Heading into their World Cup semifinal match, there were questions about whether the US women's soccer team could handle their formidable international competition. At the end of the match, Brianna Scurry's netminding wasn't enough -- and the hopes of Americans were kicked to the curb.

The year was 2007. And 2003. And 1995.

It's easy to forget how many times this story has played out unless you watch Dare to Dream (77 mins, unrated), a documentary just released on DVD by HBO sports. While the most recent semifinal loss may be fresh in everybody's minds, the other two help to illustrate a timely point. The US women's national team has experienced a roller coaster of highs and lows. If history continues to repeat itself, it won't be long until America is back on top (next time, without Scurry).

Dare to Dream follows the 91ers, specifically the "fab five" of Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Brandi Chastain, and Joy Fawcett, from the team's inception in the early 90s to a major farewell match in 2005. The only thing cheesier than the haircuts may be the documentary's title and soundtrack. Outside of that, the film is a score.

It's easy to say that this film about the US women's soccer team is a good watch for young girls with aspirations to play at a higher level. It is. It's harder to say that this film is a good watch for all soccer fans, Olympics fans, and sports purists. But it is.

Hello Ducks fans, I'm back to regale you all with my take on the greatest game on earth. When I signed off last time (seemingly for good) the Anaheim Ducks of Los Angeles Anaheim were the glorious winners of Lord Stanley's silver chalice.

Fast forward.

A lot has changed. Out with Dustin Penner, in with convicted criminal Todd Bertuzzi. Possibly out with Scott Niedermayer, in with Mathieu Schneider. Hopefully out with Teemu Selanne and his ugly ass helmet, thank the heavens.

Oh, and there's this minor thing about opening the season in, wait for it, London. No, not that sleepy town in Southern Ontario. Nor that bustling hub in Pope County, Arkansas. London as in England. I thought when you won the Stanley Cup you were showered with gold, livestock and women? Instead, the NHL apparently likes to ship you to the hockey equivalent of Siberia. Who cares about hockey in England? I ask you, NHL commisioner Gary Bettman, what's next? Putting a franchise in Nashville?!?!

Laughable!

Rockies 10, Dodgers 4 - Los Angeles was swept by Colorado. Again. At home. Where's the heart? Where's the effort? When we looked at the schedule before the season, it looked like LA would be able to propel itself into the playoffs with a bunch of late games against the lowly Rockies. Instead, the Rockies have made a wild card charge on the shoulders of the Boys in Blue. They've won 11 in a row, 7 at the expense of the Dodgers (who have dropped 10 games in that same period). The season isn't quite over, but Grady Little announced that he doesn't expect Rafael Furcal, Jeff Kent and Tony Abreu to play again this season. It's not like anybody on the team has been playing for a few weeks, anyway.

Galaxy 1, Wizards 0 - Thanks to a 33 minute 1-man advantage, Los Angeles was able to put away Kansas City in the 80th minute. The Galaxy haven't been statistically eliminated from the playoffs, but it's a long shot right now. Oddly, 32,867 people showed up (the largest MLS crowd in Kansas City history) despite David Beckham sitting with an injury. In fact, they showed up after the local paper said he wasn't playing. We'd love to think soccer is growing in popularity (afterall, it's more popular than sex in some places), but maybe there's just not much to do in Kansas City on a Thursday night.

Elsewhere - US Women's World Cup team falls. Or were they tripped? ... Vince Young is one angry dude ...Duke WANTS YOU! to play college football. Pretty please?

Today's Action - Angels @ Oakland (7:00pm) ... San Francisco @ Dodgers (7:30pm).

AP photo by Kevork Djansezian.

Fuck Bill Plaschke. Fuck TJ Simers. Fuck the LA Times. Fuck Grady Little. Fuck Ned Colletti. Fuck Frank McCourt. Fuck Jeff Kent. Fuck the Dodgers.

When I read Plaschke’s column Wednesday morning that basically put Matt Kemp in the hangman’s noose, my blood started to boil. How does he have the unmitigated gall to scapegoat Kemp and let the veterans have a free pass just because they have “experience”?

This entire mess became public last week with Jeff Kent opening his yap bemoaning about the youth movement in the Dodgers. According to him it's the inexperience of the youngsters that is the reason for the Dodgers slide. As Molly Knight recounted in the LA Times’ Blue Notes blog, Kent was no upstanding youngster when he came up through the Toronto Blue Jays system and during his subsequent trade to the New York Mets. Even former Dodger-turned-agent Dave Stewart weighed in on Kent’s drivel.

After James Loney and Matt Kemp defended themselves, TJ Simers goes on the attack of these rookies. All of the sudden the unproductive veterans get all the sympathy, and these young whippersnappers steal the veterans' jobs and are so mean we have to start shipping them out to the Minnesota Twins.

What a load of fucking horseshit. Would a line up of Rafael Furcal, Juan Pierre, Kent, Luis Gonzalez, Nomar Garciaparra, Olmedo Saenz, Brady Clark and Mike Lieberthal inspire any fear in the hearts of opposing teams?

Let’s face it. The only reason the Dodgers didn’t start their collapse in May was because the kids started playing. In fact according to Baseball Prospectus, three of the kids (Russell Martin, James Loney and Matt Kemp) are the top 5 Dodgers in VORP (value over replacement player). I further believe that if Andre Ethier, Kemp and Loney had more at-bats, their VORP would be even higher.

Oh talking about VORPs is way to sabermetric, and that's no good right? That's why we got rid of Paul DiPodesta before he could get anything started here. But that's a topic for another day.

Let's get this straight right now. Getting rid of the youngsters and allowing the veterans to rule the roost will bring the Dodgers back to the glorious days of the FOX ownership. You remember those days when the Dodgers traded away Paul Konerko and gave huge contracts to Darren Dreifort and Kevin Brown?

By the way, Russell Martin won the Roy Campanella award given to the most inspirational Dodger as voted by his teammates. I wonder how many times Jeff Kent voted for himself.

Oh and Takashi Saito is a finalist for MLB Delivery Man of the Year awarded to the most outstanding relief pitcher for the season as voted by the fans. Go here to vote.

AP Photo by Danny Moloshok

Rangers 16, Angels 2 - Welcome to opposite day; Cellar dweller Texas plastered playoff-bound LAnaheim and completed a three game sweep. A day after resting several stars, the Angels showed that they're still struggling with injuries. They got a couple runs in thanks to small ball (both were scored on sac flies), but gave up a whopping five home runs. One was hit in the first by Sammy Sosa. (You remember him, even if he doesn't remember much.) The Halos have three games against Oakland to try and put themselves in a good position for home field advantage in the playoffs.

Rockies 2, Dodgers 0 - The Dodgers are so impotent they couldn't even play spoiler. Colorado won for a second game in a row and are still in the hunt for a wild card birth. The Dodgers just floundered, as they have for the entire second half of the season. Despite out-hitting the Rockies 8-5, they never got on the scoreboard and stranded ten runners on base.

Elsewhere - Next time you name your horse, choose wisely ... Wayne Gretzky endorses electric skate. This won't save hockey, either ... Barry Bonds had a bad day. He went 0-3 in his final game in San Francisco, and his record breaking ball is getting defaced.

Tonight's Action - Colorado @ Dodgers (7:00pm) ... Galaxy @ Kansas City (5:00pm).

AP photo by Chris Carlson.

I’m a huge Chicago Bears fan, and my friends saw the terrible pain I was in watching the Superbowl this year. After that loss it pained to me to make the prediction that the Bears would be in a lot of trouble this season. The fact that it has come true makes me feel like I’m passing a kidney stone.

Just like Grady Little was obstinate in keeping Nomar Garciaparra at first base this season, Bears head coach Lovie Smith has stuck with Rex Grossman as starting quarterback. Despite all the botched snaps, fumbles, interceptions, passes to who-knows-whom and 0.0 passer ratings good ole Lovie stood by his man quarterback seemingly afraid to hurt his feelings.

Some commentators have said the following phrase, “Well Grossman took the Bears to the Superbowl.” NO HE DIDN’T!!!! The Bears got to the final Sunday despite Rex Grossman.

Many times I have seen the Bears offense collapse with their faith in Grossman crushed. But in the Superbowl game and Sunday night’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, I saw the Bears defense crushed in their faith in the quarterback.

Reportedly Lovie Smith will name the starting quarterback on Wednesday. If that name happens to be Rex Grossman, I’ll be as high on the Bears as I am with the Dodgers right now.

NFL McNuggets!

