Biggest non-motors sports event in Inland Empire history? Has to be. Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in their last exhibition game before the 2008-09 regular season, at the new, $150 million Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. At 7 p.m., Oct. 24. I’m a bit surprised there isn’t more chatter about this in the local […]

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USC went into Charlottesville and trashed an opponent that went 9-4 last year. How Much It All Means isn’t clear, yet, because as good as the Trojans might be, it doesn’t look like Virginia is going to go 9-4 again, even in the declining ACC. Final score: USC 52, Virginia 7. And, yes, there were […]

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No list of “big winners” from the Beijing Olympics is complete unless it has the name “Kobe Bean Bryant” near the top of the list. Olympic gold usually isn’t something that defines an NBA player’s career. Since the pros began showing up at the Summer Games, in 1992, a gold medal was assumed, and having […]

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I never look at the sportsjournalists.com site … which I believe is sj.com, if you want to peruse it. It’s pretty much sports journalists discussing (or arguing about) events in sports journalism. But I know people who do look at the site, and occasionally they will tell me about how my name sometimes comes up. […]

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I promised I would get to the bottom of this, and it took a while, and I almost forgot, too, but … Back on my first full day in Beijing I noted a weird reality of the brand-new Main Press Center building — the signs posted in the men’s and women’s toilets asking users not […]

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Former L.A. Times staffer Roy Rivenburg has put up a second edition of his “Not the L.A. Times” web page. It isn’t as ambitious as the first, and has less content. But, hey, if you’ve ever tried writing satire … you know how hard it is to come up with six ideas, never mind 26. […]

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The Dodgers have it all goin’ on. Not only are they underachievers. Not only are they dead from the neck up. Not only can’t they get it together in the worst division in baseball. They also are thoroughly unlikeable — as people and players. A friend of mine (I’d use his name, but I didn’t […]

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The Angels middle infield situation is a train wreck. Maicer Izturis, out for the season with a torn tendon. Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick, out of Wednesday’s game early with left-hamstring issues. Potential middle-infield backup Chone Figgins held out of Wednesday’s game with a sore toe. The Angels ended their 6-5 loss Wednesday with Sean […]

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It’s football season. But to me and, I’m beginning to believe, most football fans in Greater Los Angeles … football season means college football. USC and UCLA. Maybe high school football. It does not mean the National Football League.

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We need to build some new stuff. And by stuff I mean … roads, mass transit, airports, bridges, public buildings … I’ve just been somewhere that, allegedly, only recently escaped Third World economic status. And everything there is newer, shinier and, more important, works better and is easier to use than just about anything we […]

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