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Kevin Roderick launched LA Observed in 2003 and is the site's editor and publisher. His bio is here. Website | Email
Most of his 10,000 entries have been written for his editor's blog. Browse or search the archive.
Kevin's posts for SoCal Sports Observed are archived below.
SoCal Sports Observed entries
Yes, Kurt Streeter of the L.A. Times compared Maury Wills favorably to Ernie Banks, Rod Carew, Pee Wee Reese and Luis Aparicio.
The list of prominent sports writers who moved to the web or magazines is about to add another with former LAT writer Gordon Edes set to jump from the Boston Globe to Santa Monica-based Yahoo Sports.
A hockey fan from Britain saw his first game at Staples Center and left filled with disdain for the arena, Los Angeles fans and the brand of unexciting hockey they pay high prices to see.
A hockey fan communicates his displeasure with the Kings, which did honor the death of Stu Nahan.
Adam Rose of the LAT's USC blog revisits the paper's decision to stop its sports writers from participating in polls and awards voting — and finds a dissenter in ex-sports editor Bill Dwyre.
The Bottom Ten returns to the Times after 13 years.
The L.A.-Orange County area has fielded twenty pro football teams through the years. How many can you name?
It's not the Lakers or Dodgers — and certainly not the Kings.
Jerry Crowe pays tribute.
The Times columnist gets back in the paper on Friday.
Terry Cannon's creation is in a league of its own.
Looks like it will cost you to watch beach volleyball pros in the South Bay from now on.
A Kings' fan's lament on SI.com.
They will work out with the Galaxy for a week after flying to Los Angeles for a tryout.
A toxicology report disclosed that USC kicker Mario Danelo had a blood-alcohol level of 0.23% when he died at the...
Take a look at the next sports and concert venue to arrive in Southern California.
Luc Robitaille heard the Staples Center cheers one last time on Saturday night, and for 25 minutes thanked everybody in the room.
His body was at the bottom of a cliff in San Pedro.
How one Dodger fan gets through the off-season.
Baseball and football have won the Web war, while the NBA lumbers behind like Shaq getting back on defense.
The pride of Fairfax High gets an obit in the Jewish Journal.
Rich Lederer's campaign to enshrine Bert Blyleven picked up a Hall of Fame baseball writer.
Chris Brown didn't make the major league splash that best friends Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis did.
Chris Chelios, the NHL's oldest player, hangs in Malibu with John Cusack and Laird Hamilton.
Contributor David Neiman has a piece on Lamar Odom in the current issue of Lakers magazine. David also blogs about...
Yutaka Fukufuji ups the country count in the Kings dressing room to nine.
When they were neighbors in Pacific Palisades back in 1993, Vinnie sued Sly over excess runoff....
The Kings announcer finally gets to speak the truth about some of the morons who have run L.A.'s sad excuse for a hockey club.
Steve Bisheff signs off as a newspaper sportswriter after nearly 42 years.
Randy Wolf signs with Dodgers for a year at $7.5 million.
A simple old-school stat — on-base percentage — makes the case that Juan Pierre is a mediocre leadoff hitter.
For better or worse, the Dodgers have downgraded at leadoff and center field. Positive spin notwithstanding.
For a team that needs home runs and that lost J.D. Drew, you would think the overrated Juan Pierre would be last on their wish list. Think again.
Most famous law-school graduate, USC: Judge Wapner, "The People's Court." Most famous law-school graduate, Berkeley: Chief Justice Earl Warren, Supreme Court.
Steve Garvey has found a way to bring in a little cash. Plus: a sports culture blog and news on the Cubs.
Just when it looked like the Dodgers would be stuck with three more years of right fielder J.D. Drew, he opts out.
"Pyscho" would split time between Boston and the Dodgers if the deal comes together.
USC's David Carter is the go-to expert on sports business for teams and the media. Too bad he rarely watches sports.
When Jerry Buss gets his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, even politicos line up. It's almost as if they think there are tickets in it for them.
Los Angeles magazine senior writer Steve Oney's article, "Fallen Angel," is included in the new Best American Sports Writing 2006.
Bob Timmermann has to be the only sports blogger anywhere who has posted game reports from South Bend and Sapporo this month.
Leinart skips practice for the birth of his boy Cole with Brynn Cameron.
The Sports Examiner is part blog, part Jim Healy.
KLAC turns to Fred Roggin, T.J. Simers and the columnist's daughter for morning drive time.
All employees involved in local programming at the Santa Monica sports talk station (AM 1540) got the axe, including general manager Roger Nadel.
Milton Bradley says of his first season in Oakland: "Most fun I've ever had in baseball. Best team I've ever been with."
The longtime sportscaster for Channel 2 and ESPN is now doing his "Face to Face with Roy Firestone" interviews for...
USC's new arena at Figueroa and Jefferson isn't quite ready but they will play volleyball there tonight anyway.
Sports talker Petros Papadakis resigned today from 1540 AM, according to Daily News Inside USC blogger Scott Wolf. "Papadakis is...
Eric Stone's biography of Ralph "Blackie" Schwamb, "the greatest prison ballplayer of all time," came out last year. Photos that...
They had him before we did. When Vin Scully returns to NYC, as he did this week, the New York Times does a story.
Bob has a recurring dream where he gets phone calls from Ron Fairly telling him to inform particular Seattle Mariners that he thinks they are good players.