Green Bay Packers over San Diego Chargers 31-24. Packer QB Brett Favre is now tied with Dan Marino with 420 touchdowns passes. Meanwhile the Chargers now have the same record as the Oakland Raiders. I wonder if Charger GM AJ Smith is now regretting firing Marty Schottenheimer.

Back in 2004 when both the University of Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech defected to the ACC from the Big East conference (and Boston College the following year), critics around the country proclaimed the Big East to be a dead football conference. The Big East had the threat of losing their BCS conference status especially after they added Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida to their ranks.

What a difference several years make. While the Big East isn’t seen as a football powerhouse, they are no longer seen as a joke with West Virginia, Rutgers, Cincinnati and South Florida ranked in the AP poll and West Virginia seen as having a shot to play for a national championship The ACC on the other hand is now the weak conference especially after the traditional laughing stock Wake Forest team ended up winning the conference last season.

Perhaps the biggest story in all of this is the quick rise of the South Florida football team. The Bulls did not have a football team until 1997 when they played in Division I-AA. They started competing in Division I-A in 2001 as an independent, moved to Conference USA in 2003 and finally the Big East in 2005. They vaulted into the AP Top 25 rankings for the first time last week after an upset win over Auburn.

Rangers 8, Angels 7 - Call it an emotional let-down. Call it a hangover. Call it whatever you want. The Angels lost when they should have been pushing even harder for home field advantage in the playoffs. Ervin Santana had a lousy start, giving up 6 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings. The loss left the Halos tied with Boston and Cleveland for best record in the AL.

Beckham Watch - Paging Dr. Beckham. Paging Dr. Beckahm. You are no longer Dr. Beckham ... Rumors persist that he may go overseas. We determined last night that Arsenal can, indeed, afford him.

Elsewhere - OSU coach Mike Gundy cares about his players. A lot. (Don't miss this one) ... This is what Milton Bradley gets for playing games ... Baseball rookie hazing, Yankee style ... Gay World Cup is underway. No, I did not say the World Cup is gay.

Today's Action - Angels @ Texas (5:00pm) in a game that still means something ... Colorado @ Dodgers (7:00pm) in a game that probably means nothing.

AP photo by LM Otero.

Well, at least we know that UCLA hasn’t totally thrown in the towel on the rest of the season after last week’s Utah debacle.

With the attack dogs howling for Karl Dorrell’s head (including me), the team quieted the angry mob for this week with a 44-31 victory over Washington. Bruin fans can take away many positives from the game, but at the same time, many questions still remain as to whether this team has the goods to compete with the top dogs in the Pac-10. UCLA turned in its best all-around performance of the season, but still had plenty of shaky moments during the game. This against a Husky team who had been an early surprise with an upset of last year’s darling Boise St. and a competitive loss against top-10 team Ohio St., but was still predicted to finish ninth in the conference this season.

Henry already gave a brief rundown of the game’s highlights yesterday, so here’s a few more key observations from my cold seat at the Rose Bowl:

1. There should be no quarterback controversy. Patrick Cowan, if healthy, should be starting over Ben Olson

On paper, there should be no contest as to who is under center for UCLA. Olson was the #1 recruit, while Cowan was mostly an afterthought. Olson has the more impressive physique and far superior arm strength. And in the hotly contested starting quarterback battle in Spring camp, Olson “won” the job by looking less shaky, though by all reports, both guys were mostly ineffective. But if you watch these guys on the field in game situations, it seems obvious that Cowan is the better man for the job right now.

Angels 7, Mariners 4 - The champagne Bud Light is no longer on ice. After dropping two in a row to Seattle and delaying their inevitable AL West pennant, LAnaheim closed it out on Sunday. This is the earliest the Angels have ever clinched. They will join Cleveland (AL Central), Boston (at least the AL Wild Card) and one other team in the chase to represent the junior league in the World Series.

Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 1 - The Blue Crew looked very professional in dropping Arizona on Sunday. Their seven runs were great, but it's another seven that killed them. That would be the seven consecutive losses coming into the game. They're 5.5 games out of the wild card with only 6 games to play -- and they're looking up at four teams.

Galaxy 2, FC Dallas 1 - Dallas took an early lead, but Chris Gbandi got tossed on his second yellow card in the 25th minute and Los Angeles wore them out from there. Gbandi's second misconduct resulted in a PK for Landon Donovan, who iced it. Chris Klein put the game on ice in the 72nd minute.

Elsewhere - Favre is Favre, no matter how old he gets. But he wasn't perfect like McNabb ... Parents name child after stadium ... Arsenal is friggin' loaded.

Today's Action - Angels @ Texas (5:00pm). This game matters because the Halos are looking for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

AP photo by Danny Moloshok.

At the beginning of the season I picked the Dodgers to handily win the division. The Dodgers had a starting rotation that most teams would kill for, and offensively they could overwhelm every other team in the division.

Sure injuries took their toll especially on the pitching staff, but it’s pathetic that in the final week of the season I’m not caring at all what the Dodgers are doing.

Last Thursday AM570’s reporter David Vassegh reported on the dissolution within the Dodger clubhouse. Not only is there a huge divide between the young and old, but all of the players have lost confidence in Grady Little.

Wouldn’t you lose confidence in a manager who led a team out of the All Star break into a slump that took the team from first place to fourth in two weeks?

Wouldn’t you lose confidence in a manager who while trying to come out of said slump during the homestretch of the season showed no sense of urgency repeating, “There’s a lot of games to be played”?

Wouldn’t you lose confidence in a manager who kept sending Brett Tomko and Mark Hendrickson to the mound despite what a horror they were on the mound?

Wouldn’t you lose confidence in a manager who used a ouija board to create a lineup?

The TelePromTer-readers and out-of-touch-hate-mongers of the mainstream media thought that they were being super-cool by discussing/bitching about the presidential candidate debates that were posted on YouTube. So since that new, interesting, and youth-vote promoting aspect of the next election has been talked to death by the talking-heads, I have found these candidate related webpages to occupy me during my early in the ante meridian down-time:

At SuperBook.com, you can go to their "Exotic Lines" section to place a bet on who will win the Democrat and Republican presidential nominations for 2008, as well as who will win the 2008 presidential election. So far, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Al Gore are favorites for the Democratic nomination betting lines. On the Republican nomination lines, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain, and Mitt Romney are favored. Currently, Hillary Clinton is the favorite at 2-1 on the betting lines for the 2008 presidential election. Rudy Giuliani comes in second with odds at 3-1, and Barack Obama comes in third at 7-2. Somehow, despite legal impossibilities, George W. Bush (at 200-1) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (at 250-1) have managed to make it into the Super Book lines. And while winning is unlikely, you can even place a bet that Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Donald Trump, Clint Eastwood, Bill O'Reilly, Donald Rumsfeld, Laura Bush, Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson will be the next United States President. Unfortunately, the Super Book website does not say what they do in the event of Floridian or Ohio-style result-skewing Election Day crimes.

Obviously, many of the people on the betting lines are not actually running for presidential office or party nominations. So if you want the real list of who the current candidates are, you can check out the equally entertaining, and more importantly, informative list of presidential candidates at Vote-Smart.org. According to Vote-Smart's Presidential Candidate list, there currently 220-something people who have announced that they are running for presidential office. I had no idea there were that many candidates! The site also has a really good Presidential Elections Resource page with information about primary dates and Electoral College votes. By the way, for California State, the Democratic and Republican primaries are on February 5th, 2008.

My Melody in a money suit photo by pengrin via Flickr.

The Bruins were lucky enough to get coverage on FSN this time while breaking away from a 10-10 tie at the half to outlast Washington 44-31 last night.

Washington's Jake Locker threw three deadly touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. It was a difficult game for the Bruins, until the Huskies' defense started to give during the second half. Each touchdown pass that Locker completed, the Bruins were able to respond to until finally opening up the lead by 14 in the fourth quarter.

Backup Patrick Cowan QB'ed for the Bruins in place of an injured Ben Olson -- Olson led the Bruins through their now legendary 44-6 loss to the Utes last week. Cowan sprained his right knee early in the fourth quarter...we'll all pray that he can bounce back soon enough. Karl Dorrell denied that there is a "quarterback situation" in the post-game interview.

UCLA had some bad-ass plays. Matthew Slater pulled off an 80-yard kickoff return (shown left) and Dennis Keyes had a third quarter interception leading to a 60-yard touchdown.

