Posts by Paul Teetor
All Ball Sports: New Sheriff in Lakers Land
by Paul Teetor For the first time all year, Russell Westbrook displayed an impeccable sense of timing. No rushed shots to beat the 24-second clock, no off-target passes to teammates looking the other way, no basketballs dribbled off his foot while running a one-man fast break. That’s because this well-timed move was off the…
Read MoreAll Ball Sports: Sandy gets a statue
By Paul Teetor There are plenty of retired sports stars walking around Los Angeles. Right here in the Beach Cities we have big-name guys like former USC quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, former Boston Red Sox shortstop and World Series hero Nomar Garciaparra, and former Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash, a two-time…
Read MoreAll Ball Sports: New Sheriff in Lakers Land, Angel Manager, Dodger ace lost
by Paul Teetor For the first time all year, Russell Westbrook displayed an impeccable sense of timing Monday afternoon. No rushed shots to beat the 24-second clock, no off-target passes to teammates looking the other way, no basketballs dribbled off his foot while running a one-man fast break. That’s because this well-timed move was off…
Read MoreAll Ball Sports: The Force is with you, Luke; Aaron Donald too
by Paul Teetor Six years ago Manhattan Beach’s own Luke Walton was the hottest head coaching candidate in the entire NBA. Today, not so much. As the interim head coach of the Golden State Warriors in 2015-16, he led the Warriors to a 39-4 record while Head Coach Steve Kerr missed much of the season…
Read MoreAll Ball Sports: Coach Kerr calls for courage, Coach Hams chooses Lakers, Coach Ramsey chooses Loyola High
by Paul Teetor In three brief but incredibly powerful minutes, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr captured the tidal wave of anguish, outrage and sorrow that has engulfed much of America, following the latest school massacre in Uvalde, Texas. The horrific detail about the little girl who reached over to her dead friend…
Read MoreAll Ball Sports: Lakers Coaching Candidates – And then there were three
By Paul Teetor Help Wanted: seeking miracle worker for impossible job! Must be able to work with divas, slackers, ego-maniacs and incompetent upper management. Born scapegoats welcomed. D-Day for the Lakers coaching search is looming ever closer, so let’s start with the good news for Lakers fans: ex-Warriors Coach and current basketball analyst Mark Jackson…
Read MoreAll Ball: Kings lose Game of Thrones, Buss under the bus
by Paul Teetor The Los Angeles Kings blew…
Read MoreAll Ball Sports: It’s moving day for the Lakers
by Paul Teetor It’s long past time for the Lakers to try something radically different and do something really smart: face reality and trade LeBron James while they can still get significant assets for him. Wait, what? Trade LeBron? The Lakers don’t trade away superstars – they trade for them. That’s their history and the…
Read MoreAll Ball: Steve Nash due back in Manhattan, Dodger Bauer’s departure overdue
by Paul Teetor If you see Steve Nash around Manhattan Beach this summer, give him a big hug – or at least say hey and let him know his adopted hometown still loves him. Whether it’s from his tennis buddies at the Manhattan Beach Country club and Live Oak Park, or his beach buddies at…
Read MoreAll Ball: Lakers Mr. Clutch backs down HBO, Bruins back, USC backed out
By Paul Teetor Jerry West Fights Back It’s been a tough year for Jerry West — and it potentially got a lot tougher this week when he fought back against HBO and the low-rent cable clowns who made its new series “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.” West is totally justified…
Read MoreAll Ball: Clippers join Lakers on sidelines, beancounters cost Kershaw
by Paul Teetor They started the NBA season with legit championship aspirations. They ended by not even making the playoffs. The epic failure stunned players, coaches, owners and fans. Sound familiar? Sound like the Lakers? Yep. But it’s not that whiny, over-the-hill, alleged-super-star-studded team of LeBron and a bunch of losers that we’re talking about…
Read MoreAll Ball Sport: Let the Blame Game begin
by Paul Teetor Webster’s Dictionary defines a scapegoat as a person blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency. Synonyms are listed as whipping boy, fall guy and patsy. Meet Coach Frank Vogel, the Lakers newest scapegoat — and whipping boy, fall guy and patsy. Vogel, who was fired…
Read MoreAll Ball Sports: Kenley Jansen’s gone, Clippers’ Playoff P is back
by Paul Teetor It’s Finally Time for Dodgers Baseball Who needs Kenley Jansen? Not us. That was the not-so-subliminal message the Dodgers sent Saturday when they traded with the Chicago White Sox for one of the top closers in the game, Craig Kimbrell, to replace the departed Jansen, the pride of Palos Verdes and formerly…
Read MoreAll Ball: Cronin’ day will come, Westbrook’s Will Smith moment
By Paul Teetor The UCLA men’s basketball team coulda, shoulda and woulda won their Sweet Sixteen game against North Carolina Friday night. But they didn’t win, and the bitter disappointment and sense of a golden opportunity lost will linger with Bruins fans for the next 12 months. They could have won because they had the…
Read MoreAll Ball Sports: UCLA ballers aiming for the Big Easy, Jansen’s gone, but could be back
by Paul Teetor Two victories down and four to go. That’s the situation the fourth-seeded UCLA men’s basketball team finds itself in after a wild weekend. They trailed for the entire game against 13th seeded Akron before waking up and stealing a victory at the last second, and then dominated 5th seeded St. Mary’s to…
Read MoreALL BALL SPORTS: Dodger Surprises
by Paul Teetor Surprises can be good; surprises can be bad. Surprises can be great or surprises can be terrible. Context is everything. Dodgers fans got two big surprises this week: first a good one and then a great one. No terrible ones yet. Not unless Dodgers pitcher/sexual sadist Trevor Bauer is allowed to come…
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