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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...

Sometimes, through divine intervention, horses wind up with the right owners. Such was the case with Zenyatta and the brilliant filly Songbird, who was retired Thursday by owner Rick Porter after being diagnosed with damage to her hind suspensories and a severe bone chip. If not for Jerry and A Moss, who relied on the expert horsemanship of trainer John Shirreffs, we never would have been blesse...

COSTA MESA >> Dean Spanos offered a handshake and a empathetic smile. “Sorry for all the inconvenience,” the Chargers owner said, nodding to the nearby construction workers scurrying about wearing bright vests and hardhats. The sound of buzz saws and hammers crashing into nails created a stead...

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...

Owners of The Forum concert venue issued a sharp rebuke to the Inglewood City Council for its sudden decision Thursday to negotiate a new basketball arena with the Los Angeles Clippers. A scathing letter from an attoey representing the owners was delivered Thursday moing, when council members me...

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....

PARIS — American businessman Frank McCourt is buying French soccer club Marseille from Russian-bo billionaire Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, heralding a new chapter for a team that has fallen into the shadow of bitter rival Paris Saint-Germain. At a news conference on Monday in Marseille’s city hall, Mayor Jean-Claude Godin said he was “satisfied” with the impending sale, joking that McCourt will need to “put in some dough” to revitalize the team. McCourt, the 63-year-old former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, pledged to “do everything so the club can be champions again.” McCourt sold the Dodgers for $2 billion in 2012 to Guggenheim Baseball Management. In a separate statement Monday, Marseille...

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 ...

ANAHEIM >> Arte Moreno has no illusions about what has gone wrong, and what could have been done, to keep his team from this miserable season. “It’s pretty hard to win when you have no pitching,” the Angels owner said Friday, referring to the spate of injuries that shattered the club’s pitching staff. While there are some cries from frustrated fans that the Angels need an organizational shakeup — starting with the end of Mike Scioscia’s 17-year run as the manager — Moreno shrugged it off. “I don’t care who you put on the coaching staff,” he said, “if you don’t have any pitching, it’s pretty hard to win.” Moreno addressed the team’s disappointing season, how they got here and how they ...

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....