SOCAL SPORTS ANNALS’ FIRST POLL (In a long time)

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baseball, Chargers, college football, Dodgers, football, Major League Baseball, NFL, Pac-12 Conference, poll, pro football, Rams, Southern California sports, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans

Los Angeles Chargers vs. Los Angeles Rams in the first half of a NFL football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, September 23, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG) Photo courtesy of ocregister.com

 

It had just occurred to me that this blog has never done an article consisting solely of polls.

And hasn’t posted any polls in a piece since perhaps its first year.

I’m going to remedy that right now, by asking you to offer your opinions on a few questions regarding the current happenings in the SoCal sports scene and how you see things.

You can vote as many times as you like – enjoy…

 

 

 

 

 

UCLA Bruins tight end Austin Roberts (88) catches a pass for a first down past USC Trojans linebacker Cameron Smith (35) during the first half of an NCAA college football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG) Photo courtesy of pasadena starnews.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dodgers’ Matt Kemp after hitting a home run in their 14-0 win over the San Diego Padres yesterday. Photo courtesy of mrt.com

 

 

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FIRST SEASONS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TEAMS, Part Two

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AFL, American Football League, college football, football, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles Rams, National Football League, NFL, Pac-12 Conference, pro football, Rose Bowl, Southern Branch of the University of California Cubs, Southern California sports, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Established 1923. Either the current or former home to the football teams that are about to be mentioned in this article. Photo courtesy of airbnb.com

 

A HISTORICAL LOOK AT THE BEGINNINGS OF THE TWO COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAMS AND THE TWO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL TEAMS THAT CURRENTLY CALL THE GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA HOME

Second In A Series

 

 

A rare picture of the original USC Trojan football team, then known as the Methodists, 1888. Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

 

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (USC) TROJANS

First Season: 1888

Coaches: Henry H. Goddard, Frank Suffel

Record: 2-0

First Game/First Win: November 14, 1888, vs the Alliance Athletic Club. Won, 16-0.

• Beat the Alliance Athletic Club again on January 19, 1889

Comments:

USC didn’t waste that much time in putting together a football team, eight years after the school’s founding, which was organized by a student named Arthur Carroll, who not only played quarterback, but also stitched together the team’s pants and ended up being a tailor.

Goddard and Suffel were playing coaches that first season; afterwards the Methodists – they wouldn’t be called Trojans until 1912 (The year that Fenway Park in Boston opened and the Titanic sank, by the way) – wouldn’t have a coach until 1897, then would go three more years without one, hiring Clair Tappan in 1901.

An interesting thing that I found was that ‘SC was one of only two colleges on the West Coast that fielded football teams in those very early days, California being the other; Leland Stanford wouldn’t build his campus on his farm in Palo Alto until 1891.

And UCLA wouldn’t exist for another 31 years!

Speaking of the Trojans’ crosstown rival from the Westside…

 

 

 

A VERY rare picture of the original UCLA Bruin football team, known then as the Southern Branch of the University of California (SBUC) Cubs, 1919. Note the African-American player in the bottom row, far right. Quite progressive for that era, huh? Photo courtesy of thesouthernbranch.wordpress.com

 

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES (UCLA) BRUINS

First Season: 1919

Coach: Fred Cozens

Record: 2-6

First Game: October 3, 1919 vs Manual Arts High School. Lost, 74-0

First Win: Beat the Occidental College Frosh, 7-2, on October 24, 1919

• Was also the first home game, played on Moore Field on campus in front of 250 people.

Other Win:  October 30, 1919, 7-0 over now-Los Angeles City College.

Comments:

Even though the Southern Branch of the University of California (SBUC) Cubs – they wouldn’t become the UCLA Bruins until 1927, and even then they called themselves the Grizzlies for a few years before that – not only got their tails kicked by a high school team the first time they played football,

But also lost to two other high schools, Hollywood and Bakersfield, that first year (the year that Chicago’s White Sox, or more appropriately, “Black Sox”, threw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds for gamblers in what’s still considered the biggest scandal in sports history),

The fact that those Cubs managed to win two games evokes a fairly decent feeling from this alum.

Granted, SBUC would spend the next two seasons without a victory; I wonder if anyone in those days thought about disbanding the program then?

I reckon there was a celebration on campus when they finally broke into the win column, beating San Diego State 24-6 on October 7, 1922.

And it’s safe to say that despite being generally considered the “other” college football team in L.A., their level of success not quite matching up to USC’s,

I say that UCLA has done quite well on the gridiron, considering.

 

 

Five members of the original Los Angeles Rams in 1946, including quarterback and former UCLA star Bob Waterfield (#7) and the two African-Americans who made color-barrier-breaking history, Kenny Washington (#13) and Woody Strode (#34). Photo courtesy of pinterest.com

 

LOS ANGELES RAMS

First Season (overall): 1936, in Cleveland, as part of the American Football League. Joined the National Football League in 1937.

Coach: Damon “Buzz Wetzel

Record: 5-2-2

• Second place behind the Boston Shamrocks
• Won the AFL championship after Boston forfeited their playoff game
• Moved to Los Angeles after winning the NFL championship in 1945

First Game (overall): October 11, 1936 vs the Syracuse Braves. Won, 26-0

First Season (In Los Angeles): 1946

Coach: Adam Walsh

Record: 6-4-1

• Second place behind the Chicago Bears in the NFL West

First Game (In Los Angeles): September 29, 1946 vs the Philadelphia Eagles. Lost, 25-14

First Win (In Los Angeles): 21-17, on October 6, 1946 over the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay, WI

Comments:

The most significant thing about the Rams’ first year in Los Angeles was the fact that because the Coliseum Commission – the folks that ran the Coliseum, where the Rams were scheduled to play their home games – refused to allow the Rams to use their facility unless the team was racially integrated,

Took that monumental step a full year before Jackie Robinson made history with the then-Brooklyn Dodgers and signed Jackie’s former UCLA football teammates, Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, in the spring of 1946, thus breaking a 13-year color barrier.