The 31 points scored by Washington should still be a concern for the immaculate defense that Karl Dorrel keeps touting. It seems the only reason we are even winning games this season is because our offense is outrunning that of the opposing team. How long can we run this way before injury impedes our offense? We got a taste of that last week...

I think a lot of credit needs to be given to Jay Norvell, our new offensive coordinator. Despite last week's embarrassing loss, I for one am definitely seeing new life in the running game.

Now is the time to get our shit together. We travel next week to play Oregon, and then host Notre Dame the following week. It would be embarrassing to lose to Notre Dame right now since they are 0-4...their worst record in the college's history.

Meanwhile the USC Trojans TORCHED the Washington State Cougars 47-14...

AP Photo by Gus Ruelas

After taking a week off of work (and writing this with almost no care in the world) Saturday should be a very mundane day what with the expected rain. However I can’t take any solace in the fact that there aren’t a lot of games to be excited about.

Compelling Matchups

#12 South Carolina Gamecocks at #2 LSU Tigers. The ole ball coach has the Cocks riding high on defense. It’s surprising since Steve Spurrier is known for his wacky offensive schemes. But those Cocks have one of the toughest defenses in the country.

But then again, so do the Tigers. In fact the Tigers have only given up one touchdown all season while running up 137 points. 48 of those points came against the stout defense of Virginia Tech. I see LSU running away with this game. LSU over South Carolina 52-14.

#22 Georgia Bulldogs at #16 Alabama Crimson Tide. The Bulldogs disappointed during week 2 against the Cocks. They couldn’t muster anything on offense despite their defense keeping them in the game.

Nick Saban and his Tide are riding on a high wave after their defeat of Arkansas. The home crowd should be deafening, but I just don’t think the Tide can stop anyone. If Arkansas had Heisman hopeful Darren McFadden, the Razorbacks would have won the game. I see Georgia upsetting the tide. Georgia over Alabama 21-20.

I know. They aren’t completely compelling, but then again I’m on vacation. My level of empathy right now is at an all-time low, so there. Enjoy these boring games.

Photo by imacri via Flickr

You're still running to Eye of the Tiger? Then it's time to download some new tunes for your run. Most of these songs are much more aggressive than Eye of the Tiger -- Hard Metal Rock, Techno and Industrial.

For people like myself, it's difficult to find good songs to run to. Everybody likes Coldplay but you can't really run to it. Here at LAist we like to encourage running, and so we have compiled a quick playlist that is sure to get you pumped as you head out tonight.

Click on song titles for a preview. All tracks are available in the iTunes music store.

1. N.E.R.D. -- Rock Star [Jason Nevins Remix]
2. Quarashi -- Baseline
3. Garbage -- Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)
4. P.O.D. -- Boom (there's a Crystal Method remix that's even better)
5. The Donnas -- Take it Off
6. AFI -- Love Like Winter
7. Linkin Park & Jay-Z -- Points of Authority / 99 Problems (Faint is good too, anything by LP really)
8. Incubus -- Anna Molly
9. Rage Against the Machine -- Renegades of Funk (Pistol Grip Pump is good for running too)
10. Paul Oakenfold -- Faster Kill Pussycat [ft. Brittany Murphy]

If you have suggestions please let us know in the comments so that we can do a follow-up playlist!

For this belated Season Preview of the USC football team I haven’t concerned myself with typical journalistic staples like accuracy, objectivity, or integrity. I am not a sports writer or blogger (I’ll leave the heavy lifting to guys like Scott Wolf and Ben Malcolmson). What I am is a USC graduate with an extremely biased view of Trojan football and semi-regular Internet access.

In the exhaustive research I put into writing this, I have come to the conclusion that USC is good at football. Perhaps not as good as Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh would have you believe, but pretty, pretty, pretty good.

This view is shared by ESPN, who determined that USC has been the best college football program of the last ten years (1996-2006). I’m hesitant to validate these ridiculous lists from the same people who brought you the Who’s Now? debacle, which prompted arguments like: ‘Steve Nash is obviously way more ‘Now’ than Serena Williams’. Fuck you ESPN. The only thing on TV that inspired more rage in me than those segments were episodes of MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen. But delirious ranting aside, it’s hard to argue that the Trojan’s success in recent years has not catapulted them to the top of the college football ranks.

Angels 9, Mariners 5 - With the best record in baseball, the Halos have secured at least a tie for their third AL West crown in four years. They can close it out tomorrow night (or pretty much anytime in the next couple weeks) and be the first team in baseball to clinch a playoff birth. There were some fireworks on the field on Thursday (Vladimir Guerrero popped one out of the park) and on the mound (some head-hunting pitches led to a shoving match).

Rockies 9, Dodgers 4 - The Blew Crew were swept in four straight in Colorado -- and a playoff bound team does not get swept. This week signaled the beginning of the end for the Dodger's season. At least there were some fireworks in this game, too. Both teams had two dingers.

Elsewhere - More on a soccer player being elusive and being punched ... Speaking of soccer, it's one heckuva' workout ... Bills player who was in horrific spine injury may be walking soon. Truly a miracle ... Oscar De La Hoya cross dressing photos said to be fake.

Today's Action - Seattle @ Angels (7:05pm) ... Dodgers @ Arizona (6:40pm) ... Ducks @ San Jose (7:30pm)

AP photo by Jeff Lewis.

Angels 2, Devil Rays 1 - LAnaheim picked up a second straight 2-1 victory thanks to another solid outing from their rotation. Ervin Santana had 10Ks, and the Halos swept Tampa Bay to inch just a little bit closer to their third pennant in four years. Sitting at 90 wins, their magic number is down to three. Life isn't so sweet for the Devil Rays, who dressed their rookies in Hooters attire. Welcome to the bigs.

Rockies 6, Dodgers 5 - That ticking sound that signaled the approach of the end of the Dodger's season? Turns out it's a pounding sound. As in nails in a coffin. Colorado staged another come-from-behind victory thanks to one of their four home runs. They moved a game past Los Angeles in the playoff hunt, but let's be honest -- it's not happening for either of these teams.

Galaxy 2, Real Salt Lake 2 - Landon Donovan gave Los Angeles a late lead on a PK, but Salt Lake responded with a 25 yard bomb in the 86th minute.

Sharks 1, Ducks 0 - Anaheim failed to take advantage of four power plays, and San Jose picked up the lone goal of the game in the final five minutes.

Rapids 6, Kings 3 - Apparently baseball isn't the only sport in Denver with high scoring. It's also a good place for a fight. There were two in the first period.

Elsewhere - What do you do when a soccer forward juggles the ball on his head to keep it away from you? Slug the bastard ... There's a rumor about Oscar De La Hoya cross dressing. There are pictures here. Are those real? ... If the US women's soccer team plays in China and nobody watches, do you care?

Today's Action - Dodgers @ Colorado (12:05p) ... Seattle @ Angels (7:05p).

AP photo by Reed Saxon.

Rockies 3, Dodgers 1 - Olmedo Saenz cranked a pinch-hit home run in the seventh, but the Dodger's offense was otherwise anemic. Rockies starter Jeff Francis had 10 Ks.

Rockies 9, Dodgers 8 - Just when they were looking to turn things around in the second game of the double header, Takashi Saito allowed a two run dinger in the bottom of the ninth. He wasn't the only Dodger pitcher to have a rocky night. David Wells allowed five runs in five innings.

Angels 2, Devil Rays 1 - Good defeated evil for a second game in a row, this time with a little less run power. John Lackey had a shutout going into the ninth, but after giving up a run K-Rod had to come in and throw three strikeouts. The Halos continue to rely on small ball, scoring on a wild pitch and a fielder's choice. They can clinch the pennant this weekend if they split with Seattle. Or they can pick up some wins another time. No hurry, their lead is 8.5 games.

Kings 6, Sharks 5, SO - Los Angeles won in a shootout and has a couple more preseason games in the states before a couple games in Austria and the season opener in London against Anaheim.

Elsewhere - Was OJ memorabilia worth his $125,000 bail? ... Barry Bonds doesn't mince words: "He's stupid. He's an idiot. He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it?" ... The NBA is hoping to stand tall in China ... Beer banned at Coors Arena. Go figure.

Today's Action - Dodgers @ Colorado (5:35pm) ... Tampa Bay @ Angels (1:35pm) ... Galaxy @ Real Salt Lake (6:00pm) ... San Jose @ Ducks (7:00pm) ... Kings @ Colorado (6:00pm)

AP photo by David Zalubowski.

After I declared the Dodger season over last week, they go and make me look like a complete asshole by winning the next four games in convincing fashion. But thanks to the Giants, I didn’t look like a complete asshole.

