his attitude.

Stoudemire then becomes a power forward, more befitting his body type, and Boris Diaw becomes the 3 ... and, well, I guess they hope playing four-on-five on offense (unless they're willing wait for Shaq to haul his goo to the other end) is worth having an anchor in the key on defense. I guess.

To me, it seems more like the Last Act of a Desperate Franchise. "We couldn't win it with these guys the last two years, how are we gonna win it now when the Lakers are better and Utah is better? ... We gotta do something!"

Panic. Best record in the West, and they make this trade. Nutty. But it makes them less competitive, so the Lakers should be applauding it. Now they need worry about one less serious competitor between them and the NBA Finals.

Note: The Lakers play at Phoenix on Feb. 20. Should be fun.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Barack Obama presidential campaign likes the expression, "Yes We Can!" His supporters often chant it. Kinda catchy.

Long-time Angels fans could tell you all about it.

The first group to latch on the phrase "Yes We Can!" were fans of the 1979 California Angels (as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were known then).

Angels fans chanted "Yes We Can!" for the final weeks of that memorable season. They rocked the stadium, actually, with the chant. Right up to the night the club clinched the Western Division.

It was a slogan that fit the franchise aptly because its history had been one big stretch of "No We Can't" -- the club didn't make a postseason appearance until that year, 1979.

Just as the Rally Monkey was associated with the 2002 Angels, "Yes We Can!" was the earmark of the 1979 Angels. The team of Don Baylor, Rod Carew, Bobby Grich, "Disco" Dan Ford, Carney Lansford, Brian Downing, Rick Miller, Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana, Don Aase and Mark Clear. Managed by Jim Fregosi.

Where "Yes We Can" came from, I don't recall. It seemed to be almost spontaneous.

But it was a constant refrain the final month of the season ... and right into the playoffs, which the Angels lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1, in a best-of-five series.

Oh, and if you're nostalgic for the whole period ... somebody on eBay is selling a "California Angels Yes We Can" 12-inch vinyl LP. (Narrated by the late Don Drysdale.) For $11, plus shipping.

"Yes We Can!"

Perhaps Obama will have greater success with the slogan than did the Angels. Who did well ... but not well enough.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the California League today announced they have formalized their affiliation with the Angels through 2010, which is good news for minor-league baseball fans.

It's always preferable to have your local Class-A team hooked up with a local big-league team, because you get big-leaguers dropping in for rehab, which can juice attendance a little, when fans know ...

And you can see kids who are on their way up. The Quakes, in particular, have had lots of future Angels in Rancho Cucamonga, from Howie Kendrick to Mike Napoli and Ervin Santana.

Here is the Quakes press release:

Rancho Cucamonga, CA -- The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Director of Player Development Abe Flores announced at a press conference today that the Angels and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes have signed a two-year extension to the current Player Development Contract. Today’s announcement, which took place in the courtyard of the Rancho Cucamonga Civic Center, ensures that future Angels will continue to play at the Epicenter through the 2010 season.

“I want to first and foremost thank the fans in the Rancho Cucamonga region, as our players and staff our direct benefactors of their support,” said Flores. “We look forward to continuing the great relationship that we have with both the owners and front office of the Quakes.”

Among those in attendance for the signing of the new agreement, were Quakes President and Majority Owner Hank Stickney, and Angels General Manager Tony Reagins.

“The Angels are excited to continue their relationship with the Quakes and the City of Rancho Cucamonga,” said Reagins. “The Epicenter is a first-rate facility and the close proximity to Angels Stadium makes this an ideal situation.”

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes have been the Advanced-Class A Affliliate of the Angels since the 2001 season.

Quakes Executive Vice President and General Manager Gerard McKearney emceed the gathering of approximately fifty members of the media and the community.

“The Quakes are extremely happy to extend our partnership with the Angels here in the great City of Rancho Cucamonga. The Angels are a class organization and we are excited to continue this successful partnership through the 2010 season,” said McKearney.

