Trevor Ariza is the playmaker for the Lakers. AP Photo/Matt Slocum LA Lakers defeat Dallas Mavericks 106-99. The Lakers should have lost this game. They were outrebounded 58-48 by the Mavericks and lost the three-point shooting battle going 15.4% compared to the Mavericks 27.3%. But the Lakers defense came alive in the second half outscoring the Mavs 52-39. The second team anchored by Trevor Ariza on defense and a +/- differential of +16 (the......

For at least the past two days (maybe longer), the Daily News has been tracking on their home page where some of Los Angeles' high school football players will be going to college. If you're curious, it looks like a lot of Notre Dame and UCLA. But to me, the list seems so out of place. On one hand, it does give reading the paper that nice hometown feel (if I had any idea......

Clippers 91, Timberwolves 82 - The Clippers came into the game with a six game losing streak, several players out with injuries, and went 0-for-14 from three point range. Fortunately, Minnesota is the worst team in the NBA so none of that mattered. USC vs. Illinois - It's a little bit of a letdown match up, but you still can't top the Granddaddy of Them All. Tune into ABC at 2:00pm today to watch the......

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......

The nightmares of all nightmares have happened. Ohio State will now be in the BCS Championship game by virtue of being ranked third in the BCS and both #1 Missouri losing to Oklahoma and #2 West Virginia losing to Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl. How the fuck is this happening? I thought once the Buckeyes lost to Illinois at home on November 10 they would effectively be gone from any discussion about a National......

I apologize for the lack of football recaps, but I found it very hard to write about college football this season. With all the upsets it just seemed like not even the college players were all that passionate about playing the game. Look at the following lists and you’ll see what I mean. This season seven #1 and #2 ranked teams have been defeated by unranked opponents. Compare that to last season when the......

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......

We had no good photos from last night, so enjoy a video of Chad Henne getting tackled by a goalpost. Stars 5, Ducks 0 - Dallas center Mike Modano described it as Anaheim's "Stanley Cup hangover." His team took advantage by dishing out one of the Duck's worst whoopin's in almost six years. Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere got yanked in the third ... The Pacific Division seemed like the strongest last year, but this year......

Strangely, I’m OK with it. I mean, I’m NOT OK with it. I’m full of fury, anguish, and despair. But more than that, I feel resignation. I’m tired. And I’ve come to terms with all of it. UCLA football is dead to me. It’s not that I’m disowning the program. I’m still gonna support the team; my blood will always run Bruin blue. It’s just that I’m no longer going to pour myself into the......

With just a little more than half of the college football season past us, it’s become evident that no team wants to play for the national championship. No, not even undefeated Ohio State whose non-conference schedule included illustrious teams such as Youngstown State, Akron and Kent State. As for the rest of college football, every other team that climbed atop of the corpses has subsequently fallen. See California and LSU last week and South......

After the Trojans' plummet in the polls following the loss to Stanford and the release of the first BCS poll, many thought the team couldn't or wouldn't drop any further. Not so, as the AP is reporting that a chartered plane with 82 players aboard, headed to Indiana for tomorrow's Notre Dame game experienced an extreme drop while flying through a severe thunderstorm. Weather was so bad that the pilot had to abandon his first......

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......

If you heard the hysterical sounds of laughter coming from the Los Feliz, Little Armenia, Thai Town and East Hollywood section of Los Angeles Saturday night, it was me. First of all the UCLA Bruins lost to Notre Dame? The fact that Ben Olson got injured in the first quarter and they brought out walk-on quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson to replace him shows something fundamentally wrong with this Bruin program. When Patrick Cowan went down......

Pediatric doctors at the Mattel Children's Hospital rallied against President Bush last week upon hearing that he might actually veto a bill that would invest $35 million in children's health insurance, SCHIP. It was vetoed anyway. This week the UCLA School of Public Health received a $4.25 million grant to research/improve health in low-income families. -- Daily Bruin I guess we could start by, gee...investing in child health insurance for low income families? Football......

