CYPRESS >> From his favorite table atop the grandstands, the man they call Doc often surveys his race track and horse-racing empire below. Dr. Edward Allred, 80, the owner of Los Alamitos Race Course and the majority landowner of the property, said he has no immediate plans to close the track but with the declining state of horse racing doubts anyone after him will keep jockeys atop circling thoroughbreds and quarter horses here. What should become of the track’s 155-plus acres of prime real estate should the sporting venue go away is a brewing controversy. “It doesn’t make any sense for any track, Santa Anita, Los Alamitos, Hollywood Park ... to be there in light of property values,” said Allred beneath the grandstands in a conference room. “We’d like to do what we’re doing, and so I’m going to continue doing that as long as I can. ... It’s unlikely to find a successor who can do the same thing.” So Allred and other track backers created Measure GG, to prepa

For the eighth consecutive season, Long Beach State had the most former players in Major League Baseball of any other college or university. However, the 13 Dirtbags in the MLB experienced mixed results this year. Dirtbag pitching legend Jered Weaver and the Los Angeles Angles had one of their worst seasons in years. While the Angles wallow in last place in the American League West, Weaver’s ERA of 5.17 is by far the highest of his career, and his 12 losses match a career high. This statistical drop off was a long time coming as Weaver, 33, struggled with arm injuries and a resulting loss of velocity. However, the veteran right-hander has found success by becoming more of a location pitcher. Last Friday, Weaver delivered his second consecutive quality start, third in his last four outings, in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Fellow Dirtbag product Troy Tulowitzki’s home run plated the only runs allowed by Weaver, who has allowed an American League-leading 36 home runs. Weaver will

LOS ANGELES — The weight of five stars can be heavy. UCLA freshman linebacker Mique Juarez has leaed that the hard way. Just a few days into fall camp, the former five-star recruit stopped showing up on the practice field while head coach Jim Mora explained his absence only as “excused.” Juarez has missed nearly six weeks of practice and three games as the Bruins prepare for their Pac-12 opener at 5 p.m. Saturday against Stanford, but he said he does intend to retu to the team in the future. “It was just too much pressure,” Juarez told the Southe Califoia News Group. Juarez said Mora set him up with a psychiatrist, who is helping him handle the stressful situation. Juarez said he will attend classes when fall quarter instruction starts Thursday after he completed spring quarter as an early enrollee. The 6-foot-2, 250-pounder said the coaches haven’t ruled out the possibility of him retuing to the field this year, but it’s ultimately his decision if he’ll reds

LOS ANGELES — Theo Howard can’t help he’s been afflicted. The good news for the UCLA freshman is his ailment is curable. “They say youth is a disease and the only cure is experience,” receivers coach Eric Yarber said of Howard, who has only one catch in three games. “He’s going to gradually get the experience that he needs, I can’t just throw him out there to the wolves and not let him have success, because I want him to have success and confidence.” Howard was a heavily recruited receiver with high expectations coming out of Westlake High. Senior receiver Keeth Walker III said he expected Howard to emerge as a top receiver this year. Yet the freshman didn’t get on the field during UCLA’s season opener and caught only one pass the next week against UNLV for 15 yards. The Bruins, who host Stanford at 5 p.m. Saturday, have a deep group of receivers: 18 players have caught a pass this year, with seven with between six and 10 receptions. Nearly everyone has had the

LOS ANGELES — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham caught the news like everyone else Monday. USC had picked a new starting quarterback. Redshirt freshman Sam Daold was in. Redshirt junior Max Browne was out. It seemed possible the Trojans’ abrupt shakeup could alter the Utes’ prep for the teams’ game Friday night in Salt Lake City. But Whittingham shot down the idea Tuesday. “He’s got two quarterbacks who are pretty da talented and fairly similar,” Whittingham said. “They’re not complete polar opposites as far as their skill sets. It wasn’t, in our estimation, any impact on our game plaing.” One reason is USC has played Daold in its first three games, even as Browne started and saw the majority of the snaps. Whittingham estimated Daold was behind center for about 50 snaps. After reviewing game film, he said the offense looked similar, no matter who was at quarterback. “They don’t change the offense dramatically depending on which one was in there,” Whitti

