In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Note: Due to an ongoing labor dispute at Grantland, today's joke will be written by a group of replacement writers called up from the Grantland's Division III staff in Des Moines, Iowa.
Cristiano Ronaldo's 90th-minute goal completed a stunning comeback as Real Madrid topped Manchester City 3-2 in Champions League group play. Hey, are we sure this guy isn't named Ronaldo McDonaldo? Because after that match, those Real Madrid players must have had one heck of a happy meal!
Immediately after the ninth round in Saturday’s welterweight fight between Victor Ortiz and Josesito Lopez, I wrote a question in my notebook: “Who is crazier, Ortiz or Lopez?”
From ringside at Staples Center, I had just watched Lopez and Ortiz spend the last 30 seconds of the round exchanging violent hooks and uppercuts. First, Ortiz drove Lopez against the ropes, and then Lopez fought back with several whipping left hooks that landed square on Ortiz’s jaw. The punches were fast, reckless, and very hard. The fighters looked like two kids settling a beef at recess, windmilling wild blows at each other — only these two kids were prime boxers whose flurries came with a level of skill and lethality unheard of on any playground.
The celebration began before the sun had even set in Los Angeles. By the time the final buzzer sounded and the Kings had piled on goalie Jonathan Quick, a crowd began to gather in the small plaza outside Staples Center.
The party was smaller than it would have been Wednesday. With the Kings on the brink of a sweep of the Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils last week, the area of bars and restaurants nestled around Staples, a hyper-modern “entertainment complex” known as L.A. Live (also home to Grantland's offices), was at a fever pitch. The first jerseys showed up at noon that day, and lines for anywhere with a beer and a TV were 50 deep. The crowds were smaller Monday night, but those who did show up were hungry for a win. The Kings entered Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals with a 3-2 series lead, but they had dropped twostraight, and the tension surrounding the game was hinging on desperation. When Dustin Brown scored first during a five-minute power play in the opening period, the fans who packed L.A. Live’s largest sports bar celebrated like it was a goal. When Jeff Carter scored second just 1:42 later, they celebrated like it was a championship.
With the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings hosting a whopping 28 home games in 28 days from March 11 through April 7 — all happening at Staples Center, which is only a wind-aided Andy Lee punt from Grantland’s headquarters — we couldn’t resist attending these 28 games and writing about as many of them as possible. Click here for our coverage.
I grew up going to Warriors games during stages nine through 26 of their grief. It was an occasionally uplifting but ultimately demoralizing time. My clearest musical memory of those games was that after a fourth-quarter Warriors scoring run, a crudely animated pair of anthropomorphized lips would lip-synch to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” on the arena’s aging scoreboard. The crowd loved it. I loved it, even when I was 15 and all I wanted to listen to was antisocial rap music, Led Zeppelin, and alt-rock songs about how girls are confusing.
It’s strange which songs become attached to certain teams. An Alan Parsons Project instrumental from 1982 is now tied to the legendary Chicago Bulls of the 1990s. Studio wizard (and true star) Todd Rundgren's “Bang the Drum All Day” plays any time the Green Bay Packers score a touchdown at Lambeau.
Earlier this week, I watched the Lakers play the Nets at Staples Center and tracked the game through what I heard.
With the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings hosting a whopping 28 home games in 28 days from March 11 through April 7 — all happening at Staples Center, which is only a wind-aided Andy Lee punt from Grantland’s headquarters — we couldn’t resist attending these 28 games and writing about as many of them as possible. Click here for our coverage.
The Clippers beat the Suns 103-86 last week and I didn't care that much. I mean, congratulations to the Clips and all, but truth be told, I wouldn't have cared even if the game was close. That’s because my mind was on something much more important: food.
Stadiums and arenas make a huge profit from their concession stands, and fans seem more than happy to put up with outrageous prices for the privilege of eating Frito Pie Dogs courtside. For some reason, $9 burritos seem perfectly justifiable when you're watching Blake Griffin show off his new moon shoes. While stadiums around the country have beefed up their concession offerings to include more than just hot dogs and popcorn, they're still a long way from offering quality grub. At Staples Center, you've got several different food venues, but if you're looking for anything out of the ordinary, you have to create it yourself. So I did.
Introducing the Staples Center Secret Menu. If you're at all familiar with In-N-Out Burger, you're also familiar with its secret menu. It's not really secret so much as just being creative with all the offered toppings. That was my guiding principle here: Take items that already exist and turn them into new dishes that pay tribute to my favorite Clippers. If you're extremely nice to the concession stand workers, they'll make these for you. Otherwise, you'll have to play Chef BoyarSterling to put them together yourself.
With the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings hosting a whopping 28 home games in 28 days from March 11 through April 7 — all happening at Staples Center, which is only a wind-aided Andy Lee punt from Grantland’s headquarters — we couldn’t resist attending these 28 games and writing about as many of them as possible. Click here for our coverage.
When the first quarter ended Thursday night, with the Lakers up 12 and a lathered, playoff-type crowd on its feet at Staples Center, it felt like we were seeing what might undo the Oklahoma City Thunder come June. Through the first 12 minutes, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were a combined 3-for-15. Andrew Bynum was handling Kendrick Perkins down low, and Kobe Bryant had nine points in what seemed like one of those nights where he would go off for 40. Everything argument for the Lakers as the chic new favorites in the Western Conference would be legitimized.
On Sunday morning, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade walked through Staples Center and proceeded to shake up the interwebs with another joint fashion statement. Yes, Wade's outfit was abnormal for the standard NBA player (white pants, spray-on copper shirt, big purse) but at this point, that's par for the course for the Dade County Diva. What stole the show, however, was his 6-foot-8 man-child teammate, who was carrying around a bag the size of a cannoli.
Much was made about LeBron's latest fashion decision, and many speculated about what he lugged around in that leather Ziploc. Some of my guesses:
It's January 18, a little less than half an hour before the Clippers are set to tip off against Dallas at Staples Center. From each corner of the downtown L.A. arena, smoke machines funnel into small fans. There’s a faint cloud hovering over the court. It feels like a low-budget rock concert before the lights have gone down.
At game’s end, the announced attendance will be 19,252 — another sellout — but as both teams go through pregame warm-ups, the lower bowl is lined with stretches of unfilled seats. The first row behind the baseline is empty, and throughout the section, pieces of paper have been taped to seat backs: Next time, pay a much lower price for these great seats. Season ticket packages for 2012-2013 now available.
The term “rivalry” usually comes with a qualification that animosity develops over time, that a certain level of prolonged competition brings a familiarity needed to foster a deep distaste. But as bodies flew around the Staples Center floor Wednesday night, and Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol bumped chests as the purple and gold ribbons of confetti fell after the Lakers’ 96-91 win over the Clippers, it was clear that one trade and a series of headlines are enough to make January feel like late May.