It is quite impressive that the Coliseum, in the days when African-Americans were Jim Crowed in an often brutal fashion in the North as well as the South, but were also subjected to racially restrictive covenants in L.A., dictating where they were forbidden to buy homes (more or less anywhere outside of South L.A.),

Would take a stand against that racism and demand that the Rams integrate their team.

It led to the Rams being the pro sports team in the Southland; remember, those Rams were in Los Angeles for a full twelve years before the Dodgers famously came west from Brooklyn.

 

 

The Original Los Angeles Chargers, 1960. Photo courtesy of scoopnest.com

 

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

First Season: 1960, in the American Football League.

• Moved to San Diego in 1961, and played there for the next 56 seasons

Coach: Sid Gillman

Record: 10-4

• Finished in first place in the regular season
• Lost in the AFL Championship Game to the Houston Oilers, 24-16

First Game/First Win: September 10, 1960 vs the Dallas Texans in the Coliseum. Won, 21-20

Comments:

It’s interesting that much like today, the Chargers, as evidenced by the small number of fans that saw them at the Coliseum – 17,724 for their first game and crowds as low as 9,000 afterward (which certainly made for an empty-looking stadium),

Were clearly considered as the “other” pro football team in SoCal compared to the mighty Rams.

With the crowds as pathetically low as they were that first year, no wonder they packed up and moved south.

It’s a pity that current owner Dean Spanos alienated the fans in San Diego so much, that I would go so far as to state that many, if not most of those fans down I-5, were glad to see the Chargers go.

As a Charger fan told me when I mentioned how they could have kept that team with a ballot measure vote to build a new stadium that Spanos wanted,

“L.A. can have them!”

 

 

College Football: USC O.J. Simpson (32) in action, rushing vs UCLA. Los Angeles, CA 11/18/1967 CREDIT: Walter Iooss Jr. (Photo by Walter Iooss Jr. /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (Set Number: X12846 ) A scene from the most famous Crosstown Rivalry game held in the Coliseum. Photo courtesy of gettyimages.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twenty Reasons Why College Football Is Better Than Pro Football

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alumni, college football, College Game Day, ESPN, football, National Football League, NCAA, NFL, Pac-12 Conference, pro football, rivalries, Rose Bowl, UCLA, USC

UCLA Bruins place kicker JJ Molson (17) miss a field goal attempt against the USC Trojans during the first half of an NCAA college football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG) Photo courtesy of ocregister.com

 

 

Ten years ago, I wrote an article on Bleacher Report regarding the ways that the college version of the sport of football were better than the version where the players wearing those colorful helmets and pads get (legally) paid.

I thought it was high time that I did a slightly revised list of why I – and many other fans – prefer the football that’s played on Saturdays over the football that’s played on Sundays…

 

1. College football has cheerleaders who actually lead cheers. Pro football has “cheerleaders” who are actually showgirls with pom-poms.

2. College football has marching bands. Pro football brings in marching bands, or plays canned music over the loudspeaker, or places a DJ on the sidelines.

3. College players play for the love of the game and their school. Pro players play for the love of their contract.

4. In college, every game counts, In the pros, you have four games in August that don’t.

5. College football has iconic places where it’s played like Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Michigan’s “Big House” in Ann Arbor, and especially the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I really don’t think AT&T Stadium, Jerry Jones’ palace in Dallas that he built for his Cowboys, measures up.

6. ESPN’s “College Game Day”; my favorite show in sports along with HBO’s “Real Sports”. I’d much rather see celebrities like Katy Perry pick the winners of games and Lee Corso put on a mascot’s head in front of so many rabid fans on campus than whatever those guys on the NFL’s pregame shows do.

7. College football has the Axe, the Old Oaken Bucket, the Little Brown Jug, the Apple Cup, the Golden Boot and at least a couple of Victory Bells. Pro football has, well…

8. College Football has Renegade, Traveler, UGA, Smokey, Ralphie, a gorgeous looking Alaskan Malamute in Seattle, and a goat named Billy in Annapolis. Pro football wouldn’t let them within 100 yards of their stadiums.

9. UCLA fans don’t have to worry about Jaelan Phillips and Soso Jamabo being traded to Stanford for two offensive linemen and a defensive tackle to be named later.

10. USC fans don’t have to worry about Porter Gustin and Cameron Smith holding out of fall camp because they want their contracts renegotiated – unlike the Rams’ fans with regards to Aaron Donald.

11. Number of NFL teams: 32. Number of major, “Power Five Conference” teams: 66. That’s more than twice the number of teams for the college fans to root for.

12. Everybody knows “Hail To The Victors”, “Cheer, Cheer For Ol’ Notre Dame”, and “Fight On”. Can they say the same for “Hail To The Redskins” outside of Washington, D.C.?

13. College football teams still give away free tickets to underprivileged kids; UCLA has an “I’m Going To College Day” for such a purpose. NFL team owners would rather go out of business than give tickets away.

14. Unlike in the NFL, college football teams don’t move out-of-town and leave their fans because the school president and athletic director doesn’t like the stadium and the team is making millions instead of billions.

15. Rivalries mean a lot more in college. If the Chicago Bears lose to the Green Bay Packers, they get another shot at them in a few weeks. If USC loses to UCLA, however, those Trojans have to live with it for the next 364 days.

Michigan vs Ohio State, Oklahoma vs Texas, Harvard vs Yale, and (particularly) Army vs Navy has so much more appeal than the Dallas Cowboys vs the Washington Redskins.

And even though Alabama won their 5th national championship in the past nine years last season, that Crimson Tide isn’t even the best team in their own state as they still have to deal with losing to Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

16. College football players don’t get fined $5,000 for wearing their socks too high or too low or for tucking in their towel wrong.

17. I would much rather see games in places like South Bend, Austin, Tuscaloosa, Lincoln, NE, in the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena, and on top of “Tightwad Hill” overlooking the San Francisco Bay in Berkeley than in Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, and Charlotte, NC.