As the Dodgers won game after game, the Giants tanked game after game against the wild card leading Padres. With each win instead of inching closer to the postseason, they were merely jogging on a treadmill of mediocrity.

I guess all that winning for nothing took a lot out of the Dodgers. Yesterday in a doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies, they tanked both games 3-1 and 9-8. Now they are 4 ½ games out the wild card race and look to make my seemingly premature prediction look remarkably accurate.

Exactly one year ago the Dodgers had the most remarkable comeback in recent history. Right now the only comeback in the minds of the Blue Crew are returning to the golf courses across the land.

Since this season is done, let’s take a look at next season for a little bit. It looks like Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp will be starting in the outfield next season. Juan Pierre unfortunately will still be here thanks to the brilliant move by general manager Ned Colletti of signing Pierre to a 5-year $45 million contract.

The infield looks a little more muddled. James Loney will stay at first and Rafael Furcal at shortstop. I doubt Jeff Kent will be back leaving Tony Abreu at second. As for third base, now that’s a kicker.

If the Dodgers want any chance of going anywhere next season, they will sign Alex Rodriguez to whatever he wants. He provides the power hitting the Dodgers so sorely need, and he is a good fielder. People can say Kemp and Loney are capable of providing all the power the Dodgers need, but they have yet to prove this for an entire season. They’re young and still have a lot to learn, particularly Kemp with not running through signs.

A-Rod will provide the team with a veteran presence that’s not completely over-the-hill. If A-Rod is not a Dodger next season, the Dodgers will go further towards nowhere.

AP Photo by David Zalubowski

With a major project concluded, I'm back to regular writing. Hockey is back, too. You can watch a free game downtown tonight.

Angels 10, Devil Rays 7 - The last time the Halos played small ball this well, they won a World Series. They could be headed back, with their magic number down to five. The Angels piled up double digits against the Devils without a home run on Monday, the 11th time they've reached that level of production in the last 50 games. That's a good thing, because Kelvim Escobar collapsed -- again. He allowed six runs in just over four innings, including a flat-out steal of home. Sure, it happens, but it's rare. Escobar's job is to throw home and he stares at the plate, for crying out loud. No wonder that in his last four starts he hasn't made it past the 6th inning.

Ducks 3, Canucks 2, OT - It seems strange to watch ice hockey in September, but it's even stranger that the Stanley Cup resides in Orange County. Anaheim didn't play many big-names, and the third line produced all the scoring in this pre-season matchup.

Only in LA - Chivas, not just the "other" LA team ... Aussies to Galaxy: "We'll play you, but only if Beckham can last 55 minutes" ... Shrine Auditorium loses to site in Paris for 2011 International Weightlifting Federation Championships.

Elsewhere - US National Women's Soccer team hasn't lost since 2004, advances to World Cup quarterfinals ... X-Games champ dies in, what else, a helicopter crash ... Morten Anderson may be on Social Security before he's done playing football ... Red Sox rookies dress in drag and other costumes.

Today's Action - Dodgers @ Colorado DOUBLEHEADER (1:05pm, 5:35pm) ... Devil Rays @ Angels (7:05pm) ... San Jose Sharks @ Kings (7:30p), see free ticket link above.

AP photo by Richard Lam.

Do you live downtown? Can you prove it?

Then get yourself to Staples Center tomorrow night. The Los Angeles Kings are throwing a party just for you. I’m not sure how the Kings define “party”, but starting at 6:30, the 2007-2008 team will be introduced. AEG President Tim Lieweke and all-time Kings great Luuuuuuuuuuc Robitaille will also be present to tell you all about exhilarating real estate developments and about how exciting this hockey season is going to be.

Then, at 7:30, the Kings will square off in an exhibition game against the San Jose Sharks. If you can prove you live downtown, you get a FREE ticket! (while supplies last)

The exhibition game will be the last preseason contest at Staples for the Kings, who close out training camp with matches against the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday night in Denver, and on Saturday night in Las Vegas. The regular season begins with back to back stunt games against the Ducks at the AEG-owned O2 in London on September 29 and 30.

Photo of Rob Blake, Justin Timberlake and some other people from lakings.com

Every week in college football proves to everyone they don’t know shit about the game.

Case in point, #11 UCLA Bruins at Utah Utes. The Bruins had won all eight previous meetings against the Utes including a 31-10 victory on opening day at the Rose Bowl last season. So instead of a UCLA blowout the opposite happened. The Utes blew the Bruins and their #11 ranking out of the stadium 44-6 preventing the Bruins from scoring a touchdown.

I have one simple question about this game. Where in the hell was the glorified Bruin defense? The defense was supposed to be the cornerstone of this Bruin team, but to be outscored 30-0 in the second half is just pathetic. This game exposed the Bruins as frauds, and head coach Karl Dorrell should be feeling the fire as much as Lloyd Carr in Michigan.

Now on to the positives. Saturday showed us there are really only four teams that are the cream of the crop in college football: LSU, USC, Florida and Oklahoma. All four were just plain dominant over their opponents. Florida especially impressed me.

Up to this point, Florida hadn’t proved anything in their victories over bad opponents. In their win over #22 Tennessee, they racked up 59 points on a decent team and their defense only allowed one touchdown in the second half. That’s a sign of a great team, and it should be fun to see what they do in their conference schedule.

Yesterday I was out shopping all day. It was my friend Cathi’s way of staging an intervention for me. All of my friends are concerned that I’ve become so tied to sports, they are doing everything they can to get me out. Yesterday it worked. What can I say? I’m weak when it comes to shopping.

Anyhow, I’d like to take this moment to say that I’m a fucking genius. I picked 13 of the 15 games played yesterday correctly and with that won my work’s football pick ‘em pool.

NFL Nuggets

Cleveland Browns over Cincinnati Bengals 51-45. This is one of the picks I got wrong. What in the hell happened? This was almost like a repeat of the week 12 game in 2004 when the Bengals defeated the Browns 58-48 at Cleveland. The Bengals are in a lot of trouble if they expect to go to the playoffs with that defense. This looked more like a Louisville-Rutgers game.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers over New Orleans Saints 31-14 This was the other pick I got wrong. What the hell happened to the Saints? I just can’t believe that Saints would be this bad this quickly. I’m still not going to amend my Superbowl pick, but if they keep on laying eggs I might have to jump off the bandwagon.

Indianapolis Colts over Tennessee Titans 22-20. It’s great to see this rivalry regain some traction. Remember the days when Peyton Manning couldn’t beat the Titans?

That's right, two weeks before the grand opening you can get into the brand new Culver City Skate Park on the corner of Duquesne & Jefferson in Culver City. It's open dawn till dusk, but ymmv until the real opening.

Friday night they put up the fence, and Saturday the place was jammed with 300 locals trying it out. I dropped by Sunday morning at 8am to check out the Wake n' Skate crew. By 10am the place had 60 people, and at 4pm there were around 150.

So drop on by and check out the Trog Bowl, Waterfall, Hubba Ledge, Ramp, Pier 7 Block, Wall Ride, 90 degree banked hip, and more!

LAist is proud to bring you the first photos of this park along with the first video tour. This is a skate park, built by and for skaters, that means NO BIKES, they will destroy the transitions and are expressly forbidden from the park.

We had the chance to check out some skaters in the park and talk to Christian Cooper of Concrete Disciples, one of the people behind this 3 year long project.

More Photos After the Jump.

Pathetic. Pitiful. Putrid.

There are not enough adjectives that start with the letter ‘P’, or any other letter for that matter, that can adequately describe how bad UCLA’s 44-6 abomination of a performance was on Saturday against Utah.

In the forgettable tenure of Karl Dorrell’s coaching career at UCLA, the Bruins have had numerous embarrassing efforts. But I think this one was the worst of all. Because this one really can’t be reasonably explained nor justified. Because this one completely submarines all hopes that fans had on this year being the year. Because after this one, there’s really no reason to believe that it’s not going to happen again and again.

It’s understood that all teams will have off days sometimes. After all, these are 18- to 22-year old kids (well, except for 24-year old “star” QB Ben Olson). But good teams do not have off days in which they lose by 38 points to a winless team that was missing its starting quarterback, starting running back, and starting #1 wideout. Good teams do not allow themselves to be physically dominated on both sides of the ball without a competitive response. Good teams do not fail to show up for 60 minutes. And the Bruins, no matter what the ranking or win-loss record said over the last five seasons, have never been a good team under Dorrell.

