Sports
Commentary: What are Vin Scully and John Wooden discussing in heaven? UCLA’s move to the Big Ten?
That is the way it might need gone a number of weeks in the past, when Vin Scully obtained to heaven and sought out a few of his outdated mates. Amongst these could be John Picket. They’d put of their time. Picket died in 2010, 4 months shy of his a centesimal birthday; Scully died Aug. 2, three months shy of his ninety fifth.
They’d have heaps to speak about.
Vin: “John, you look fantastic. Not a day over 70.”
John: “You, too, Vin. I used to be telling a few of my mates up right here that you’d be coming by quickly. I advised them they’d hear the voice earlier than they noticed the particular person.”
Vin: “Simply wasn’t any extra time for Dodgers baseball, I assume.”
John: “Get me updated with what’s happening down there. I haven’t saved up. Issues are busy up right here. You’d get a kick out of this. I believe I advised you many occasions that my favourite sport was all the time baseball. So, I get right here and earlier than I do know it, Mom Teresa is after me to handle her softball staff. It’s within the Division I Pearly Gates League. How might I say no to her? I advised her I in all probability wasn’t suited to the job as a result of I might by no means have the ability to curse like Tommy Lasorda. She examined me instantly, asking me what I considered Kingman’s efficiency. I did say, ‘Darn.’ I took the job. Seems she is a five-tool participant — hits for common, hits with energy, runs quick, has a golden glove and a rocket arm.”
Vin: “As soon as I get settled, possibly I might do a sport or two. How about this — ‘It’s time for heavenly softball.’ ”
John: “Good. For everyone right here, that might be like a present from … nicely, you already know. Our stadium isn’t large, solely seats a few hundred-million. However 3 times as many have transistor radios. And a few man from ESPN ran a cable feed to Purgatory.”
Vin: “You needed me to get you updated on issues down there. I’ve some stunning issues to let you know.”
John: “They fastened the freeways?”
Vin, chuckling: “Nope. Extra to do with sports activities. Faculties now have one thing known as a switch portal. It’s actually an enormous deal. It was created, they are saying, to make transferring much less cumbersome, with much less paperwork. All the pieces is completed with computer systems now, and at first, it appeared like an affordable means to assist out busy faculty directors. Nevertheless it appeared to open the door broad to varsity youngsters who weren’t pleased with their coaches or their enjoying time, or possibly simply the dimensions of their alum’s month-to-month test. So, they’d enter this portal. It’s sort of like placing your self on a retailer shelf so coaches can stroll by with buying carts and pluck you off.”
John: “Whew … appears like you might be speaking free-agent faculty sports activities. Are all of them making an attempt to rent Scott Boras? There have been all the time sad youngsters and transfers. Are there extra now due to this, and, I assume, they nonetheless have to take a seat out a yr?”
Vin: “Sure, heaps extra. And no, they get a one-time switch with out having to lose a yr.”
John: “Holy sweat socks. There must be good causes for permitting a switch, proper?”
Vin: “Properly, sure. There are some. Well being and harm and household issues are listed. However probably the most fascinating one says {that a} switch waiver might be granted ‘with the assertion of no participation alternative at their earlier faculty.’ ’’
John: “Properly, that’s a good purpose. If a participant sees no probability of attending to play, she or he should have the proper to play elsewhere.”
Vin: “There appears to be a lot of unfastened interpretation of that. A college you already know nicely simply acquired a brand new quarterback by way of the switch portal, and he had been the star quarterback at his earlier faculty, even an All-American candidate. So, it’s fairly seemingly he would have had loads of alternative to take part there.”
John: “I’ve no phrases. Besides, possibly, ‘Battle On.’ ”
Vin: “There’s extra. A few years in the past, nicely after you have been gone, the NCAA lastly needed to cave and now student-athletes have the proper to generate profits by endorsing merchandise and advertising themselves. It’s known as NIL (Title, Picture and Likeness).”
John: “You imply whereas they’re enjoying faculty sports activities, they are often like self-marketing brokers and private billboards?”
Vin: “That’s one solution to put it.”
John: “We’re principally speaking a few hundred {dollars} for the star gamers, proper?”
Vin: “Some stories are projecting six- and even seven-figure payouts to a lot of gamers.”
John: “I would like to take a seat down. My coronary heart was fairly sturdy after I was dwelling, however I’m undecided now. I recognize you getting me updated, Vin, however I’m simply plain shocked. I hope that’s all you’ve obtained.”
Vin: “Only one thing more. Beginning subsequent season, your UCLA Bruins will play within the Large Ten Convention.”
John (doubling over in laughter): “Vin, you’re the finest. What a humorousness. You bought me. You had me all the best way till the Large Ten factor. The opposite stuff could be doable. However UCLA within the Large Ten! Come on. … Let’s go discover Mom Teresa and get you began on the lineups. You satan, you.”
Sports
Duhatschek: Carson Soucy's cross-check to Connor McDavid's face was reckless. What will the NHL do?
