Orange County News Blog

Take a picture of Lackey, it will last longer.

​The Angels have a tough decision to make: Do they try to keep pitching ace John Lackey or spark plug Chone Figgins?

​The amount of money a fictional 13-year-old can win if he can make a perfect football pass on national TV in sports columnist Mike Lupica's new youth novel Million-Dollar Throw: $1 million.

The amount of money one of 200 real-life kids ages 8-15 can win if their name is drawn after they make a perfect pass during Lupica's appearance Wednesday at Mission Viejo Library: $1,000.

The amont of free publicity Lupica and his book have gotten and will get from the publicity stunt: priceless.

Henry Samueli with a baseball fan.

​Via the Anaheim Ducks, the National Hockey League announced today that Henry Samueli has been reinstated as an owner.

Michael Clemmons

​In "Sex, Crimes and Videotape," Clockwork told you about former Santa Ana City College football player Michael Alexander Clemmons, 20, of Tustin, and his former Tustin High School classmate John Paul Foster II, 23, of Seaside in Monterey County, pleading guilty Sept. 24 to charges of raping an intoxicated 18-year-old woman in a Tustin motel and videotaping their crimes.

The other cleat has dropped as a second former player with the Santa Ana Dons--Luster Mitchell Lewis, 21, of Irvine--pleaded guilty in the case, and all three men were sentenced to six years behind bars.

The three men had become friends at Tustin High School before Foster moved to Monterey County and Lewis and Clemmons joined the Dons' roster. But Foster would come down and visit his friends occasionally.

Luster Lewis

​That's what happened in July 2008 when the trio was partying in a room at the Key Inn in Tustin. The 18-year-old woman was "highly intoxicated," according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, when she was dropped off at the motel by a mutual friend who asked Clemmons, Foster and Lewis to look after her.

To say they failed is an understatement.

While the young woman was, as the DA put it, "unconscious, incapacitated and unable to resist due to intoxication," Foster videotaped the duration of the sexual assault. Lewis removed her clothes and moved her from the bed to the floor so he and Clemmons could repeatedly rape, orally copulate and digitally penetrate her. One of the fine, upstanding gentlemen ejaculated onto her face, and Foster joined in the sexual assault by rubbing his penis against her face while holding the video camera and then, handing the camera to another defendant, Foster pissed on her.

DUI-OrangeCounty.com

What pen, officer?

​As this keyboard is being drooled over, the Angels have taken a 4-0 lead over the Yankees in the first inning of Game 5 of the ALCS.
​

If the lead held by the time you read this, that means there will be no need to drown season-ending sorrows and go driving through Garden Grove Saturday night.

However, there's a whole lot of baseball left, and Game 6 (if necessary) is Saturday evening. The potential for sorrow-drowning remains, as does celebratory hoisting.

In any event, avoid the Garden Grove Boulevard and Yockey Street intersection between 9 p.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday. Garden Grove PD explains why after the jump. And keep in mind the Angel season is dedicated to a pitcher who died (along with two others) in a drunken-driving crash . . .

McClelland. McDipShit.

​In the top of the fifth inning of the Angels' 10-1 loss to the Yankees last night, umpire Tim McClelland made what Yahoo! Big League Stew blogger Duk has labeled "the worst call of all time."  ​"Yes, you read that right," Duk declares. "The worst call of all time. Not just this postseason. Not this entire season. Not this decade. Not this century. I challenge you to think of one that was worse."

Watch the total injustice here.  

Sure, it's possible McClelland got paid off by the Yankees or the MLB or Rupert Murdoch. Or he could have suffered temporary blindness from the dirt kicked up by baserunner Jorge Posada. Maybe there was a shiny object diverting his attention. But in the replay, it looks as if McClelland totally forgot where he was or what he was supposed to be doing. Keep in mind he also blew the call when Yankee Nick Swisher tagged up before a flyout the inning before.

No, something else was afoot. For your consideration are these five drugs McClelland may have ingested before making the worst call of all time.

A-Rod or A-Hole?

​Since it's now obvious there will be no freeway series (hey, Angels and Dodgers, here's an idea: bring your bats next time), the time has come to move beyond the brutal losses suffered by our soon-to-be-exiting home teams and concentrate on the really important stuff.

​Like, which city is filled with more assholes, Philadelphia or New York?

Hey, it's an important consideration to remember while you avoid the pain that will come from watching the Phillies and Yankees face off in the World Series.

What follows is a highly scientific breakdown of 13 key assholic indicators to help us determine which big city takes the cake . . .

. . . the ASSHOLE cake.