This wasn’t the case of being beaten by a more talented and physically gifted team like USC. This was the case of being underprepared, outcoached, and outexecuted in comparison to a Utah squad that did not match up on paper, but was ready to play 60 minutes of ball. Apparently, the Bruins weren’t ready to put forth anything resembling a best effort. Or any kind of effort for that matter.

Yesterday morning 10,000 runners (this LAist poster and a few friends included) took to the streets of Downtown Los Angeles for the 5-mile Nike Run Hit Remix 2007. The sea of red t-shirts running from the Coliseum to Staples Center and back was an awesome sight in itself, but the runners were also treated to a crystal blue sky canopy overhead. While it was already a bit too hot at the 9 am race start, it wasn't a bad way to start a Saturday.

While some were in the race to test their personal mettle, others spent the morning jogging alongside and hanging with friends. But then there were a few who were in it to soak up pure freakin' LA-style fun.

We're talking beer vendors at the finish, low-riders lining the middle of race road and old-school acts providing powersongs at different stages along the route. Some "runners" were having such a great time that they forgot all about the race and stopped to dance to Ex-En Voguer Dawn Robinson, the Sugar Hill Gang, Sir Mix-a-Lot, Naughty By Nature and a finish-line concert by...MC Hammer.

The big story this past week was New England Patriot’s head coach Bill Belichick. After having one of his coaches illegally videotape the New York Jets’ defensive coaches giving signals, he tried his best to sidestep the issue.

We all know that as great of a coach as he is, Belichick is an asshole. In a written statement apologizing for the incident on Wednesday, he said the he misinterpreted the rule. The rule clearly states, “No video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game." How there’s any room for misinterpretation is anyone’s guess.

Knowing the Patriots have been approached by the league in the past regarding this issue, this just shows that Belichick believes he is above the law. He thumbed his nose at the league, got caught, and now is punished by a $500,000 fine, an additional $250,000 fine for the team and the loss of a first-round draft pick.

While videotaping signals can give a team an advantage, the fact remains that stealing signals is common in all sports including the NFL. It became such an issue that during the league meetings in March a proposal was put to vote on allowing one defensive player to use a wireless helmet to hear signals much like the offense does currently. The proposal was shot down by two votes.

Since stealing signs happens, the fact the Patriots were videotaping is not all that bad. That’s why I feel the punishment is justified. But if the league had passed that proposal in March, we would not be here talking about this issue. That much is certain.

I heard a joke on the radio today that made me giggle.

Q: How many batteries does it take to shock a Michigan Wolverine?

A: 1 AA.

Hardee har har.

With that joke, I’m laughing all the way up to this week’s matchup of defeated powerhouses Michigan and Notre Dame. But more on that game later.

This Saturday will tell us a lot more about the college football landscape. It will weed out the pretenders from the contenders to borrow a line from ESPN. Here are the intriguing games of Week 3.

#10 Ohio State vs Washington. Are the Washington Huskies as dominant as they seem? They beat a wretched Syracuse team on the road in week 1 and a Boise State team that’s a shell of their former selves at home last week. The Ohio State Buckeyes have also beaten opponents that were far inferior. They also have a 15-game winning streak of unranked opponents.

I smell all the makings of an upset here. Husky redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Locker carries himself like a senior and is clearly making a case for Washington to be a football powerhouse once again. Although the Buckeyes boast the nation’s best defense, something inside me thinks the Husky spread offense can handle the barrage. Washington over Ohio St. 31-28.

The NHL 2007-08 season officially got underway last night with an exhibition game between the Stanley Cup Champion (?!) Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and your Los Angeles Kings. Brian Willsie put the Kings ahead with five minutes to go in the game, and the Kings held on to beat the Ducks 5-4.

Sure, exhibition games mean nothing, but we’re not going to see a lot of King’s victories this year, so let’s savor the moment. Or as they say in Canada, savour the moment.

True, being an exhibition game, the ice was filled mostly with amateur hockey players fighting for an NHL job, a smattering of average veterans, sub-par goaltending, and no superstars. In other words, it was just like a regular season Kings game.

In an oddly-scheduled preseason, the Kings and the Quackers face off again Saturday night, while the rest of the league doesn’t hit the ice until this coming Sunday.

photo by astroguy via flickr

Photo by Jory'z Shotz via Flickr.

Ex-Padre David Wells sent his ex-teammates on a loooooooong trip home to San Diego last night. Just when you thought the season was over, the Dodgers win two-in-a-row against the insanely awesome Padres.

It was Maddux vs Wells (old vs old?). Wells allowed only 4 hits, Maddux allowed 11 including 2 from Wells himself (his first multi-hit game ever).

Dodgers win 6-3. Saito made his impressive 38th save of the season to an elated, had-to-get-drunk-after-work crowd of 44,700 (not bad for a Thursday night).

But my hero hands down last night was Rafael Furcal, who stole 3 bases and made 3 runs. First he stole second, then he stole third -- it was like the sneaky bastard was going to steal them all (which would have made me considerably more than just aroused).

This team was and is still awesome. We were #1 for 3.5 months this season, did anyone forget that? And now we're coming back, baby. So pick up your shit LA and jump back onto the bandwagon.

1.5 games back, 16 games to go.

THINK BLUE.

Angels 18, Orioles 6 - Anaheim and Baltimore have combined for a whopping 39 runs in the past two game. The Halos had 18 last night, thanks to 13 walks and 3 errors given to them by the Orioles. Baltimore was so bad on defense that their offense hammered Kelvim Escobar for 6 earned runs in 5.1 innings and he still got the W. Vladimir Guerrero went yard, as did Brandon Wood -- for the first time in his career. The Angel's magic number is down to 9.

Dodgers 6, Padres 1 - James Loney hit a homer for the fifth time in six games and Jeff Kent hit his 20th of the season to help Los Angeles cruise to a win. The Blue Crew needed it to stay in the playoff chase. They're now two and a half back of San Diego and can get one closer today, when Dodger-turned-Padre Greg Maddux faces Padre-turned-Dodger David Wells.

Elsewhere - A high school football player drilled a 62 yard field goal. No big deal. He hit a 75 yarder in practice ... Yahoo! Sports is beating ESPN for online readership ... If you want to point fingers in the Beckham mess, Yellow Chair Sports has a solution. Blame everybody! (Yes, including Becks) ... Check out one of the greatest pranks of all time.

Today's Action - Padres @ Dodgers (7pm) ... Angels @ Baltimore (4pm) ... Galaxy @ Chivas USA (8pm).

AP photo by Nick Wass.

This has been a shitty night.

I watched the first couple of innings of the Padres-Dodgers game to watch newly acquired hack Esteban Loaiza completely stink it up. He game up four earned runs in those two innings and couldn’t find the strike zone for the life of him.

I then went to play some tennis with my new tennis partner. I couldn’t serve for the life of me, and my normally strong forehand kept on failing me. After losing the first set 6-0, I made a more respectable showing in the second set by going to the net losing 6-4. There hasn’t been more expletives hurled on a tennis court since John McEnroe last played on the tour.

I go back to my car, and I hear that the Dodgers are down 9-2 in the eighth inning.

The only positive part of the game was seeing Chin-Lung Hu go yard in his second major league at-bat against Brett Tomko. Does it make me a bad person that I started saying, “Fuck you Tomko,” over and over again when that happened? I didn’t think so.

The Dodgers made it interesting in the end, and the memory of last year’s September 18th game against Jake Peavy and the Padres percolated through my mind. But honestly I had no expectation that the Dodgers would have a night in the same area code as that game. Nothing the Dodgers had done recently would lend me to believe they can erase a two-run deficit much less a seven-run deficit.

As ugly as the Monday night games were, they sure did get exciting at the end. The Ravens had eight plays inside the Bengal’s five-yard line with just over two minutes left in their game and failed to score. The 49ers whose offense struggled most of the game drove 86 yards in their final drive for a game-winning touchdown with 16 seconds left in the game.

Cincinnati over Baltimore 27-20. One of the cardinal rules of football is do not turn the ball over. I predicted the Ravens to stomp all over the Bengals in this game. Little did I know the Ravens would cough the ball up six times. The last one was in their final drive on the Bengal 2-yard line. That is just sloppy football.

The Ravens are in a world of trouble with quarterback Steve McNair and linebacker Ray Lewis injured. Without those two players healthy, the Ravens will revert to the 6-10 team they were in 2005.

