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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...

LONG BEACH >> What a difference a year makes. Taylor Crabb played with fellow former Long Beach State players in the open 6’s touament at the World Series Of Beach Volleyball last year because he didn’t qualify for FIVB competition. This weekend, the inteational Long Beach Presidents Cup e...

About an hour after ESPN seemed to be done with its NBA Draft coverage Thursday night, ABC aired an updated version of “The Gong Show.” It was a seamless transition. A woman in a Bo Peep outfit shoving a tarantula in her mouth and playing a harmonica magnificently continued a narrative that began wi...

Kobe Paras was prepared to be wearing Bruin blue during March, but the former UCLA signee is just as happy sporting a different shade now.Paras signed with UCLA before the season and was plaing to help the Bruins to the NCAA Touament alongside fellow freshmen Lonzo Ball, TJ Leaf and Ike Anigbogu...

It is a 26-mile test of the body's fragileness and the mind's will.Some of the world's elite marathoners will again face those two variables when they compete in Sunday's 32nd aual Los Angeles Marathon.Athletes will have to juggle both before the heat hits on the Dodger Stadium-to-Sea course....

Flanked by his wife and two daughters, Kobe Bryant gried wide Wednesday as the Los Angeles City Council declared Aug. 24 as Kobe Bryant Day. Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, is pregnant with the couple’s third daughter and the retired Lakers superstar told his other two girls, Natalia and Giaa, they would need to help explain to their sister why Bryant had a day named in his honor. • PHOTOS: City of LA celebrates Kobe Bryant Day in council chambers “She’s going to have no idea that I was actually an OK basketball player,” he joked. Bryant retired from the Lakers in April, after 20 seasons, five championships and rising to No. 3 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Aug. 24 — 8/24, representing both je...

Four months after the final buzzer sounded on his playing career, Kobe Bryant rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday and aounced a foray into the world of investing. Bryant and entrepreneur Jeff Stibel aounced a $100 million fund that will support companies at the “convergence of technology, media and data,” Stibel said on CNBC Monday moing. The Bryant Stibel Investment Portfolio has already invested in 13 ventures, including The Players’ Tribune, video game company Scopely and Legal Zoom. Stipel is the former president of Web.com. Sporting a beard and a sharp blue suit on the floor of the NYSE, Bryant said he and Stibel have been quietly working on putting together ...

LOS ANGELES >> Two large action photos of Yasiel Puig awaited visitors in the official merchandise store at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday. Facing inward from opposite sides of the room, Puig was hard to miss. Much easier to miss Tuesday: actual Yasiel Puig merchandise. Other than the photos, the Dodgers removed all traces of number 66 from their official team store this week. Any merchandise bearing his name, jersey number or likeness has been placed in storage. This wasn’t the most awkward situation for the Dodgers since Puig was demoted to Triple-A last week, but it was among the most obvious. A quick scan around Dodger Stadium Tuesday revealed the enduring popularity of Puig apparel. As...

LOS ANGELES >> Michael Jordan, arguably the biggest star in NBA history and potentially its loudest voice, has always been mostly silent when it comes to social injustices. Monday moing, that changed. “I was raised by parents who taught me to love and respect people regardless of their race or background, so I am saddened and frustrated by the divisive rhetoric and racial tensions that seem to be getting worse as of late,” Jordan said in a statement. “I know this country is better than that, and I can no longer stay silent. We need to find solutions that ensure people of color receive fair and equal treatment AND that police officers – who put their lives on the line every day to prote...

LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant will be keeping busy with daddy duties in retirement. The former Lakers superstar has aounced on Instagram that he and his wife, Vanessa, are expecting their third child, another daughter. Bryant, also known by his self-given nickname “Black Mamba,” posted a picture Tuesday of a onesie with “Baby Mamba” written on it alongside a baby pair of his signature Nike shoes. In the caption he writes, “Beyond blessed and excited to share that we are expecting our third baby girl!!!” Bryant’s other daughters, Natalia and Giaa, are 13 and 10, respectively. The five-time NBA champion retired in April after 19 seasons in Los Angeles. Advertisement This entry passed through the...