Continue reading " 2009 Postseason Throwdown: Who Are"...

​Poor John Campbell (R-Real Housewives). He tried to do a nice thing for his constituents -- which we deserve, given that he refuses to earmark federal dollars for local projects -- but his gesture turned into a political football. Ok, a political volleyball.

Fox News's Chad Pergram has written up the sad saga of Campbell's attempt to get federal recognition for UC Irvine's mens' volleyball team, which won the national championship.

Campbell introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to congratulate the team for its big win. That shoudn't be controversial, given that Congress gives props to random upstanding thingies all the time, from fraternities to moon landing anniversaries.

So, he tried to get it passed as a "suspension bill" -- a.k.a. a non-controversial, fast-tracked piece of usually meaningless legislation.

Problem was, he had shut down some other congressman's suspension bill a few weeks earlier. And that congressman, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), wanted revenge.

​Am I the only one who thought, upon first hearing that there'd be a ping-pong tournament at South Coast Plaza this weekend as part of the mega-mall's "festival celebrating Chinese culture," that the whole thing sounded a little... racist?

I mean, you (a racist) would expect those people to play games with funny sounding names like "Ping Pong," wouldn't you?

Whoops. Turns out ping pong is called ping pong because that's how English people thought the bouncing balls sounded. At least, that's what Wikipedia says, and the eminently reliable PongWorld.com confirms it.

So you need have no enlightened liberal anxiety about attending the Ping Pong Diplomacy Rematch this weekend.

Johnny Damon's inability to hit the ball is really pissing off the above Yankees fan whose voice doesn't quite match his lips. (But love the hair!)

Nick Swisher, who is also lugging an unblemised stick into the ALCS against the Angels, is  apparently on notice with this fellow, too.

A-Rod and Jeter? Not so much.

​

Read alt. weekly 2009 Postseason Throwdown coverage for:

New York Yankees: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/baseball/

Los Angeles Dodgers: http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/sports/

Anaheim/LA Angels: http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/baseball/

All together: http://www.villagevoice.com/baseball/

​

New York still has fresh memories of winning three of four from the Angels in September, and having home-field advantage for the best-of-seven American League Championship Series as well as A-Rod suddenly finding his postseason bat are huge. But the Yankees live up to their team name when playing the Angels, who should be renamed the Yankers. For no one applies the ultimate titty twister to New York like Anaheim.

The Bronx Bombers' captain, Derek Jeter, certainly appreciates Angel manager Mike Scoscia's brand of pressure baseball.

"What makes them tough is they hit, they pitch, they run, they steal, they play defense, good bullpen, good closer, good manager," Jeter told the media after his team swept Minnesota last night. "I think that pretty much wraps it up."

No, Jeetz, this baker's dozen wraps up why Angel fans should feel comfortable heading into the Big Apple Friday.

1) The only American League team to have a winning record against the Yankees during Joe Torre's 12 years as manager (through 2007) was the Angels. They won 7 of 10 against the Joe Girardi-skippered Yankess in 2008 and the teams went 5-5 in regular season games this regular season past.

"Weave"

​With this being "Best of OC 2009" week all over ocweekly.com (and in those old-timey newsracks), and Angels hurler Jered Weaver scheduled to take the mound for tonight's game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox, it's appropriate to revisit Weave's appearance in "Best of OC 2008." ​

Heck, if he isn't at the ballpark yet, you might even catch him wiping the crumbs off his chin from the California turkey sandwich he devoured at Hector's Subs in Long Beach or begging that the river be the Jack of Clubs at the Hawaiian Gardens casino.

But whatever you do, tread gently lest you have a burning desire to be branded the goat who jinxed Weaver's pre-game rituals.

Meanwhile, should you feel brisk gusts coming from the direction of Anaheim tonight, let's hope they have not been produced by Santa Anas but Boston bats whiffing at whatever Jered and the 'pen throw at the Sox. Of course, meteorologists will tell you there's always a 90 percent chance such windpower was derived from Vlady's wild swings.

As for our competition crying in their overpriced beers in Beantown, their strategy to reverse their fortunes apparently involves hiring a witch doctor to soak Weaver's jersey in chicken blood--something they admittedly should have done before Thursday night to Torii Hunter's.

Ah, Bostonians and their quaint little local customs.

Nothing more can be said about the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's dominating 11-0 shutout of the Texas Rangers last night to win the American League West crown. The offense, defense and especially Ervin Santana's pitching were of a caliber one would expect from a World Series-bound team. So, let's instead relish the top 11 moments from the Halos' victory celebration . . . while we don't have to think about Boston. Yet.