San Francisco over Arizona 20-17. This was a defensive game that was probably as ugly as Britney Spears’ performance on the VMAs. Taking a page out of Muhammad Ali when he fought George Foreman, the 49ers did their best rope-a-dope impression. They were completely inept offensively all game until that final drive.

As for the Cardinals they had a lot of false start penalties that prevented them from getting any rhythm on offense. The fact they couldn’t convert a third down towards the end of the game shows they still have some ways to go in order to be a good team.

The best part about this game was the camera shots of 49ers head coach Mike Nolan. Damn he looks hot in that suit on the sidelines. I wouldn't mind a couple of drills with him.

With both college football and the NFL going ahead full steam, it’s been hard to really pay attention to the goings-on of the Dodgers. And there is a good reason for that.

The Dodgers just plain stunk it up at Telecom-of-the-Moment Park against the Giants. Each game featured a Dodger pitcher giving up crucial runs late in the game. Jonathan Broxton gave up home runs in Friday’s and Sunday’s games, and David Wells managed to only give up two runs in a dicey sixth inning on Saturday to preserve the victory.

You know a series isn’t going well when Takashi Saito doesn’t make an appearance. The August DHL Delivery Man of the Month (I’m not joking about this one) awarded to the most outstanding relief pitcher was brought on in a non-save situation Saturday. Saito has been lights out in August converting all 10 save situations he was in while posting a 0.68 ERA and giving up only one run in 14 games.

All that aside, this week is a make-or-break week for the Dodgers. They start with a three-game series against the Padres on Tuesday and a weekend series against the D-Backs. If they bomb like they did this past weekend, there is no October for the Dodgers. However if they manage to play well and gain some ground in the division and wild card standings, they still have a chance to sniff the playoffs.

That breeze you felt on Saturday night wasn’t an early Santa Ana wind, but rather the collective sigh of relief of Bruin Nation after UCLA held on for a 27-17 victory over BYU. For those of you that weren’t at the Rose Bowl and didn’t have a chance to watch the game because you aren’t one of the 15 households that actually get Versus, you missed the Bruins sprinting out to a 20-0 lead, then nearly letting it slip away until a late fumble and touchdown drive put it out of reach. It was a game that featured a totally inept offensive performance by the Bruins, but was saved by some big plays by the defense and key mistakes by the Cougars.

In many cases, the stat sheet can be misleading, but in Saturday’s game, it told the whole story. BYU outgained UCLA by a nearly two-to-one margin (435 to 236), and controlled the game for the last 35 minutes. But UCLA was plus-two in the turnover battle (forcing three while only giving up one) and BYU had eleven penalties, many at crucial moments, while UCLA only had four. In short, BYU looked like the better team for much of the game, but in the most critical moments, it was the Bruins that stepped up when it counted. So while many UCLA fans are feeling a bit worried about how the team will fare against the better teams coming up on the schedule, they can be encouraged at the way the team showed some guts by not caving to the pressure of the Cougar comeback.

That isn’t to say that the BYU was a weak opponent. In contrast to last week’s opponent Stanford, whom UCLA clearly outclassed, the Cougars, despite their non-BCS conference affiliation, represented a much stiffer test. They came in riding an 11-game winning streak (including routs of Pac-10 teams Oregon and Arizona in its last two games) and a #27 national ranking. In particular, the Cougars defense provided a formidable challenge, as it was the 10th best scoring defense in the country last year and had extra motivation to prove something to Bruin QB Ben Olson, who had transferred from BYU prior to the 2005 season. Thus, while it was disappointing that the UCLA offense largely failed its test, the fact that the Bruins still found a way to win against a quality team was important.

Here we are at the end of Week 1 of the NFL season, and we learned several things.

Things learned the first: special teams are essential to win the game.

In the Denver-Buffalo game with 14 seconds left in regulation and no times out left, the Broncos offense rushed off the field and the kicking unit came in. By the time the holder got the ball, there was only one second left in the game. Bronco kicker Jason Elam erased his past two transgressions (missed field goals) to kick the game winning 42-yard field goal. There was no margin of error for the Broncos, and because of the perfect execution the Broncos won the game 15-14.

That was the good, here’s the ugly. In the Philadelphia-Green Bay game, the Eagles had two fumbled punt returns: one in the first quarter that was recovered in the end zone for a Packer touchdown, and one with less than a minute remaining in the game that set up the game winning field goal for the Packers. Those two fumbles cost the Eagles the game 16-13.

Things learned the second: make sure you are fundamentally sound.

Everyone knows football is a violent sport. Despite all the precautions taken to keep players safe, the nature of the sport causes many injuries. None were more severe this week than the injury to Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett.

On the second half opening kick off, Everett made a helmet-to-helmet tackle of Denver’s Domenik Hixon. Everett fell to the ground unable to move. After being taken to the emergency room it was confirmed he suffered a fractured dislocation of the cervical spine. Basically his neck broke.

I haven’t seen the hit nor do I want to see it, so I can’t say for sure if he meant to tackle head first. But one of the first lessons of Tackling 101 is always lead with your shoulders not your head. Nevertheless it’s still very sad, and I hope he makes a full recovery.

But there was a whole rash of injuries in Week 1 of the season. Taking a look at this injury list, and it’s just shocking the number of injuries incurred. I don’t know what to account it to, but let’s hope it’s not this bad this season.

Dont you just love all this Web 2.0 stuff? Theres no question that online communities are partitioning themselves into more varied, specific subject matter, and sports communities are undoubtedly at the forefront. What better way to boost team (or even a city, for that matter) morale than to trash talk rivals? Looking beyond communities started by ESPN or Sports Illustrated, its becoming quite apparent that start-up sites are gearing mainly towards the college football scene, and just in time. One of the cooler new sites on the scene, AllSmackTalk.com, is doing just that.

Two weeks into the college football season, and I’m disappointed.

A lot of the top-ranked teams just haven’t been as dominating as I thought. USC’s win over Idaho last week left a bad taste in my mouth. California struggled this week against Colorado State. And where in the world was Louisville’s defense? And Wisconsin just squeaking by UNLV?

But in the face of these underwhelming performances, there were a couple that really impressed me.

#2 LSU over #9 Virginia Tech 48-7. Now that was a football clinic. Everyone expected this to be a low-scoring game featuring two of the best defenses in the country. Who would have known that LSU actually has an offense? QB Matt Flynn did whatever he wanted against the Hokie defense.

But the Hokies looked plain awful. Mind you they didn’t look that hot against East Carolina, but I didn’t think they would lay a complete egg against the Tigers. If I were the Hokies, I would call up Michael Vick. I think he has one more year left in eligibility.

#5 Oklahoma over Miami (FL) 51-13. I realized yesterday that I left the Sooners out of my rankings. Oops. I really thought this would be a close game. Proves what I know. Oklahoma took the Hurricanes on their collective knees and whooped them to next week.

I actually had a guy over during the game. I left the game on in my living room while we went into my boudoir for some really awful sex. While bobbing up and down on his smegma-encrusted cock, all I could here was, “Bradford sets to pass, Kelly catches it, TOUCHDOWN SOONERS!” Thankfully by the fourth quarter the guy was gone.

Giants 4, Dodgers 2 - Jeff Kent's two solo shots gave the Dodgers a lead, but it fell apart on a three run pinch-hit blast by San Francisco's Ray Durham in the eighth. Los Angeles went 7-2 against the Giants this year, both losses coming in this weekend's series. With just 18 games to go this season -- all against division rivals -- the Blue Crew sits 5.5 games behind NL West leader Arizona and 2.5 behind wild card leader San Diego.

Indians 6, Angels 2 - Jered Weaver threw 97 pitches to just 13 batters and fell to 11-7 as Cleveland salvaged the series split. Eight games ahead of second place Seattle, LAnaheim's magic number to win the AL West is 13. Vladimir Guerrero missed the last four games with a triceps injury, though Bartolo Colon is back from the DL.

LA Triathlon - Aussies finished 1-2-3 in one of LA's premier traffic-clogging events. An American, Timothy O'Donnell, placed fourth. Greg Bennett repeated as champion, collecting a $10,000 prize.

Elsewhere - The NFL is back. That doesn't do us much good here in LA, but there are plenty of USC and UCLA alumni to root for ... Team USA lost to Brazil 4-2 in a soccer friendly ... Aussies aren't only good at triathlon, they also have a sweet video to promote their pasttime.

Today's Action - None. Don't try to watch any games here in LA, there won't be any. Enjoy the nice weather while it lasts. Actually, this is LA ... it'll last.

AP photo by Mark Avery.

