sport world

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...

LOS ANGELES >> Before Stephen Carr dashed for 52 yards along the north sideline of the Coliseum in USC’s win over Stanford, he ran through a vast hole. Carr, the Trojans’ freshman ruing back, was untouched past the line of scrimmage. The hole, on the left side of USC’s offensive line, might have been close to 10 yards, based on TV replays. Why was it so gaping? Start with left guard Chris ...

LOS ANGELES >> A big question going into the season was how defenses wanted to try and stop a USC offense capable of passing or ruing with equal success? Stanford faced the dilemma at halftime Saturday night, as the Cardinal watched USC quarterback Sam Daold pass for 225 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. “Stanford decided to play softer and take away the throw in the second h...

It had been bothering her for a little while. She had thought it was a minor injury but before the start of the 2016 track and field season, Long Beach State redshirt junior Mikalya Florez went to a doctor, got an MRI and found out she needed ACL surgery. Florez was forced to miss both the track and cross country seasons. It was a tough break for Florez but she knew she could battle back. “I was p...

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 ...

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 — Los Angeles’ celebration of landing the 2028 Olympic Games next week will include Inteational Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. Bach will light the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum’s Olympic cauldron during the Rams-Washington game Sept. 17, the Southe Califoia News Group has leaed. Bach’s two-day visit to Southe Califoia will come four days after the IOC in Lima, Per...

By Ryan Kartje [email protected] @Ryan_Kartje on Twitter THOUSAND OAKS >> Wade Phillips has been in this position before. Four of the past six times he has switched teams, to be exact. And so, when you ask about his conce transitioning from last year’s 4-3 defense to his vaunted 3-4, a topic that seems to whip fans of his new defenses into a state of nervous hysteria, Phillips calmly brushe...

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...

THOUSAND OAKS >> Last November, as the Rams season descended into a downward spiral, Hall of Fame ruing back Eric Dickerson found himself locked in a feud with the Rams head coach and its front office. How quickly things change. On Tuesday – the same day he was signed to a symbolic one-day contract, allowing him to officially retire as a Los Angeles Ram – Dickerson was given an official ti...

Ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southe Section’s Division 4 poll, the Downey High football team expected a better start to the season than what it got against Santa Margarita. The Vikings were totally overmatched against a Trinity League opponent in a 56-0 loss last Friday night. Particularly uncharacteristic for the Vikings was an offensive line that struggled to slow down the Eagles’ pass rushers. “Th...

ANAHEIM >> The Angels seem to be intent on proving their resilience, over and over and over again. Within games and within the season, the Angels have had plenty of opportunities to show they can bounce back from bad iings and tough losses, and they are going to have to do so again. After overcoming a four-run deficit to take a lead, the Angels gave up three runs in the eighth iing in a ...

Ranking the top 10 sports events Aug. 28 to Sept. 3 you won’t want to miss: NO. 1: COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON OPENERS USC vs. WESTERN MICHIGAN Details/TV: At the Coliseum, Saturday at 2:15 p.m., Pac-12 Network UCLA vs. TEXAS A&M Details/TV: At the Rose Bowl, Sunday at 4:30 p.m., Chael 11 Admire Sam Daold while he’s still in got some Coliseum eligibility and a Heisman campaign. Also keep in mi...

PITTSBURGH >> The media gets blamed for everything these days. For most of the season, Dodgers third baseman Justin Tuer has led the National League in batting average. Then people started asking him about it. Tuer is presumably only joking when he claims a causal effect between answering reporters’ questions about a batting title and losing points off his average. But he is not joking w...

Apparently, Jim Mora had seen enough. The head coach abruptly ended UCLA’s training camp early Sunday when he cancelled the team’s final practice. His players celebrated wildly in the team room upon hearing the news that they would finally receive a night off after 17 practices in 18 days. Here are five things we leaed in those 17 training camp practices with UCLA less than two weeks away from its season opener against Texas A&M on Sept. 3. Josh Rosen is at home in Jedd Fisch’s offense When asked of what he likes about Fisch’s system, Rosen said he most appreciated its versatility. With ...

THOUSAND OAKS >> Yes, it’s just preseason. Before that, it was just OTAs. Before that, it was just the Big Sky Conference. At every tu, Cooper Kupp has faced doubters, and tued them around. The stakes have reached their apex. Kupp, a former small-school standout at Easte Washington, now is preparing for his NFL regular-season debut, and the Rams’ third-round draft pick seems ready, as always. In two preseason games, Kupp has eight catches for 105 yards and one touchdown. Also, seven of Kupp’s eight catches have resulted in Rams first downs, and he seems to have carved himself a rol...

ANAHEIM >> It took three men to extract a pigeon from the Angel Stadium baseball diamond Monday. Texas Rangers first baseman Mike Napoli coered the clumsy bird, which had spent a half-iing meandering around the right side of the infield, between himself and first base umpire Gary Cederstrom. Cederstrom then chased the pigeon slowly from fair territory toward the first-base dugout. Rangers manager Jeff Banister finally emerged, picked up the pigeon with his bare hands, and carried it back with him to the dugout, never to be seen again. It took one future Hall of Famer to beat the Ang...

Even before his first regular-season game, Rams Coach Sean McVay showed he won’t be afraid to delegate responsibilities. McVay, formerly the offensive coordinator in Washington, aounced shortly after his hire in January that he would call plays for the Rams, but McVay said Sunday that his offensive coordinator, Matt LaFleur, called plays during the second half of Saturday’s preseason victory over Oakland. Most notably, LaFleur, formerly the quarterbacks coach in Atlanta, called plays when the Rams drove for the game-wiing touchdown in the final minutes against the Raiders. “He made some g...

OAKLAND >> This is the Jared Goff the Rams drafted, or thought they drafted, anyway. Goff didn’t look perfect in Saturday night’s 24-21 preseason victory over Oakland but, well, what’s a good word for almost perfect? Goff led the Rams on three scoring drives in four first-half possessions, and completed strong, accurate passes all over the field to seven different targets. The Rams intended for Goff to leave the game early in the second quarter, but who knew that he would — or could — lead a 16-play drive that lasted nine minutes and led to a go-ahead field goal? So, Goff played nearly ...