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COSTA MESA >> Retire for three months, and some people lose all respect for you. That’s essentially the treatment Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler got from Melvin Ingram, whom he will face this Sunday at StubHub Center. Asked on Thursday afteoon what problems Cutler might present this weekend, the Chargers defensive end didn’t miss a beat. “None,” Ingram said. Never mind the fact that, when...

Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is coming off his toughest fight, a narrow victory over Daniel Jacobs in March at Madison Square Garden. It strengthened Golovkin’s legacy some, but not as much as it could have because Jacobs’ name doesn’t carry worldwide weight. Universally, Canelo Alvarez’s carries a whole lot, so that’s why Golovkin and his team are looking at Saturday’s highly anticipate...

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 ...

SEATTLE — If the Angels hope to get to the postseason, they are going to have to reverse this trend with their starting pitchers. Ricky Nolasco provided the latest disappointing performance, allowing four runs in 3⅔ innings in the Angels’ 4-3 loss to the Seattle Marinersxa0on Fridayxa0night. Angels starters have a 6.53 ERA in the last 20 games. The work of the bullpen and the offense has kept them fro...

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 running 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...

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...

ANAHEIM >> Mike Trout is now finding out how everyone else in the majors lives. Trout, seemingly immune to the slumps that define his sport, has gone hitless in his past 17 at-bats, the second longest such drought in his career. He took an 0 for 18 in August 2014, the year he won his first MVP, by the way. Since hitting homers in his first two at-bats last Saturday in Baltimore, Trout is 3 f...

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...

Banned former U.S. Olympic team coach Don Peters has denied under oath having sexual relations with underage gymnasts while serving as U.S. national team coach in the 1980s, according to court documents obtained by the Southe Califoia News Group. Peters, who built SCATS, the Huntington Beach gymnastics academy, into one of the biggest names in inteational gymnastics, was banned by USA Gymnas...

One should avoid using “crazy” as a pejorative term. Those with mental illness should be spared ridicule, just like cancer patients. So we sit here and wait, in vain, for another term that sums up what ESPN did on Tuesday. It was reported that ESPN was removing play-by-play man Robert Lee from Virginia’s season opener with William & Mary on Sept. 2. With all the controversy over Gen. Robert E....

LOS ANGELES >> USC coach Clay Helton on Saturday expressed no conces about his team’s position in any preseason polls. “As I’ve continuously told our team, it’s about worrying about this first game and starting fast,” Helton said. “It’s not about where you start, it’s about where you finish.” He remains closely familiar with the old axiom. In 2015, the Trojans began the season ranked eighth in the Associated Press preseason poll. Then came disarray. Helton, the offensive coordinator, was p...

PITTSBURGH >> Clayton Kershaw should be happy. His back injury was less serious than might have been feared when he left his July 23 start. He has retued to health relatively quickly. And his team is so far out front that it can afford to take it slowly with him, giving him a long runway to retu to the rotation with bullets saved for October. Oh, yeah — that last part doesn’t seem to sit well with the Dodgers ace. “Health-wise, I could have pitched in the big leagues 10 days ago. But that’...

ANAHEIM >> When the week began, only 20 men had thrown more innings this season than Angels pitcher JC Ramirez. The score included veterans, All-Stars and a few “innings eaters.” Most were among the game’s most established starting pitchers. None was a rookie. Ramirez, 29, is not a rookie. But considering he’d thrown 126 1/3 innings at the major league level before this year, Ramirez wasn’t expected to be among the American League leaders in innings pitched (147 1/3). The Angels placed Ram...

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. >>xa0The pregame was once again packed with activity as Santa Margarita’s all-stars were greeted by players from both the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals at the Little League World Series. The MLB teams were in town forxa0Sundayxa0Night Baseball, which was played at a minor league baseball stadium in Williamsport as part of the festivities. Before getting ready for their game, the big-league players met the young ballplayers. The moment was special, but the Sou...

George Richardson is the fourth Cabrillo High football coach in as many years, so he knows that continuity is the most important thing for the Jaguars this season. “I’m a players coach with a disciplinarian approach,” Richardson said. “We’re trying to change the culture. That starts with the adults to solidify a community and family atmosphere that retains student-athletes.” A handful of starters from last year transferred out of Cabrillo over the summer, but the Jaguars still have a strong grou...

LOS ANGELES >> He had just caught another comeback victory and hit another home run, Yasmani Grandal now standing in the Dodgers clubhouse and being asked to discuss his team’s astonishing and utter awesomeness. Yet, instead of effervescing with the sort of delight that must come from playing on a club not only chasing but routinely tackling history, Grandal’s rather somber tone suggested he was recounting the passing of a childhood pet. One that was fluffy and lovable and house broken fro...

LOS ANGELES >> All-Pac 12 Oregon standout Norman Xiong, Virginia Tech’s Mark Lawrence Jr. and Oklahoma State’s Hayden Wood somehow managed to separate themselves from the pack on the first day of play at the 117th U.S. Amateur Championship with 6-under 64s. Xiong, an 18-year-old San Diego nati...

LOS ANGELES >> In the three months between spring practice and the start of training camp, Sam Daold worked out with Jordan Palmer, his private quarterbacks coach in Orange County, to sharpen his throwing mechanics. One adjustment centered on his delivery. Daold, USC’s third-year sophomore...

BROOKLYN, Mich. >> Kyle Larson slipped between cars on an overtime restart, capping his wild weekend with a victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan Inteational Speedway. Larson was in the spotlight after team owner Chip Ganassi allowed him to go to Iowa to compete in the Knoxv...