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......

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......

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.......

As everyone expected, USC was voted No. 1 in the preseason AP poll. About the only surprise was Louisville getting one first-place vote. So what does this mean? Usually absolutely nothing. Except for last year it meant the national championship. USC began 2004 as a preseason No. 1, and without a single loss they held onto to the top spot straight through to the BCS Title Game. Some college football pundits were openly saying......

With LAist's attention focused solely on baseball for the past month, we've missed a lot of great stories. USC Football remains No. 1 after a thrilling win over Cal. UCLA Football might not be so bad after all. Lakers training camp is interesting, no matter who's coaching, who's playing, and who's not playing. But between Ross Porter's potentially final Dodger broadcast (we'll address this again soon), and another Shaq-Kobe feud, one thing caught our......

USC football has suffered another black-eye, as running back Hershel Dennis is the focus of a sexual assault case that may involve several other members of the Trojan football squad. USC Head Coach Pete Carroll has suspended Dennis indefinitely. 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.......

If you believe in superstition, USC Football caught a break this week. The Trojans were not the lone team featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. 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......