So here I am in Chavez Ravine for the first time this season. And I can’t tell you how exciting it is because the Dodgers have a chance to put up their first three-game winning streak of the season. Twenty-five games in. And on their third try. Before the game I sat in the dugout […]

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The L.A. Times on Saturday did a story on a university student in Newcastle, England, who is a rabid Lakers fan — perhaps the only one in the United Kingdom. And this guy is desperate to see the Lakers in the playoffs. Well, preferably in the NBA Finals. The guy’s name is Ian McCabe, and […]

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Word out of the “Eastern Division” of L.A. News Group is that about a half-dozen advertising layout/design people previously located at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune have been instructed to report to work at the San Bernardino Sun offices, beginning Monday. This is only the latest episode in what has been a pattern of employee-jerk-arounds […]

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I had the misfortune of covering the National Football League draft a half-dozen times, minimum, in my 31 years at The Sun. Probably more like 10, 12 times. For some of these drafts, I was the Rams beat writer. For most of them, we had two teams in town. In theory, I was really, really […]

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Not that I’m losing touch with the National Football League, or anything, but until about 30 seconds ago I thought both Jake Long and Chris Long were sons of Howie Long, the former Raiders tackle — and NFL Hall of Famer as well as TV analyst. Then, because I used to be a professional journalist, […]

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Who da man? I da man, that’s who! I brought the advanced level of “Minesweeper” to its knees just now. A total beatdown. And it took me only 160 attempts. Take that, you … mines! Consider yourself completely and utterly swept. Break out the brooms! I didn’t quite do a victory dance when I finally […]

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I don’t see these Dodgers contending for anything. Aside of “worst team seen by the most people,” which they are close to clinching, before May 1. Their slow start isn’t just a slow start, the sort of random sample of 9-13 you could pick out of most any ball team’s 162-game season. I believe their […]

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I sometimes like to think of myself as “well-traveled” … and in a touristy, middle-America way I suppose I am. It’s not as if I’ve lived abroad, that is. But I’ve spent at least a year outside the U.S. (between World Cups and Olympics, I’ve gotta be close). Thing is, a lot of that year […]

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The Dodgers were the first sports team I paid attention to, and I can’t help but follow them … even though that World Series drought is up to 20 years now and the club is owned by Bostonians more interested in the club as a real estate venture than as a successful sports team. I […]

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I fell off the wagon, a few nights ago. For months, years, my entire computer-gaming indulgence consisted of some laptop solitaire (which, no, is not to be confused with onanism), and solitaire isn’t exactly habit-forming. Generally. Then the devil snuck into my brain and whispered, “Minesweeper!” Who else could it have been, except for Satan? […]

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