sport world

Notes and observations as USC and Texas prepare for a game that can’t possibly match their 2006 encounter ... LOS ANGELES >> You might be surprised to hear which USC coach was in tears in the locker room immediately after the Trojans lost to Texas, 41-38, in the BCS title game. Was it Pete Carroll? Steve Sarkisian? Ed Orgeron? No, someone who has a less-emotional image: Lane Kiffin. Perhaps ...

LONG BEACH >> Game two of the WNBA semifinals between the Sparks and Mercury was a battle between two of the all-time greats in women’s basketball. The Sparks’ Candace Parker and the Mercury’s Diana Taurasi led their teams in scoring and seemed to be competing for the most highlight-worthy play for much of the game. In the end, Parker put on one of the best shows in WNBA playoff history to l...

LAGUNA HILLS >> Mayfair kept it close for as long as it could against Santa Margarita on Thursday night at Laguna Hills High. Eventually, the Eagles took over in the trenches and ran away for a 49-3 nonleague victory. Santa Margarita (4-0) rushed for 328 yards and six touchdowns as a team. The Eagles are ranked No. 9 in CIF Southe Section Division 1, and No. 13 in Califoia according to M...

CLEVELAND >> The Cleveland Indians added a walk-off win to a streak that has had everything. Jay Bruce hit an RBI double in the 10th iing as the Indians rallied for their 22nd straight win to extend their AL record, beating the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Thursday night to move within four wins of matching the 1916 New York Giants for the longest streak in major league history. After blowout...

Long Beach native and longtime sports executive Jack Teele passed away Wednesday night at the age of 87. Teele was a sportswriter at the Independent Press-Telegram for 10 years and then spent 33 years in the front offices around the National Football League, including 21 years with the Los Angeles Rams, where he rose to the rank of vice president of administration. Teele was a long-familiar face i...

ANAHEIM >> A pair of headphones engulfed Justin Verlander’s ears Tuesday afteoon. A giant computer monitor, maybe a foot in front his face, commanded his attention. Glance up a couple inches and Verlander could watch the Detroit Tigers play the Cleveland Indians on a television inside the Astros’ clubhouse, but with his first pitch a few hours away, his gaze stayed true. His uniform may ha...

LOS ANGELES — A key step in the selection of an Olympic host city is the Inteational Olympic Committee evaluation commission’s tour of candidate cities. These visits give IOC officials the chance to tour proposed venues and Olympic Village sites, ride subway lines and gauge the interest of the community in hosting the Games and then report back to the rest of the IOC’s 94 members prior to the ho...

While Andrew Heaney’s MRI on Monday gave hope that he can pitch again this year, the club has now lost another starter for next year. Alex Meyer, who was already ruled out for the rest of this season, will undergo surgery to repair a to labrum in his shoulder, with an expected rehab time of 12 months. Meyer, the club and doctors finally determined the course of action on Monday, after exhausting...

LOS ANGELES >> One didn’t ea a penalty and one did, but two controversial incidents of targeting between UCLA and Hawaii last Saturday might leave the Bruins without two of their starting linebackers for this week’s game against Memphis. Senior Key Young, who was forced out of last Saturday’s game after getting leveled on a blindside block, will go through the concussion protocol this we...

THOUSAND OAKS >> No dramatic moment, no speech, no loud applause. The Rams simply conducted their defensive meetings Monday with Aaron Donald in attendance, and that normalcy had to feel superb. Donald, the Rams’ star lineman who ended his six-week contract holdout Saturday, got back to work at team headquarters. The plan, according to Coach Sean McVay, is for Donald to be on the field when ...

DENVER >>Everything began rolling downhill after the drop. Five minutes into the Los Angeles Chargers’ first NFL season, Casey Hayward was poised to score. The 5-foot-11 coerback had gotten his hands on the ball, jumping a pass intended for Broncos ruing back C.J. Anderson. There was nothing in front of him except green grass. This was not exactly a surprise. A year ago, Hayward led the...

LOS ANGELES >> His play-calling was measured, effective and, at times, even inspired. At the end, it was something else completely, something shocking after witnessing the Rams mostly depress all of last season. Sean McVay’s play-calling, to cap his head-coaching debut Sunday, was celebratory. He ordered his team to assemble in victory formation and his backup quarterback to take a clock-emp...

LOS ANGELES >> Just before Rams quarterback Jared Goff disappeared into the Coliseum tuel late Sunday afteoon to celebrate his first win as an NFL quarterback, he paused, peeked over to a hundred or so fans shouting his name from the stands and raised his right arm to the sky. The roar that immediately erupted was unlike anything we’ve heard from the Coliseum for an NFL team in what seem...

LOS ANGELES >> Dodgers infielder Rob Segedin had no more control over the date his Predictive Analytics project was due than the day he would retu to the major leagues, but this was the life he chose. As luck would have it, Segedin leaed the Dodgers were bringing him up from Triple-A the day before the project was due. That made Aug. 17 an interesting day in the life of baseball’s most d...

HOUSTON >> The Houston Astros have acquired Justin Verlander in a trade with the Detroit Tigers. The right-hander joins the American League West leaders and a rotation that includes Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers. Astros owner Jim Crane says: “He adds a boost to our rotation. He’s been pitching well. We think he’ll give us some leadership. He’s been in the playoffs before and adds a dime...

LOS ANGELES >> The Santa Ana Valley High School football team was about to play its second game of the season. It could have been any Saturday in September – Curtis Granderson wasn’t sure the year – but this game happened to be on Sept. 10, 2011. Granderson was in town because his New York Yankees were playing the Angels. Santa Ana Valley held a freshman pep rally that Friday, Sept. 9. The Y...

ANAHEIM — Andrew Heaney’s brilliant performance in the Angels’ 3-1 victory over the Oakland A’s on Monday night could be summed up in two pitches, one at the begiing of his night and one at the end. With command of his breaking ball, which he demonstrated on the game’s first pitch, and the confidence in his health to unleash a 96 mph fastball in his final iing, Heaney aounced that he is back...

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...

LONG BEACH >> The Long Beach State women’s soccer team started life without senior captain Ashley Gonzales with an inspired performance and 2-0 win over No. 16 Northweste on Thursday at George Allen Field. “We owed ourselves that performance,” LBSU coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “We only had two days of training but the players did a good job leaing and evolving.” Gonzales, who was the B...

After all the talk between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, it’s time for the two to meet in the ring. The interest for the fight between the two participates is expected to set record numbers on pay-per-view. What else is at stake in this fight? Mayweather promised it will be the last fight of his career but can McGregor play the spoiler on Floyd’s final appearance in the ring? If you ask McG...