MidValleySports.Com

Alex Gonzalez

By Alex Gonzalez

Ever think of Los Angeles and its sports as a big family? The Lakers are the oldest of the family with Kobe Bryant getting all the love with his retirement. USC and UCLA football are the youngest because everyone cannot stop talking about their rivalry and how the Trojans don’t have to worry about NCAA sanctions.

Now that the Rams are coming back to town, they are the unborn baby in the family. The city cannot wait for the Rams to come to LA. The Dodgers and Angels are the cousins of the family. No one hears from them until the holidays and don’t see them until Spring time.

And finally, there are the Clippers as the middle child. No one pays attention to what the team does or how they do it. The city just shrugs their shoulders and moves on Kobe’s 81-point anniversary or the Rams’ new stadium.

The Clippers are fourth in the Western Conference and just recently had their 10-game winning streak snapped by the Sacramento Kings. They also traded power forward Josh Smith back to the Houston Rockets for cash and foreign prospects.

For the past five seasons, the Clippers have been the better basketball team in Los Angeles. It seems that whatever the Clippers do, whether if it’s the offseason, regular season, or postseason the Clips will always be on the back page of the sports section.

Looking into the future, could the Clippers move up north if they do not win a title this year? Realistically, could the Clippers beat the Golden State Warriors or the San Antonio Spurs in a seven-game series in May? Self-proclaimed Clippers fans would say yes. However, everyone else and their mother would say no. Think about being Seattle Clippers fan, it could be a better fit for the middle child.

USC took basketball to Oregon over the weekend only to come up 0-2 versus the Ducks and Beavers. The back-to-back losses put the Trojans at 4-3 in conference play and third in the conference. The Pac-12 season is a little less than half way done and with what the Trojans have done so far, they are going to need a deep run into the conference tourney to make the NCAA consider inviting them for March Madness.

USC takes a trip to Washington later this week to play the Huskies and the Cougars before coming home to host the Bruins.

Muir took a trip across the 210 freeway to play in-city rival Pasadena on Friday. The Bulldogs won 59-49 but what makes the game more important than who is playing is the atmosphere. Even though the Bulldogs have owned the Mustangs in basketball winning the 22 of the last 23 matchups, if you were to ask the students at Muir it is still 0-0 every year.

The Mustangs have to wait till February 11 to get another crack at the Bulldogs who are looking for another Pacific League title but most importantly trying to sweep the Stangs in football and basketball. Something that hasn’t been done since the 1990’s.

That’s where I’m going.

“Joe has captured the essence of the high school football experience. You don’t have to have played or coached to be instantly engaged in the story and identify with the characters. A great read!…Lots of laughs and memories from what high school football is like on the inside.”—Mike Mooney
“A very accurate account of high school football.”—Jon Dimalante
“F-bombing Papa Joe, has written something truly great here…He’s done a great job capturing the moments in the life of a high school football player both big and small from a unique angle.”—Josh Ouellette
“TANGENT DREAMS: A High School Football Novel” by Joe Torosian is NOW available through Amazon.com
(Cover by Pat Cherry www.blackheartart.com)