The lawyer for steroid-using pitcher Jason Grimsley goes further than prosecutors in challenging the accuracy of an L.A. Times story...
On Saturday there will be games played at Dodger Stadium, Staples Center, the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl.
Today is the end of the road for a lot of familiar baseball names. Tim Salmon finishes with 299 homers...
Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger for blue-chip prospect Jack Johnson, a future anchor.
SI's Peter King says NFL owners aren't happy with any of the stadium proposals for Southern California. A team could be "five or six years away," says an influential owner.
The former Dodgers outfielder-1B has been a color color man on the Seattle Mariners TV and radio team since 1993....
When a few thousand fans pounded on the doors to get back in during Monday's game, the Dodgers smartly threw open the gates.
ESPN baseball commentator Peter Gammons popped up on the network's website tonight for the first time since suffering a near-fatal...
Someone at YouTube edited together Vin Scully's home run calls from the the ninth and tenth innings last night at...
Former Dodgers VP Derrick Hall, a casualty of the McCourt management style, is the new president of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers had the worst-place Cubs down 7-0 with Derek Lowe pitching. The Cubs committed six errors. The Dodgers still lost.
The Times joins the list of local papers with a high school football blog.
Daily News beat writer Tony Jackson caught a few public zzz's on the Dodgers' trip to New York.
In his Sunday column, Bill Plaschke makes the case that even football fans like it the way it is — with more NFL games on television in L.A. than in any official football city.
LAT Olympics reporter Alan Abrahamson has taken his act to NBCSports.com, where he will be a columnist.
Los Angeles Times sports columnist T.J. Simers took questions from the blog The Big Lead.com, which calls him "funny and fearless."
The Dodgers come home with a two-game lead and a hot rookie pitcher, while the Angels head north still trailing by 5½ games after waking up Derek Jeter.
One of the wonderful charms of YouTube is the old footage being made available again, often to brand-new audiences. Below...
Pretty nifty start to a major league pitching career: ten weeks and thirteen starts before he loses the first time....
LASportsBeat is a new website that aims to advance every college game, match and tournament in the area, "with a focus on the non- major sports and with no special emphasis given to USC or UCLA."
The new Kings regime won't make the same mistake the old one did. They will retire Luc Robitaille's number at...
It's that time of year when local NHL players start reserving ice time at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo...
In the aftermath of last night's brawl in Texas, Angels manager Mike Scioscia sits for three games, mound-charger Adam Kennedy...
The U.S. post office in Reseda, out in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, will be named for...
Sports Illustrated chats with the young Angels hitter about his climb to the majors, taking a foul ball away from...
Chad Billingsley only gave up one walk in seven innings last night. Perhaps the kid has turned the corner. He...
Vinny called it: In the top of the 9th during Sunday's game, Vin Scully observed the pitch-by-pitch rise in Giants...
This video has been around longer than YouTube, but here it is again for anyone who hasn't seen Jules Winnfield...
- Russell Martin's tenth-inning, party-launching walk-off homer on ESPN's Sunday night game gave the Dodgers a weekend sweep of the...
Newly arrived Angeleno Neal Pollack writes today at Slate about what happens to your life when you move to your...
Pretty funny column in the Times about Adande trying to survive a private workout with Holly McPeak's athletic trainer, then...
Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus makes the point that the Dodgers' extremely poor run after the All-Star break came against...
T.J. Simers has foisted his share of clunker conclusions on his readers — enough that some of them wonder if...
Roger Goodell began with the National Football League as a public relations intern. Today he was named the next commissioner,...
Manhattan Beach has long been the pro athletes ghetto of Los Angeles. For Lakers and Kings it's close to their...
We've all seen Clippers owner Donald Sterling's ads for his high-rise apartment buildings along the Wilshire corridor and in Koreatown....
Local futbol fans get a treat tonight at the Coliseum. FC Barcelona, one of the storied European soccer clubs, is...
Helene Elliott, the Times' new columnist, returned to a familiar subject for a Saturday column on the emergence of Southern...
Floyd Landis was dropped Saturday by his Swiss racing team, and Tour de France officials said they no longer consider...
Northridge City Little League's team of 11- and 12-year-old boys has rolled through three post-season tournaments to become the Southern...
Daily News columnist Kevin Modesti takes a provocative stand on the Dodgers' acquisition of Greg Maddux. When he makes his...
USC safety Brandon Ting and his twin brother Ryan quit the Trojans football team last week, saying they would concentrate...
The Dodgers sent away one natural shortstop and added another, and dispatched touted phenom Joel Guzman. The Angels stood pat,...
That roster move the Dodgers needed to make was to stash Nomar Garciaparra on the DL to rest up his...
Wilson Betemit is an interesting player, a Dominican infielder with some sock in his bat (OPS of .841 in his...
Bud Furillo hired Mitch Chortkoff onto the Herald-Examiner sports desk more than forty years ago. At Chortkoff's current print home...
This week's Sports Illustrated features the baseball-themed orange crate artwork of Pasadena artist Ben Sakoguchi. The piece is by...
With their 10-3 loss to the Padres today in the afternoon heat at Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers fell to 1-13...
The chunky lefthander with the hittable fastball got his wish to pitch regularly, but his personal nightmare is that most...
The sharpest and often funniest letters to the editor in the L.A. Times all week run in Sports on Saturdays....