The ... Quakes open their 2008 home schedule on Monday, April 7th at the Epicenter against the High Desert Mavericks. For information about ticket packages and group information, please call the Quakes at (909) 481-5000.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I just pulled in after the 330-mile drive from downtown Phoenix. I almost fell asleep several times the final 30 miles, but I didn't, so ...

And now I'm watching the 3:30 a.m. edition of SportsCenter, and it seems pretty clear I'm not the only one fired up by the Giants' 17-14 victory over the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

ESPN's threesome of Keyshawn Johnson, Emmitt Smith and, especially, Sean Salisbury, are so excited they can hardly contain themselves. Especially Salisbury, who is so excited I'm waiting for him to come out of his seat and start pumping his fist.

This was a great story for the NFL. It's a great story for sports. The middling team that catches fire late, wins against great odds on the road ... and defeats the mighty, unbeaten, apparently unassailable team in the championship game.

I think anyone interested in sports loves this story. It validates all those "that's why they play the game" statements, and reminds teams that they should still play hard as long as they have ANY chance at all.

The underdog team loses these games far more often than it wins them. We understand that. But as long as you're still competing ... it reminds me of the exhortation of the dying Jim Valvano to "never, never, never, never give up!"

I talked to someone about an hour after I finished writing a Super Bowl game story and column for today's newspapers, and this person scoffed at my contention that this was the greatest Super Bowl ever. "Nobody scored in the first half. Nothing happened until the fourth quarter."

My contention: There was great defense early, and it set the stage for steadily building excitement and pressure. It showed that the Patriots were going to have trouble scoring. That the Giants could stand up to the Patriots in the trenches, and maybe even control them.

I now am reassured. It was the best of 42 Super Bowls. It is. Nobody every beat an unbeaten team in the Super Bowl era. Nobody seemed so unlikely to win. No champion team seemed so unlikely to win. So many of us just assumed a Patriots victory. Were sure of it.

Didn't happen. And it didn't happen in a memorable way.

Oh, and I can't say I was absolutely convinced about this. Especially just before the game. But I DID write this column for Sunday's newspapers in which I predicted a Giants victory.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 4:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm old enough to have seen them all. Twelve in person, the rest on TV, ranging from a scratch black-and-white signal from a jury-rigged antenna for Super Bowl I (in blacked out Long Beach) ... to the one I saw last year on a cruise ship docked in Hawaii.

This was the best game AND the biggest upset. Both. Which I have written in my column for Monday's newspapers.

The level of play was very high. The tension ramped up as the game went on. Three lead changes in the fourth quarter after long touchdown drives.

Great plays. A winning touchdown with 35 seconds to play.

This was the best game. Some others have had one team play really well, and the other adequately. Some have been close but not well-played. (I think specifically of Super Bowl V, a 16-13 game the Colts won over the Cowboys despite about 10 turnovers collectively.)

It also was the biggest upset. We had an 18-0 team favored by 12 points, led by The Current Genius as its coach and God's Quarterback taking snaps. Playing against a 13-6 team led by a dorky dude named Eli, also known as The Wrong Manning.

Only nine penalties in the game. Only two turnovers. Lots of defense. Few missed tackles. It was crisp, it was dramatic. That's what you want.

And something huge was at stake. The Patriots had a chance to become the first NFL team to go 19-0. That's something we may never see in our lifetimes, in a league with so much balance and parity.

And the Patriots didn't do it.

Extremely entertaining. A superior Super Bowl. I'm glad I saw it. In person, that is.

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

A strong sense here in the stadium that the New York Giants outplayed the New England Patriots in the first half, but the Patriots are ahead, 7-3.

That's what good teams do.

The Giants are all over Tom Brady, in ways not seen this season, certainly.

They have knocked him down six times, and three of those hits went for sacks. He is a modest (for him) 8-for-14 passing for 61 yards, and he lost a fumble when stripped by Giants defensive end Justin Tuck.

The question the second half will answer is this:

Are the Giants showing they have what it takes to win this, and need only a bit of production from their offense?

