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The Daily Digest for Thursday, June 28, 2007 |
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June 28, 2007 |
≡ Afternoon Bell ≡
 Through the Blue Lens: covering the Boys of Summer |
= L.A. Stories =
>> Thinking Blue: September 24 will mark the 50th anniversary of the last game played at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, the last appearance of the “Boys of Summer” in their famed home.
The magic of those great Dodger teams, and the lousy ones that preceded them in the 1930s, have been brought back to life through the mostly-forgotten pictures of official Dodgers photographer Barney Stein. His work from 1937-57 is celebrated in a new book called Through a Blue Lens published by Triumph Books.
Stein’s work was arranged and complemented with commentary from his daughter Bonnie (now Bonnie Crosby) and native Brooklynite Dennis D’Agostino, who was recognized as one of the elite public relations directors in the NBA during his 1987-99 tenure with the New York Knicks. It’s his third book, following up on his much-respected Garden Glory: An Oral History of the New York Knicks.
Through a Blue Lens takes the reader through 21 years in more than 200 photographs and memories of that time and of Barney Stein from Duke Snider, Carl Erskine, Don Newcombe, Vin Scully, Joan Hodges (wife of Gil), Johnny Podres, Ralph Branca, Buzzie Bavasi and the late Clem Labine. It’s 162 pages and well priced at $27.95 and available at local bookstores as well as at Amazon.com (for only $18.45!).
What about the Dodgers on this coming September 24? It’s a Monday and they have a bye between playing two teams that didn’t exist in 1957: the Arizona Diamondbacks on the road on Sunday and the start of a series with the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.
>> Halo Talk: As the Angels get ready to designate Shea Hillenbrand for assignment – meaning they have ten days to trade him or release him – reports in New York say the Yankees are ready to take him to play first base.
Added for $6.5 million before the season to bolster the offense, Hillenbrand batted .254 with three homers and 22 RBI in limited duty. The Yankees, however, are desperate for help at first base with Doug Mientkiwwicz and Jason Giambi both out with injuries.
>> All for Charity: Three former L.A.-area high school basketball stars who are among the NBA’s best will host the 2007 edition of the L.A. Stars All-Star and Celebrity Game at USC’s Galen Center on August 5 at 5 p.m.
Former Crossroads and UCLA star Baron Davis teamed up with former Inglewood High ace Paul Pierce (now with the Boston Celtics) and Washington’s Gilbert Arenas (Grant High School) to create L.A. Stars, which raises funds to improve the lifestyles, communities and opportunities for L.A.-based young people and their families.
There will also be a “Celebrity Carnival” on the USC campus from 11 a.m. to 6 .m. and tickets for the game are priced from $5 to $85.
The game and carnival are the 21st Century follow-up to Magic Johnson’s “A Midsummer Night’s Classic” game held each summer. Johnson has enthusiastically supported the L.A. Stars concept and especially Davis, who he has known since his days as the area’s best prep guard while at Crossroads.
= Panorama =
>> The National Pastime: “It’s going to be a television show on the Internet; that’s where everything is moving.”
So says FoxSports President Ed Goren of the network’s agreement with Major League Baseball to show two hours of All-Star Game batting practice live. The show will be hosted by Fox’s genial Chris Rose and mlb.com’s Harold Reynolds, late of ESPN.
Goren told Michael Hiestand of USA Today that World Series batting practice may also be shown online. “That’s certainly a possibility.”
>> NBA Hoopla: “Few players in this draft are more likely to have long NBA careers,” writes Bob Matthews of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, than Florida’s Joakim Noah. He “is a very active 6-foot-11 defender and rebounder – although he doesn’t have great offensive skills and might never average as many as 15 points per game.” He thinks Noah might be best with the Chicago Bulls and their up-tempo style that also combines strong defense.
>> College gridiron: LSU is the nation’s best road team, regardless of whether they ever win a game outside of Tiger Stadium this coming season.
That’s because Tiger fans have purchased every ticket available to them – and more – for all but one of their road game this coming fall: at Mississippi State, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi.
There are plenty of tickets left for the game “at” Tulane on September 29 in the New Orleans SuperDome, but the allotment there is 40,000 tickets in a special agreement with Tulane for the home-and-home series. So far, more than 17,000 tickets have been purchased by LSU fans for what is a Tulane home game.
In truth, the strong following for LSU is not too surprising. After all, the Tigers are projected among the top three teams in the nation for the upcoming season and this is the same school that assembled pledges to buy more than 45,000 tickets for the Rose Bowl game last January 1 if the Tigers had been selected to play.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that 7,000 tickets were allocated to LSU for the Alabama, Ole Miss and Mississippi State games and 6,000 for the game at Kentucky. The Alabama game – in which the Tigers will face their old coach, Nick Saban – was the most oversubscribed, with 33,000 ticket requests.
>> Kicker: Can you imagine Tony Dungy being booted from the Colts after winning the Super Bowl? How about Greg Popovich from the Spurs?
Well, that’s exactly what happened to Fabio Capello, the coach of Real Madrid, which won the Primera League title just 11 days ago!
Capello had two years to go on his contract and the league title was his second with Real, having also won in the 1996-97 season during his first tour with the team.
