The Los Angeles Kings tonight wrapped up their second Stanley Cup championship in three years. And though I, like most native southern Californians, am not a hockey fan, we must concede this: Los Angeles would be confronting a potential championship drought, about now, if the Kings had not had not turned into world beaters.

[Read more →]

Bob Welch, a fine pitcher for both the Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics died yesterday. Heart attack. He was 57. A personal aside: As you age, in relation to sports figures, you notice two things: one, when you are older than any professional athlete in one of the Big Four sports and, two, you notice […]

[Read more →]

When I was a young, Los Angeles versus New York sports championships happened fairly often. And they were intense. The Dodgers and the Yankees met in the World Series in 1963, 1977, 1978 and 1981. The Lakers and Knicks met in the NBA Finals in 1971 and 1972. (And, a reader reminds me, in 1970.) […]

[Read more →]

A year ago, a couple of Harvard kids decided to visit all 30 major league ballparks in 30 days. By driving from one city to the next — to the next and next and next. It made for the road trip from hell. The sort of trip better as an amusing concept than a punishing […]

[Read more →]

Perhaps you read the stories, or the news reports based on the stories. Yasiel Puig has other things on his mind than playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Which might explain his repeated episodes of poor decision-making in the outfield and on the base paths and off the field. Or not. But Puig, according to […]

[Read more →]

We make room for offbeat stories and lists and lots of photos on pages 2 and 3 of The National sports section. The stories can come from anywhere in the world. Even, say, San Francisco, where the first ball of the Giants’ home opener was thrown out by … “Batkid”. But before we get any […]

[Read more →]

In the offices of The National today, a press release landed in company email under a Moet & Chandon logo. The message included the following: –That a new variety of the company’s famous champagne, “Moet Platinum” was being launched. –To mark the occasion, on May 25 the company would fill the Dubai Fountain, just outside […]

[Read more →]

Even baseball fans who have been following the game for more than a decade may wonder about the fuss surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers. Three million tickets sold nearly every season, a huge local TV contract, continued popularity in the City of the Angels. Perhaps the only concepts Angelenos can agree on are their preferences […]

[Read more →]

I should get some sort of award for this. Or, better, a reward. An extra 10 RBI the first week. An extra home run for each of the next 26 weeks. I could cite biorhythm studies here, but I most certainly was at a huge disadvantage when the Sun Baseball League conducted its 33rd draft […]

[Read more →]

Perhaps you read this. An ESPN poll suggests that young Americans, ages 12 to 17, are as likely to say they are “avid fans” of Major League Soccer as they are of Major League Baseball. According to the survey, about 18 percent of Americans in that age group each identified themselves as “avid fans” of […]

[Read more →]