Or have the Giants missed a chance to take and build a lead? They were inside the New England 30 three times but got only the one field goal on the opening drive.

I suspect the Giants have taken their shot, and not taken advantage.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's as if Fox had to make up for that long Giants drive in the first quarter.

here is how I recall the sequence.

1. Fox goes to a long commercial break at the end of the first quarter.

2. Patriots come back, score from the 1, kick the PAT, and Fox goes to a long commercial break.

3. Patriots kickoff out of bounds ... and Fox goes to a THIRD massively long commercial break.

So, three plays, one of them a PAT, and about nine minutes of commercials.

Ack. I feel your pain.

(We're able to follow the commercials here in the stadium thanks to tiny TVs at our tables in the stands ... and the tiny transistor radio tuned to the Fox commentary.)

The NFl ultimately is an advertising delivery device.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just when I was thinking that the author of this blog was the closest thing to a San Bernardino County representative at Super Bowl XLII ...

There popped up Ron Lott, the Eisenhower High School alumnus and former San Francisco 49ers standout.

Lott was part of the 49ers-oriented people who came out for the pre-game toss, which was meant as a memorial to former Niners coach Bill Walsh.

Lott was out there, as were some of Walsh's survivors and other Niners.

Lott, however, did the coin flip. The Giants called heads, and won the toss.

Anyway, Lott has been to four Super Bowls. So none of this is new to him.

Aside, perhaps from the ungodly loud PA system.

I'm desperate for the game to begin so the noise will abate.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I picked the Giants to win, in today's newspapers.

Read that column here.

I certainly want the Giants to win, not because I like the Giants, because I don't ...

But because I don't want to hear about the Perfect Patriots for the rest of my life.

They've already won three Super Bowls in this decade. That's enough, isn't it?

I fear not.

I have this sinking feeling that the Patriots are going to shake off their just-good-enough-to-win mind-set of the past two months and go back to the team that just lit up people the first 10 weeks of the season.

I now am gripped by this sense that the Patriots took more from that 38-35 game with the Giants than did the Giants.

Ack. I'm sick of the Patriots, and they're not even 19-0 yet.

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

You may be pleased to know that most of the media -- even people from the nation's biggest and most august newspapers -- are sitting in some of the worst seats in the stadium.

Ah, life, in the post-print era ...

Once upon a time, the "press box" was at midfield of a football stadium. Sometimes about halfway up the stands. Prime places to see a game. So we could report on it, of course.

In the new stadiums, the press box has moved into the end zone and higher and higher.

Here in Glendale, I'm eight rows up in the second-to-last section of the stadium, not only behind the south end zone, way above it, too.

Luckily, we have tiny TVs near us so we can watch replays -- and maybe even the game itself, since it's almost a rumor, down there.

What has happened, particularly in the NFL, is that print media of all sorts -- well, actually, ANYONE who isn't a TV right-holding company employee -- is banished to the periphery of the stadium.

At least we're inside, right? There's that. The next stop is in a tent outside, with access to players afterward. Maybe.

Anyway, more evidence that if you want to SEE the game ... you're better off at home in front of your TV.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I can tell you this about the pre-game atmosphere inside the University of Phoenix Stadium:

The audio is turned up to "11" on a scale of 2-to-10.

It is loud. Seriously loud. And that has nothing to do with the fans. It's just the PA system cranked up to the max. It's the sort of noise that will cause headaches, if you listen to it long enough.

Alicia Keyes just did her thing. And now a bunch of groundskeepers are o the field, picking up shrapnel, or whatever her performance left behind.

Fans are pouring into the stadium. Most of them appear to be in their seats, more than an hour before kickoff.

Weirdest fans I've seen so far?

The three guys dressed up in Revolutionary War garb. Long blue coats, breeches, white wigs. You know, like the patriot that used to be on the New England helmets -- before the Flying Elvis, that is.

And that wasn't enough for them. They went with the red-white-and-blue face paint, too.

