sport world

LOS ANGELES — As Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles 2028 chairman Casey Wasserman stood on the edge of a tarmac at Los Angeles Inteational Airport, a long flight from Lima, Peru and an improbable victory behind them, the sun was setting on what is once again an Olympic city. In a sense, the Olympic Games were retuing home as wellThursdayevening. A day earlier the Inteational O...

LOS ANGELES >> Before Stephen Carr dashed for 52 yards along the north sideline of the Coliseum in USC’s win over Stanford, he ran through a vast hole. Carr, the Trojans’ freshman ruing back, was untouched past the line of scrimmage. The hole, on the left side of USC’s offensive line, might have been close to 10 yards, based on TV replays. Why was it so gaping? Start with left guard Chris ...

The Lakers appear set to retire Kobe Bryant’s jersey on Dec. 18, less than two years after he last doed it in a dazzling and dramatic 60-point sendoff. The only question will be which number hangs from the rafters: No. 8? No. 24? TMZ reported early Tuesday moing that the Lakers had informed season-ticket holders to “hold on to tickets” for the Dec. 18 game against Golden State for a “special e...

Christian McCaffrey torpedoed USC’s defense the last two seasons. As Stanford upended the Trojans three times in 2016 and 2015, McCaffrey tallied 970 all-purpose yards. How tough was it to bring down the elusive ruing back? Reporters covering the Pac-12 championship game in 2015 overheard then-USC defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox and other coaches swearing in an adjacent press box booth at Le...

LOS ANGELES >> Of the 159 rushing yards Ronald Jones amassed in USC’s season-opening victory over Weste Michigan, 122 came after contact. Deland McCullough, the Trojans’ ruing backs coach, took notice. “It ain’t always the flash and long runs,” McCullough said. “It’s the dirty work of lowering your shoulder, ruing through trash, breaking arm tackles and sending a physical message to yo...

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> Todd Hogan scouts Atlanta, among other places, for the Angels. He had been sending the home office rave reviews on an outfielder named Jahmai Jones. Now Ric Wilson, the scouting director, showed up at Wesleyan High for two games, to take a look. What happened next was the equivalent of spilling coffee all over the boss’ cellphone during the job interview. Almost. “The fir...

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants have waived third-year defensive end Owa Odighizuwa a day after the NFL suspended him for the first four games of the regular season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. The Giants aounced the move Tuesday. “It is unfortunate that things have gone in this direction,” general manager Jerry Reese said, “but we wish nothi...

Despite Noel Mazzone’s departure to Texas A&M, UCLA head coach Jim Mora continues to keep in touch with his former offensive coordinator. They texted regularly this spring and summer, but that communication has stopped this week. It’s game week. “As good of friends as we are, I want to kick his tail and he wants to kick mine,” Mora said Tuesday as the Bruins prepare for their season opener aga...

In his new position as Pac-12 Network president, Mark Shuken can shake things up. Or, he could simply try to appease those getting a little stir-crazy. The conference-owned media business has achieved measurable success in elevating exposure for the member schools, but when compared to the millions generated by other conference-based networks for their institutions, the Pac-12 may look like it’s c...

LOS ANGELES >> If USC freshman linebacker Levi Jones plays half as well as he talks, the Trojans might need to let him wear No. 55 this season. “For sure I’m going to be better than (my father),” Jones said Wednesday. “You can tell him that too.” That kind of statement could haunt Jones when you consider his father, Robert, was an All-America linebacker at East Carolina; first-round draft pi...

ANAHEIM >> Every baseball game is a like a nine-iing math problem, with a string of positives and negatives that all add up at the end to either a win or a loss. Some games are simple, with one or two performances so glaring that they overshadow everything else. And some games are like the Angels’ 7-5, 10-iing loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night, one that left players in the los...

PACIFIC PALISADES >> In a made-for-cable sports TV showdown perhaps worthy of a DVR replay someday, Collin Morikawa co-starred in a Round of 16 match play performance against Chun-An Yu that seemed to show almost every quirky angle and accident aspect of Riviera Country Club in one organic swatch. If not for an exchange of equal-opportunity mistakes at every tu, they could still be playing in prime time. Eventually, Yu, an 18-year-old incoming sophomore at Arizona State out of Taiwan, outlasted Morikawa, the La Cañada Flintridge standout headed into his junior year at Cal and trying to...

LOS ANGELES >> It should be Dodger Purple by now. The bruises have accumulated for decades. Mike Piazza got traded. Fox, and then Frank McCourt, bought a golden franchise and used it to scrape dirt off their shoes. The McCourt Divorce chased RBIs and strikeouts off the sports page. The intrica...

ANAHEIM >> After Mike Trout celebrated his 1,000th career hit and yet another birthday homer, May Machado crashed the party. The Baltimore Orioles’ young star hit a seventh-iing grand slam against JC Ramirez, sending the Angels to a 6-2 loss on Monday night. Machado’s homer, plus the pitch...

LOS ANGELES >> Vasyl Lomachenko has established himself as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and he has big plans for himself. “I want to be in the history book of boxing,” he says. Lomachenko on Saturday entered his junior lightweight title defense against Miguel Marriaga ...

NEW YORK >> Mikey Garcia unanimously outpointed Adrien Broner on Saturday night to remain undefeated. Garcia controlled his first fight at 140 pounds, particularly with body shots he was able to sneak in below Broner’s defense, and won 117-111 on one card and 116-112 on the other two. A former...

The day should have been all about new head coach Sean McVay officially putting his imprint on the Rams and the progress of second-year quarterback Jared Goff and all those shiny new pieces added through the draft and free agency. But when the Rams opened training camp Saturday at UC Irvine, the foc...

ANAHEIM >> Jon Jones is back to claim what he never lost. Jones, in his first appearance since April 23, 2016, won back his UFC light heavyweight title with a third-round TKO stoppage of Daniel Cormier at Honda Center. After a back and forth opening two rounds, Jones started his path to victor...

Cris Cyborg finally completed a remarkable career metamorphosis. Tyron Woodley continued to hold on to his title amid the displeasure of some. Yet UFC 214 was all about Jon Jones on Saturday night at Honda Center. Here are our next-day thoughts after an epic night led by the greatest fighter in UFC ...

PHILADELPHIA >> Omar Gonzalez had just left the Galaxy to join Mexico’s Pachuca when his new club’s chairman had a request: Would the 6-foot-5 defender walk into his introductory news conference dressed as Darth Vader? Of course, he obliged. Ever since, he has become a defensive force. “I had ...