The world according to Jim: • We are still in the afterglow of Paris ’24 (or the harsh glare, considering the fiasco surrounding what should be Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal), and we have begun the countdown toward L.A. ’28.
So we lead off today’s bucket o’ notes with a question to you, the reader: If you had organizing committee boss Casey Wasserman’s attention and there were one thing you could suggest regarding L.A.’s Olympics, what would it be? .
.. • Credit for this idea goes to Janet Cerswell of Alta Loma, who wrote: “How about a column where readers can suggest what kind of opening ceremony they would like to see? I loved the Paris opening, spectacular! So what can Southern California do to equal or top it? (Not that it’s a competition).
” She added: “I would like to see our beautiful National Parks featured. Not sure how exactly, but maybe a ‘from sea to shining sea’ theme?” ..
. • If my memory is correct, they did something along those lines in the ’84 opening ceremony in the Coliseum, only they screwed up and had the land rush going west to east. Anyway, the closing ceremony sticks more in my mind, with L.
A. organizing committee chairman Peter Ueberroth getting a standing ovation, a UFO dropping a giant specimen (7-foot-8 former Biola basketball player George Bell) into the Coliseum, and Lionel Richie singing “All Night Long.” Four decades later, I still associate that tune with those Olympics.
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• But let’s expand this question to all aspects of the Games. (The best responses will be published, which is sort of the idea.) And yes, I’ll start.
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• I mentioned last week how inappropriate it is to stage the softball competition in Oklahoma City rather than what is not only the actual Olympic city but also the most fertile area of the country for softball talent. An off-the-cuff suggestion: Is it feasible to refurbish, or at least temporarily expand, one of many existing facilities here? Maybe the diamonds at either Cal State Fullerton or Long Beach State, say, or possibly Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine, the annual home of the CIF Southern Section softball championships and a home for USA Softball events in the past. UCLA’s Easton Stadium would be the perfect location – especially with the Olympic Village on site – but it’s pretty well landlocked and expanding its seating appropriately would be difficult.
But there’s got to be a way to give the sport the venue it deserves where the Olympics are actually taking place. Since this is the imagination capital of the world, why not use some of it here? ..
. • Idea No. 2 involves another sport returning to the games in ’28, but in this case it will involve imagination on the part of Rob Manfred.
Or maybe the ginormous TV ratings (20.3 million on NBC and Peacock) for last Saturday’s men’s basketball gold-medal game between the USA and France have already gotten the attention of the commissioner of baseball. Taking a two-week Olympic break in the 2028 schedule and making all of the best players available for the competition in Dodger Stadium would exponentially increase MLB’s profile worldwide, and a long-term commitment to using big leaguers would convince the IOC to keep baseball in the Games.
And rather than diluting the impact of MLB’s own World Baseball Classic, as I suspect some baseball people fear, an Olympic platform might enhance it. Show some foresight, Rob. Get it done.
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• For what it’s worth: Flag football will make its Olympic debut in 2028, and there’s already talk that retired and maybe even current NFL players might participate in the planned 5-on-5 format. Tom Brady would turn 51 during those Olympics. Just a thought.
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• During a recent conversation with Yogi Roth, former Pac-12 Network football commentator who is now with the Big Ten Network – and yes, a full column is coming – we discussed one of the changes that has made college football (and all college sports) difficult for some fans to take. “Right now, the calendar’s chaos,” he said. “I look at the NFL, and the NFL has made free agency entertaining.
Right now, NIL, the portal, signing day is not entertaining any more ...
I hope they eliminate the second of what is now two transfer portal windows. In no other sport in the world do you finish your spring football, your OTAs, and then anybody on the team can go leave.” Reducing the chaos, of course, would require a level of leadership at the top of the sport that doesn’t exist and won’t as long as there are so many stakeholders with disparate interests.
Which is sort of what got college sports into this predicament in the first place. ..
. • Today’s sign of the apocalypse: This email heading, in advance of the Little League World Series: “Little League ratings/wagering growing rapidly.” Yuck.
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• The eagerly awaited debut of Inglewood’s and the Clippers’ Intuit Dome had an immediate snag Thursday night. The Bruno Mars concert that was the arena’s opening act was delayed by an hour and a half, according to KABC/Channel 7, because of a hiccup with the arena’s facial recognition software . Be prepared, folks.
This is just the beginning. For example, the NFL is using facial recognition software to regulate who can go into certain stadium areas. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and the officers’ union, citing privacy concerns, have already threatened to refuse to work Raiders home games under that policy.
• There’s still a month and a half left in baseball’s regular season, but is it foolish to assume that Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge are going to win the MVP awards? I think not. ..
. Related Articles • I’ve seen this observation several times on social media in the last week and it’s worth passing along: In light of Steph Curry’s performance in last Saturday’s gold-medal game, now we all know how it feels to be Warriors fans. .
.. • Meanwhile, Lakers fans wondering why LeBron James hasn’t been able to do for their team what he did for the Olympic team should consider: They played 40-minute games in Paris (instead of the NBA’s 48), and the roster was stacked enough that LeBron (and Anthony Davis) didn’t have nearly the burden there that they face in the regular season, when they’re expected to lift play-in tournament talent to a championship level.
If you wish to blame Rob Pelinka ...
well, at this point it’s hard to argue. [email protected].