And Capello didn’t even hear about his firing from the Real Madrid staff! “I haven’t managed to talk it over with him personally because he is on holiday at the moment,” said Real Madrid sporting director Predrag Mijatovic. “But I did manage to speak to his son who is also his lawyer.” Charming.
≡ Morning Recess ≡
= Tonight’s Menu =
>> The Dodgers end a 10-game road trip today in Arizona with Randy Wolf (8-6, 4.32 ERA) going against Randy Johnson (4-2, 3.52). Wolf is 1-2 with a 5.60 ERA in his last three starts while Johnson is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA. So, it’s no surprise that the Diamondbacks are favored: it takes $140 on Arizona to try to win $100 while $105 on the Dodgers could return the same $100.
>> The Angels can’t lose to Kansas City today because that series is over! The Halos are now on the road, starting with a series in Baltimore against the Orioles tomorrow.
>> In the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 on Sunday, Jimmie Johnson is the slight favorite at 9-2, with Jeff Gordon at 5-1 and Tony Stewart at 6-1.
= L.A. Stories =
>> What’s Bruin: With 21 verbal commitments, Karl Dorrell has almost completed his recruiting with an estimated four spots left to go. The quality and quantity of the class is drawing some attention: Rivals.com ranked UCLA’s class no. 1 in the country, albeit with six months to go!
Rivals.com’s Jeremy Crabtree noted “The Bruins have done what they’ve been hoping to do for a long time – become a dominant player in their own back yard. Only one of UCLA’s 21 commitments comes from outside California, and 13 pledges are four-star prospects.”
Crabtree rates the Bruins ahead of Texas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Georgia in the top five so far.
>> Talk of Troy: What about USC recruiting? In the same listing, Rivals.com ranks USC seventh, just behind Florida State.
“It never seems to end for Pete Carroll. The Trojans have eight pledges now, and six of the eight are ranked in the Rivals250. Three of the eight are five-star players who are also ranked in the top four in California. The leaders in the class have to be five-star offensive tackles Matt Kalil and Tyron Smith. USC quarterbacks should be safe with those two up front.”
Also ranked in the national top 25 are Pac-10 schools Arizona (19) and California (20) with Arizona State noted as a team to watch down the line.
= Panorama =
>> Popularity Contest: How would you like to generate some news by polling people in your office and then sending out the results? No problem if you’re the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The SPCA released a list of its “Top 10 Most Lovable College Mascots” based on nothing more than its own opinion. So much for a scientific survey.
Anyway, Uga the Georgia Bulldog was listed first, followed by General Scott (Army, mule), Bill the Goat (Navy), Ralphie (Colorado’s buffalo) and Bevo (Texas Longhorn) in the top five.
Amazingly, Mike the Tiger from LSU was listed sixth . . . while another animal rights group is trying to keep LSU from obtaining a new tiger after Mike IV passed away last month! Don’t these people talk to each other?
Traveler, USC’s white horse, was picked for seventh.
>> Keeping Track: South Carolina stars Natasha Hastings and Shalonda Solomon have turned professional, giving up their senior seasons.
Hastings won the 400 meters at the NCAA Championships and finished second in the USA Track & Field National Championships last week in Indianapolis. Her 49.84 best this season currently ranks second in the world behind fellow American Dee Dee Trotter.
Part of the lure of turning professional is an immediate payday. Hastings can run for some nice paydays in Europe this summer before the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. If she should finish second in the 400 there and run on the winning 4x400-meter relay (the U.S. will be favored), she could pocket $40,000 from that meet alone! That buys a lot of grits in Columbia, South Carolina.
Solomon is from Inglewood, California and went to Long Beach Poly, but is out this season with a quadricep injury. Her specialty is the 200 meters, but will face some stiff competition to make the U.S. team in 2008 from Allyson Felix, Torri Edwards, Rachelle Smith and others.
>> Rings & Things: It’s not clear whether this is what activist groups are referring to, but the Beijing municipal government has now required that taxi cab drivers cannot have beards or shaved heads.
Agence France Presse quoted a Beijing newspaper that reported the new rules. Only two months before, taxi drivers were issued new rules that prohibit eating, spitting or smoking in their cabs and women drivers were required to refrain from fancy hairstyles and earrings.
And the IOC thought giving the Games to China would open things up?
>> London Calling: The London organizers of the 2012 Olympic Games have come up with a novel fund-raising concept for after the Games are over: sell the land on which temporary facilities were erected.
As a way to help pay back the national lottery, which will divert about $1.35 billion to Olympic support from its normal distribution to grass-roots sports and cultural programs, 771 acres of the Olympic Park will be sold to developers. Good thinking . . . if the Games are successful.
>> Eatertainment: As the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest approaches on July 4, the anticipated showdown between American shovel-tusker Joey Chestnut and Japan’s multi-time defending champion Takeru Kobayashi has been thrown into confusion with the news that Kobayashi is “day to day” with jaw pain.
According to the International Federation of Competitive Eating, Kobayashi is planning to compete on July 4 and in the Pizza Hut P’Zone competition in New York on July 10. But IFOCE President George Shea notes that “Eater safety is our top priority.”
~ Rich Perelman
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