All Ball: Clippers join Lakers on sidelines, beancounters cost Kershaw
by Paul Teetor They started the NBA season with legit championship aspirations. They ended by not even making the playoffs. The epic failure stunned players, coaches, owners and fans. Sound familiar? Sound like the Lakers? Yep. But it’s not that whiny, over-the-hill, alleged-super-star-studded team of LeBron and a bunch of losers that we’re talking about […]
All Ball Sport: Let the Blame Game begin
by Paul Teetor Webster’s Dictionary defines a scapegoat as a person blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency. Synonyms are listed as whipping boy, fall guy and patsy. Meet Coach Frank Vogel, the Lakers newest scapegoat — and whipping boy, fall guy and patsy. Vogel, who was fired […]
All Ball Sports: Kenley Jansen’s gone, Clippers’ Playoff P is back
by Paul Teetor It’s Finally Time for Dodgers Baseball Who needs Kenley Jansen? Not us. That was the not-so-subliminal message the Dodgers sent Saturday when they traded with the Chicago White Sox for one of the top closers in the game, Craig Kimbrell, to replace the departed Jansen, the pride of Palos Verdes and formerly […]
All Ball: Cronin’ day will come, Westbrook’s Will Smith moment
By Paul Teetor The UCLA men’s basketball team coulda, shoulda and woulda won their Sweet Sixteen game against North Carolina Friday night. But they didn’t win, and the bitter disappointment and sense of a golden opportunity lost will linger with Bruins fans for the next 12 months. They could have won because they had the […]
All Ball Sports: UCLA ballers aiming for the Big Easy, Jansen’s gone, but could be back
by Paul Teetor Two victories down and four to go. That’s the situation the fourth-seeded UCLA men’s basketball team finds itself in after a wild weekend. They trailed for the entire game against 13th seeded Akron before waking up and stealing a victory at the last second, and then dominated 5th seeded St. Mary’s to […]
ALL BALL SPORTS: Dodger Surprises
by Paul Teetor Surprises can be good; surprises can be bad. Surprises can be great or surprises can be terrible. Context is everything. Dodgers fans got two big surprises this week: first a good one and then a great one. No terrible ones yet. Not unless Dodgers pitcher/sexual sadist Trevor Bauer is allowed to come […]
All Ball Sports: UCLA tops USC, finally; fans wait out baseball squabble
by Paul Teetor The streak is over. Other than the always precious cross-town bragging rights, Saturday night’s epic hoops showdown between UCLA and USC had very little at stake. Even before the tip-off both teams were guaranteed to finish either second or third in the PAC-12 regular season. The winner would then be second-seeded in […]
ALL BALL SPORTS LeBron, Lakers: Breaking up is hard to do
by Paul Teetor As everyone from Kim K and Kanye to J-Lo, A-Rod and Bennifer can tell you, breaking up is hard to do. And it’s incredibly hard and messy when it happens in public. Especially in the age of Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok. But it’s REALLY hard to do and REALLY messy when […]
All Ball Sports: Rams ‘run it back’ fumble; Mustang hoopsters sunk
by Paul Teetor If the Rams had played the Bengals in the Super Bowl the way they have played the media game in the Super Bowl aftermath, they would have lost the big game by at least two touchdowns. The first few hours after the stirring, story-book 23-20 win over the Bengals at SoFi Stadium […]
All Ball Sports: Whose House? Champs House; Mustangs advance
by Paul Teetor Wow!!! What a bleeping game! Whose House? Champs House!!! That was All Ball’s instant reaction after the thrilling, chilling, down-to-the-last-play Rams 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday’s Super Bowl. There were so many Rams shining brightly it’s hard to keep track of them all. Indeed, […]
All Ball Sports: Hot Tub Time Machine calls Super Bowl; USC football back before it begins; Mustang, Sea Hawk playoff promises
by Paul Teetor In the beginning, it looked like any other worn out, grimy, old hot tub that hadn’t been used – or cleaned — in years. When you live in one of those ancient, destined-for-a-teardown seaside shacks, hand-me-down “gifts” from previous tenants – old barbeque grills, bent beach chairs, cracked-up swim fins, and torn-up […]
All Ball Sports: Rams at home, Costa, Redondo hoopsters hope for rematch
By Paul Teetor They finally flipped the script. After a season spent building a big lead and then watching most or all of it evaporate, the Rams tried the opposite approach Sunday afternoon: fall behind by double digits and then come roaring back to win in the final minutes. And it worked spectacularly as the […]
All Ball Sports: Rams looking at unlucky 7, MCHS hoops back
By Paul Teetor Frias first again, named Gatorade Cross Country Player of the Year Mira Costa Cross Country runner Dalia Frias added to her list of school firsts this week by being named her school’s first Gatorade California Girls Cross Country Player of the Year. The award factors in academic achievement and community activities. Frias has a 4.09 […]
All Ball Sports: Rams hopeful, Redondo rolls over Costa, Ellison returns
by Paul Teetor Beating the Arizona Cardinals was the easy part for the Los Angeles Rams. Now comes the hard part of their Super Bowl journey. First the Rams will have to beat Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Sunday, on five days rest. In Tampa Bay. And if […]
All Ball Sports: Chargers coach chokes, Rams throw it away, USC revolving door
By Paul Teetor Justin Herbert should fire Chargers Head coach Brandon Staley. Today. ASAP. Wait. What? The star quarterback can’t fire the head coach, can he? Technically, no. But in this case the Football Gods should make an exception. That’s because Staley made the dumbest decision in sporting history late Sunday night, when he called […]
All Ball Sports: Rams fight each other, Chargers last chance, Laker purge
By Paul Teetor The Rams started out literally fighting themselves Sunday morning. But they finished the day beating the Baltimore Ravens in the most stirring win of their season so far, a 20-19 nail-biter that came down to the last play and the last second. Right from the start, the Rams looked out of sync, […]