18. College overtimes are so much better than NFL overtimes: Ball placed on the 25-yard line for both teams. One team scores, the other teams needs to score more or game over. VERY exciting.

19. Although the rivalries can get intense in college, and there have been incidents among fans, at least opposing fans don’t have to worry as much about getting things thrown at them and beer poured on them by drunken fans, unlike in places such as (in particular) Philadelphia.

20. The bonding among alumni at college games, some of them going back roughly sixty years, can’t possibly be matched by any bonding that pro football fans do.

 

A Bruin scoring a touchdown during UCLA’s 38-20 win over USC at the Rose Bowl in 2014. Photo courtesy of bruinsnation.com

 

 

 

FOOTBALL IS COMING: Thoughts On This Sport As SoCal’s Teams Get Ready For The Season

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Chronic Traumatic Encepalopathy, CIF, Coliseum, college football, CTE, football, Friday Night Lights, high school football, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, National Football League, NCAA, NFL, Pac-12 Conference, pro football, Rose Bowl, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans

LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 26: Travis Benjamin #12 of the Los Angeles Chargers completes the pass during the preseason game between the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 26, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images)  Photo courtesy of losangeles.cbslocal.com  

 

WITH THINGS KICKING OFF FOR THE NFL’S RAMS & CHARGERS AND THE PAC-12’S UCLA BRUINS & USC TROJANS ROUGHLY A MONTH FROM NOW, HERE’S WHAT’S ON MY MIND…

Here we are, seven days into August.

SoCal’s in the midst of another heat wave.

Huge wildfires are torching this state’s hills and forests, both north and south; I particularly feel bad for those NorCal folks dealing with the Carr and Mendocino blazes that have burned an area which is the approximately the size of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined.

And thousands of males, ranging in age from ten to their mid-thirties, are going through all kinds of suffering – grunting, sweating, crashing into each other wearing various pieces of plastic on their heads and shoulders, and otherwise going through what used to be called “Hell Week”,

In order to prepare for a season pursuing glory on the various gridirons ranging from the cathedrals of the Rose Bowl and the Coliseum,

To places where tiny bleachers, where maybe three or four hundred fans consists of a standing room only crowd, are set up behind each sideline – and I know of some fields where the bleachers are behind only one sideline.

Meanwhile, thousands of young females – and a few males – are likewise grunting and sweating, learning dance routines, cheers that are more sophisticated than “Go Team Go!”, and working on not letting selected females fall to the ground when they’re thrown into the air as they get ready to enthusiastically cheer their teams on, no matter how Bad News Bearish their gridiron squads are;

I’ve always wondered how those cheerleaders stay so optimistic when they guys they’re cheering for block and tackle as good as a bunch of jelly donuts and lose by an average of five touchdowns every week.

And in a shout-out to the football-based activity that I was involved in, right about now even more thousands of young folks are working on marching around on fields while playing musical instruments at the same time, getting ready to represent their school this fall while wearing too-heavy uniforms, (sometimes) capes and hats that often look, for lack of a better term, dorky.

Yep, it’s no doubt that football is definitely coming, as SoCal’s four main teams that block, tackle, and throw, catch, and run with that strange-looking pigskin – L.A.’s two teams who get paid big money, the Rams and Chargers, and the two teams where they attend college classes at the same time, UCLA’s Bruins and USC’s Trojans, who make up one of the biggest rivalries in the sport – are preparing for their season as I write this.

One thought is prevalent in my mind regarding these guys who provide either excitement, pride and happiness or embarrassment, anger and sadness to their fans on a weekly basis every September, October, and November…

 

 

St. John Bosco’s Braves from Bellflower, one of SoCal’s top high school programs, charge onto the field before a game with Mission Viejo. Photo courtesy of boscofootball.com

 

 

Their physical health.

Particularly the condition of the gray matters inside the top of their heads as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, has ruined the lives of many a football hero, the suicides of stars like the Chicago Bears’ Dave Duerson, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Webster, and a SoCal football icon, Junior Seau of USC and the Chargers, being well documented.

As is stories of big names like the Bears’ sunglasses-wearing nonconformist quarterback Jim McMahon not being able to find his way home when he goes out due to the brain damage that his football career brought him.

Not to mention guys whose ankles and knees are so painfully maimed that they need canes, walkers and wheelchairs to get around in their way-too-young forties!

I always find myself praying for football players in general, as well as always remarking, “I hope their heads are OK” whenever I watch a game in person or on TV.

Once or twice I’ve wondered “Is football worth it?”, knowing full well that being the number one spectator sport in this country that it is, it will not go away.

One thing’s for sure – after reading and seeing all the damage that football players go through, during and after their careers, I’m glad I chose baseball and softball as my sports to play.

There is one thing that I look forward to during football season, more than anything else, especially after going to games for over 35 years…

Tailgating.

Being around people who share one thing with you – the love of their football team.

In my case it’s hanging around fellow fans and alumni of my alma mater, UCLA, as I’ve always had a good time renewing acquaintances at Lot H, the grassy park area south of the Rose Bowl where blue and gold-wearing folks eat, drink, watch games on TV, and generally share good fellowship with one another.

That’s one thing that I’ve always looked forward to every season, and this year will be no exception.

OH, BY THE WAY:

Here’s my schedule of when the season previews and predictions of UCLA, USC, the Rams, and the Chargers will appear on this blog…

• USC Trojans: Preview on August 20th, Game Predictions on August 27th
• UCLA Bruins: Preview on August 23rd, Game Predictions on August 30th
• Los Angeles Chargers: Preview and predictions on September 3rd
• Los Angeles Rams: Preview and predictions on September 6th

And my choice to feature on my annual “Friday Night Lights” high school football atmosphere and experience article this fall…

Crenshaw Cougars vs Dorsey Dons, one of the biggest high school rivalries in the Southland.