And, just in case we missed their costume-party look ... two of them were screaming at the tops of their lungs about doing something rude to Giants quarterback Eli Manning.

I think some of these fans may have inbibed in beer and strong spirits before they came into the yard. They're acting goofy.

I guess once you've paid $700 (minimum, and probably more like $2,000) for a ticket, you want to make SURE you have a good time -- or at least think you're having one.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK, by the time I got to Phoenix ... it was late Saturday afternoon. I still had to write for the Sunday newspapers. So it wasn't as if I expected immersion -- or even much of a brush -- with Super Bowl atmosphere.

I lucked out, however.

Colleague Steve Dilbeck and I finished working at about 7:30, and we were talking about where to go to eat, whether to eat at all ... and I brought up the "Taste of the NFL" info I had seen in the main media work room.

Turns out, ,the event was being held at the OTHER part of the Phoenix Convention Center.

So, figuring all they could do was turn us away, we left the west building of the Center ... walked around the block and across the street and followed the well-dressed people.

It turned out to be a good move.

We hadn't set up a media ticket to the event, but after some sighing the people at the ticket window gave us tickets to enter.

What it was ... is an annual Super Bowl event I've never been to, and maybe never heard of before this.

It was a food-tasting, much like those cities and chambers of commerce might put on. It allows restaurateurs to get out and about, get some exposure, and it allows people at the event to taste one or two dishes from that particularly restaurant.

The way the NFL does it ... is put up a cooking/serving area for all 31 NFL cities. (New York has two teams.)

You would walk up, look at what they had, ask about it -- or if you didn't want to bother, you could just wait for the video board above each stand to tell you what it was they were serving.

In most cases, it was something native to the NFL city. Baltimore (Ravens) had "rockfish, corn and crab cake with 10-vegetable slaw and spicy remoulade" from a restaurant named "Pierpoint."

Each station had wine that was thought to go with whatever food they were distributing ... and also one player (current or former) from that team signing autographs at a bar-stool-height table nearby.

Among the players ... Jack Youngblood of the "St. Louis" Rams. (Jack played his whole career for the Los Angeles Rams, of course, and was one of the most popular Rams ever. He was a great defensive end who showed his dedication to team when he played in Super Bowl XIV with a hairline fracture in his leg. Asked about playing with a broken leg, Youngblood said, in his Florida Panhandle drawl, "Ain't no time for laggin' back now.")

Other players ... Tommy Nobis, Larry Fitzgerald, Gary Fencik, Dave Lapham, Chad Hennings, Karl Mecklenburg, Donny Anderson, Earl Morrall, Ottis, Anderson, Dick Anderson, Carl Eller, Pete Banaszak, Freeman McNeil, Brig Owens ...

OK, what did I eat? Let's concede up front that fine dining is pretty much wasted on me. But this is what I had.

(Arizona Cardinals) Braised oxtail with celeriac mousseline and black truffle vinaigrette. (The guy serving it said, "sort of like shepherd's pie, but you probably haven't had it with oxtail before.) Nice.

(Arizona Cardinals) Smoked pork loin on chili cheese corn bread with roasted corn, cress, grain mustard and apple cider succatash. The pork was almost all fat, so that killed the rest of the effort.

(Chicago Bears) West Town Tavern pot roast with garlicky Idaho mashed potatoes. Nice, but more fatty meat.

(Minnesota Vikings) Onio crusted walleye with wild race salad and watercress vinaigrette. Fine. A little bready, maybe.

(Oakland Raiders) Citrus pickled prawns with rice bean salad and chimichuri sauce. Five little shrimp, cold, but they had a nice lemony taste.

(Tampa Bay Bucs) Zatar lamb tataki with crimson lentil, cracked wheat salad and white truffle tahini yogurt vinaigrette. The lamb was mostly gristle, so that killed it, right off.

By this point, I was pretty much stuffed with niblets, so we bagged it.

It was a nice event. The concept is that it is a charity fund-raiser -- attendees could bid on oodles of memorabilia, as well as buy life-size football helmets for the players to sign.

