All Ball Sports: Herbie the Super Hero, Rams beat GOAT, Mustangs close, Sea Hawks win
by Paul Teetor In no particular order, the top 4 quarterbacks in pro football are: Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers and…. Justin Herbert? Yep. Herbie, fully loaded with weapons up and down the line of scrimmage, from Mike Williams to Keenan Allen. It’s official now: just three games into his second NFL season, Herbert […]
All Ball Sports: Star born at star-crossed USC, Clippers Balmer starry eyed, Costa wishes on a star
by Paul Teetor The narrative line is as old as the art of storytelling itself: a young understudy, a complete unknown, is called on at the last second with no hope of success and leaves the stage three hours later as a budding star. This kind of inspirational story usually only happens in corny Hollywood […]
All Ball Sports: To Helton gone, Ram House hurrah, prep breakdown
by Paul Teetor USC Head Coach Clay Helton was fired Monday afternoon. It was about time. Indeed, it was long overdue. After the ugly, unexpected and unwelcome 42-28 loss to unranked Stanford Saturday night, all but the most die-hard Helton fans were forced to accept three self-evident truths that are so glaringly obvious even Stevie […]
Medals in the sands of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach
Photos by Bo Bridges (bobridges.com) by Paul Teetor On a beach-perfect morning last month, one week after the Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony, 15 beach volleyball players gathered on the sand courts at 16th Street in Hermosa Beach. All were Olympians or members of the USA Beach Volleyball National Team. All trained and most lived in […]
All Ball Sports
by Paul Teetor UCLA football: Time to Celebrate All aboard the Bruins bandwagon. Grab your seat because it will soon be full. UCLA crushed No. 16 LSU 38-27 in a victory Saturday night that was not nearly as close as it sounds. A garbage LSU touchdown with four minutes left made the score respectable, but […]
All Ball Sports: Bruins brew over LSU, Dodgers costly season, and prep football kicks off
The UCLA football team is alive and well and undefeated. At least for this week. Head coach Chip Kelly is alive and well and still employed. At least for this week. Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson is still alive and still being touted as a pro prospect At least for this week. But Bruins fans should hold […]
Good as Gold: Klineman, Ross win AVP Manhattan Beach Open
Photos by Ray Vidal by Paul Teetor The A-Team is winning everything lately – including the name game. When April Ross and Alix Klineman became partners in late 2017, they immediately asked their thousands of Instagram followers to suggest a nickname for the new team. They were soon flooded with a digital downpour, and one […]
All Ball Sport: Old guys roll, Clippers need a leader, Biles is one
by Paul Teetor How old is the Lakers new roster? So old that fans who beat the traffic to Staples Center will get the early bird special. So old that anyone with an AARP card will get half-off at the door. So old that when Carmelo Anthony hits a 3-point shot the public address announcer […]
Klineman’s gold makes her fifth Manhattan Beach Olympic beach volleyball medalist [UPDATED]
by Paul Teetor If Manhattan Beach (Pop. 35,135) were a country, its Olympic beach volleyball medal count, alone, would rank it 141st out of 2006 countries that have competed in the Olympics. And other countries had a 100 year head start. The modern Olympics began in 1896. Beach volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1996. […]
High (school) expectations: Manhattan Beach Olympic gold medalist Alix Klineman
by Paul Teetor (Reprinted from Easy Reader, Nov. 2006) When Alix Klineman received the Gatorade Player of the Year award in November 2006, prior to the Bay League Championship game against rival Redondo Union, she never once raised her arms — or the plaque — to acknowledge the applause that made Fisher Gymnasium rock like […]
All Ball Sports: Beach volleyball’s Klineman, Ross eye gold, Lakers big two-and-a-half, Clippers’ Leonard has fans on ice
by Paul Teetor Beach volleyball hopes The four American beach volleyball teams went to the Tokyo Olympics with high hopes – hopes that were justified based on their performances in the qualifying tournaments. But now those hopes are looking a bit less justified. The A-Team of Alix Klineman and April Ross was so dominant that […]
NBA Coach Steve Nash at home on the (tennis) court, in Manhattan Beach
by Paul Teetor Even before Steve Nash left tennis court number 3 at Live Oak Park Saturday morning, a long line of gushing fans and eager favor seekers were waiting to ambush him. Excuse me, Steve, could you sign this basketball for my son? “Of course, got a pen?” Uh, Steve, do you mind taking […]
All Ball Sports: Pandemic Olympics, LeBron as super hero, Clippers’ Curse
For the moment, we can be grateful that none of our beach volleyball Olympians – Alix Klineman, April Ross, Sarah Sponcil, Kelly Claes, Phil Dalhausser, Nick Lucena, Taylor Crabb and Jake Gibb – have tested positive. Nor has Mira Costa grad Olympic cyclist Gavin Hoover.
All Ball Sports: Father Time calls Federer, PD calls Trevor, UCLA calls Hurd
by Paul Teetor The shocking news spread among Beach City tennis fans like a Malibu brush fire: Roger got bageled. There was no need for a last name. Among tennis fans, there’s only one Roger: Roger Federer. A bagel is the worst meal a tennis player can have. It’s tennis slang for when one player […]
All Ball: Dodger dog, Clippers vs Lakers in 2022
by Paul Teetor The Trouble with Trevor Remember that crazy story Former President Donald Trump loved to tell about the frost-bitten snake taken in by a tender-hearted woman who was then shocked when the snake bit her? The punchline: you knew I was a snake before you took me in. His point, I guess, was […]
All Ball Sports: Clippers close, MCHS VB’s Coordt, Coach Drost earn All CIF honors
by Paul Teetor The Clippers got a good look at their future Monday night – or as the Sarah Connor character said in The Terminator, one possible future. In this nightmarish future, their best player – Kawhi Leonard – is gone, either to some other team or to the permanent injury list. Dealing with physical […]