Looking forward to writing these pieces this fall – watch for them!

And best wishes to all those guys putting on helmets and running around on gridirons this fall.

 

Bruins and Trojans on the line of scrimmage during their 2012 clash, UCLA winning 38-28. Photo courtesy of boydsbets.com

 

 

 

WHEN IT ALL ENDS: Musings of the End of Athletes’ Careers

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athletes, athletics, baseball, Bruin Nation, careers, Gymnastics, human nature, Los Angeles Times, Major League Baseball, NBA, NCAA, NFL, sports, student-athletes, UCLA Bruins, Westwood

Kobe Bryant with family and friends during a ceremony to retire both the numbers he wore as a Los Angeles Laker at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Monday, Dec. 18, 2017. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) A perfect illustration of one of the minuscule few who achieved their athletic dreams. Photo courtesy of ocregister.com

 

THOUGHTS OF WHEN AN ATHLETE’S TIME IS UP AND THE CHEERING AND THE ACCOLADES STOP

Yesterday there was a large-sized article in the sports section of the Sunday Los Angeles Times featuring UCLA’s heroic gymnast Christine Peng Peng Lee and her gymnastics journey.

The article described how she overcame many devastating injuries, the kind that would end the careers of pretty much anyone else; how she arrived in Westwood on crutches after having to miss competing for Canada in the 2012 Olympics and not only left UCLA a champion,

She ended her gymnastics career with back-to-back perfect tens on the uneven parallel bars and the balance beam,

With the perfect ten on that beam clinching the Bruins’ seventh national championship.

After I read about Peng Peng’s pronounced perseverance, and how she is now involved in a show at Sea World while she – like more or less all other new college graduates –  embarks on a new chapter in her life,

I started to ponder something.

I got to thinking about how for everyone who throws a ball, hits a ball, shoots a ball, kicks a ball, catches a ball, or does unbelievable tricks on a four-inch wide piece of wood,

Sooner or later, there comes a time “…through no fault of your own”, stated a former Broadway child actress, “…when it’s just going to be over.”

As a coach told a teenage Billy Beane in the 2011 movie Moneyball, the film starring Brad Pitt about the Oakland A’s general manager and how his different approach to getting players changed philosophies among the Major League Baseball teams,

“We’re all told that we can’t play (baseball) anymore. Some of us are told at eighteen, some of us are told at thirty. But we’re all told.”

AS AN ASIDE: I was told I couldn’t play baseball anymore at fifteen when I was cut from my high school team due to my extreme lack of throwing ability.

For, according to the NCAA, 98% of all student-athletes, it ends at age 22 or 23. Or even sooner if they suffer a significant enough injury or the coaches decide that they no longer fit into the team’s plans.

The same goes for 96 to 97% of all high school athletes, the difference being that it ends at age 18 instead of their early 20s.

And even for those minuscule few who do win the lottery, so to speak, and earn a paycheck to play the sport they have loved since they were of single digit age,

Put it this way: The average career of an NFL or NBA player is anywhere from three to seven years.

For Major League Baseball it’s just as precarious – five years.

Meaning by the time one reaches thirty, it’s over.

After all the cheers and the accolades and the virtual worship, they are done.

They are back to being just plain ordinary folks like you and (especially) me, the vast majority of them – except for guys like Kobe Bryant, who are rare – needing to get regular jobs and become regular working stiffs.

 

The average careers of those very select few who achieve their goal of being professional athletes. Image courtesy of championsid.com

 

 

I find myself feeling sympathetic for them in that context, because it’s only human nature for one to enjoy being seen as a hero at least and a virtual God at best.

It’s only human nature to enjoy flying first class and staying at five-star hotels on a regular basis.

It’s only human nature to enjoy having your college education – and all the perks that go along with that; room, board, mandatory tutoring, priority class enrollment among other perks, both legal and illegal – completely paid for.

And it’s only human nature to enjoy having strangers show their love for you, tell you how wonderful you are for giving them such a pleasure in winning the big game or the national title.

When I think about it, it makes me completely understand what Tyler Honeycutt, the former UCLA basketball player who recently committed suicide, must have been feeling as while he was still getting a paycheck for playing hoops, it wasn’t in the NBA and wasn’t going to be for such.

Tyler was likely feeling despondent on a pronounced scale that his dreams of NBA immortality weren’t going to come true, that he was going to end up just like the rest of us.

As I’ve always said whenever I see people playing pick-up softball or in a slow-pitch league in a park,

“For about 99.9% of all the little leaguers out there, that’s where they’re gonna end up.”

Of course the same sentiment applies whenever I see folks playing flag football of pick-up basketball.

OK, HERE’S MY POINT…

I reckon it must be difficult – in various degrees, of course – for someone who’s experienced major success in sports to adjust to “civilian” life after his/her playing days are through.

I mean, in Peng Peng’s case, one minute she’s hitting two straight perfect tens and, with her teammates, celebrating a “Natty” for Bruin Nation due to such,

The next minute her career is done.

I’m just glad that most athletes know that their days in the spotlight will eventually end, plan accordingly, and go on to live good lives.

I’m also glad that UCLA, along with (I believe) every other school, has a program and a support system to get their student-athletes ready for that eventuality.

I only hope the future potential stars, like my volleyball-playing cousin who’s a sophomore in high school, recognize their ultimate future and prepare.

 

 

Christine Peng Peng Lee celebrating with her UCLA teammates after winning an unforgettable national championship for Bruin Nation, ending her gymnastics career in such a perfect way. Photo courtesy of espn.com

 

 

FIRST SEASONS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TEAMS, Part One

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Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Galaxy, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles Sparks, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, SoCal, Southern California, Southern California sports, sports, WNBA, Wrigley Field

The Coliseum on April 15, 1958, the day of the Dodgers’ first game in Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of pinterest.com

 

FIRST OF A SERIES

Over the course of the rest of this year, I’m going to take a look at the first season of the teams that call the greater Los Angeles area home.

