This expression really bugs me. And you see it in newspapers and magazines, hear it on the airwaves … a lot. “Heart and soul.” As in, “he is the heart and soul” of this or that team. I want usage of this to decline about 90 percent. Because it’s used too often and, more important, […]

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If we’re going to wallow in nostalgia, and it seems required for this edition of the NBA Finals, let’s do it right. At least in Los Angeles. Let’s open up the “fabulous” Forum in Inglewood for at least one of the Lakers’ road games with the Boston Celtics. Let fans return to the true home […]

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Nick Leyva rarely failed to amuse me. He was an agitator. A teaser, A pot-stirrer and a trash-talker. And that’s good, 99 percent of the time. You don’t want a newroom or a section that takes itself too seriously, and Nick Leyva — at least, the young one we knew — made sure we didn’t.

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Time. All I’ve got is time! I was fired, oh, a year ago? I forget now. And I wake up day after day with little or nothing on the schedule. All day, all night, all I’ve got is time. Like a guy doing life at Folsom. Not goin’ anywhere, no one to see, just hangin’ […]

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Bill Simmons, espn.com’s popular general sports blogger … well, as long as “general” refers to Boston teams … wrote a piece last week maintaining the Lakers will have no trouble with the Celtics. This from a man who identifies himself as a Celtics fan his whole life. Personally, I think he’s trying to do the […]

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I’m fairly startled by how many of TV’s talking heads seem to believe the Lakers will roll over the Celtics in the NBA Finals, beginning on Thursday. I not only don’t agree, I’m not sure the Lakers will make a series of it. I can see the Celts winning in five. Sweeping even. Not that […]

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OK, because they’re in Orange County. OK, they appropriated the “Los Angeles” name when their team has nothing to do with the city or county of that name. But the ball club … you have to love these guys. These guys, and last year’s guys and basically every team the club has run out there […]

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I’m at Angel Stadium for the first time this year, and I have a couple of concepts I want to broach. One is … what happened to Vladimir Guerrero? When did the Scariest Hitter in the American League turn into Little Bo Peep? Vlad went into this game hitting .246 with seven homers and 28 […]

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