latimes.com
Ippei Mizuhara entered a courtroom in shackles. Shohei Ohtani flew around Chavez Ravine on wings. On the most sobering, sensational of Fridays, one man’s arrest became another man’s freedom, a simple ballgame serving as a striking example of brilliance unburdened. Just down the street from Dodger Stadium, Ohtani’s longtime interpreter and close colleague Mizuhara surrendered to authorities on charges of stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani to supply his gambling addiction. Hours later, Oht…
12 days ago
latimes.com
Two weeks after sinking into a murky abyss, the legend of Shohei Ohtani has suddenly come up for air, surfacing powerfully through a thick layer of felonious lies and criminal deceit. It smiles at those who doubted its integrity. It shakes its head at those who questioned its motives. The legend lives. I didn’t quite believe Ohtani recently when he said he knew nothing about an alleged $4.5 million in wire transfers to an illegal bookie. With federal prosecutors announcing Thursday that they hav…
14 days ago
latimes.com
Headache. Nausea. The two words were uttered Tuesday night to describe the condition of a certain Laker. The two words could also describe the reaction of their fans. Headache. Nausea. In the final hours before tipoff against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers announced that Anthony Davis was going to miss the game because of a headache and nausea. Davis is their most important player. This was going to be, thus far, their most important game. It was an ab…
16 days ago
latimes.com
It was a wondrous Dodgers postcard, a man in a Fernando Valenzuela jersey lifting a woman in a Dodgers bucket hat as she waved a historic home run ball high above a sea of blue. That was the magical scene Wednesday night in Dodger Stadium’s right-field pavilion as Ambar Roman and husband Alexis Valenzuela celebrated Roman’s grab of Shohei Ohtani’s first home run as a Dodger. It was a valuable souvenir. It was a frenzied scene. It was a priceless moment. It was a nightmare. “It started out so goo…
20 days ago
latimes.com
Welcome to — Boom! — Dodger Stadium — Bam! — for the — Pow! — home opener. They attacked so fast. They swung so furiously. Fans could barely breathe. The St. Louis Cardinals could barely think. When the Dodgers opened Chavez Ravine for the 2024 season Thursday afternoon, the front porch was adorned with their glittering new centerpiece, the three former MVPs who occupy the first three spots in their batting order. Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman. Dread, doom, destruction. They were…
27 days ago
latimes.com
It still doesn’t feel right. It still doesn’t make sense. No matter how much Shohei Ohtani and his advisors attempt to clean it up, something in all this gambling garbage still stinks. When a smiling Ohtani strides on to the Dodger Stadium field for their home opener Thursday, I want to believe. I want to believe the game’s greatest player is as pure as his image. I want to believe the beloved global superstar is as honorable as he seems. I want to believe the legendary Ohtani magic, for which t…
29 days ago
latimes.com
They opened the season surrounded by strangers in a tiny, rattling dome in South Korea. They played two games witnessed in Los Angeles only by those fans willing to awaken in the middle of the night. By the time they embarked on the 6,000-mile flight home, all hell had broken loose. Shohei Ohtani, their new global superstar, was linked to millions of dollars in lost bets with an allegedly illegal bookmaker who is the target of a federal investigation. Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s longtime interprete…
about 1 month ago
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On her first possession of her first game in her first dance, Judea Skies Watkins lost the ball. She dribbled directly into the hands of the Texas A&M Corpus Christi defense. She froze. She glared. She winced. You know what that means. It’s JuJu Time. The coolest collegiate women’s basketball player on the planet routinely produces plays so picturesque, every smudge is briefly met with a pained annoyance that inspires her to retrieve the brush and swirl anew. “I gave myself a little grace,” the…
about 1 month ago
latimes.com
Cinderella, Schminderella. A long shot is not going to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship. Don’t believe the hype. Don’t be suckered by the song. There is no glass slipper. There is no dancing into the Final Four. One shining moment casts a narrow glow. As you fill out your brackets, go ahead, inaugurate James Madison, camp out in Grand Canyon, brush hard with Colgate, embrace all kinds of double-digit dreamers throughout the opening weekend. Feel free to play the annual lock of at least…
about 1 month ago
latimes.com
The brackets for the two 2024 NCAA basketball tournaments have just been announced and already there is one shining moment. It belongs to the women. For the first time, their tournament is more compelling than the men’s. Caitlin Clark. Angel Reese. Juju Watkins. LSU champs. South Carolina unbeatens. UConn traditions. Old grudges. New rivals. Human drama. And some of it will be happening in the Southland’s backyard, literally, just call Galen Center or Pauley Pavilion, they’ll tell you. While the…
about 1 month ago
latimes.com
It was a forearm to the eye. It was a punch to the gut. It was routine contact on a routine drive. It was an extraordinary symbol of a season skidding. In the final minutes of the first quarter of the Lakers’ nationally televised showdown with the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, Anthony Davis was smacked in the face by the Warriors’ Trayce Jackson-Davis. The eye was quickly swollen shut. The Lakers’ hopes were instantly impaired. Davis couldn’t see, so the Lakers couldn’t win, and now t…
about 1 month ago