USC’s season is three games old but the fans are irate after blowout losses to Alabama and Stanford. Even worse, four of the past six losses were by at least 17 points, which last happened in 1983. Something must be done to stop the current slide, but so far the program has demonstrated a resistance to quick solutions even as morale sinks. “The mood right now? It (stinks),” USC quarterback Sam Daold said. “We don’t want to lose.” Can anything change at the glacial pace things move right now? USC’s offensive line committed five false-start penalties against Stanford because players said a Cardinal lineman was mimicking quarterback Max Browne’s signals. But why did USC wait until halftime to switch to visual signals? That adjustment could be made during a timeout. Instead, the Trojans hindered first-half drives with constant penalties. “At times we were just stabbing ourselves in the foot,” Browne said. At least that change was instituted. Other necessary moves are

The Dodgers are honoring Vin Scully this week during the final seven home games of the 2016 regular season. Here are some of the highlights to tune in for: Tuesday 7:10 p.m. vs. San Francisco A Scully bobblehead giveaway, featuring a pose of him with his hands over his heart accepting applause from the fans on Opening Day 2016. TV: SportsNet LA. Radio: KLAC-AM (570). Wednesday 7:10 p.m. vs. San Francisco ESPN has decided to make this a national broadcast. TV: Also SportsNet LA. Radio: KLAC-AM (570). Thursday 7:10 p.m., vs. Colorado A Tommy Lasorda Pin Series giveaway. Scully and Lasorda, who was bo just two months before Scully, are celebrating their 89th birthday this fall. Both been with the Dodgers organization longer than any employee. TV: SportsNet LA. Radio: KLAC-AM (570). Friday 7:10 p.m. vs. Colorado “Vin Scully Appreciation Day” includes an extended pregame ceremony starting at 6:30 p.m., with a postgame fireworks show dedicated to his most famous calls. The team will a

LOS ANGELES — Christian McCaffrey needs no introduction. The Stanford ruing back is the golden-haired golden boy of the Pac-12, but UCLA head coach Jim Mora said his star power should not be limited to just the West Coast. “In my opinion, it’s not even arguable that he’s the top player in college football,” Mora said Monday as the Bruins prepare to face McCaffrey and Stanford at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Rose Bowl. McCaffrey’s cardinal-and-white No. 5 jersey will dominate UCLA’s focus as the team tries to contain the do-it-all Stanford superstar who leads the conference in rushing and all-purpose yards with 149 and 235 yards per game, respectively. “He can do so many things so well — carry the ball out of the backfield, whether it’s inside or outside, catching the ball out of the backfield,” Mora said. “They split him out and they use him as a receiver, as a retu guy. He’s dynamic, he’s elusive, he’s tough to tackle, he’s got great physical and mental

LOS ANGELES >> There were flames and smoke and daylight fireworks, the big homecoming dressed up entirely too well Sunday for something that would implode into rubble. Oh, the Rams won, 9-3, beating Seattle in a football game decided by actual feet, the kicker-infested victory coming in their first regular-season game in Southe Califoia since 1994. But the homecoming king? He lost, Pete Carroll watching helplessly from the sideline as his Seahawks did what his USC teams rarely did in the Coliseum - lose and in a way more offensive than OFFensive. • Box score • Photo gallery Just one lousy field goal? Carroll’s Trojans regularly produced more highlights during pre-practice calisthenics. “I never would have thought we’d go two weeks scoring only one touchdown,” Carroll said, Seattle wiing its opener last weekend over Miami, 12-10. “We’re better than that.” Not on Sunday they weren’t, the Seahawks were unable to solve a Rams defense that made the normally

LOS ANGELES >> On Sunday afteoon, Troy Hill smiled and pointed into the stands at the Coliseum, where just over a dozen of his friends and family sat. Once an all-conference coerback at Oregon, the 25-year-old has bounced around the league since going undrafted in 2015. The Cinciati Bengals signed him, waived him, signed him to their practice squad, and waived him again. Last Christmas, the New England Patriots signed him, then waived him five days later. That was when the Rams bit, claiming him off waivers on Dec. 30 — giving him the chance to climb up to depth chart this summer, and eventually ea first-string reps in a 9-3 win over the Seahawks. Asked to reflect on his jouey after the game, Hill sat by his locker and said, “Damn. Long way.” Prior to this weekend, the 5-foot-10 coerback had seen just 88 snaps in the NFL — with the vast majority of those coming on special teams. He looked to be on the roster bubble at the start of training camp at UC Irvine,