My plans are to look at these first seasons by seasons; the beginnings of SoCal’s major college and pro football teams – UCLA, USC, the Rams and the Chargers – will appear on this site sometime in September.

For now, however, we’ll take a look at the teams currently playing – L.A.’s baseball teams, the Dodgers and the Angels, as well as Major League Soccer’s Galaxy and the WNBA’s Sparks.

Which we will start with as I want to do this in reverse chronological order…

And now, on with our history lesson…

 

Lisa Leslie, SoCal basketball icon (Inglewood’s Morningside High, USC) and the Sparks’ first star. Photo courtesy of sportsretriever.com

 

LOS ANGELES SPARKS

First Season: 1997

Championships: Three – 2001, 2002, 2016

Record: 14-14, Second place in the West, Did not qualify for the playoffs

Coaches: Linda Sharp, was replaced by Julie Rousseau after going 4-7

First Game/First Home Game: Lost to the New York Liberty, 67-57, on June 21, 1997

First Win: Beat the Charlotte Sting, 74-54, on June 25, 1997

Team Leaders:

• Lisa Leslie, 15.9 points per game, 9.5 rebounds per game
• Penny Toler, 5.1 assists per game

 

A shot of the first Galaxy team from 1996. Photo courtesy of kyledane.blogspot.com

 

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

First Season: 1996

Championships: Five – 2002, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2014 (most in Major league Soccer)

Record: 19-13, First place in the MLS West, Lost to D.C. United in the MLS Cup Championship Game, 3-2

Coach: Lothar Oslander

First Game/First Home Game/First Win: April 12,1996, at the Rose Bowl. Beat the New York/New Jersey Metrostars, 2-1

Team Leaders:

• Eduardo Hurtado – 21 goals, 7 assists
• Mauricio Cienfuegos – 11 assists
• Jorge Campos (goalie) – 4 shutouts, 1.20 GAA

 

The Original Angels! Photo courtesy of twitter.com

LOS ANGELES ANGELS

First Season: 1961

Championships: One – 2002

Record: 70-91, Eighth place in the American League, 38.5 games behind the New York Yankees

Manager: Bill Rigney

First Game/First Win: Beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-2, on April 11, 1961

First Home Game: Lost to the Minnesota Twins, 4-2, at Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field on April 27, 1961

Team Leaders:

• Leon Wagner, LF – .280 average, 28 HR, 79 RBI
• Ken Hunt, CF – .255 average, 25 HR, 84 RBI
• Steve Bilko, 1B – .279 average, 20 HR, 59 RBI
• Ken McBride, P: 12-15, 3.65 ERA, 180 strikeouts
• Art Fowler, RP: 5-8, 3.64 ERA, 11 saves

 

 

Can anyone please tell me why the Angels don’t switch from those ugly caps that they’re wearing now to these lids?! Photo courtesy of sportsunlimitedinc.com

 

 

 

 

Straight Out Of Brooklyn – The Original L.A. Dodgers! Photo courtesy of brooklyndodgermemories.com

 

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

First Season: 1958

Championships: Five – 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988

Record: 71-83, Seventh place in the National League, 21 games behind the Milwaukee Braves

Manager: Walter Alston

First Game: Lost to San Francisco Giants, 8-0, on April 15, 1958

First Win: Beat the Giants, 13-1, on April 16, 1958

First Home Game: April 18, 1958, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Beat the Giants, 6-5

Team Leaders:

• Duke Snider, CF – .312 average, 15 HR, 58 RBI
• Carl Furillo, RF – .290 average, 18 HR, 83 RBI
• John Roseboro, C – .271 average, 11 HR, 43 RBI
• Johnny Podres, P: 13-15, 3.72 ERA, 143 strikeouts
• Clem Labine, RP: 6-6, 4.15 ERA, 14 saves

 

A Few Brief Thoughts:

From looking at this, it’s clear that the Galaxy, by far, had the best inaugural season among this group.

The Sparks? Not so much, as their first coach, Linda Sharp, was fired after just eleven games; management must have felt that there were some pronounced problems to fire a coach not even halfway during a team’s first year.

The Angels? A typical first year franchise. They did well to not finish last, in a “There’s someone worse than us!” kind of way.

And as for the Dodgers, my goodness! Their “Boys of Summer” stars from their glory days in Brooklyn were starting to decline, particularly the pitchers as their best guy on the mound at Ebbets Field, Don Newcombe, was shown to be through as he went 0-6 with an earned run average over seven!

Combine that with the hurlers who essentially put the L.A. Dodgers on the map, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax, not being ready for prime time just yet as they were a combined 23-24 with an ERA over four,

And you had a Dodger team that desperately needed to rebuild, which – their World Series title in 1959 notwithstanding – they eventually did.

Coming In September:

The first seasons of L.A’s football kingdoms – both college and pro as we’ll take a look at USC’s and UCLA’s beginnings as well as the Rams and the Chargers.

 

 

Dodger Stadium under construction in 1960. Photo courtesy of kcet.org

 

AN AFTERNOON WITH SOME LITTLE LEAGUERS

Tags

baseball, Culver City, District 25, ESPN, little league, Little League Baseball, Little League World Series, Santa Monica, softball, South Williamsport, Southern California sports, West Los Angeles

West L.A’s Little League All-Star team after winning their district tournament in 2016. Photo courtesy of wlall.org

 

CHECKING OUT A LITTLE LEAGUE ALL-STAR TOURNAMENT GAME IN WEST LOS ANGELES

A significant part of my involvement in baseball and softball was spent in little league.

Not only was I a player for the Santa Monica Sunset Little League Major Division Dodgers – though for only one year, in 1979 – I spent approximately twenty years as a player, coach, manager, and umpire (which I absolutely and passionately hated) in Santa Monica and Culver City’s Little Leagues, for all intents and purposes retiring after my minor division team in Culver City, the Pirates, made the Tournament of Champions in 2002.