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......

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......

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......

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......

Historically the first week of the college football season is filled with boring tune-up games from the powerhouses. Take tomorrow’s matchups between Idaho at USC, Youngstown State at Ohio State and Arkansas State at Texas. BOR-ING! However here are three games that should be quite compelling to watch. UCLA at Stanford. This is probably most compelling for local reasons, but I really want to see how UCLA’s offense operates. From all accounts the offense......

Galaxy 2, Pachua 1 - The Galaxy was without its biggest star (Beckham wasn't on the bench, much less the field), but 19,317 people still showed up to watch the struggling squad knock off one of Mexico's best club teams. Landon Donovan scored go-ahead goal in the 81st minute. Next up, the Galaxy will host Chivas -- the real Chivas of Guadalajara -- in more SuperLiga action on Saturday. Astros 7, Dodgers 4 - When......

Writer Ray Bradbury may be 87, but his mind and sense of humor are as agile as ever. LAist joined his diehard fans and other audience members for an evening with Bradbury live at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena on Friday night. The author of American classics – Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles etc. – took the stage and talked for nearly an hour and a half on his love life. Using......

Yes, that's Alex Trebek. No, he hasn't lost it. The Jeopardy! College Championships are going down at the University of Southern California and it looks like he's feeling the Spirit of Troy. College students could always use some extra cash, so one smart-Alex is going to walk away with $100,000 to pay for books and Ramen a new plasma TV and Trump steaks. A potpourri of California schools have been represented on the program this......

Too often one walks into Ralph's Grocery in Sherman Oaks store at 1 or 2 am to find porn stars shopping. andPOP reports that Body & Soul Tattoo at Ventura Blvd./Van Nuys Blvd. "has been inundated with new customers since the pop star's impromptu visit." The local Business Improvement District (BID) and Chamber of Commerce owe Britney Spears a thank-you letter. Daily News thinks celebrities feel comfortable flipping out in the Valley. Interesting observations,......

What happens when you're skateboarding, hit by a car, severely injured and undergo four brain surgeries? In the case of dancer Kim Hagen, tonight a bunch of artists and musicians throw a benefit to help pay off nearly a million dollars in medical bills. If your you, ten bucks gets eight hours of live music, DJ's, and registered for some nice door prizes (like wine tastings, gift certificates and a good bottle of tequila.)......

Surprising nobody, USC's All-American wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett announced that he will forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the NFL Draft. The 6'5" Jarrett had an especially strong second half of the 2006 season, after healing from a shoulder injury, and set the Pac-10 record for career touchdowns (41 touchdowns in 38 games) while becoming USC's all-time receptions leader with 216 catches for 3,138 yards. He crowned his college career by winning the......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

Kings 3, Blue Jackets 0 - Columbus lost their fifth road game in a row, and Mathieu Garon did everything he needed to make this one the third shut out during that stretch. He collected 26 saves for the Kings, while teammates Michael Cammalleri, Sean Avery, and Lubomir Visnovsky each notched goals. Next up, Detroit visits Los Angeles on Saturday. Clippers 110, Heat 95 - The Clippers were still without an injured Sam Cassell, but......

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......

USC 44, Notre Dame 24 - Only because the Trojans got a little sloppy was this game even somewhat watchable. Basically SC toyed and played with the Irish like a cat does with a mouse that it doesn't want to kill until it realizes that it's not moving any more. UCLA's only hope is they can distract them next week with something shiny on the end of a stick. Timberwolves 104, Clippers 96 -......

Weekend Edition Friday - Today "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) An evening of stop-action animation starts with this one followed by "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Mysterious Island" "NHL Hockey" (5:30 p.m.) Kings @ Stars "NBA Basketball" (KCAL, 6:00 p.m.) Lakers @ Jazz "College Football" (ESPN2, 6:00 p.m.) Fresno State @ Louisiana Tech "College Basketball" (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) Long Beach State @ USC "Ghost Whisperer/Close To Home/NUMB3RS" (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.) All......