My friend and former colleague Steve Dilbeck now blogs about the Dodgers for the Los Angeles Times.
I would like to read Steve’s blog. I would also like to read a blog about the Dodgers.
The trouble?
None of the latimes.com blogs will load. Zero. Sports, politics, news. None can be called up.
The people who run the website […]

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USC fans probably would like to think Mike Garrett had this planned–  and reviewed and updated that plan at the end of every season.
“When Pete Carroll leaves, and he will, whom do I want to be the next USC football coach? In what order of preference?”
Because USC people probably would like to think that their […]

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Someday, perhaps as early as this fall, USC fans will look back at the Pete Carroll Era and … sigh.
Let’s think about this: For most of a decade, USC fans didn’t just hope for a national-championship contender, they expected it.  And they got it.
Seven consecutive BCS bowl teams. Seven consecutive No. 4-or-better national rankings. Seven […]

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It was a more eventful decade than my initial thoughts indicated. “Wow. I have to come up with 10 good sports events from the 0-somethings? I’m not sure I can do that.”
Turns out, a few minutes of cross-referencing years and sports, and it’s no problem finding 10. The trick is limiting it to that many.
And […]

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Mostly, I just wanted to see how many “categories” I could have at the top of this item. Now let’s see if I actually mention something about all of them.
Some interesting topics playing out in U.S. sports right now and, really, I’m aware of them. Not everyone back home seems to remember we do, in […]

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Yikes. Win forever?
How about winning regularly?
That’s two defeats in three games, both in blowouts, and the line of “Stanford 55, USC 21″ hurt most of all.
The 2009 Trojans already were on life-support when it came to their seven-year baseline aspirations — a BCS bowl, winning the Pac-10, finishing ranked in the top four.
None of that […]

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It was a hell of a run.
Victories? 85 in 93 games.
Competitiveness? Those eight defeats, in eight seasons … by a combined 29 points.
Results? Seven consecutive Pac-10 championships. Seven consecutive top-4 AP poll finishes. Seven consecutive BCS bowl games. Seven consecutive 11-victory seasons.
A hell of a run. Not much like that since Bud Wilkinson and Oklahoma. […]

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For three-plus seasons, Allen Bradford’s decision to play football at USC looked as if it might have been a major mistake.
He was recruited to play safety, or maybe linebacker … and got shifted to tailback late in the summer of 2006 when the position was hit by a rash of injuries. After spending most of […]

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There goes the now-annual choke job against a Pac-10 minnow. Didn’t take long.
Just like last year, actually. Uncanny, really, how similar it was. An important victory over Ohio State, followed immediately by a crushing Pac-10-opening defeat on the road.
Washington 16, USC 13. In Seattle.
That would be 20-point-underdog Washington. The Washington that hadn’t won a game […]

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I don’t know any of this first-hand. I have done no reporting of my own. I haven’t talked to anyone directly involved in the situation. But I’m going to tell you what I heard, anyway.
Which is what blogs too often are about. Just passing on idle gossip.
But,  the heck with it. On with the speculation!
It’s […]

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