1) Champagne-, beer- and milk (?)-drenched Angels players jogging out to center field and lovingly tapping the memorial to Nick Adenhart, the rookie pitcher who died in a tragic car accident along with two others after he won his first major league start for the ballclub. Reliever Brian Fuentes also poured victory juice over the Adenhart image's head like the kid's one of the American League West champs. He is.

2) Pitcher Sean O'Sullivan showing off a wide-array of dance moves in the plastic-covered clubhouse, including a tribal booty shake that had the black guys looking at each other saying "Damn!" and Fox Sports West announcer Bill MacDonald remarking, "That's 100 times better than Mark Madsen a few years ago with the Lakers when they had their celebration." 

3) Usually stoic manager Mike Scioscia's smiling widely as he watched O'Sullivan.

Continue reading " 2009 Postseason Throwdown: Top 11"...

Courtesy of FutureAngels.com

Seven of the eight Statesville Owls of 1961 who came to Tempe pose for the camera.

​​The not-yet-dead Texas Rangers are trying to prevent the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from winning the American League West crown, something the Halos can achieve as early as tonight at the Big A with a win against their Lone Star state rival.

It makes one wonder who players from the old Dallas-Ft. Worth Rangers of the American Association are rooting for. They were the Angels' Triple-A ballclub when Los Angeles made its major league debut in 1961, also being affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Judging from the Angels' caps worn by the chaps pictured above, there's no question where the loyalties lie among the Statesville Owls of 1961. Forty-eight years after the Angels' North Carolina farm club ended its inaugural season with a playoff loss to rival Lexington, players from the Owls reunited Friday at the franchise's Tempe, Arizona, minor league facilities.

A former Orange County resident brought them all together.

​Jered Weaver takes the mound against the A's this evening with the Angels (90-62) seemingly in the driver's seat for their third consecutive American League West title. The only Angel starter who hasn't missed a turn in the rotation, Weaver will be throwing on an extra day's rest. Nine of his team-high 15 wins have come at the Big A, where he has a 2.89 earned-run average. He should get plenty of backup from an Angels lineup that has the best record in baseball against lefties. And they're facing a weak one. Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez has failed to get out of the fourth inning in his last two starts, giving up eight earned runs and 10 hits in his last 6 2/3 innings against Cleveland and Minnesota. He has only five wins all season, and his last one came Aug. 10. The Angels' best hitter, Kendry Morales (his .303 batting average, 31 home runs and 99 RBIs lead the team), feasts on the A's, batting .538 with five homers and 12 RBIs in seven games versus Oakland since the All-Star break. Los Angeles of Anaheim's magic number is now four, so they could conceivably clinch at home this weekend. 

Angels owner Arte Moreno don't need no stinkin' ticket price cuts.

Major League Baseball franchises have taken a hammering in attendance this season (thank you, shitty U.S. economy!), so all the teams that are playoff-bound or possibly so are resisting the common end-of-season ticket-price gouging.

That is, all teams are except one.

Ladies and gentlemen, your Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim!

Reports Forbes:

Clubs poised for post-season play have learned a lesson from the economic havoc that tore through the regular season, knocking down attendance figures across the majors even as teams fell over themselves offering discounts and specials. Four of baseball's eight likely playoff teams--the Angels, Yankees, Cardinals and Rockies--have announced their post-season prices. Non-suite seats aside, all but the Angels are offering up plenty of cut-rate tickets from the regular season.

The bold was added by yours truly for shameful emphasis, of course.

​If the Angels and Yankees wind up facing one another somewhere on the way to the next World Series, it'll be tough to beat the playoff atmosphere that was already evident at the Big A last night.

Yes, those bastards in pinstripes eked out the 6-5 win (after blowing a 5-0 lead--HAH!), and they clinched their 14th trip to the playoffs in the past 15 seasons.

But, according to our highly placed source who was sitting in the Angel Stadium stands, fans who have been painted by the East Coast-dominated media with the "flaky Californians" brush were refreshingly really, really, really into the game.

Why, no one even started the wave!

Wait, are we talking about the same Angel Stadium?

​The public's first crack at Angels playoff tickets begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday, but don't bother showing up at the box office at the Big A. They are only available online at the Angels Web site or by calling Ticketmaster at (714) 663-9000.

There's a limit of four tickets per household. Since the Angels will have home field advantage in the series (most likely against Boston), as many as three games could be played at Angel Stadium.