Anyway, it was about as much "Super Bowl" as anyone could expect who showed up at 4:30 p.m. the night before the game.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

San Bernardino County's strange ability to generate world-class soccer players is on display again as three of the 22 players U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley has called in for the big match with Mexico on Wednesday in Houston ... are local guys.

Landon Donovan (Redlands), Carlos Bocanegra (Rancho Cucamonga) and Maurice Edu (Fontana) are among the select few to make the team for what probably will be the most closely watched match of the year.

And this is even after the best of the country's overseas-based guys are included. Which is good, because Mexico has called in ALL its overseas players in a desperate attempt to break its eight-year, nine-match winless streak (0-8-1) on U.S. soil.

Donovan and Bocanegra are almost sure to start against Mexico. Edu is less likely to start, but the 21-year-old midfielder clearly is a player on the rise.

The U.S. Soccer press release follows:

BRADLEY CALLS 22 PLAYERS TO PREPARE FOR
SHOWDOWN WITH MEXICO ON FEB. 6 IN HOUSTON

Bocanegra, Dempsey, Howard Lead Contingent of 12 European-based Players Included in Roster;
ESPN2 & Univision Coverage of 54th All-time USA-Mexico Match Begins at 8 p.m. CT

CHICAGO (Feb. 2, 2008) — U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Bob Bradley has named the 22 players that will travel to Houston to prepare for the upcoming showdown with Mexico at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The match will be part of a two-and-half-hour broadcast window on both ESPN2 and Univision beginning at 8 p.m. CT. Fans will also be able to listen to the match on 75 affiliates of the Fútbol de Primera Radio Network, and can follow live online via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker.

More than 53,000 tickets have been sold for the second-ever meeting between the teams at Reliant Stadium. On May 8, 2003, nearly 70,000 fans packed the house to witness a fiercely contested 0-0 draw. The U.S. is currently riding an 8-0-1 unbeaten run on home soil against Mexico.

Ticket Information
"With the match falling on an international fixture date, this is an excellent opportunity to get the nucleus of our team together as we continue to prepare for World Cup qualifying," said Bradley, who has collected a 13-5-1 record since becoming head coach last year. “The special nature of a USA-Mexico match provides a great test for our players, and it is something that as players and coaches we all look forward to. The experience can only benefit our group as we attempt to build a team that will help us achieve to goal of competing in South Africa in 2010.”

Seven players on the roster were on the field when the teams last met in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup final. In front of more than 60,000 fans in Chicago, goals by Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber lifted the U.S. to a 2-1 victory and their second consecutive Gold Cup title.

Bradley has called on a dozen players from European-based clubs, including the Fulham duo of Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey. Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard joins the U.S. fold after a stellar year in 2007, appearing in a career-high 10 matches and earning eight victories. Everton are currently in fourth place in the English Premier League table. SC Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley enters the camp in fine form in league play, having scored six goals in his team’s last five matches to help elevate Heerenveen into second place in the Dutch Eredivisie.

On the domestic front, nine players from the recently completed training camp at The Home Depot Center are traveling to Houston. The two-time MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo contributes four players, including Eddie Robinson, who scored the game-winning goal in the USA’s 2-0 win against Sweden in his first-ever appearance with the national team. He is joined by Ricardo Clark, who appeared in both of the USA’s victories against Mexico last year, Brad Davis and Stuart Holden. Along with Holden, two other players are being called up from the U-23 Men’s National Team that has just closed camp in Bradenton, Fla. New York Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore will be looking for his third cap, while Toronto FC midfielder and reining MLS Rookie of the Year Maurice Edu has started in the last three matches for the full team.

Landon Donovan is the leading capwinner on the squad, the 25-year-old having earned 97appearances. With his goal against Sweden last month, he claimed the top spot on the USA’s all-time scoring list with 35 career goals. Donovan has been a particular nemesis to El Tri, having scored four times in his career against Mexico, highlighted by the goal in 2-0 win in the Round of 16 of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He scored in both meetings last year, notching the game-tying goal in the Gold Cup final.

