You will be spared this, presumably, back at home, but the guy who just did the national anthem here at Staples Center decided to change the wording. That’s what anthems are for, right? Whatever wording you feel like going with. Well, no, they’re not. Except at Lakers games. The guy who sang the anthem was […]

[Read more →]

I don’t usually do this. Predict a game. I just have a stronger hunch than usual about this one. The Lakers didn’t come all this way to lose home court five games into the conference finals. They aren’t going to be eliminated in Denver on Friday. Just aren’t. So they will win tonight, and the […]

[Read more →]

I just watched the entire Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United. I’m not sure I’ve ever done that before — watch a Champions League match from start to finish. I’ve always been about international soccer, and the World Cup, and club soccer … well, it’s not big in the U.S., and I’m also […]

[Read more →]

Interesting reader “poll” on the espn.com home page. Which only reinforces how many of us are most impressed by what we have seen most recently. It asks readers to vote on “which is the best team right now in the NBA conference finals?” A week ago, I’d guess that this vote would have come in […]

[Read more →]

Sure, the Lakers would have liked to end this in five games. But Denver rolled through the first two rounds, hadn’t lost a home game since March and won Game 2 in L.A. Had to expect the Nuggets would win one of these two in Denver. So, the Lakers, 2-2 in this series and looking […]

[Read more →]

May have to move quickly on this. ESPN.com may go back to its regular home page sometime today. Or will, if and when the execs there recover their scruples/ethics/sense of shame. Here is the link to the Web site, if you don’t want to type it in. Have you seen it? Talk about whoring out […]

[Read more →]

This has nothing to do with sports or journalism or sports journalism. Sorry. I just wonder if anyone has an opinion on this. Nicolas Cage seemed to have a lot of promise, back when he began his career. “Leaving Las Vegas,” and all. Into the middle 1990s, he looked like a guy who could amount […]

[Read more →]

It’s been a bit more than 24 hours since LeBron James made the three-pointer at the buzzer to beat the Orlando Magic and, without making any effort to search it out, I figure I have seen tape of the that final one second, oh, 200 times. By now, you are excused for considering it the […]

[Read more →]

Let’s see, up two points, 01.0 on the clock, other team is the Cleveland Cavaliers, and we’ve got 2-3 minutes to talk about what we’re going to do. Isn’t Topic A (and there is no B or C) … “for crissakes, no matter what else happens … if we have to leave three other guys […]

[Read more →]

Game 2 final: Nuggets 106, Lakers 103. That’s a game apiece, with Nuggets having taken home-court advantage from the Lakers. That’s bad enough news for the Lakers. It gets worse. The Nuggets played the Lakers almost dead even in two games in Los Angeles. Thus, it appears quite likely the Nuggets can win another game […]

[Read more →]