Those lucky enough to have had MLB.com's Angels Insider subscription actually got first dibs at the tickets this morning. It's too late to sign up for a subscription now to get division-series tickets, but if you register, like, RIGHT THIS SECOND you'll be first in line for tickets to the American League Championship Series, which will go on sale Sept. 29 or 30. Insider subscriptions end today.
 

The Angels open the Division Series at home either Wednesday, Oct. 7, or Thursday, Oct. 8, depending on where the Yankees wind up. Look for the logo above on blog posts here as the Weekly steps up its Angels coverage during the playoffs.

*  *  *

What are they saying about us in other playoff cities? More 2009 Postseason Throwndown action can be found for the following teams:

New York Yankees: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/baseball/
St. Louis Cardinals: http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/baseball/
Colorado Rockies: http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/baseball/ 

More teams will be added as the playoffs near.

Photo by John Gilhooley

"Pastor Mondo" Armando Leon, who is shown in this 2005 photo above the cross-tattooed shoulder of Raiders Boosters of Orange County president Larry Garcia, founded Nation Ministry this season.

​Should the Oakland Raiders bounce back from their close opening night loss to the San Diego Chargers at Oakland Coliseum Sept. 14 and miraculously mount a winning season, perhaps it will be because they have The Big Guy on their side.

No, that is not a reference to rotund Raiders coach Tom Cable, rotund Hall of Fame Raiders coach John Madden or fat-headed owner Al Davis.

The Big Guy in this instance is God, Yahweh, the Ultimate Referee. And local "Raiders for Christ" are looking to him for supreme guidance this season. Anyone who has followed the Raiders in recent years knows they need divine help.

USC starting quarterback Matt Barkley hopes to flash the victory sign a lot in the years ahead.

Pete Carroll's stunning announcement that the pride of Mater Dei High Matt Barkley will become the first freshman to enter the season as the starting quarterback for Southern Cal's living legend coach has turned the college football world on its head.

 

Not that the kid ain't talented.

It's too late to join Blue Ballerz, Panama Joes, New Kicks on the Block, the Real Kickballerz of the LBC or any World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) team playing out of Long Beach this season, as competition has already begun.

But if you'd like to follow along and/or start the process of joining a team next season, visit CA Big Kahuna , which has all the details about the local-est adult kickball league around. This marks WAKA's 11th year.

Competitions are held weekends at Marina Vista Park, Colorado Street and East Santiago Avenue in Long Beach. Panama Joe's at 5100 East 2nd St., Long Beach, hosts post-game parties. Surely the fierce competitors would not mind if some kickball groupies darkened those corners alongside them.

Clockwise from top left: Mark Sanchez (Santa Margarita Catholic High School, Rancho Santa Margarita); Todd Marinovich (Capistrano Valley and Mater Dei high schools); Matt Leinart (Mater Dei); and Carson Palmer (Santa Margarital).

Steven Travers, a USC graduate, sports historian and former pro baseball player in the A's and Cardinals organizations, has written a book titled What It Means to Be a Trojan: Southern Cal's Greatest Players Talk About Trojans Football (hardbound, $27.95).

"The greatest Trojan players and coaches from the 1940s to present day were called upon to express why they are so proud to be a part of the storied tradition that is Trojan football," state the promotional materials from Triumph Books .

Frank Gifford, Jim Hardy, Craig Fertig, Tim Rossovich, John McKay, Clay Matthews, Keith Van Horne, Manfred Moore and Mark Carrier are among the Trojans who provided insights to Travers.

Fight on!

Of course, had the book been titled What It Means to Be a Trojan Quarterback, the first insight would have been that you spent your high school years in Orange County, as was the case with the pigskin slingers depicted above.

​

Lenny Dykstra, the pride of Santa Ana known as "Nails" during an illustrious Major League Baseball career with the New York Mets in the 1980s and Philadelphia Phillies in the 1990s, details his post-career, financial free-fall in bankruptcy documents just posted by The Smoking Gun, which notes that among his remaining assets is a $10,000 German shepherd.

Photo by John Gilhooley

Larry "D-Fence" Garcia is ready for another season of Raiders football.

Yes, dear, the NFL is back already. The Oakland Raiders kick off the 2009-2010 preseason versus the Dallas Cowboys tonight from Oakland Coliseum in a preview of this year's Thanksgiving Day game. Live coverage begins at 7 p.m. on KTLA-Channel 5.

Despite their relative--ahem--differences in the win-loss columns in recent years, the Raiders always give the 'Boys a good fight.