The match on Feb. 6 will mark the 54th meeting between the USA and Mexico. The U.S. has dominated the series of late, collecting an 8-0-1 home record against Mexico since 2000. During that span, the USA has netted 15 goals, while the Mexicans scored only a single goal on American soil in this decade. In the team’s last meeting, the U.S. came from behind on goals by Donovan and Benny Feilhaber to capture their second-consecutive CONCACAF Gold Cup title.

The U.S. has a lifetime record of 14-29-10 against Mexico in a series that dates to 1934, but the U.S. has a 12-6-8 advantage in home matches since 1957. Since the rivalry between these two teams began in earnest in 1990, the sides have played 26 times, with the U.S. holding a 12-7-7 advantage. In the teams’ most significant matchup, the United States defeated Mexico, 2-0, in the Round of 16 of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, advancing the U.S. to the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time in 72 years.

After the Mexico match, the U.S. will compete in a series of friendlies before beginning the attempt to qualify for their sixth-consecutive World Cup finals when they take on the winner of the first round series between Barbados and Dominica. The U.S. will host their first qualifier on June 15, with the second leg to be played between June 18-21 on the road.

ROSTER BY POSITION - Detailed Roster
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC)
DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Ramiro Corrales (SK Brann), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Eddie Robinson (Houston Dynamo)
MIDFIELDERS (9): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Bobby Convey (Reading FC), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Eddie Lewis (Derby County)
FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Pat Noonan (Aalesund FK)

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Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just did the power-drive across I-10 to Phoenix. No rain, decent traffic, nice run. I've done faster, but not by much.

So, I got to downtown Phoenix and the Super Bowl is ... invisible.

There is no one down here. The streets are empty. It's like any other big city on a weekend. Except perhaps even deader.

Presumably, spome focal point of SB enthusiasm exists out here, but it's not anywhere near the Civic Center or the Convention Center, where media people are working on their final pieces for the Sunday newspapers.

This Super Bowl is a little splayed, for sure.

The actual football game will be played at University of Phoenix Stadium, which actually is about 12 miles west of here, and not even in Phoenix. It's in Glendale, Ariz., next to the arena where the Phoenix Coyotes play.

The whole are is desert scrub steadily being gobbled up by the expansion of greater metropolitan Phoenix.

Last time (first time, too) that I was at the football stadium, most of the parking lots were unpaved. That was for the 2007 BCS national title game between Florida and Ohio State.

Maybe they've paved the parking lots, by now. Which would be nice, since I intend to park in one and because it's supposed to rain tomorrow ... and walking through mud late Sunday night trying to get to my car is not something I'm looking forward to.

Tonight, I'm wondering where everyone is. I thought the sports bars and restaurants downtown would reflect Super Bowl fever. But most are closed. No one is around, except a handful of NFL people, security personnel and journalists.

Weird.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I like this trade. A lot.

It isn't perfect. No big deal is. But it gives the Lakers a chance to win an NBA title this year. Not a couple of years from now. Not next year. Right now.

The Lakers get Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, two No. 1 draft picks (2008, 2010), the rights to Marc Gasol (Pau's brother) and Aaron McKie -- momentarily out of retirement to make the deal work. Oh, and the Lakers get the Grizzlies' No. 2 in 2010.

Pau Gasol is an athletically gifted 27-year-old 7-footer who averages 19-and-9 (points-and-rebounds) in his career. He arguably is one of the 30 best players in the NBA.

And now the Lakers add him to Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom, and that's a quartet as good as any in the league. I'm not saying the Lakers WILL win a title this year -- Bynum coming back strong is key -- but they have a chance.

Before the trade, I didn't think they had a shot.

Here's what I like about the trade:

1. Kobe is happy. He told reporters before tonight's victory in Toronto that "now it's on us" to go out and win. No more complaining about not having enough help. He has enough help, now, and just said so. And a happy Kobe is absolutely critical to the Lakers doing anything. A happy Kobe stays for the length of his contract -- in 2011.

