The Decision. The Nike Ad. Will Carmelo stay or will he go? An army of ESPN reporters following every move of the Miami Heat. The Heat Index. more ›

Chicago White Sox defeat LA Angels 1-0. There were no delays in the White Sox four-game sweep over the Angels. Ervin Santana (8-7) pitched a spectacular game against the Sox save for the first inning where he hit lead-off hitter Juan Pierre with a pitch. After Alex Rio’s double sent Pierre to third, Paul Konerko hit a sacrifice fly... more ›

Chicago White Sox defeat LA Angels 5-2. Another day, another rain delay for the Angels. After two hours, 20 minutes the first pitch was thrown for the Angels’ inevitable loss. Coming into this game White Sox starter Freddy Garcia was 14-3 against the Angels. With his six innings of one-run ball, make that 15-3 now. Angels’ starter Joe Saunders gave up all five runs on ten hits in his 5 2/3 innings of work to get tagged with the loss. Bobby Jenks got his 19th save of the season for the Sox in his perfect ninth. more ›

Lebron "King" James and "Sir" Charles Barkely were no match at Pop-a-Shot for Barney's Beanery 5'7" busboy Ricardo Reyes. Not even close. Could this Giant Killer be the Clipper shooting guard of the future? more ›

LAKERS-SUNS PREVIEW. The last time the Lakers faced the Phoenix Suns in a playoff series, Kobe Bryant famously proclaimed that he would rather play on Pluto rather than return to the Lakers in the aftermath. It’s amazing the difference that three years makes. Kwame Brown was jettisoned off for Pau Gasol and one ring later they are looking to make it to the NBA Finals for the third consecutive year. The Suns also went through a bit of transition. Once the Gasol trade happened, they responded by trading for Shaquille O’Neal. Head coach Mike D’Antoni was jettisoned in favor of Terry Porter which ended up being a disaster. more ›

Phoenix Suns defeat LA Clippers 127-101. Judging by the score it’s hard to believe the Clippers actually had a lead in the game, but the Clippers did go into the half with a one point lead 58-57. Then the Suns shot 77% in the third quarter while the Clippers went dormant shooting 37% to end the quarter with a 20 point lead. The Suns outglassed the Clips by a 50-30 margin, and while the Clippers won the turnover margin by one the Suns outscored them 21-9 off of turnovers. Chris Kaman led the Clippers with 24 points and nine rebounds while Amare Stoudemire killed the Clips with 30 points and 14 rebounds. Wait, Stoudemire rebounds now? more ›

In a bit of a surprise, Zombieland roared to the top of the weekend box office. Despite a relative lack of stars, the black comedy pulled in $25M to easily top powerhouse Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ($16.7M | $82.3M). The re-release of Toy Story | Toy Story 2 in 3D proved potent as the Pixar dinosaurs raked in $12.5M in their re-debut. Ricky Gervais continues to struggle as a big-screen star as his Invention of Lying brought in only $7.3M in its opening frame. High-concept bomb Surrogates rounded out the top 5 ($7.3M | $26.3M). more ›

Can we officially say that the Coen Brothers are the best filmmakers in America? Can we also say that A Serious Man is the best film released so far this year? Yes and yes. My gut told me that the zombie genre had run its course after the great 28 Weeks Later, but Zombieland finds new ground to cover. Well, not really but it is a hell of a lot of fun and not just because of the huge, unexpected and delightful surprise in the middle of the film that I won't ruin for you (though even mentioning its existence does sort of spoil it, huh? Oh, well!) more ›

LA Dodgers defeat Cincinnati Reds 6-2. It was Manny Ramirez bobblehead night at the Stadium Wednesday night, and it was a complete sell out of 56,000. Those 56,000 though thrilled with receiving their bobblehead nonetheless were disappointed when they found out Manny wouldn't be starting the game thanks to being hit Tuesday night by a pitch on his left hand. With the game tied at two in the bottom of the sixth inning, Russell Martin hit a sharp single with runners on first and second that prevent anyone from scoring. more ›

Houston Rockets defeat LA Lakers 100-92. Well that didn't go as planned did it? The Lakers were outplayed by the Rockets from tip off and never seemed to wake up. With Houston getting battered with Shane Battier getting stitches on his forehead thanks to Sasha Vujacic in the first quarter and Yao Ming going down after bumping knees with Kobe Bryant in the fourth, they kept with their game plan making the Lakers uncomfortable. The Lakers helped out taking awful shots going 2-for-18 from three-point land. Lamar Odom played pretty well but never seemed to have the ball scoring nine points with five rebounds. Kobe Bryant scored 32 points on 14-for-31 shooting. I wasn't counting on this one being the game the Lakers lost when I predicted the Lakers to win by five. Hopefully there will be no repeat of this game. more ›

Notable Notes more ›

Late night radio isn't typically where you'll find an energetic sportstalker -- much less one who would easily reference Brett Favre's retirement to the ‘80s movie “Can’t Buy Me Love.” ESPN radio host Jason Smith does that five nights a week (Sunday through Thursday.) Heard locally on 710AM, from 10:00 at night to 2:00, All Night with Jason Smith is high quality radio at an hour where most station's broadcast as though their audience is half-dead. more ›

New Orleans Hornets defeat LA Lakers 116-105. Seriously. Wake us up when the playoffs arrive. more ›

St. Louis Cardinals defeat LA Dodgers 6-4 (11 innings). ANDRUW JONES HIT A HOME RUN! He got things going in the top of the ninth with the Dodgers down 4-0 on the second pitch thrown by Cardinals reliever Ron Villone and took it over the left center bullpen. Closer Jason Isringhausen immediately came into the game, and Isringhausen was being Isringhausen by blowing the save and allowing the Dodgers to tie the game 4-4. Manny Ramirez was 2-for-3 with two walks scoring once. But Ryan Ludwick showed why he was NL Player of the Week for last week by hitting a shot straight to center for the walk-off homer. The game was twice interrupted by rain delays. more ›