This also kicks off a new season for the Raiders Boosters of Orange County, which gathers on game days at Larry's Pizza, 926 W. Orangethorpe Ave., Fullerton, (714) 871-3484. The eatery has added more high-definition, flat-screen televisions since last season for viewers' enjoyment.

It's best to wear silver and black inside, and Mr. "D-Fence" himself, Larry Garcia, will be on hand to pass out and accept Boosters membership applications. Members get new t-shirts, which should arrive in a couple more weeks, Garcia says. Paid members are also automatically entered into a drawing for a grand prize each season. This year, two tickets to sit in Oakland Coliseum's "Black Hole" for the Dec. 13 game against the Washington Redskins will be given away. For more membership details, call (714) 278-8922 or e-mail Larry.Garcia@alcoa.com.

Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Eddie Murray, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, Don Sutton, Hoyt Wilhelm, Dave Winfield AND RICKEY HENDERSON are enshrined in baseball's Hall of Fame. All spent parts of their careers in Anaheim playing for the Angels. But none of the inducted members elected to be depicted wearing an Angels cap on their Hall of Fame plaque.

Will Vladimir Guerrero be the Angels' first?

Having stroked two homers--including the 400th of his career--in the Halos' 8-7 win over Tampa Bay at the Big A Monday night, Vlady could hang up his cleats today and be a lock for Cooperstown, blogs Stan McNeil of The Sporting News.

The Los Angeles Times' Fabulous Forum blog reports today that UC Irvine as of Saturday is "discontinuing" five sports--men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's rowing, and sailing--to cut costs amid reduced state funding. University brass expects to save $1 million by shuttering the programs.

Funny, but indicted billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III gave $280,000 more than that just to the UCI crew team, according to Dave Wielenga's July 2004 Weekly cover story, "Henry Nicholas, Superhero":

The Anaheim Ducks need Power Players. No, not skaters, passers and kitchen-appliance-sized goons to ensure success on power plays. (Actually, come to think of it, they could use more of those, too.) The Power Players in this instance are the cheerleaders who make every home game loud and exciting as much as the millionaires on the ice do.

Details from the NHL franchise are on the next page . . . 

<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=foxsports&vid=fde644e7-f0f1-4dba-b689-30e71b3a9463" target="_new" title="Happy to be alive">Video: Happy to be alive</a>

Before Friday evening's Angels game, Fox Sports Network carried a short video piece on Jon Wilhite visiting Angels Stadium followed by the young accident survivor joining his father on the Angels Live dais with play-by-play broadcaster Rory Markas.

Wilhite was the former Cal State Fullerton catcher who was in the car April 9 when Courtney Smith, Henry Pearson and Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart were killed after an accident with a suspected drunken driver. Doctors say Wilhite suffered internal decapitation, but his struggle to recover apparently has not changed his upbeat and joking demeanor as witnessed in the Angels pregame.  

Could his sunny outlook also have something to do with Fullerton "ball hawk" John Witt taking up the anti-drunken driving cause?

Photo by Jacob Repko

Waiting to get to the waves, around dawn outside San Onofre State Beach.

 Forecasts of an abnormally large summer swell in Southern California, particularly the southern parts of Orange County, northern San Diego County and northern Los Angeles County, have caused surfers to swarm to local breaks.

At 5:45 a.m., there were already more than 200 surfers in the water at San Onofre State Beach looking to catch a part of this summer swell. Wave heights were averaging 6 feet, with head-high sets rolling in, and some slightly overhead.  

At 6:45 a.m., the San-O entrance was closed, causing a massive line of cars to sit and wait. Some people turned around, but for the most part the die-hards decided to stick it out--with their sticks. According to the guards at the entrance, wait times were estimated anywhere from a half hour to up to two hours for some cars near the back.

The weatherman predicts the swell will peak through today and tomorrow. If you can avoid the crowds, it should be a great surf weekend.

Dana Point documentary filmmaker Dana Brown will not be the only person associated with the production attending the Orange County premiere of his latest film Highwater at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Regency Lido in Newport Beach.

Rich Wilson and Wes Brown, who were members of the production team for Highwater as well as previous Brown efforts Step Into Liquid and Dust to Glory, join the writer-director on stage for an audience Q&A.

Among the surfers captured by Highwater cameras scheduled to make special appearances at the screening are: Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Jesse Billauer, Mark Healy, Tom Curren, Robert "Wingnut" Weaver, Robert August and Pat O'Connel.

Curren, who has been a folksy blues singer-songwriter since he was about 15, is scheduled to perform before the movie starts.

Proceeds from the screening benefit the Newport Beach Film Festival. Go here for information on tickets, which are $15.