sport world

The Los Angeles Football Club continues building its roster ahead of its 2018 Major League Soccer debut. LAFC aounced the signing of 21-year-old Argentine forward Rodrigo Pacheco, who joins on loan from Club Atletico Lanus in Argentina’s first division. Pacheco will be loaned to Orange County SC, the USL affiliate for LAFC, for the remainder of 2017. He’s expected to join LAFC for training camp ...

GREEN BAY, Wisc. >> Sean McVay’s focus on Sept. 10 almost has been almost obsessive. The Rams’ coach has seemed like an eager child counting down to the days to his birthday. It’s almost here. Much to McVay’s excitement, the preseason ended Thursday night with a 24-10 loss to Green Bay at Lambeau Field, a game filled with backup players, many of whom were fighting for roster spots. McVay’s w...

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 >> It looked ominous. When Kenechi Udeze, USC’s defensive line coach, left the Portland airport in his rental car on a snowy January day, he noticed other cars were tued over aside the interstate. Udeze had arrived amid the city’s biggest snowstorm in two decades, and he still needed to drive almost 70 miles south to Independence, Ore., to visit a five-star defensive lineman na...

DEL MAR >> Did Del Mar really run the San Diego Handicap on July 22? Was that race just a figment of our imagination? Did Arrogate, thought to be virtually unbeatable after four consecutive Grade I victories, really finish fourth, beaten by 15 1/4 lengths, as a 1-20 favorite? As far as Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith is conceed, it didn’t occur. He’s completely blocked it from his memory bank. Or at least he’s trying to forget it happened. “It was such a clunker that he threw that I’m going to pretend it didn’t happen,” Smith said this week while preparing to ride Arrogate in Saturday’s...

The college football season is gettomg underway and members for each Pac-12 team will speak during media days. Use the schedule below as a guide and check back often for live news and updates during the two day event. Day 1 (Wednesday, July 26) 9 a.m. – Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott 9:40 a.m. – AR...

The Pac-12 Conference’s media days, with the first of the two-day press junket to begin Wednesday, will unfold at a shopping mall by the star-filled sidewalk of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One coach after another will take the stage and field questions from 300-plus credentialed media members. The c...

LOS ANGELES — USC is officially the preseason favorite in the Pac-12. The Trojans were picked to win the conference, according to the aual media poll released Wednesday. Of the 52 media members surveyed, the Trojans received 28 votes to win the league outright in the conference title game. Washing...

TAMPA, Fla. >> Jordan Morris’ second goal of the game broke a tie in the 76th minute, and the United States edged tiny Martinique 3-2 Wednesday night in the CONCACAF Gold Cup after wasting a two-goal lead at Raymond James Stadium. Failing to break through in the first half, the U.S. built a 2-...

Radio silence permeated the air for the Lakers on Wednesday, a stark contrast to the noise generated the previous day. The Lakers enter Thursday’s NBA draft without clarity on whether they can acquire Indiana forward Paul George after having preliminary discussions as early as Tuesday moing. No si...

BEVERLY HILLS >> May Pacquiao figures to go down as an all-time great prize-fighter, so it’s always a big deal when there is a news conference for one of his upcoming bouts. It was no different Thursday when Pacquiao and welterweight champion Jessie Vargas got together at the Beverly Hills Hotel to promote their Nov. 5 title fight at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. However, the most intriguing aspect that came out of the proceedings was not what the fighters think of one another. Rather, it’s that their fight will be distributed on pay-per-view by their promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank Inc., for $59.95. Pacquiao is still under contract to HBO, which has televised so many of his f...

LOS ANGELES >> One small gesture by an official sparked a perfect storm of imperfect results for UCLA on Saturday at Kyle Field. With less than a minute left in regulation and a chance to win the game, an official tapped center Scott Quessenberry and the center snapped the ball to an unsuspecting Josh Rosen. Rosen picked up the snap, then tried to find receiver Darren Andrews across the middle but threw an interception instead. It killed UCLA’s final attempt to avoid overtime, where the Bruins eventually lost 31-24. In UCLA’s silent count, guard Key Lacy is supposed to tap Quessenberry to snap the ball. It worked flawlessly for the entire game until the most important moment. Head coa...

In the wild world of college football, few things are constant. As dependable as Jim Harbaugh wearing khakis, the SEC will reign supreme in the hearts of voters, an upstart team from a non-power 5 conference will rise to only fall and the Pac-12 will eat itself alive. Parity rules the West. Four teams can contend for the North Division. Three more are fighting for the South. From the sideline, we’re trying to score the rounds before they happen. Here are the Southe Califoia News Group college football writers’ predictions for what is shaping up to be a competitive Pac-12 season: How USC fares Joey Kaufman: USC fares better than expected to start the season, managing a tough early slate to f...