It is very difficult for more or less anyone who is heavily involved in any endeavor, whether it’s sports, music, dance, or anything else involving an audience, to just watch such endeavor as a mere fan for pure enjoyment, because such involvement causes one to have an analytical and critical eye in what they’re seeing.

I am definitely no exception when it comes to baseball and softball, as even when I’m watching the Dodgers or any major league game on TV I tend to think, “He should have thrown a fastball there,” or “she needs to lay off that rise ball,” which is what I felt about Culver City High School’s softball players during their semi-final playoff game last month as they were chasing the Chaminade pitcher’s out-of-the-strike zone pitches throughout that contest.

When it comes to watching a little league game, those analytical and critical thoughts also apply to the coaches, as I always tend to think what I would do in situations; more on that in a bit.

As such…

Since it had been a couple of years since I wrote about any youth sports on this blog, I thought it was high time to remedy that and check out what is the highlight of the little league season in L.A’s Westside – the District 25 11-12 year old all-star tournament.

Which serves as stop number one to the ultimate event in youth sports: The Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA.

Not that I ever expected any little league all-star team from the Westside to even make it to the Regionals in San Bernardino – the last stop before South Williamsport – let alone South Williamsport, even though SoCal teams from Northridge, Long Beach, and Huntington Beach have achieved that Holy Grail over the last 25 years.

I know full well that for every team of baseball and softball-playing youngsters showing their skills on ESPN in August, there’s at least ten teams that could easily be there save for a call or two not going their way.

 

Another West LA All-Star team from three years ago. Photo courtesy of wlall.org

 

Anyhow…

I found myself at West Los Angeles Little League – where I coached my very last Little League game in the Tournament of Champions in ’02 – earlier this week to check out an all-star tournament game between the hosts and Culver City’s group of all-stars.

As I check out the field, which looked pristine, on a professional level, really, a prevailing thought was this:

Since the chances of going to San Bernardino – never mind South Williamsport – are MUCH less that SLIM and NONE, this tournament is the big “Moment In The Sun” for these kids, on a PRONOUNCED level.

I really hope the coaches told them to enjoy the moment, enjoy being an all-star and playing in a tournament like this; that’s what I would be telling them.

Outside of the fact that West L.A. beat Culver City in a convincing fashion, mercying them (the mercy rule is ten runs after four innings) 10-0 as they scored four runs in the 5th inning to put the Culver All-Stars out of their misery, the two factors being that Culver’s pitcher, a big kid with MUCH potential who threw hard but due to his inconsistencies with his mechanics was all over the place, which is a common issue with kids that tall as he was at least 5’10” if not six feet,

And the way that Culver’s hitters were completely shut down by the breaking pitches from West L.A’s guy – I remember thinking and mentioning to various folks that they so needed to move up in the batter’s box to get to the pitch before it broke, which they didn’t do,

(Yes, like all of the other baseball and softball games that I watch, I was watching this game with a coach’s eyes; I can’t help it, and due to the roughly forty years – and counting – that I have been involved in those pastimes in some form it will most likely always be that way)

A thought that I had towards the end of the game was that this all-star tournament, and little league in general, is not the end of the road as being 13 year-olds at the most, they have much playing and developing to do as in my opinion, if those same two teams met two or three years from now as high school kids, I really feel that Culver would win.

Particularly if that big kid that started in the mound for Culver City worked with a pitching coach to develop his mechanics and a consistent release point.

Oh, one other thing about being at this game which goes into my “I have a longtime background in Little League” category…

I knew three of the four umpires that were calling the game; one of them was the coach of the team that my Dodgers scored the biggest upset in youth sports history against way back in ’79. I had a good time saying hello to him and the other two “Blues”.

Summing up, I had a perfectly fine time being at the place where I ended my involvement in Little League Baseball sixteen years before.

 

No, this is not the Culver City team that I saw, but you get the gist. Photo courtesy of patch.com

 

 

MUSINGS ABOUT THE WORLD CUP

Tags

AYSO, Coliseum, East Los Angeles, El Tri, FIFA World Cup, football, Huntington Park, LAFC, Los Angeles Galaxy, Major League Soccer, Mexico, MLS, Pacoima, Rose Bowl, San Fernando Valley, soccer, Southern California, United States, World Cup, World Cup Soccer

El Tri, Mexico’s national team, in the midst of arguably the World Cup’s biggest upset in decades, their 1-0 triumph over defending champion Germany. Photo courtesy of sports.abs-cbn.com

 

JUST SOME THOUGHTS REGARDING THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SPORTING EVENT AND THE CONNECTION THAT MEXICO’S TEAM HAS WITH SOCAL

When the United States, in a pathetically epic fashion, failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Russia (going on right now) in losing to a Trinidad & Tobago team that, in all honesty, they should have been able to name the score against,

While I didn’t lose interest in this year’s version of the biggest sports event on this planet, I felt that the U.S. National Team not being in Russia set this country even further out of the loop as far as world culture is concerned.

I honestly didn’t pay that much attention to that once every four years tournament seeking the best team in the world’s most popular sport;

That is, until a week ago when I saw that El Tri – Mexico’s national team that has a very big presence in SoCal due to obvious reasons, regularly drawing roughly 90,000 fans to games at the Rose Bowl and the Coliseum, where 90% of the fans fervently rooting for them, even against the U.S. team – scoring a significant upset in beating defending champion Germany 1-0 in their World Cup opener on June 17th, setting off a wild celebration wherever Mexican fans congregated.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKs8Ss8dCs4

Fox 11 Los Angeles’ report on fans in Huntington Park and other places in L.A.wildly celebrating Mexico’s big win over Germany. Courtesy of YouTube (click on the link).

 

Which was particularly the case in East L.A., long a SoCal hub for the Mexican-American community, as fans walked down Whittier Blvd waving their flags of red and green with the eagle holding a snake in its beak in the middle in ecstatic triumph, as well as other places in the Los Angeles area like Huntington Park and Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley.