At 9:30 am this morning, competitors of the 2007 LA Triathlon speed up Highland Avenue. What were you doing?

That opening game of the NFL was a kick in the nuts, wasn’t it?

The Indianapolis Colts proved their defense wasn’t a mere fluke in last season’s playoff by only allowing the New Orleans Saints offense to only score a field goal in their 41-10 blowout.

At least I was right about the Saints having a pretty porous defense. With the exception of the Reggie Wayne fumble that was taken for a touchdown, no one would have known the Saints defense took the field. QB Peyton Manning did whatever he wanted on the field, and it looked like poetry. Well as much as you can describe football poetry.

I know I predicted the Saints to win the Superbowl, and I’m not hesitating now. One game a season does not make, and I think the Saints have what it takes to dominate the weak NFC.

Here are my picks for tomorrow:

Minnesota over Atlanta.
St. Louis over Carolina
Denver over Buffalo
Houston over Kansas City
Miami over Washington
New England over New York Jets
Philadelphia over Green Bay
Pittsburgh over Cleveland
Tennessee over Jacksonville
San Diego over Chicago
Oakland over Detroit
Seattle over Tampa Bay
Dallas over New York Giants

Monday Night Picks:

Baltimore over Cincinnati
San Francisco over Arizona

AP Photo by Tom Strattman

The fallout from Appalachian State’s upset over Michigan extended beyond Michigan falling out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll. The AP announced on Thursday that lower division schools are now eligible to be included in the poll.

It’s great that the Championship Subdivision (aka Division I-AA) has a chance of being ranked alongside the big boys. While I highly doubt that a team even as accomplished as Appalachian State will crack the Top 25 it’s always nice knowing there is a possibility.

I know I said this last week, but this week should prove to be fairly predictable. After the upset last week most heavily favored teams will be on their toes in preparing for their opponents. West Virginia should have no problems with Marshall, California should easily beat Colorado State and Akron will be laughable against Ohio State.

But here are some more interesting games this week.

#9 Virginia Tech vs. #2 LSU. These two teams disappointed last week. Virginia Tech barely escaped their game against East Carolina with a win. The Hokies scored only 10 points on offense. That game was an upset waiting to happen. But the Hokies stout defense was up to task in keeping them in the game.

True LSU shut out Mississippi State 45-0 last week, but most of their scoring came off of seven turnovers. Offensively they looked pitiful for most of the first half. But their shut down defense absolutely controlled the game. This game will be very low scoring, but I see LSU with an edge.

Miami (FL) at #5 Oklahoma. The once strong Miami program has had a lot of problems since losing the BCS title game against Ohio State following the 2002 season. First year head coach Randy Shannon is looking to turn around the Hurricanes from the abysmal 2006 season that saw them go 6-6 in the regular season and just eking out a 21-20 win over Nevada in the MPC Computers Bowl.

The Sooners, on the other hand, are the cream of the crop in the overrated Big 12 conference. They have a great passing game, but with the loss of Adrian Petersen at tailback to the NFL their running game is a big question mark. If they loosen up the Hurricane defense with some passes early on, the Sooners can run a balanced offense and run up the score for a second week in a row.

#22 Boise State at Washington. The Washington Huskies face a tough challenge against the Boise State Broncos. The Broncos boast a run-heavy offense that will challenge the young Husky defense. The Huskies meanwhile have redshirt freshman Jake Locker starting at quarterback, and his inexperience will be put to test. On the bright side for Washington, Boise State has never won a game against a BCS conference team when on the road.

Why are the Dodgers doing this to us?

Yesterday’s come-from-behind victory in the ninth inning was great. Never could I have imagined the Dodgers would execute the Earl Weaver (a three-run homer) perfectly to take the lead. It was only the third time this season the Dodgers had won a game when trailing after eight innings; they had lost 59 times in that situation.

As high of a high as that was, reality starts to creep in.

Last year after that glorious September 18th back-to-back-to-back-to-back homer game, the Dodgers went on to lose the next two games to the woeful-as-ever Pirates at home. What’s to say the same won’t happen again?

Perhaps playing in San Francisco will help deter the let down. The Dodgers have won 11 consecutive games at Telecom-of-the-Month Park, and tonight they have Chad Billingsley going up against rookie Jonathan Sanchez. Sanchez, making his second start of the season, had been in the bullpen racking up a 5.30 ERA in 29 games pitched. In his first start against the Washington Nationals he gave up six hits and three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings for a 4-1 loss.

Basically the Dodgers have a good chance of winning this game, but like I said earlier they have found ways in the past to screw things up after an emotional victory.

Everybody's favorite LA football team the UCLA Bruins face BYU in their home opener at the Rose Bowl tomorrow. If you have tickets, make sure you arrive early for the Air Force fly-by before the game -- it's always a guaranteed tearjerker.

Ex-BYUman Ben Olson scoffed at the supposed challenge that BYU brings, stating:

"I look at this as any other game.”

I know our city hasn’t had an NFL team in over a decade, but that doesn’t mean the NFL is dead in this city. Since most of us Angelinos come from other parts of the country, we still hold on to our hometown football teams.

Even though I grew up in Baton Rouge, LA until I was eight, I am a huge Chicago Bears fan. My first recollection of football was Superbowl XX which was dominated by the Bears. Back in 1985 the Saints were horrible and the people in New Orleans were known for wearing paper bags over their heads. So once the Raiders and Rams left town, I vehemently cursed them and started rooting for the Bears.

With that, here is my take on the NFL this season. I blatantly stole some of the questions from Yahoo, and I made up others.

HAVE THE ATLANTA FALCONS BASICALLY TURNED INTO AN EXPANSION TEAM OVERNIGHT?

The Falcons have become an expansion team over the course of a couple of seasons. It didn’t just happen overnight. Even if Michael Vick was the starting quarterback, his inconsistencies in the passing game would keep the Falcons from having a winning season much less the playoffs. True anyone can win the NFC, but with an improved Carolina Panthers team and a New Orleans Saints team that has a year of experience under its belts it will be hard to come out of the NFC South.

Also remember first-year head coach Bobby Petrino is coming out of the college ranks. The NFL usually abuses college coaches in the first year. Even Jimmy Johnson went 1-15 with the 1989 Dallas Cowboys.

Cubs 8, Dodgers 2 - There goes that winning streak. The Blew Crew committed three errors, but only allowed one unearned run. That left an average of one earned for each of the seven pitchers used by Los Angeles. Juan Pierre was responsible for one of the errors, but also picked up his 55th stolen base of the year.

A's 6, Angels 2 - Garret Anderson has been en fuego. He extended his RBI streak to ten straight games, matching an Angel's record. Over the past 15 games, he's brought 27 home -- 10 in one night alone. Unfortunately, that night was not Wednesday, as Oakland batters dinged the Halos for 12 hits and 6 runs.

Galaxy Report - Are the wheels falling off the Galaxy bandwagon? With the team in the MLS cellar, David Beckham may get loaned back to Europe, some are calling for Carlos Pavon to be sold, and even Landon Donovan may be getting itchy feet. To the right, you can see Donovan throwing out the first pitch in last night's Dodger-Cubs game. Notice what jersey he was wearing? Anyway, you would think coach Frank Yallop would be on the chopping block, too, but Donovan recently defended him.

Elsewhere - Read about the greatest prank in baseball history ... You could be the proud owner of a handwritten Michael Vick apology ... Tiger Woods could make $1 billion in retirement earnings alone ... First it was wife carrying, now it's Old Geezer Carting.

Today's Action - Dodgers @ Cubs (11:15am) ... Cleveland @ Angels (7:00pm) ... DC United @ Chivas USA (7:00pm).

AP photo by Jerry Lai.

Guess who popped up with the Padres Tuesday? If you guessed Brett Tomko you would be right.

Talk about tit for tat, the Padres acquired Tomko when he cleared waivers after being released by the Dodgers. If you remember, the Dodgers did the same when the bowling ball that is David Wells was released by the Padres. Collective dumpster diving much?

Tomko, who had gotten the most boos at Dodger Stadium second to Barry Bonds, was a complete nightmare this season for the Dodgers. He went 2-11 with a 5.80 ERA. The times he did pitch well the offense gave him no runs. Then there were times when he was just plain horrible.

Having said that, I know there will be at least one game this month where he will completely dominate the Dodgers. Earlier this season former catcher and current Tampa Bay Devil Ray Dioner Navarro hit his first homer of the season against the Dodgers. There is no reason why I don’t see the same thing happening in Tomko’s case.

