By Lucas Camacho
Upland, California (The Hollywood Times) – 07/01/2024
Welcome to July, the halfway point of the year. Now that we have reached this point, how are the local sports teams around Hollywood and Los Angeles doing? Let’s take a quick look at each team and see how things are going.
SOCCER
Los Angeles is home to three soccer teams: LAFC, the Galaxy, and Angel City FC. If I may quote Elizabeth Banks from The Hunger Games: “Ladies first.” This has been a forgettable season so far for Angel City FC. After 15 games, they’ve won 4, tied 3, and lost 8 times with a goal differential of minus 9. Translation: this has not been a good year. The problem is that Angel City FC doesn’t have that player that lights the world on fire, or at the very least can pick up the team when things don’t look good.
Moving to the men’s side, there have been a lot more successes for LAFC and the Galaxy. Despite the presence of Lionel Messi playing for Inter Miami CF, both LAFC and the Galaxy have been two of the best teams in MLS this season. They’re both at the top of their conference and are gearing up for an Independence Day showdown, which will be played at the Rose Bowl. Who knows, whoever emerges on top between these two may win the championship at the end of the season.
HOCKEY
Unlike soccer, there is only one hockey team in the Los Angeles area: the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings were bounced from the playoffs in the first round. To make matters worse, this was the third year in a row that the Kings were eliminated from the playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers. I’m sure a lot of LA hockey fans are saying “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” The first thing the Kings did was trade Pierre-Luc Dubois to Washington after a disappointing year. They also used their first round pick in last week’s draft to pick up an intriguing prospect in Liam Greentree, a right winger from the OHL. Greentree is a solid player and should do well as a power forward. The Kings will also need to explore free agency, which begins the day this article was written. We’ll see when the season begins if the Kings can put a good enough team on the ice to finally bring back the Stanley Cup to Southern California. (Note: when this article was being written, it was announced that the Kings already agreed to a deal with free agent Warren Foegele to a 3-year, $10.5 million deal and a 4 year, $15.4 million deal with Joel Edmundson.)
BASKETBALL
In Los Angeles, there are three basketball teams. One is a storied franchise with a huge record of success, one led the way for women’s sports for many years with decorated athletes…and the other is the Clippers.
Starting with the Clippers, the team has all the look of a playoff contender, and they certainly are. The way the Clippers are built, they should make it into the playoffs without having to go through the play-in tournament with next to no problems. The problem is going from being a playoff contender to a championship contender. The Clippers continue to squander their chances at being the premier basketball team in Los Angeles. To make matters worse, before this article was written, it was reported by multiple sources that star forward Paul George was leaving the Clippers on a four-year, $212 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. Even though they kept guard James Harden, this is a blow for the Clippers.
We now move on to LA’s more successful basketball teams: the Sparks and the Lakers. However, the luck of both teams recently makes you question that “successful” label. Starting with the Sparks, this has been as successful a year for the Sparks as it has been for Angel City FC. They appear to be headed for drawing the number one pick in next year’s draft as the losses pile up. I unfortunately predicted this when the Sparks passed up on drafting Angel Resse, who just made WNBA history with a 10th straight double-double. Rickea Jackson has been anything but impressive, and their other top pick Cameron Brink is done for the year with an ACL sprain. All praise to Dearica Hamby for single handedly keeping the Sparks afloat in a lot of these tough games, but it is not enough. Maybe they will draft better next year (while also adding drafting Rickea Jackson over Angel Reese to the list of “things Lucas warned you NOT TO DO”).
As bad as things are for Sparks fans, Lakers fans feel worse. After a season of high expectations and winning the first in-season tournament, the Lakers were bounced again from the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets. To add insult to injury, the Lakers had to watch their most hated enemy, the Boston Celtics, win their 18th franchise championship. This puts the Celtics back ahead for most championships; a prospect that makes many die-hard Laker fans cringe. However, hope is on the horizon. The Lakers may have gotten one of the best under-the-radar steals in last week’s draft by picking Dalton Knecht with the number 17 pick. Many thought his defense was too terrible to take a chance on, but to be honest…that’s okay. This kid is an offensive machine, and a little boost to the offense might make things easier for the Lakers. The other pick was one everyone saw coming: Bronny James, son of LeBron James. Not only did the Lakers get a project they can build up to be a great player without having to trade up, they also ensured his father stays in Los Angeles to possibly finish his career.
FOOTBALL
It may be the middle of summer, but football is just around the corner. Los Angeles has two football teams to talk about: the Chargers and the Rams. Both teams are actually trending in the right direction and are worth really taking a look at.
