Sports

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Cup at beachKerri and Misty MayFarmers Field

Tweet o' the day: Matt Kemp to OKC

The Dodgers' Matt Kemp is from Oklahoma City. He homered in tonight's Dodgers win in Milwaukee and after the game he represented.

O.J. Simpson looks older, thicker, grayer

ojsimpson-lvcourt-grab.jpg Simpson appeared in a Las Vegas courtroom today hoping to win a new trial in his 2008 conviction for sports memorabilia robbery and kidnapping. Simpson, now 65, walked in shackled and in a blue prison outfit. He exchanged looks with family members in the audience.
hollywood-park-casino-front.jpg The news last week was apparently not unexpected to those around horse racing. Hollywood Park's acreage is more valuable developed into homes and shops. LA Times columnist Bill Dwyre understands the economics, while lamenting them.

Kings advance on quirky goal, Ducks face game 7

kings-blues-handshake-jg.jpg The Kings are the first Stanley Cup champion to reach the second round of the NHL playoffs in three years. Get this: if the Ducks win on Sunday, LA and Anaheim will finally meet in the playoffs for the first time.

Last-place Dodgers turn to the past for help

hahn-omalley-wyman.jpg Rosalind Wyman will throw out the first pitch before tonight's game with the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Roz Wyman was the youngest member of the Los Angeles City Council in 1957 when she joined with Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley and county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn to bring the team to LA.
tropical-ice-gardens-village.jpg The National Hockey League made it official and announced that Dodger Stadium will host an outdoor, night game between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks next January 25. But in the 1940s, there was hockey at the Tropical Ice Gardens in Westwood Village — including at least two matches involving the Montreal Canadiens.

Mario Machado, newscaster and voice of soccer was 78

mario-machado2.jpg Mario Machado was a familiar presence on Los Angeles TV and radio for a few decades starting in 1967, when he joined Channel 9 (then KHJ-TV) as the city's first Chinese-American TV news reporter. He was a soccer booster in LA before the sport was cool and a founder of AYSO. Girls play soccer today because of Mario Machado, a friend posted on Facebook.

Clippers eliminate themselves, season is over

clippers-espn-screen-crop.jpg After winning the first two games of their NBA playoff series, the Clippers dropped four straight — including an immature loss tonight that ended their NBA season. The Memphis Grizzlies won 118-105 with the Clippers taking a bunch of bad late fouls, committing goaltending repeatedly and just generally fumbling.

Kareem: 20 things I wish I'd known when I was 30

Kareem-lakers-uni.jpg Basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a few regrets and what sounds like genuine awareness of flaws in his game — the game of life. Some are about being aloof when he was younger, some are about being bad with money and tools, some are from the dating wars.

Ducks win, Kings and Clippers lose, Psy sings

psy-dodgers.jpg The Clippers have lost three straight to Memphis and could be out of the NBA playoffs by the weekend. The Ducks got off to a good start in the NHL, but the Kings did not look like Stanley Cup contenders.

X Games leaving Southern California after 10 years in LA

Is this more fallout from the turmoil at Anschutz Entertainment Group? Next year's X Games won't be local.

Jason Collins raises hand, comes out as first gay player in NBA

si-cover-jason-collins.jpg Collins, who played at Harvard-Westlake School here in Los Angeles, played this season for the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards. He says today in Sports Illustrated that the Boston Marathon bombings accelerated his decision to tell the sports world he is gay.

The fall of the LA Lakers

dantoni-kobe-espn-grab-thumb-300x211-16907.jpg The Lakers are officially in franchise hell. With steep luxury tax payments, no cap space, and an aging roster, there's essentially no way for them to be a championship team in the near future, even if Dwight Howard chooses to stay.

Four and out for the Lakers season

lakers-grab-finalgame2013.png The Lakers put up almost no fight Sunday against the Spurs at Staples Center. Dwight Howard got tossed for picking up two technical fouls, and Pau Gasol spent the last few minutes sitting on the bench next to Kobe Bryant, who was in a suit and on crutches. The season, and possibly an era, is over.

Leiweke moves to Toronto, will compete with Anschutz

Thumbnail image for anschutz-at-kings-blues-noahgraham.jpg Tim Leiweke, who helped build the Anschutz Entertainment Group brands in LA — Staples Center, the Kings and Galaxy, plus more — was named president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. That's the company that owns the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL team, its arena, the NBA's Raptors and FC Toronto of Major League Soccer.

Is Dodger season cursed already?

chad.jpg Latest bit of bad news: Starter Chad Billingsley will undergo Tommy John elbow surgery and is out through the start of next season.

Sports Beat - April 21, 2013

don-mattingly-winter-lao.jpg The Dodgers and Angels should trade managers. And the Lakers should stop complaining about injuries to their old team. That and more thoughts on LA sports from Phil Wallace.

Boston hockey fans sing the national anthem (video) *

boston-national-anthem.jpg Wednesday night's Boston Bruins game, first since the Boston Marathon bombings. As the Hawaiians say, chicken skin.

Lakers win in overtime, avoid Thunder in playoffs

The Lakers get San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs, starting Sunday. The Clippers open Saturday at Staples Center against the Memphis Grizzlies after winning the Pacific Division.
kobe.jpg The ball being the future of the franchise, which is basically entering a transitional, post-Kobe stage - and that's regardless of who wins tonight's pivotal game against Houston.

Floor waxer for the MTA lives a dream with Real Madrid

rodriguez-mourinho.jpg Abel Rodriguez would drive from his home in Fontana to chase balls for free at Madrid's summer practices at UCLA. On a lark he flew to Spain last month and sat in the snow beside the team's training complex for hours — until his luck changed. "Amigo! What are you doing here?" the coach asked.

Quentin won't play at Dodger Stadium tonight

robinson-johnson-davis-dodgers.png Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin dropped his appeal Sunday and began serving an eight-game suspension by baseball for charging and tackling Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke. Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis urged calm in a tweet. And the team tried to turn the focus to Jackie Robinson Day, celebrated across baseball today.

No Kobe? No problem for Lakers

Thumbnail image for kobe-fb-profile.jpg Not that it was easy, but in their first game in awhile without Kobe Bryant in the lineup the Lakers defeated San Antonio on Sunday 91-86. The magic number for a playoff spot is one: one win by the Lakers or one loss by Utah. Meanwhile, Bryant's surgeon says all went well.

Kobe vents on Facebook at 3 in the morning: 'This is such BS'

kobe-fb-profile.jpg "All the training and sacrifice just flew out the window with one step that I've done millions of times!" Bryant writes and ponders if this "is how my book ends." In seven hours, 328,565 Facebook users had liked the post and 70,608 had shared it. Plus: The history of NBA recoveries from torn Achilles tendons is not good.

Carlos Quentin suspended 8 games as Greinke heads for surgery

dodgers-padres-brawl-grab.png The fallout from Thursday night's costly little skirmish in San Diego is starting to become clear. Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke, the $147-million arm who is just starting his first season with the team, has to undergo surgery to stabilize his broken left clavicle. The guesstimate on a return to the mound is eight weeks. Plus more.
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