It reminded me of how the African-American community happily celebrated whenever boxing legend Joe Louis won a fight in the 1930s and 40s, especially when he won the heavyweight crown in 1937.

It didn’t take long for me, or any other sports person, probably, to figure out that with the U.S. soccer team in such bad shape as to not be one of the 32 teams currently in Russia, Mexico, the next nearest country, would be the adoptive team to root for in this World Cup for many if not most American soccer fans.

Personally, one word describes my feelings about what is called football in every country except this one and Canada…

Fascinating.

 

Hirving Lozano (#22), after becoming Mexico’s newest national hero in scoring the goal that knocked off the defending World Cup champs on June 17th. Photo courtesy of chinaplus.cri.cn

 

Every time I catch a few minutes of a soccer game, whether it’s the Galaxy or the brand new LAFC, our two local teams, or especially an English Premier League game, the atmosphere that the fan bases provide at those matches – particularly in the United Kingdom (check out how 50,000 fans sing their team’s song at the top of their lungs during their games over there) – really hold my interest.

For the life of me, it’s hard to conceive fans who are so passionate and obsessive of teams like Liverpool, Manchester United, their rivals Manchester City (who I gravitate toward due to their colors being the same as UCLA’s), and Chelsea that groups of them, commonly known as hooligans, often brawl with the opposing team’s fans and force the police to completely separate the fan bases at places like Old Trafford in Manchester, Anfield in Liverpool, and Wembley Stadium in London.

I really can’t imagine that sort of thing going on in an AYSO game in the park.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BSeFs40QOI

HOW EL TRI DID IT: Highlights of Mexico’s 1-0 triumph over defending World Cup champion Germany on June 17th. Courtesy of YouTube (click on the link).

 

As such…

It would be great to see Mexico in the World Cup Final; they are in first place in their group, beating South Korea as well as Germany, with only a game against Sweden coming up this Wednesday before the knockout Round of 16 begins.

Heck, the more wins El Tri gets, the more fervent the fans, particularly in SoCal, will be.

And I can only imagine the celebrations that would commence if Mexico wins the title; the reaction among the fans would be akin to the Lakers or the Dodgers winning a championship, with the streets in East L.A. and other places being taken over.

As El Tri’s match against Sweden starts at 7:00 a.m on Wednesday, well…

While I can’t guarantee that I’ll be watching the entire game from start to finish, I’ll be sure to get updates, and maybe catch a few minutes of the affair.

Bottom Line: This World Cup, Mexico doing so well in it to date, and soccer in general to be honest,

Is nothing but fascinating to me.

So much so that seeing a game in England is on my bucket list.

And I plan to not only check out a LAFC match at Banc of California Stadium this summer, but write all about the experience on this blog.

 

Fervent fans of Mexico’s El Tri celebrating after their team’s triumph over Germany in L.A. Photo courtesy of latimes.com

 

 

CAL STATE FULLERTON BASEBALL: Two Wins Away From Another College World Series

Tags

baseball, Big West Conference, Cal State Fullerton Baseball, Cal State Fullerton Titans, California State University Fullerton, College Baseball, College World Series, CSUF, Fullerton, Goodwin Field, NCAA Baseball, NCAA Tournament, Omaha, Titans

The team that will be hosting Washington in the Super Regionals for a chance to go to Omaha. Photo courtesy of ocregister.com

 

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON TITANS

2018 Record: 35-23, 18-6 and first place in the Big West Conference

• BIG WEST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
• Won the Stanford Regional in Palo Alto, beating Stanford TWICE, including a 5-2 regional-clinching victory on June 3rd
• Started the season 1-7, losing their first four games, including three straight to Stanford at Stanford on February 16-18!

Other Accolades:

• In their 54 years of existence, Cal State Fullerton baseball has NEVER had a losing season!
• 44 straight seasons with at least 30 wins!
• 27 consecutive appearances in the postseason
• 29 conference championships, including 17 Big West titles
• 18 appearances in the College World Series
• Four national championships, won in 1979, 1984, 1995, and 2004

Coach: Rick Vanderhook, 7th season

Key Players:

• Colton Eastman, P: 10-3, 2.20 ERA, 116 strikeouts (Taken by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 4th round of the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft)
• Andrew Quezada, P: 4-5, 3.90 ERA (Taken by the Colorado Rockies in the 7th round of the MLB Draft)
• Tommy Wilson, P: 6-0, 2.83 ERA (Taken by the New York Mets in the 19th round of the MLB Draft)
• Brett Conine, RP: 4-1, 3.96 ERA, 10 saves (Taken by the Houston Astros in the 11th round of the MLB Draft)
• Daniel Cope, C – .280 average, 5 HR, 42 RBI
• Hank LoForte, 2B – .338 average, 1 HR, 33 RBI
• Ruben Cardenas, RF – .297 average, 4 HR, 37 RBI (Taken by the Cleveland Indians in the 16th round of the MLB Draft)

2018 Super Regionals at Goodwin Field, Fullerton, CA

OPPONENT: Washington Huskies

• Friday, June 8th, 11:00 a.m. TV: ESPN2
• Saturday, June 9th, 3:30 p.m. TV: ESPNU
• Sunday, June 10th, 6:00 pm. TV: ESPNU (if necessary)

 

Goodwin Field, on the campus of Cal State Fullerton, where the Titans will be hosting their Super Regional vs Washington this weekend. Photo courtesy of fullertontitans.com

 

 

A Few Thoughts:

This is an incredible college sports program when one thinks about it – the most successful in the California State University system!

I’m quite sure that no other Cal State sports program has won more NCAA Division 1 championships than Cal State Fullerton’s baseball team; if there are any teams in that system that have won more nattys, I’d very much like to hear about them!

San Diego State’s and Fresno State’s football teams, while having a long and successful history with standout players such as Marshall Faulk for SDSU and David Carr for Fresno, programs that certainly get more attention, haven’t won any D1 titles.

