This query made its way into the LAist inbox, and we tracked down the answer: Just wondering, is the Coliseum cauldron lit for the Olympics right now? First stop on the investigation (besides some people mentioning they've seen it lit during other Olympics before) was good old Wikipedia; the entry for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum explains that the cauldron is lit on special occasions, such as "during the fourth quarter of USC football games,......

Early this morning, Exposition Park saw two murders when two men, reported to be in their 20s, were shot dead on an apartment building sidewalk on South Figueroa near West 43rd St. Police have not determined a motive for the 1:50 a.m. shooting, but are looking into the possibility of it being gang or drug related. The LA Times reports that the two men "had just been dropped off by a friend" before being shot.......

When the Dodgers host the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, the game could break baseball's all-time attendance record with almost 115,000 fans cramming into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. A lot of people are excited about the exhibition, but it's not without detractors. Congestion and dimensions are two of the biggest fears. After going on a tour of the setup this morning, I don't think you could ask for more out of this historic location.......

On Thursday with the enlightened press in tow, Frank McCourt broke ground at the LA Memorial Coliseum to prepare for the March 29 exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox. Although the game has been sold out, the Dodgers have added a standing room only section behind the right field fence for 25,000 more tickets. Those tickets will go on sale Saturday for $10 a piece. If that sells out that means 115,000 people......

A quick Dodger note for everyone. On Saturday at 10:00am, tickets to the Dodgers exhibition game on Saturday, March 29 against the Boston Red Sox at the LA Memorial Coliseum will go on sale. This will be a special occasion helping the Dodgers kick off their season-long celebration of their 50th year in Los Angeles. As many of you might know, the Dodgers played at the Coliseum when they moved here in 1958 until......

Will Leitch explains what's wrong with media dayLingerie Bowl canceled, meaning one less event in the Coliseum.There's no room at the inn, but there is at the monastery.Everybody is watching the Super Bowl commercials. Everybody.Consumer Reports has some suggestions on what to buy for your party.Super Bowl logos throughout the years.It's all quiet on the southwestern front.Check out a classic Jim McMahon interview on Letterman. You don't see Super Bowl hype like this anymore.......

The symbol of the new year is a baby, and what better baby to ask for predictions than LAist's own sports editor? Baby Adam is much more clear-headed and clairvoyant than the adult version. We're turning to the guru of Gerber, the sultan of spittle, to see what's in store for 2008 and beyond. Q: Thanks for chatting with us, but what makes you qualified? A: I may only be 9 months old, but I've......

Dear Tony Pierce, can you please tell your new employers at the LA Times to fix their streaming American Express advertising pop-up so that it does not crash my brand-new computer every five minutes? Thank you, signed, LAist.com. When we are not struggling to cope with adverse side-effects of inexorable technological progress, we are keeping track of the striking writers' negotiations with venture capitalists to begin producing Internet programming. Baby needs a new pair......

While you were sleeping: There's nothing wrong with the ganj in California, as long as you've got a scrip to use. So decided the 4th District Court of Appeals in the case of a 22-year-old who had a quarter of weed confiscated in a traffic stop by LAPD, despite having a prescription for marijuana as treatment for severe back pain. Now, how exactly will LAPD go about "returning" weed to rightful owner 2.5 years......

Bruins 83, Colonials 60 - UCLA (ranked #1 by ESPN/USA Today and #2 by the AP) hammered George Washington at home and got a lot of players involved. Darren Collison returned from a pre-season knee injury to score 14 and Alfred Aboya had six points despite a broken bone under his eye. Three other players scored in double digits, including highly touted freshman Kevin Love who had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Kings 3, Sharks......

Where are the best pickup soccer venues in the greater Los Angeles area? -- Bankole O Los Angeles is an enormous city, and soccer is a popular sport. You can find games being played just about everywhere! If you're looking to avoid organized leagues, there's soccer played on a regular basis at Rancho Park, Pan Pacific Park, the Westwood Rec Center, and Mar Vista Park (they have a new-ish turf field which is frequently booked,......

So what has been going on in Dodger land since I last posted? Well a big hearty congrats go to Russell Martin for winning the Silver Slugger Award for National League catchers. Voted by coaches and managers, Martin led the NL catchers in hits, homers, runs, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Only Mike Piazza (from 1993-1998) was the other Dodger catcher to win the award since its inception in 1980.......

But first - Kobe vetoed a trade! Baseball in the Coliseum - Just after it was announced that the Red Sox will open the exhibition season against Oakland in Japan, the Dodgers confirmed that the defending World Champs would play three games against the Blue Crew. The cool part? One of the games will be in the Coliseum as part of the Dodger's 50th anniversary in Los Angeles. Yes, it can be configured that way......

An incredible game took place in Los Angeles last night, and it had nothing to do with the Staples Center, USC, or Kobe Bryant. In fact, the two teams facing off had nothing to do with LA or even the United States, really. The Coliseum played host to the national soccer teams of bordering nations Mexico and Guatemala, and true to past instances when Central American squads play in the States, heads rolled in......

If you're a local sports fan, hopefully you had Columbus Day (International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People, whatever) off to nurse a wicked hangover. In fact, maybe you should take tonight off from Sports Center, too. It's Leif Erikson day. Honest. Even George W. Bush knows that (and don't worry, he's probably not working today, either). Maybe it wasn't the worst, but it was up there. T.J. Simers hit the nail on the......

