SB Sharks on to Pop Warner Championships
The South Bay Sharks Pop Warner youth football and cheer teams sent three teams to the recent Southern California Conference Pop Warner Championships, and came home with three championship trophies. The Sharks won the 10-and-under, 11-and-under, and 12-and-under divisions. All three teams moved on to the Western Conference Playoffs, where the 11-and-under team won their division. The team, coached by Andrew Ree, will be the first Southern California Conference team to go to the National Championships in over a decade. The Sharks have been in rebuilding mode since COVID, and now have 225 athletes in their football and cheer programs, led by President Niki Vasquesz, Vice President Chesed and Athletic Director Billy Campbell. For more about the program and to contribute to the team’s trip to the National Championships visit BeachCitiesPopWarner.com
by Paul Teetor
What is there to say about USC 19, UCLA 13?
Not much.
The annual rivalry game was a dreary affair played on a cold, dreary night at the Rose Bowl in front of a dispirited crowd. It may have been the nadir of college football in Los Angeles in the modern era.
USC improved its record to 6-5, making the Trojans bowl eligible. But would they want to even play in a minor bowl game or would they rather just forget about this lost season and look ahead to brighter days and nights next year?
That is still to be determined, along with Coach Lincoln Riley’s future – on both sides of the employment equation. He could be fired for his team being worse than the year before in each of his three seasons here. By year three the new-look Trojans were supposed to be back on top of the college football heap. Instead, they’re at the bottom and falling steadily.
Or, just as likely, Riley could be lured away by an offensive coordinator’s job in the NFL. It is becoming crystal clear that is where his future lies. On the offensive side of the ball, he is a genius. But on the defensive side, he has shown no aptitude and no inclination to change his offense-first ways.
That means he is great at half of a head coach’s job, and incompetent at the other half.
So why not accept that and embrace the reality that he is one of the most innovative offensive coaches in all of football, make the logical move to the pros – as an offensive coordinator, not a head coach — and live happily ever after.
Stranger things have happened.
As far as UCLA and their rookie head coach, DeShaun Foster, their record is now 4-7.
‘Nuff said.
Dodgers: Run it back?
Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was formally named the National League Most Valuable Player this week, surprising absolutely nobody. He had been projected as the eventual winner of the award from the middle of his record-setting season onward, when he became the first member of the 50-50 club – the only player ever to hit at least 50 home runs and steal at least 50 bases in the same season. He finished with 54 homers and 59 stolen bases while hitting .310, good for second in the National League.
He also joined the late great Frank Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles as the only players ever to win the MVP award in both the National and American Leagues.
But his real value was the winning spirit he brought to the Dodgers on their way to a World Series title. When you know you have the best player in any and all games you play, that makes a huge difference in your mental and emotional approach.
In All Ball’s humble opinion, the most important hit of the Dodgers entire post season run was in game one of the League Division Series, when the Dodgers quickly fell behind the San Diego Padres 3-0. Suddenly Dodgers fans had a sinking feeling of here we go again – for the third year in a row the boys in blue were going to be knocked out of the first round of the playoffs.
But this year was different. Ohtani belted a three-run homer to wipe out the Padres lead with one swing of his mighty bat. Later they went on to win that all important first game of a best-of-five series.
In hindsight, it is clear +the Padres were the most talented of the three teams – Padres, New York Mets and New York Yankees – that the Dodgers had to beat to earn their first real, full-season World Series title since 1988. As dedicated All Ball readers know, we don’t count the World Series title they won in the pandemic shortened season of 2020, when all the playoff games were played in a Texas stadium with no fans and little fanfare – because everyone was so freaked out about the pandemic.
And now that Ohtani has secured what is rightfully his, the hopeful cry has already been heard throughout Dodger Nation: Run it back.
What that means, for the casual sports fan who may not be sure of its definition, is to bring back all the key players of the championship team that just won a World Series title. Give them a chance to repeat, goes the reasoning. They’ve earned it.
It’s quite common for fans of a team that has just won a championship to want to run it back. The Rams, for example, were loudly urged to do it by their fans after their Super Bowl win a few years ago. Owner Stan Kroenke responded by handing out fat contract extensions to coach Sean McVay, quarterback Matthew Stafford, General Manager Les Snead, wide receiver Cooper Kupp and defensive leader Aaron Donald. He was willing to spend big on the chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
The result: the Rams made history by posting the worst record – 5 wins and 12 losses – of any Super Bowl winning team in the following season.
So while the Dodgers are pondering the moves they want to make in this off-season, All Ball suspects they will be too smart to just simply stay put, sign those players who are their own free agents – like Walker Buehler, Teoscar Hernandez and Kike Hernandez — and hope that it all goes well again.
No, All Ball thinks they will go in a different direction. After all, their core four hitters – Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith – are all signed to long term contracts and will be around for many years to come.
The real action is with the players the Dodgers could add to make their team even stronger next season.
There is a very real chance that they will sign the premier free agent of this offseason, the Yankee’s Juan Soto. He hit .288 with 41 homers and 109 runs driven in this year and was the Yankees best player in the World Series. Only 26 years old, he is in line for a long contract that rivals Ohtani’s $700 million contract over 10 years, signed last off-season.
And he may just get it from the Dodgers, who are making a serious bid for his services, along with the New York Yankees and the New York Mets.
It’s down to those three teams. Soto’s agent, Scott Boras is hosting all three teams in Los Angeles. He will sit down with each team, hear their pitch, and then make his recommendation to his client.
Mets owner and hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen is known as the richest man in baseball, and he has told close friends that he is bound and determined to get Soto for the Mets.
Whatever it takes is his motto.
But if the Dodgers money is competitive with the Mets, then he’s coming here. Where would you rather live if you were a baseball superstar and had your choice of teams: LA or New York?
From where All Ball sits, half a block from the ocean and 50 feet from the Strand, it’s not even close.
Big cleats to fill
Cole Leinart, Redondo’s junior quarterback who led the team to a 6-2 record after sitting out the first four games because of CIF transfer rules, said this week that he has committed to play college football at Southern Methodist University in Texas in 2026.
Leinart is the son of Matt Leinart, the Heisman Trophy winner at USC 20 years ago, and former USC basketball star Brynn Cameron.
Leinart had attended three high schools in the past year – Mater Dei, Newport Harbor and Redondo – and when he finally saw extended action on the field he proved to be a mobile playmaker who got the Sea Hawks into the quarterfinals of the CIF Division 4 playoffs, where they lost to Saint Bonaventure 34-20.
His season stats were impressive for a shortened season. He completed 84 of 143 passes for 1,087 yards and a completion percentage of 58% with 11 touchdowns.
He also ran the ball 31 times for 165 yards and two touchdowns, an average of more than five yards a carry. At 6-foot-3 he is regarded as an ideal quarterback for the RPO – run-pass-option – plays that are dominating college offenses.
SMU is currently ranked 9 in the country.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com