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West reaches the halfway point Saturday night at Stateline Speedway in Post Falls, Idaho. A dozen drivers are within 82 points behind series leader Ryan Partridge, of Rancho Cucamonga. It’s the first time the Bob Bruncati Racing driver has led the K&N series, although he was Whelen All-American Series champion at Irwindale Speedway in 2013 and 2014, wiing the state title in 2014. In six K&N races this year, Partridge has one win (Tucson), five top-five finishes and in the top-10 in all events. He is 15 points ahead of Todd Gilliland and 21 over defending series champ Chris Eggleston, who are Bill McAnally Racing teammates. It’s a quarter-mile track that...

See the sweet Lakers-themed car that Snoop Dogg gave Kobe Bryant Snoop Dogg gave basketball great Kobe Bryant this purple-and-gold Lakers-themed car as a retirement gift. Bryant released this picture on Twitter. By Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant has received a one-of-a-kind retirement gift from rapper Snoop Dogg: a Los Angeles Lakers-themed convertible. Bryant retired from the Lakers in April after 20 seasons in L.A. He posted a picture on Twitter of him and Snoop standing by the purple and gold car Wednesday. Snoop Dogg put up some shots of the car on Instagram. Its hood features pictures of Bryant alongside other Lakers greats like Magic Johnson, James Worthy...

Andy Etchebarren dribbled a grounder to third base. Jim Gilliam started a 5-2-3 double play. Sandy Koufax walked into the dugout, never to retu. He trailed Game 2 of the 1966 World Series, 4-0, after six iings, thanks to two blown fly balls by center-fielder Willie Davis. The home crowd had no idea that it had seen its last Dodger run of the season the previous day, in Game 1. The Dodgers flew to Baltimore, lost twice and were swept. On Nov. 18 Koufax retired. “The party was over,” outfielder Al Ferrara recalled. Until then, Dodger baseball in L.A. was a walk in the clouds. The club won the World Series in 1959, 1963 and 1965. In 1962 it lost a three-game N.L. playoff to San Francisco. It h...

Incoming freshman guard Kobe Paras has withdrawn from UCLA after academic conditions of his admission were not met, according to the school. Paras, a 6-foot-6 guard who was admitted to the school upon condition, was a three-star recruit. He grew up in the Philippines, but spent his final two years of high school in L.A. He played his junior season at Cathedral High before playing his senior year for Middlebrooks Academy. According to the Los Angeles Times, a conflict between academic calendars in the Philippines and the United States would have exhausted Paras’ high school eligibility halfway through his senior season at Cathedral, prompting the transfer to the Middlebrooks Academy team. He ...

Incoming freshman guard Kobe Paras has withdrawn from UCLA after academic conditions of his admission were not met, according to the school. Paras, a 6-foot-6 guard who was admitted to the school upon condition, was a three-star recruit. He grew up in the Philippines, but spent his final two years of high school in L.A. He played his junior season at Cathedral High before playing his senior year for Middlebrooks Academy. The Bruins are still bringing in a highly rated class featuring 6-foot-5 five-star guard Lonzo Ball from Chino Hills High, 6-foot-9 five-star forward T.J. Leaf from Foothill Christian High in El Cajon, and 6-foot-10 four-star center Ike Anigbogu from Centeial High in Corona....

Viewing parties will be held at six locations in Southe Califoia for today’s telecasts of the U.S.-Colombia Copa America Centenario third-place game. The men’s soccer game from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona will begin at 5 p.m. and be televised in English by cable’s FX and in Spanish by Univision and cable’s Univision Deportes Network. The viewing parties will be held at: -- The Auld Dubliner, 2497 E Ave., Tustin; -- The Brew & Meatball Co., 325 N. Citrus Ave., Covina; -- Q’s Billiard Club, 11835 Wilshire Blvd., Brentwood; -- 1739 Public House, 1739 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz; -- Shaon’s On Pine, 209 Pine Ave., Long Beach; and -- Underground Pub & Grill, 1332 He...

For warm-ups, they run a layup line and shoot hoops on a portable basket they drag onto the sand. They call their tent the Forum Club. Under a cadet blue sky, the toned bronze renegades of Manhattan Beach volleyball draw the attention of thousands of onlookers as they rush onto the sand, bearing the symbols of their peculiar faith. They wear afro-style wigs and golden Lakers jerseys in strict adherence to the scripture that guides their devotion: the ’80s Chevy Chase comedy film “Fletch.” In the middle of the highly competitive and even more irregular spectacle that unfolds every July, the Charlie Saikley 6-Man Beach Volleyball Touament, is an easily recognized 6-foot-8 player who is a menac...