Yesterday was one of the toughest days in Los Angeles sports: - USC loses to Stanford 24-23. Yes, Stanford. The school with a tree mascot. The same school who went 1-11 last year, and lost their starting quarterback earlier in the week. Their coach, Jim Harbaugh, proclaimed that USC was the best team in college football history, getting some snickers from Pete Carroll throughout the week. The question before the game was whether Carroll......

Wait a damn minute. You people demanded that Van Halen get rid of the Red Rocker and reinstate Diamond Dave. Sure Michael Anthony had to step down so as to get replaced by Eddie's boy Wolfgang on bass - but doesn't that make for better rock? Not according to slow-as-molasses ticket sales here in the Southland where none of the four Van Halen shows at Staples or the Honda Center have sold out. [Update:......

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......

There were two excellent photo essays documenting the high spirits of USC Trojan fans as they walked in to the Coliseum ready to crush another unworthy opponent. The first photo essay was posted last night on the LA Times USC blog by our very own Adam Rose (who has seemed to have gotten way better access after making the move), and the other was here on LAist by our very own Rob Takata. Both......

If you haven't had the chance to visit Farmlab's weekly salon series, do try. Every Friday at noon, Farmlab, the people behind Not a Cornfield, host a salon with a special guest speaker (except next week when they are doing something different by presenting a play about environmentalism). A complimentary lunch is served and the energy of a lazy Friday is transformed into good vibes by the community that attends the talk in the......

If your not ready for the races mentioned in our Alt Races Guide, then maybe you are up to a race of a different breed: Nike's 5-mile Run Hit Remix: The PowerSong Edition featuring live performances along the route by Naughty by Nature, Sir Mix-A-Lot, The Sugarhill Gang, Dawn Robinson of En Vogue, and a finish line concert by MC Hammer on September 15th at 9 a.m. (you might also spot Caroline on Crack......

Ducks 6, Senators 2 - Hell didn't freeze over, but Orange County did. Anaheim pounded Ottawa to win the NHL Finals 4-1 and bring the Stanley Cup to California for the first time. There's plenty being said about this on LAist, so keep reading! Twins 8, Angels 5 - One cold-weather team blew into Anaheim and came out on top. Of course, this game wasn't nearly as significant. Errors created a major subplot, with Minnesota......

Pravada: music by Amon Tobin, Cut Chemist, DJ Spooky, Peanut Butter Wolf, J-Rocc, Dublab Soundsystem and others including a ten-piece theremin orchestra, visuals from classic Russian cinema @ Disney Hall Topanga Days: Veruca Salt, Chevy Metal, Minibar, Carina Round, Nutty Nut Nerds, The Tender Box, Spindrift @ Topanga Community House The Love Festival: Swedish Egil, Ladytron, Donald Glaude, DJ Irene, Kid Krazzy, Starkillers, DJ Reza, DJ Sneak, Tony C, Dieselboy, Dara, Aki200 @ LA......

Dodgers 5, Marlins 3 - The bad news for Los Angeles this season is that a low percentage of their baserunners make it home. On Wednesday they left the bases juiced three times and stranded a total of 13. The good news is that so many Dodgers are getting on base, they don't need all of them to score. Brett Tomko helped his own cause by bunting home a suicide squeeze, but was more impressive......

"The Humane Society of the United States said it purchased coats from reputable outlets, such as upscale Nordstrom, with designer labels -- Andrew Marc, Tommy Hilfiger, for example -- and found them trimmed with fur from domestic dogs, even though the fur was advertised as fake." - NBC4 - LA Olympic leaders ready to throw $112 million at the Coliseum - OC Register Woman, 30 miles outside of LA, in a secret spot, is......

In the Summer of 1989 or 90 (who can remember these things) LAist had an opportunity to see either The Who at the Coliseum, Stevie Ray Vaughn with B.B. King at the Greek, or Randy Newman at the Universal. They would be free tickets, but all of the shows were happening on the same night so we had to pick one. And even though we had no idea that SRV was going to die......

- The always outrageous kids at T-Shirt Hell have done it again, this time featuring KKKramer - T-Shirt Hell - Black leaders ask comedians to stop saying "nigger". Richard Pryor laughing in his grave - LA Times - CBS2 shows the Tustin apartment complex and front door of the OC high school teacher accused of blowing her student - CBS2 - Bush appoints extremist pro-lifer to head federal family planning office - LAT -......

ESPN can show you almost every angle of USC's huge victory over archrival Notre Dame. The two schools are media darlings and own the biggest intersectional rivalry in all of college sports (biggest cross-town rivalry goes to USC and UCLA, but more on that later this week). What they don't always show is what it's like for the fan. Here is an exclusive LAist video of our highlights from Saturday night. After the jump......

Like Santa (pictured) LAist knows who's naughty and who's nice. We also know that many of you probably didn't check in with your favorite city blog since Wednesday, so here's some highlights of what we busted with while you were scarfing stuffing. - How To Handle Your Horndog Spouse - A montage of the most Thankful People Alive - Tom Waits has a new Box Set out for your ass - How To Add......

Even though he probably deserved the handcuffs for something done off camera (shockingly, no tasers were necessary), we kinda' feel for this guy who ran into trouble at Saturday's USC-Cal game. Back in 2001 LAist tried to sit in the Cal student section in Berkeley while sporting USC colors. The crowd started chanting "take off that red shirt" (a chant that originates with their hatred of Stanford), and a small mob physically and forcibly......