DEL MAR >> Remember when some were calling Califoia Chrome a weak Kentucky Derby wier in 2014? Some in Louisville cringed the day he won the country’s most famous horse race. He wasn’t a mile and a quarter horse, they claimed beforehand. Wonder what those same folks are saying today after Califoia Chrome toyed with arguably the toughest Pacific Classic field in the Del Mar race’s 26 ruings Saturday, demolishing a field that included three-time Eclipse Award wier Beholder and the highly respected Dortmund. Final tally? Califoia Chrome by five lengths under a perfect ride by Victor Espinoza, who guided the 5-year-old son of Lucky Pulpit to a gate-to-wire victory through fractions of 23....

SEATTLE >> It is fitting for Mike Trout to be at Safeco Field this weekend. As Trout is celebrating his 25th birthday — a natural moment to take stock of his accomplishments, to mark where he stands in history — he has a front-row seat to a weekend of events dedicated to Ken Griffey Jr. The freshly inducted Hall of Famer is being honored all weekend by the Seattle Mariners, including an hour-long ceremony to have his number retired on Saturday. “It’s pretty cool,” Trout said. “I watched him growing up. Being a part of it is pretty cool.” Millions of kids grew up wanting to play like Griffey. Trout, by just about any evaluation, is the only one who really has. Ask Mark Langston, a team...

SEATTLE >> It is fitting for Mike Trout to be at Safeco Field this weekend. As Trout is celebrating his 25th birthday — a natural moment to take stock of his accomplishments, to mark where he stands in history — he has a front-row seat to a weekend of events dedicated to Ken Griffey Jr. The freshly inducted Hall of Famer is being honored all weekend by the Seattle Mariners, including an hour-long ceremony to have his number retired on Saturday. “It’s pretty cool,” Trout said. “I watched him growing up. Being a part of it is pretty cool.” Millions of kids grew up wanting to play like Griffey. Trout, by just about any evaluation, is the only one who really has. Ask Mark Langston, a team...

LOS ANGELES >> Two weeks ago at the All-Star Game, Clayton Kershaw said he had a timetable in mind for when he would be able to retu from his back injury and pitch for the Dodgers again. That is gone now. “I’m just trying get back,” he said Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, speaking with reporters for the first time since his back pain retued following a 60-pitch simulated-game throwing session. “Obviously I had a little setback. I thought I’d be back sooner but it’s just going to take a little time.” How much time will it take, Kershaw nor anyone else with the Dodgers is willing – or able – to say. He has not picked up a baseball since the sim game on July 16. “I definitely did (have a time...

The Pac-12 portion of the UCLA men’s basketball schedule was aounced Tuesday and the first school listed was the last conference representative remaining in the 2016 NCAA Touament. UCLA will travel to defending Pac-12 champion Oregon to open conference play against a team that reached the Elite Eight last season with a group that retus six of the seven players in its balanced rotation. Four of the Bruins’ first six conference games are on the road, but five of the final seven are at Pauley Pavilion. The exact dates of each game won’t be determined until the televised selections have been made and approved later this summer. Coming off a five-game stretch to close nonconference play that inc...

The USC men’s basketball team will open its Pac-12 schedule next season at either Oregon or Oregon State. Dates and times will be set later this summer, but Tuesday’s aouncement offered a first look at which teams USC will face. Notably, the Trojans will not travel to play Califoia and Stanford, as part of the scheduling rotation. They were swept on their trip to Berkeley and Palo Alto last season. They also do not host Colorado or Utah, two of the Pac-12’s seven teams to make the NCAA Touament last season. USC finished 21-13 overall and 9-9 in the conference last season, eaing an at-large berth to the touament for the first time since 2011. Four of its first six road games for 2016-17 are ...

It’s back-to-school time for the Rams’ rookies, and the syllabus appears rather daunting. Just a few months after most of them left college, the Rams’ 27 rookies will move into UC Irvine campus housing Tuesday, then hit the field Wednesday for the first of their two practices before veterans arrive. The big man on campus, naturally, will be quarterback Jared Goff, who made his name at another University of Califoia school, the flagship in Berkeley. Goff, the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL draft, has a secure roster spot but will attempt to win the starting job during camp. The Rams last camped at UC Irvine in August 1994. Two months later, Goff was bo, and in April 1995, the team moved t...