2. Unlike, say, Kevin Garnett or even Jason Kidd, potential Lakers acquisitions over the previous year, Gasol almost certainly will have no issues with being a "sidekick." That makes him a perfect addition to Kobe's Lakers because ego issues will be limited.

3. The trade demonstrates management's desire to win now, and let's give Jerry Buss and GM Mitch Kupchak some credit for pulling it off. It showed some brass, but it also showed ingenuity to go after a guy who was MAYBE available but probably going to Chicago or somewhere ... I mean, there wasn't really a whisper of rumor about the Lakers and Gasol, and then, bang, they get it done. Nice.

4. Gasol is a proven scorer. With Bynum out, the Lakers really had no second scoring option. Odom is up and down. Derek Fisher's stroke comes and goes. Luke Walton, Vlad Radmanovic, Jordan Farmar ... well, maybe they will score. Maybe not. Now the Lakers have another guy who ought to be double-teamed ... even if he won't be, with the Lakers. Gasol is a career 51 percent shooter from the field, and he can get his own shots. Have to like that.

5. Kwame is gone. He could be the biggest dog in Lakers history. Lazy, passionless, a guy with a big sense of entitlement -- despite never having done anything. On top of that, he can't play. His hand-eye coordination is astonishingly bad. About all he can do is take up space in the lane, on defense. That's not enough to warrant paying him $9.1 million this season, which is what The Big Stiff is getting.

Here's what I don't like about the trade:

1. The Lakers give up Crittenton, who could be a real player. The Lakers are counting on Jordan Farmar to continue to develop, at the point, but Crittenton looked like a guy who could be a serious player. Better than Farmar.

2. The Lakers basically are not players in the draft for the next three years. A No. 2 this summer, a 1 and a 2 in 2009, a couple of 2s in 2010. Anyway, only one No. 1 pick in the next three drafts. That's a little scary.

3. These Lakers HAVE to work, because they've just given up almost all of their trade assets. Kwame actually has value because his contract is up after this season, and that will clear $9.1 million off the books. The Lakers could have done something with that cap space; now the Grizzlies can. They aren't going to get better in the draft, because Memphis has two of their next three No. 1 picks. Also, Gasol is signed through 2011 and is owed the following the next three seasons: $15.1 million, $16.5 million, $17.8 million. That's a big hunk of payroll the Lakers are committed to.

4. Gasol has some of the shortcomings you normally associate with Euro-developed players. He's a little soft, he's a little frail. He's not really a center. He's almost a small forward in a 7-foot body.

5. Gasol is a bit injury prone. He's missed games this year with back injuries, and you never like to hear about bad backs on your 7-footers. He has played more than 59 games only once since the 2003-04 season.

6. And this is nitpicking, because Gasol was miscast as The Man, in Memphis, when he's really a very good complimentary player, but he has never won in the playoffs. Not one game. Zero. He led the Grizzlies there three times, but they were swept in the first round every time. Demonstrating Gasol isn't the kind of guy who can raise his game.

In balance, I like the trade. I like it a lot. I think it WILL work, because Gasol has been remarkably consistent over the years. He pretty much always scores 18-19 and rebounds 7-9. There aren't many guys like that around. Now the Lakers have one.

Perhaps THE biggest part of this: It ends, for the foreseeable future, the "Kobe Might Leave" issue. Where can he go where he will play with players better now -- and in the near future? Nowhere. Kobe is here, and he is engaged.

Well, yeah, and there's the THEY COULD WIN THE WHOLE THING aspect to this. Say Bynum comes back, and is a 20-10 guy again by the start of the playoffs ... who has a better threesome than the Lakers' and the trio of Kobe, Bynum and Gasol? I like that three better than any in the NBA. Including Boston's Garnett, Pierce and Allen ... including San Antonio's Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.

This could be very interesting ... and the Lakers' season ought to last until late May ... and maybe even until June. now that Buss and Kupchak have added Gasol to the mix.

Posted by Paul Oberjuerge at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)