The world (and all five of its rings) according to Jim: • We got next, right? Some time during Sunday’s closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, the torch (figuratively) and the five-ringed Olympic flag (literally) will be officially passed, and Southern California will be on the clock. The opening ceremony of the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad, split between the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium, will be July 14, 2028, and the party will run through July 30, followed by the Paralympics Aug. 22 to Sept.
3. The countdown will be 1,429 days. It goes quickly.
Thankfully, most of the heavy lifting is already done, which is the beauty of bringing the Games to a community where most of the needed facilities are already in place, paid for and privately owned. ..
. • I said most. If you are a member of the softball community griping about your sport being relocated to Oklahoma City, you have a legitimate gripe.
Usually, when someone is sent from L.A. to OKC, that means they’re not cutting it, or not yet out of options.
(Right now, we call it the James Outman Shuttle. More on that subject below.) .
.. • From this viewpoint, there are three projects that need to be completed in those 1,429 days that will allow Southern California to show its best face to the world.
One is, yes, that softball stadium. Yes, OKC hosts the Women’s College World Series and the Softball Hall of Fame. But where do a large percentage of college players come from? Where do college coaches spend their summers recruiting? Right.
SoCal. Somewhere – the Inland Empire or Antelope Valley, maybe, if it comes to that – there should be the space and the willingness to build an Olympic-sized softball stadium, even if most of the seating is temporary. After all, they built one in Athens, and how often was it used after the 2004 Olympics? A softball park in SoCal would certainly be used afterward.
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• The second project: Extensions of the Metro Rail transportation system to cover the necessary venues (particularly a People Mover to connect the existing line with Intuit Dome and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, and another to connect the rail line with LAX). This is another project that benefits the entire community going forward, not just Olympic visitors. • And the third project: Someone please authorize sufficient signage at LAX to turn what is currently a massively confusing facility into one where an arriving tourist can at least know where to catch a shuttle to the rental car facility or satellite parking garage or rideshare lot.
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• I draw on personal experience. When we returned to the Tom Bradley International Terminal from a European trip in March, there was no indication – none – which shuttles picked up where. If those of us familiar with the territory have trouble figuring it out, how do you expect international visitors to do so? Just the ordeal of picking someone up at LAX this week reinforced my premise: This may be the worst, most disorganized, most user-unfriendly big city airport in America.
There’s a good reason why I’d rather fly out of Ontario – or Long Beach, or John Wayne, or even Palm Springs or San Diego – than LAX. ..
. • There is one aspect of the Olympic experience from the Games’ last visit, in 1984, that will be hard to replicate. Even though Metro Rail didn’t yet exist, L.
A. freeway traffic was shockingly uncongested for those two weeks. Residents heeded the forecasts of traffic chaos and got out of town, while employers did their part by going to flex scheduling.
And when LAOOC boss Peter Ueberroth got a standing ovation at the closing ceremonies at the Coliseum, I still maintain good traffic conditions had something to do with it. If current organizing committee chairman Casey Wasserman wants his own salute at the end of the ’28 Games, clearing the roads would help. .
.. • One revelation coming out of NBC’s Olympic coverage: Noah Eagle, who has handled both men’s and women’s basketball play-by-play, has grown exponentially as a broadcaster.
He’s tremendous. How on earth did the Clippers let him get away from their radio crew? ..
. • Today’s whining from New England: Legendary guard Bob Cousy tells the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy that Jayson Tatum’s lack of playing time with the U.S.
men’s team could be because Steve Kerr has some sort of bias against the Celtics. Seriously? Cooz, you’ve got your Banner 18. Pipe down.
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• This Dodgers season is starting to resemble 2018, when they won their sixth straight division championship with just 92 victories and only after rookie Walker Buehler shut down Colorado in a one-game playoff at Dodger Stadium for the division title. It’s still reasonable to assume they’ll be playing October baseball this year, but foolish to assume who will be on the postseason roster beyond the stars. .
.. • “Got a lot of good ballplayers and we only have so many spots,” Dave Roberts said Wednesday afternoon.
“Once Mookie (Betts) gets back, it’s going to be another difficult decision. And I just don’t know who that’s going to be right now. But it’s going to be a tough one.
And then I think, once we start to make some decisions, then it’ll become a little bit more clear. “The most important part of it is you have to put the best players in the best positions, what’s best for the team.” Translation: Some players currently on the 26-man roster are placeholders.
Feel free to do your own speculation as to who might be designated for assignment, or which currently injured players might not be activated before the roster limit goes from 26 to 28 on Sept. 1. .
.. Related Articles • A footnote to our items last week about spring trainings past, notably the Chicago Cubs’ presence from 1921 through ’51 on Santa Catalina Island and the Pittsburgh Pirates’ periodic presence (say that three times quickly) at San Bernardino’s Perris Hill Park from 1935 through 1952: I wondered if there’s any physical commemoration of the Pirates’ time in San Bernardino, and it turns out there is.
Pacific High School, built on the other side of Perris Hill from what is now Fiscalini Field, opened in 1953. Its teams’ nickname, said to have been approved by the school’s first student body: Pirates. (And while the school colors are purple and silver instead of black and gold, the logo looks kind of familiar.
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