But Fullerton’s Titans, a commuter school that dropped football in 1992, have been golden on the diamond.

Not bad for a program that has only been in existence since 1965!

The incredible thing about this season in particular has been the fact that those navy blue and orange-clad Titans, after appearing in their 18th College World Series in 2017, started 2018 by winning just one of their first eight games!

With the first three of those losses to – get this – Stanford, on the very same field in Palo Alto where nearly four months later CSUF would get their revenge in an epic fashion during the recent regional.

 

(ARGUABLY) THE BIGGEST HOME RUN IN CAL STATE FULLERTON HISTORY: Jace Chamberlin’s walk-off blast to give the Titans a 2-1 win on June 1st BTW: He looks a lot like Babe Ruth, doesn’t he? Photo courtesy of 93x.com

 

 

And to add the proverbial cherry-on-top, Stanford was not only the Pac-12 Conference champ, they were the overall number two seed in the NCAA Tournament!

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a team in any sport getting bigger retribution than Fullerton did against that Cardinal!

You know the Titans were destined when a freshman who looked like a combination of an offensive lineman and Babe Ruth, a non-starter who had never hit a home run in college, comes off the bench to pinch hit in the bottom of the 9th inning of their first regional game with Stanford and – much like Robert Redford playing Roy Hobbs in the 1984 movie “The Natural” –  blasts a towering walk-off homer, putting CSUF in the regional-decider.

Now that CSUF is in their 14th Super Regional and aiming for their 19th trip to Omaha, NE, I see no reason whatsoever as to not have those Titans beating Washington and making their bid for a fifth national crown.

Clearly and without a doubt, I feel comfortable in stating this…

The Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball team is the best sports program that the Cal State University System has to offer.

And the best college baseball program in SoCal (though UCLA and especially USC, with their 12 national titles even though their last crown was in 1998, will dispute this).

It should go without saying that I see those Titans handling their business versus the Huskies and doing their thing at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha starting June 16th.

We’ll certainly see if they fulfill that prediction…

 

Cal State Fullerton in a wild celebration after Jace Chamberlin’s game-winning home run against Stanford on June 2nd Photo courtesy of ocregister.com

I’VE BEEN A BASEBALL & SOFTBALL JUNKIE THIS SPRING

Tags

Angels, baseball, California Interscholastic Federation, CIF LA City Section, CIF Southern Section, College Baseball, college softball, Dodger Stadium, Dodgers, high school baseball, high school softball, Long Beach State 49ers, NCAA, Pac-12 Conference, Rancho Cucamonga, softball, Southern California, UC Irvine Anteaters, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans

A shot from the UCLA vs USC game that I attended at Dodger Stadium on March 11th. Photo courtesy of uscannenbergmedia.com

 

THE THINGS I’VE DONE FOR THIS BLOG THESE PAST THREE MONTHS (Not That I’m Complaining)

I recently realized how busy I have been working to grow this blog, as I’ve attended no less than ten sporting events featuring a bat, a ball, and a glove, three of them of the softball variety.

Baseball and softball are the sports I’ve had by far the most experience in, and I’ve considered baseball to be my favorite sport for forty years.

But even I was going “Gee!” at the fact that I’ve been to so many baseball and softball games this spring.

Let me list the games I attended in SoCal and the Westside; an asterisk denotes the games I wrote about on this blog that you can check out…

• UCLA vs USC at Dodger Stadium *
• UCLA vs UC Irvine at Jackie Robinson Stadium *
• UCLA vs Oregon at Jackie Robinson Stadium
• USC vs Long Beach State at Dedeaux Field *
• West Los Angeles College vs L.A. Valley College
• Venice High School vs North Hollywood High School, CIF LA City Section Playoffs, First Round *
• Culver City Little League, various playoff games
• Culver City High School vs Chaminade College Prep (softball), CIF Southern Section Division 5 Semi Finals *
• Santa Monica College vs Moorpark College (softball) *
• UCLA vs Oregon State (softball)

 

Santa Monica Corsair Erika Soto (#22) proceeds to run to second base after striking as Jen Baca (#14) runs to third during a softball game against the Cuesta College Cougars on Tuesday, April 4 at the John Adams Middle School Field in Santa Monica, California. It was a close 10-inning game, which ended in a 6-5 loss for the Corsairs. (Ethan Lauren/Corsair Photo) Another shot of the softball team that I had a personal homecoming with in April…

 

To put it bluntly, I’ve been busy with America’s national pastime, as a fan as well as a blogger.

Which is a good thing, as the articles I did on Culver City vs Chaminade and Santa Monica College vs Moorpark College in particular got a lot of reads.

I had planned to write about the Culver City Little League and West L.A. College (located next door to my house) games, but it turned out that I just wasn’t feeling it; the experiences I felt there wasn’t conducive to writing anything meaningful.

Not that I’m done, as not only do I plan to attend a Dodger game for the first time in three years; it was forty years ago this month that I saw those Dodgers for the first time, and an article about that day will appear on this blog in two weeks,

One of my major plans for this summer will be to check out a minor league game featuring the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, a Single-A farm team of the Dodgers, and write about the experiences of a game in the minors.

Another one of my plans will be to write about something unique: The group that I play pick-up softball games with on Saturdays, which will happen during either this month or in July.

It will focus on how they came to be and the happenings of the particular game – which I will play in, so that will fit in with this blog’s goal of covering things that no other site will cover or write about.

Outside of that, mid-season updates on the Dodgers and Angels will also appear on this site in mid-July, as well as any big news about SoCal’s two MLB teams that may come up.

That’s about it for the time being. As always, more interesting posts will come this summer. We’re just getting started…

 

UCLA celebrates their 3-2 win in game 2 of the NCAA Women’s College World Series Super Regional in Westwood on Friday, May 25, 2018. Photo by Scott Varley, Contributing Photographer) BTW: No, I did not see this game, though I did see these ladies get a walk-off win in late March. Photo courtesy of newslocker.com