Part 3 of the series in The National about the best sports venues in the world. Broken out by continent. In Monday’s editions: North America! Interesting, how the voting went. I will tell you who won: Augusta National. Even the Brits in the room know about “the course like no other” or whatever it is […]

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It is being reported that Pat Haden will succeed Mike Garrett as athletic director at USC, and let see if I can summarize my first impressions of that move. “Inspired … a perfect decision … a great guy … a very very smart man … a classy dude … absolutely the right man for the […]

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We again interrupt this travelogue to muse about sports events back home, this time the Day of Reckoning at the University of Southern California. Anyone who has been around the American college sports scene for any length of time could see this coming. To spend any time around Heritage Hall at USC was to pick […]

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Well, yes. Looks like I’ll be filling one out. Even though I have paid less attention to this college basketball season than any since … well, maybe when I was10 years old — just before UCLA started winning NCAA championships. But newsrooms like to organize tournament pools, and one of the sporting guys on the […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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