Let’s start with the Chargers, whose season last year came to a disappointing end when star Quarterback Justin Herbert went down. Things needed to change for the Chargers (or else they would end up being as relevant as the Clippers). So, ownership cleaned house, including firing head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco on December 15 (right after an embarrassing 63-21 blowout loss at the hands of the Las Vegas Raiders). After rebuilding the front office, the search was on for a new coach that could get the most out of Justin Herbert, who is still in his prime (in fact I argue he can compete with even Patrick Mahomes). When the name Jim Harbaugh was being floated for the job, I thought it was a pipe dream. Then came the news: Harbaugh was going to be the next head coach of the Chargers. Honestly, my jaw dropped: this was a coach that just led the University of Michigan to a national college championship, and now he was returning to the NFL. There are all kinds of reasons to be excited. The other franchise stars, Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa, had nothing but smiles talking about how great they feel since the hire. The only problem was that so much talent was gone from the offense. Running back Austin Ekeler, tight end Gerald Everett, and receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams were all gone. Despite my warning, the Chargers drafted Joe Alt, an Offensive Tackle, in the first round instead of the plethora of wide receivers that were available (I’m truly hoping this doesn’t become like when the Sparks passed on Angel Reese). So, they don’t have a veteran WR that can emerge as Herbert’s go-to guy, but they do have some intriguing players that are coming up. This includes wide receiver Brenden Rice from USC (son of the legendary Jerry Rice).
As exciting as the Chargers are, the Rams may be even more so to watch. After their bye last season, the Rams went from a team that was down and out to a contender. Their near loss in the playoffs to the Detroit Lions showed that the Rams were not a team to underestimate. Many of the Rams are back this season under Coach Sean McVay with one glaring exception: the retirement of one of the best defenders to ever play the game, Aaron Donald. The Rams got a haul at the draft earlier this year that put the team in the running for best draft class. The problem that everyone had with it, me included, was the price they paid to trade up to get Braden Fiske. It’s assumed that he was drafted to replace Aaron Donald (as impossible as that is) but trading a second-round pick for next year seems a little much if you combine it with the 52 and 155th pick from this year’s draft. However, it’s still a good-looking Rams team. They may even give the San Francisco 49ers something to worry about.
BASEBALL
Like hockey, there is only one baseball team that calls Los Angeles its home: the Dodgers. After a historic offseason, the Dodgers have had a few more ups and downs than anticipated. The potential to be a World Series champion is there, as shown when they defeated the New York Yankees on the road winning two of three games. However, there seems to be too many lows for Dodgers fans to feel comfortable, as shown from this weekend’s miserable performance against their eternal and greatest rivals, the San Francisco Giants.
Superstar Shohei Ohtani has been everything the Dodgers hoped for. The problem has been the injury list: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (the Dodgers’ other big offseason signing), Joe Kelly, Ryan Brasier, Max Muncy, and even star player Mookie Betts. Freddie Freeman has had a bit of a down year but has picked up some of the slack after Betts went down. Walker Buehler did not look good coming back from a long absence since his second Tommy John surgery. To make matters worse, it will still be a while until we finally see the return of one of the longtime faces of the franchise: future hall of famer Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw was shut down after he reported lingering soreness in his left shoulder, but it is likely a precaution. It seems the depth isn’t as great as it has been in years past for the Dodgers, but there is still time to right the ship. After all, it may be more ideal to have all these injuries and let-downs now and not in September and October. Only time will tell.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
It’s worth taking a trip down the freeway from Hollywood and Los Angeles to take a peek at the sports teams of Anaheim: The Ducks and the Angels (because my cousin Judy is a HUGE Angels fan).
Let’s start with the Ducks, a team that hasn’t made waves in the NHL for a few years. There are some reasons to feel hopeful have a budding class of homegrown players waiting to breakout, including left wing Cutter Gauthier who appeared in the last game of the season for the Ducks to get an assist against the powerful Las Vegas Golden Knights (and keep this in mind: Gauthier had just played in the NCAA championship for Boston College just five days before this game). They also picked Beckett Sennecke with their first pick of the draft (generating one of the best draft reactions I had ever seen). So, the Ducks may be down, but there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Beckett Sennecke was SHOCKED when his name was called by the Ducks at #3 overall 👀 pic.twitter.com/JsmBcSalf8
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 28, 2024
Now for the Angels. I’m not sure if my cousin Judy will edit this part (or if she’s gonna like it), but it doesn’t look great for the Angels. There are many Angels fans that will admit they cried when they won the 2002 World Series, and I’m sure many of them are crying now for the opposite reason.
Lefty pitcher Patrick Sandoval is done for the year, and we have no idea when superstar Mike Trout is going to return. Add that to the fact that they need better pitching, and you get the hard reality that the Angels’ bad luck has gotten worse. Now, I am not going to completely trash the Angels, and I will say things could be worse (they could be Angel City FC or the Sparks…or worse…the Clippers). They are not the worse team in the league, and they have had spots where there have been signs of life. Whether or not they can put together a winning team or not depends on one question: how long until Arte Moreno sells the team? (In my opinion, the man has become the Angels equivalent of Frank McCourt). [Agreed, no editing, what can I say…(cousin Judy)]