Grab a beer friends, we survived the week. I still got hours of junk Tivo'd that I'm supposed to watch but on the calendar it says it's Friday and that's a great thing. Late night TV is super busy tonight, check it out: a free Paris Hilton, Michael Douglas, Seth Myers, Jenny McCarthy. Also, LeBron James is on SNL tomorrow - have a great weekend. more ›

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network. more ›

To all the loyal Kobe supporters / LAist readers who commented on the Top Ten Reasons LeBron is better than Kobe: First of all, I'm impressed that 25 people care enough about Kobe Bryant to bother defending him. I love that several of the comments were longer than the original post. I should also say that LeBron did disappoint last night, and it's true Kobe won a ring in his first trip to the... more ›

In honor of Game 4 of the NBA Finals (yes, they're still going on, L.A., even if you didn't notice once your Lakers wilted in the first round), a little love for The King. Please note: I said Top Ten because there are probably thousands of reasons, but I only have time and space for ten here. 10. Nicknames. Bron-Bron, King James, LBJ, The Chosen One, Video Game James. What does Kobe have? One word,... more ›

Will Cleveland complete a giant turnaround on the shoulders of LeBron James? Will San Antonio continue their NBA legacy with another championship? We don't have a stinkin' clue, but if you make the best prediction LAist will give you a box of 2006-2007 Topps Full Court Basketball Cards. The box contains 108 cards, including two relic cards and one that's been autographed by two different NBA stars. If you haven't heard, it seems like everybody... more ›

If Los Angeles seems a little light on groupies this weekend, don’t be shocked. It’s just that the NBA’s All-Star game, which is the brightest light of the year to the groupie moths, is just a one-hour plane ride away in Las Vegas. more ›

It’s all about promoting stars in the NBA — and two of the biggest collide at 12:30 (on ABC 7) when Kobe Bryant and his Lakers take on LeBron James and his Cavaliers. A match-up made in NBA executives’ dreams (and their dreams all involve ratings and marketing tie-ins). more ›

Raptors 96, Lakers 92 - Chris Bosh won the battle of possible MVP candidates with 29 points to Kobe's 25. The four point difference equaled the margin in the game. The Lakers have lost two in a row and are 3-4 on their road trip with a visit to the Cavs and another MVP candidate -- LeBron James -- on Sunday. Clippers 90, 76ers 89 - The Clippers got their first win in Philadelphia in... more ›

Bruins 70, Trojans 65 - For the second time this season, LAist correctly predicted a barn burner. UCLA didn't have a lead until the final six minutes, when USC's foul trouble unraveled an impressive game from the matchup's traditional underdog. The Bruins went 23-31 at the line, compared to a mere 3-5 for the Trojans. USC kept it close until the final seven seconds, hitting a string of deep shots to pull within three. A... more ›

The Lakers are halfway through the “Coldest places in North America during the dead of winter” road trip to the Midwest and East. So far: four games, two wins. Not a stellar outcome, but not bad considering they have two starters (Luke Walton and Kwame Brown) watching games in street clothes, plus had to play one without Kobe Bryant (for an infraction far less serious than what LeBron James got away with without a suspension,... more ›

A Word or 36: Hopefully the jerkoff session over the Aqua Teen Hunger Force is winding down and we can get back to real topics like: is Paula Abdul getting replaced by Courtney Love on Idol? And other such ilk. Tonight - Thursday - February 1st, 2007 College Basketball: Oregon @ UCLA (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Ugly Betty (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) With cameos from Tim Gunn and Katharine McPhee My Name Is Earl/The Office/Scrubs (NBC,... more ›

If it weren't for our life as an -ist, we're not sure we'd ever leave our apartment. Fortunately, to fully -ist, one must seek out the new, the fresh, and the unknown. Brand new, or just new to us, that's what we're all about this week. more ›

We just started reading LA Sports Columnist and one-time LAist interview subject J.A. Adande's blog this week. Actually, just yesterday when he posted some of the mail he's been getting regarding his NBA MVP column in which he had the gall to not choose Employee #8 (and not to get sidetracked but this LAist contributor agrees. Steve Nash made every player on his team look like an MVP candidate and LeBron James played like Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson had a baby the second half of the season. Kobe might be the greatest show on earth but, last we checked, basketball is a team game and you can tout all the 50 point/1 assist games you like, we'll always argue that that's spectacular but compared to filling up the rest of the stat sheet and getting your team to 50 wins or better is better). more ›

Assuming Phil Jackson doesn't want to reenact his Kobe Soap Opera, and assuming that Larry Brown is too tied up to leave Detroit, Flip Saunders is about the best the Lakers could do. more ›

Hiring Phil Jackson would be a no-brainer for the Lakers. For one, Jerry Buss would save face after being perceived as the man who ran Shaq out of town. Secondly, Jackson is one of the few coaches with the clout to exert some control over Bryant. And third, from a schematic standpoint, Jackson might the only coach in the NBA who could figure out how to make Lamar Odom the Scottie Pippen to Kobe Bryant's Michael Jordan. more ›

LAist would be absolutely thrilled to see Brown coach the Lakers. As Los Angeles basketball fans, we've see what Brown can do. First he took he took an overachieving UCLA team to the Final Four. Then he miraculously guided the Clippers to the playoffs twice. And last June, he coached the Pistons to an improbable upset over our Lakers. more ›