To more uplifting news the Dodgers are surprising me. I knew they had a good chance of winning this game, but usually that means they find ways of losing those games.

Despite early base running blunders by resident blunder Matt Kemp, they came roaring back in the fifth inning with two strikes and the game tied when Brad Penny decided to take the offense in his own hands. He hit a double that hit the left field line and ended up scoring on Juan Pierre’s single. The Dodgers would go on to a 6-2 victory earning Penny his 15th win.

Since it’s already Tuesday and UCLA’s 45-17 victory over lowly Stanford feels like an eternity ago, we won’t give you any game recap of what was an encouraging, but ultimately difficult to gauge performance. Instead, we’ll stick to observations about the team’s first action and what it means for the next few weeks.

It’s never easy to start the season with a conference road game, even if the opponent is the consensus worst team in the conference. And Stanford has historically given the Bruins some trouble, like two years ago when the Cardinal led undefeated UCLA by 21 points in the fourth quarter at the Farm, only to see Drew Olson stage a furious comeback win. So any victory is a good one, and the convincing nature of this win should give the Bruins some confidence heading into next week’s game against BYU.

Obviously, the million dollar question has been whether the offense can actually put enough points on the board this year to make UCLA a legitimate contender. With a defense that should keep the team in every game, it was up to new offensive coordinator Jay Norvell to develop a scheme that enabled QB Ben Olson and company to move the ball, especially in the red zone where they were horrible last year. For one week, at least, the Bruins offense was highly productive, racking up 624 yards and 45 points, which were better numbers than any game last year, admittedly against a porous Stanford defense. But what was more encouraging than the raw numbers was the way in which UCLA accumulated those statistics.

Is it too little, too late for the Dodgers? I hope not.

With four weeks to go, the Dodgers now trail by four games in the NL West after their 11-3 victory over the Cubs.

This is not the same Cubs team the Dodgers faced at home in May. Then the Cubs were a bad team that couldn’t hold a lead for the life of them. It took manager Lou Piniella’s ejection and consequent suspension to wake up the Cubbies. They then went on a tear that saw them with a one-game lead in the NL Central division before Monday’s game.

The game started off nicely for the Cubs when leadoff hitter Alfonso Soirano hit a homer on the second pitch he saw from the new old Dodger pitcher Esteban Loaiza. It really looked bad for the old dog, but that turned out to be one of the few mistakes Loaiza made.

The Dodgers offense then proceeded to pound the living hell out of Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano scoring eight runs off the 14-game winning ace. Even Loaiza contributed to his own cause by hitting a two-run single in the fourth inning. It must really burn Brett Tomko and the other Dodger starting pitchers that the new guy got all of that run support in his first game pitched.

After miserable Friday and Saturday games against the Padres, this is just what the Dodgers needed to keep their hopes up in the postseason race. They have a slight chance of making it to the October dance, but they have to play nearly perfect baseball from here on out.

I don’t want to say, “Wait ‘til next year,” because I’m tired of saying that. Since the Dodgers won their last championship in 1988 the Dodgers have gone through two ownership changes, the country has been through four presidents and the Soviet Union broke up. Even the JV team down the 5 freeway won a World Series.

I think as a fan, I should take a page from the sports cliché notebook and take it one game at a time. Tomorrow features Brad Penny going up against the fossilized Steve Trachsel. I smell another Dodger’s victory, and one more game closer to postseason.

AP Photo by Brian Kersey

In one of the last college football games last season, the Boise State Broncos upset the Oklahoma Sooners 43-42 in overtime in the Fiesta Bowl. It was perhaps the biggest upset ever seen in college football at that point.

This first week of the college football season gave us the biggest upset almost no one saw. Saturday afternoon two-time defending Division I-AA champions Appalachian State upset #5 Michigan 34-32 in front of 109,000 Wolverine fans at the Big House.

The Mountaineers from the start dominated the game. They led the Wolverines 28-17 at halftime, and despite some questionable time management at the end of the game claimed the victory after a blocked Wolverine field goal attempt.

It’s a pity only 5 people outside of the stadium got to see the game since it was broadcasted on the newly unveiled Big Ten Network. Available in the Big Ten region and DirecTV the network has yet to ink deals with the top cable providers, Comcast and Time Warner included.

And the pity lies in the fact that Big Ten athletics is overrated. Aside from Ohio State upsetting Miami in the 2002 BCS championship game at the Fiesta Bowl, when is the last time any team in the Big Ten won a football game of consequence?

Another big question is how much longer Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr will keep his job. Having the notoriety of coach the first AP ranked team to lose to a Division I-AA team EVER will certainly fan the flames of the hot seat. And given how Michigan tanked against USC in the Rose Bowl this past season, that seat was pretty hot to begin with.

This Michigan team was expected to run the table and be national championship contenders. After this loss it’s hard to imagine they would be in a conversation for a BCS bowl even if they go undefeated in their Big Ten schedule. Now that’s sad.

A lot of the post-game analysis of USC's victory over Idaho on Saturday uses terms like "lackluster," "stalled," "uninspired," "sputtering" among others. The general consensus seems to be that since we did not run up the 45 point margin that odds makers had predicted that the Trojan effort was somehow lacking.

Well, anyone who picked up a paper on Sunday knows that USC defeated Idaho by a score of 38 to 10. The Vandals were held to a single field goal in the first half, scored in the final seconds before halftime, and a touchdown with 2:42 remaining in the game, as they faced USC's second team.

Sure, after rattling off 21 unanswered points to start the game, the Trojans slowed in the second quarter. Idaho out gained the Trojans in both yardage (122-80) and first downs (8-4) during the second period, but still only managed to squeeze 3 points out of that advantage.

AP photo

It's a national holiday, so we got this one posted a little late. For those of you wondering why we're not inundating you with USC coverage, that's because I'm posting All Things Trojan over at latimes.com. If you'd like to help us do some Trojan coverage here, drop me a line at adam@laist.com. Also, "LAst Night's Action" is only posting about three times a week but will return to a regular M-F schedule starting September 17.

Dodgers 5, Padres 0 - Los Angeles avoided the sweep in San Diego and got back to within four games of the NL West leader. Chad Billingsley K'd nine over seven innings and Matt Kemp scored two runs on three hits with an RBI. The Marines came out to enjoy a day at the park. We're not sure what stood out more -- their section, or the Pad's mascot.

Rangers 8, Angels 7 - The Rally Monkey came out on Sunday night, but left one out too soon. Garret Anderson was struck out looking with the bases juiced to end the game. An inning earlier, Hank Blalock put Texas ahead with a grand slam. It was Blalock's first game back in several months due to a strange condition that caused doctors to remove a rib. This is the first recorded incident of a rib removal aiding a celebrity's performance since Marilyn Manson. (OK, that was just a rumor.)

Only in LA - Could David Beckham be headed home already? ... MLB and AmPm hype food at Dodger and Angel ballparks.

Elsewhere - Soccer stars LA really wants have giant orgy ... NHL gets f-ice-ty with new ad campaign ... America wins FIBA hoops gold, secures spot in Olympics ... The Bowdens are over the Bowden Bowl ... Watch the VA Tech football team open their season with a tribute to their fallen students.

Today's Action - Dodgers @ Cubs (1:05pm) ... Athletics @ Angels (6:05pm).

AP photo by Denis Poroy.

The Dodgers squandered a good chance to gain some ground in the division and wild card races last night in a 6-4 loss against the Padres.

Here the Dodgers faced starting pitcher Jack Cassell making his first major league start, and they did nothing to make him work in the first several innings. The first batter to get a three-ball count was Russell Martin in the fourth when he hit an RBI single that scored Matt Kemp.

Granted they eventually tied the game up 3-3 in the sixth, but Rudy Seanez and Joe Beimel did a great job of handing the game over to the Padres.

This game of blown opportunities has become the recurring theme this season. They’ve had many chances after the All Star break to grab a stranglehold of the division especially in the series against the Mets and Phillies in July. But their lethargic play gave the Padres and D-Backs hope, and now the Dodgers are chasing.

That brings us to tonight with the Dodgers facing Jake Peavy on the mound. If anyone cares to take their eyes off the Idaho-USC game, this should be a good game to watch if you like great pitching. The Dodgers are sending Derek Lowe to the mound who hasn’t been very spectacular as of late. If the Dodgers can pull this off, it would be tantamount to Appalachian State’s upset over Michigan at the Big House. Well not really.

AP Photo by Lenny Ignelzi