So, for most of Sunday night’s game between the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers, there were two parallel narratives — one on the ice, one on social media.
On the ice: How Vancouver was badly winning the goalie battle, rookie Arturs Silovs, playing exceptionally well (and much better than his Oilers counterpart Stuart Skinner). Silovs stopped 41 of 44 shots. He was the absolute difference maker in a 4-3 Vancouver win, which gave the Canucks a 2-1 series lead in the NHL’s Western Conference semifinal.
On social media: How referee bias was working against the Oilers, who were not getting their fair share of the calls, from the refereeing tandem of Chris Rooney and Graham Skilliter.
But in the end, the dirtiest play of the night came once the final whistle had blown; and Silovs had made one final stop to win the game in regulation.
Connor McDavid was behind the net, jousting with Carson Soucy. Soucy cross-checked McDavid, and McDavid slashed him back on the pants. It wasn’t much — or until Soucy’s defence partner, Nikita Zadorov joined the fray. As Zadorov cross-checked McDavid from behind, causing his knees to buckle, Soucy cross-checked him in the throat.
Carson Soucy catches McDavid with a cross-check after the final buzzer 😳 pic.twitter.com/Gf03SqgE0l
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 13, 2024
That hit definitely crossed the line.
Yes, playoff hockey is intense. Yes, teams generally can’t leave well enough alone once the final whistle blows because these are best-of-seven series, and once Game 3 is over, the posturing for Game 4 begins.
The Canucks will be lucky, however, if they get to Game 4, with Soucy in the lineup.
A cross-check to the face, like the one he delivered, took punishment to another level. In the end, Soucy did get a minor penalty assessed at the buzzer, which is completely inconsequential if the NHL doesn’t follow up with supplementary discipline.
NHL playoff hockey is of course a different animal than the regular season. Some players are just built for it — Zadorov is a case in point. Zadorov — acquired from the Calgary Flames in a trade earlier this season — was added because of his size and willingness to play a physical game. At times, his regular-season play was erratic. But in the playoffs, and especially in this series against the Oilers, he’s been a powerful, intimidating force.
At one point in Sunday’s game, he finished a check on Evander Kane, which knocked Kane into the Edmonton player bench. Not content with simply driving Kane right off the ice surface, Zadorov followed up with two more pushes to ensure he stayed there. That earned him a roughing penalty. Still, it didn’t end up costing the Canucks a thing because the Oilers were themselves dinged for a bench minor, for retaliating from the bench.
The Canucks acquired Zadorov just for these playoff moments — he understands that in playoff hockey, someone needs to play the role of the villain for Vancouver, because if no one does, then the McDavids and Leon Draisaitls will eventually make you pay.
Zadorov can also be crafty about it. Presumably, he understood his blindside postgame cross-check to McDavid was just borderline enough to escape further NHL justice. So thinking strategically.
Soucy, on the other hand, got carried away with the last response. You just can’t cross-check someone across the throat, at any moment in time. The NHL’s player safety department has been eerily quiet thus far in these playoffs, even as officiating controversies rage from game to game and series to series.
The fact that it was McDavid on the receiving end of that double-barreled cross-check adds further fuel to the fire. Remember, less than three years ago, a popular narrative was how McDavid couldn’t get a break from the NHL referees — that statistically, he drew very few penalties, considering his skill level, his ice time and his production.
The controversy came to a head in November of 2021, at a time when McDavid was second in the league in scoring but only 57th when it came to drawing penalties. And this after he’d gone an entire playoff the year before without drawing a penalty call — unimaginable really, considering the way he plays.
When McDavid commented on that finally, he was called out by none other than John Tortorella, who was then between coaching jobs, working as a broadcaster for ESPN. Tortorella advised him to “honestly, just shut up. Stop talking about it.”
It almost seemed as if McDavid, because he had an overdrive that mere mortals couldn’t match, took more punishment than warranted because he was so good.
In time, the moment passed, and the controversy faded.
There is sometimes a perception that the NHL goes out of its way not to protect elite players, because it might show favoritism. This of course is nonsense. Players only ever want one thing from the referees — consistency, as much as possible, from shift to shift and period to period and game to game.
In other words, the same treatment for journeyman players as for the stars of the game. But consistency has to cut both ways too. You can’t ignore what happened here, just because this was McDavid, getting manhandled. What Soucy did was reckless and dangerous. A suspension almost certainly has to be coming. If not, what is already a rowdy Oilers-Canucks series has a real chance of descending into real mayhem.
(Photo: Paul Swanson / NHLI via Getty Images)
Aaron Rodgers’ New York Jets regular-season debut lasted all of four plays on a Monday night to start 2023.
In 2024, Rodgers will likely be back playing on a Monday night when the Jets head to Levi’s Stadium to play the San Francisco 49ers to start the season. It will be Rodgers’ first game since he tore his Achilles in that fateful game against the Buffalo Bills.
Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets runs onto the field with an American flag for the Buffalo Bills game at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 11, 2023, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
New York went with Zach Wilson as the starting quarterback for most of the 2023 season. The team did its best to try to make the playoffs but fell short at 7-10.
In the offseason, the Jets traded Wilson to the Denver Broncos and added Tyrod Taylor to back up Rodgers. The team added wide receiver Mike Williams as another piece to the offensive puzzle. New York also signed offensive linemen Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses for added protection.
The 49ers had heartbreak of a different kind.
Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets looks on from the sideline before the Buffalo Bills game at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 11, 2023. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
SEAHAWKS’ KENNETH WALKER SAYS NBA PLAYERS WOULDN’T HAVE EASY TRANSITION TO NFL: ‘IT’S THE OTHER WAY AROUND’
Brock Purdy had the 49ers in the lead for most of Super Bowl LVIII against Kansas City, but Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs to a comeback victory for their second consecutive title
Additionally, the 49ers lost linebacker Dre Greenlaw as he suffered a torn Achilles during the game. In response, the team signed linebacker Leonard Floyd from the Buffalo Bills in the offseason.
Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers runs onto the field for Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
At this point, too, San Francisco still has wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk on the roster. One of those players could be traded between now and the first Monday night game of the season.
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City Section
BASEBALL
Tuesday’s schedule
(All games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Division I
First round
#17 Westchester at #16 South Gate
#18 Franklin at #15 LACES
Division II
First round
#17 Sun Valley Magnet at #16 Van Nuys
#20 Stella at #13 Fremont
#19 Los Angeles at #14 Rancho Dominguez
#18 SOCES at #15 Grant
Division III
First round
#17 Animo Venice at #16 Downtown Magnets
#20 Central City Value at #13 Community Charter
#19 Animo Robinson at #14 Triumph Charter
#18 CALS Early College at #15 L.A. Jordan
Wednesday’s schedule
(All games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Open division
First round
#1 Granada Hills, bye
#9 El Camino Real at #8 Narbonne
#12 Sun Valley Poly at #5 Sylmar
#4 Bell, bye
#3 Carson, bye
#11 Cleveland at #6 Legacy
#10 San Pedro at #7 Taft
#2 Birmingham, bye
SOFTBALL
Monday’s results
Division I
Quarterfinals
Garfield 7, Bravo 0
San Fernando 5, Verdugo Hills 1
Granada Hills Kennedy 4, Eagle Rock 0
Palisades 5, L.A. Marshall 1
Division II
Quarterfinals
Chatsworth 3, Franklin 1
Sylmar 10, Taft 2
L.A. Wilson 9, North Hollywood 7
Marquez 7, King/Drew 5
Division IV
Quarterfinals
Fulton 15, L.A. Leadership Academy 5
Tuesday’s schedule
(All games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Open division
Semifinals
#5 El Camino Real at #1 Granada Hills
#3 Carson at #2 Birmingham
Division III
Semifinals
#9 VAAS at #4 Bell
#11 Sotomayor at #2 Narbonne
Division IV
Semifinals
#5 LA University at #1 Community Charter
#11 Fulton at #10 LACES
Wednesday’s schedule
(All games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Division I
Semifinals
#4 San Fernando at #1 Garfield
#15 Palisades at #3 Granada Hills Kennedy
Division II
Semifinals
# 12 Sylmar at #1 Chatsworth
#3 L.A. Wilson at #2 Marquez
Southern Section
BASEBALL
Tuesday’s Schedule
(All games at 3:15 p.m. unless noted)
Semifinals
Division 1
Huntington Beach at Corona
Harvard-Westlake vs. Orange Lutheran at Hart Park, 6 p.m.
Division 2
Arcadia at Hart
Ayala at Moorpark
Division 3
St. John Bosco at South Torrance
Beckman at Los Alamitos
Division 4
Culver City at Camarillo
St. Francis at Ontario Christian
Division 5
Oxnard Pacifica at Santa Monica
Chino Hills at Chino
Division 6
Diamond Bar at Village Christian
Colony at Rancho Mirage
Division 7
South El Monte at Buena Park
Oxford Academy at Lancaster Desert Christian
Division 8
San Bernardino at Orange County Pacifica Christian
Azusa at Edgewood
SOFTBALL
FINALS
At Barber Park in Irvine
Friday
Division 8
Hesperia Christian (18-5) vs. Jurupa Valley (19-12), 10 a.m.
Division 6
Ganesha (21-0) vs. Viewpoint (17-2-1), 1 p.m.
Division 4
JW North (17-13) vs. Paraclete (29-2), 4 p.m.
Division 1
Orange Lutheran (21-3) vs. Garden Grove Pacifica (26-2), 7 p.m.
Saturday
Division 7
Oxford Academy (25-5) vs. Eastside (22-10), 10 a.m.
Division 5
Liberty (22-6) vs. Cerritos Valley Christian (17-6), 1 p.m.
Division 3
Etiwanda (27-5) vs. King (19-9), 4 p.m.
Division 2
California (28-3) vs. Gahr (18-10), 7 p.m.
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