Results tagged “uscfootball”

Just hours after saying goodbye to his quaterback, Mark Sanchez, USC football head coach Pete Carroll walked the red carpet at the grand opening of ESPN Zone at LA Live. ESPN Zone was already open, in fact, that night the place was packed with Kings and Red Wings fans grabbing a bite prior to the game, but that's what they call a "soft opening." Thursday night was the grand opening with the red carpet, bright lights and celebrities.

LA Dodgers defeat Philadelphia Phillies 8-6. The Dodgers were lucky to have a big lead going into the bottom of the ninth or these words would be talking about the Dodgers third consecutive game lost in the ninth inning. It seemed like the Dodgers had finally learned that one Manny an entire team does not make, but that ninth inning almost undid things. Jonathan Broxton gave up three hits and two earned runs in that ninth inning but got out of the jam when Ryan Howard hit a grounder weakly to second. Nomar Garciaparra will be back in the lineup after his 50th trip on the DL. The question now is who goes down? It's starting to sound like Andruw Jones might go on the DL. Maybe.

With so much going on in the world of sports right now with the Olympics, baseball, USC injuries and all, here's a list of things to keep an eye on.

LA Angels defeat Baltimore Orioles 6-5. The Angels led the game 5-1 with two outs in the top of the ninth. What happens? Oh Francisco Rodriguez just blew the save (with help from a Mark Teix-error) to tie the game up 5-5. But the Angels came back in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. Oriole's closer George Sherrill walked Chone Figgins with the walk off walk. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. The Angels are the first team in the majors to 70 wins.

Houston Astros defeat LA Dodgers 4-1. The Dodgers return to National League play and promptly continue their offensive futility. With Juan Pierre on the disabled list for the first time in his nine-year career, the Dodgers called up Jason Repko from the minors hit lead off. He struck out four times. The rest of the team managed 11 hits but couldn't do anything with those hits. Meanwhile Eric Stults coming off of his complete game shutout of the Chicago White Sox got bit by the Astros. The Puma Lance Berkman went yard in the first inning with a solo shot.

LA Lakers defeat Sacramento Kings 124-101. No tacos for the fans, but joy still rang out with the Lakers clinching the #1 seed in the Western Conference for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. If anyone predicted this 57-25 season after the chaos of last summer that simmered through training camp, they are liars. It's amazing what the emergence of Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, the bench and the Pau Gasol heist can do to a team. The Lakers now face either the Denver Nuggets or the Dallas Mavericks in the first round.

Petals are flying, the enormous USC Football is losing its brown seeds in streams, and the Little Einsteins' eyes are running like Tammy Faye's mascara: yes indeedy, it's pouring on the Rose Parade. We're watching on Channel 5, whose "Rose Parade experts" Bob Eubanks, Michaela Pereira and Stephanie Edwards just proved themselves dopes of local pop (music) culture. "Did you know the USC marching band was on a Fleetwood Mac album?" they ask, incredulously. Duh! It's called TUSK. The song went platinum. "You cannot kill romance with rain," Stephanie patters. Well, you sure can make it run, melting crowns off oversize cockatiels and streaking white float horses with brown and red, not to mention freezing the fingers of hundreds of high school marching band players. Luckily, the parade's Grand Marshal, retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, is tucked inside a vinatge convertible — with the top up.

But between Ross Porter's potentially final Dodger broadcast (we'll address this again soon), and another Shaq-Kobe feud, one thing caught our eye in the paper recently.

While USC has enough talent to weather pretty much any loss, including Dennis, LAist is still concerned about off-the-field problems with Trojan football. Dennis could be the fifth Trojan arrested since winning the national championship. The most notable among the group was Winston Justice, who Carroll had the temerity to suspend for this season.

The SI cover jinx, which has plagued past hopeful seasons for teams like Arizona, Oregon, and Penn State is not unfamilar to USC. Just before the 1995 season, SI placed Keyshawn Johnson on the cover and proclaimed USC was No. 1. A promising Trojan season was soon wrought with disappointment as John Robinson's crew got pummeled by Notre Dame and upset by UCLA before salvaging a Rose Bowl win over Northwestern.