USC VS Michigan

What a game! My prediction USC 17 Michigan 10. It will be interesting to see how the Michigan defense will play vs the high powered offense of USC. I hope there's no mysterious Flu like symptoms going on before the game. In the middle of flu season that's always a worry. Like my mom always said, "don't drink out of the same water bubbler as everyone else". I can't tell you how many games I missed beacause I caught something. Thank goodness I have a water softener filter now. Go Trojans!

Vacation Thoughts

This past summer I had the pleasure to vacation in the Outer Banks located on the coast of North Carolina. While it's different from the SoCal lifestyle it's great to realize that such places exist in our country. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to relax!

Raleigh is Beautiful

In a recent visit from USC I found Raleigh North Carolina Real Estate to be extremely affordable and what a beautiful area. This area has some of the best colleges in the country and the housing is quite affordable.

How's Leinart

The Trojans lost this weekend as did Matt Leinart and the Cardinals. I think Matt and his Zona teammates may as well call it a year, pack up and rent an Orlando Vacation Rental and stay in Disney for the year. It would do them some good to take a vacation.

UCLA Rids Its Demons in Blow Out Over Stanford

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Arron Afflalo scored 18 of his 23 points in the first half and No. 11 UCLA beat Stanford 71-54 on Thursday night, snapping two losing streaks to the Cardinal in the Pac-10 opener for both teams.

The Bruins had lost eight straight at home to Stanford and six in a row overall. The win was the eighth straight for UCLA, which is off to its best start since the national championship season of 1994-95.

UCLA (11-1) opened the game with an 18-1 run, capped by a jumper from Ryan Wright with 14:23 to play. Stanford never got back within single digits.

The Cardinal (4-5) missed their first 12 shots from the field and didn't get their first field goal until nearly 9 minutes into the game.

Stanford shot 20 percent in the first half while UCLA was at 60 percent.

Afflalo went 6-for-7 from the field in the first half and made all three of his 3-point attempts. He finished 7-for-11 from the field overall and 3-for-5 from 3-point range.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Bruins and Josh Shipp added 11 points.

Warning: Bowling Can Be Harmful To Your Health

PORTAGE, Mich. -- A bowler collapsed and died at a bowling alley shortly after rolling the third perfect game of his life.

Ed Lorenz, 69, bowled a 300 on Wednesday in his first league game of the night at Airway Lanes. When the retiree got up to bowl in the fifth frame of his second game, he clutched his chest and fell over, and efforts to revive him failed. The cause of death wasn't immediately known.

"If he could have written a way to go out, this would be it," said Johnny D Masters, who was bowling with Lorenz.

Friends said Lorenz started bowling in 1957 and ended last season with a 223 average. He rolled his first two 300 games over a one-week period in 2004.

In May, Lorenz was inducted into the Kalamazoo Metro Bowling Association Hall of Fame.

Lakers Draft Pick Now Training in CBA for the NBA

Ronny Turiaf, the former Gonzaga Bulldogs star who had open-heart surgery just over six months ago, has signed a contract to play for the Yakama Sun Kings as part of his rehabilitation.

Turiaf brings new status to the Continental Basketball Association team, whose fans tracked his stellar career at Gonzaga, just three hours east in Spokane.

"From a selfish standpoint, for me, he's a great basketball player. But for the franchise, and for everything Ronny has done in this state, it's the biggest one we've ever had," coach Paul Woolpert said of the signing Wednesday. "And he hasn't even stepped on the floor yet."

Turiaf, a 6-foot-9 forward, was chosen by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 35th pick in June's NBA draft. During a subsequent physical, doctors detected a heart problem, and Turiaf underwent surgery July 26 to repair an enlarged aortic root.

The Lakers voided the contract but retained the rights to Turiaf for three years. He has no timetable for joining the NBA team.

"I'm not physically healthy enough to endure practice and training for an NBA schedule," Turiaf said at a Wednesday news conference. "I'm using Yakama as training. As long as I'm here, I will work hard and I will try to make this team better."

Kings Score 4 Goals in 3rd & Win 4th Straight

Jeff Giuliano's first NHL goal was far more important than it was pretty.

Giuliano scored the game-winner and Mike Cammalleri scored twice as the Los Angeles Kings used a four-goal third period to beat the Calgary Flames 5-2 on Wednesday night.

Cammalleri tied it at 2 on the power play, sweeping a low shot past Miikka Kiprusoff.

The Kings took their first lead of the night 27 seconds later, when a harmless looking shot from the blue-line by Tom Kostopoulos was redirected by Giuliano as the rookie left-winger cruised through the slot.

"I was by myself and Tommy shot it at the net and I just deflected it and it went in," said Giuliano, playing his 14th NHL game. "It sure feels nice to get that first one."

Los Angeles went up two goals at 13:37 when Pavol Demitra converted Alexander Frolov's centering pass.

With the Kings down three key centers -- Craig Conroy (flu), Jeremy Roenick (finger), and Eric Belanger (groin) -- Giuliano chipped in some much-needed offense.

"You have to love his effort, his determination," Kings coach Andy Murray said. "He was dogging the puck all night and battling. It wasn't the prettiest goal in the world, but it was from our eyes."

Cammalleri said it was a confidence booster to win with the depleted lineup. Los Angeles has won four straight.

"It's important for us to go out there and get two points because it shows that we're a team and when we win, we play well as a team and it's not because individuals do it," said Cammalleri.

Daymond Langkow and Jarome Iginla scored for Calgary. Iginla's goal was his 14th of the season but only his third in 14 games.

Finally Someone Else Gets Steve Finley. SF Rids of Fonzy

The San Francisco Giants acquired outfielder Steve Finley from the Los Angeles Angels for third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo on Wednesday in a swap of former All-Stars who dropped off dramatically last season.

The 40-year-old Finley batted a career-worst .222 with 12 home runs and 54 RBI in 112 games for the Angels, who won the AL West for the second straight year.

"We were hoping for a better season from him, and I'm sure the Giants were hoping for a better season from Alfonzo as well. Neither had career years," Angels general manager Bill Stoneman said. "I talked to Steve and I know he's working as hard as ever."

Alfonzo played in only 109 games last season, batting .277 with two home runs and 43 RBI.

The Giants have been interested in Finley for some time, pursuing him twice previously in free agency -- including last winter before he joined the Angels. San Francisco wound up signing Moises Alou.

UCLA Almosts Chokes as Wagner Loses by 2

Unheralded Wagner College gave No. 12 UCLA all it could handle, and Bruins coach Ben Howland said it was no fluke.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute scored from underneath with 14 seconds remaining Wednesday night, lifting UCLA to a hard-fought 74-72 victory.

"I'm glad we got that win. That's a tough, hard-nosed team that came in determined to beat us on our home court," Howland said. "We were fortunate to come away with a victory."

Mbah a Moute made his only field goal of the second half after Jordan Farmar found him alone under the basket.

"It was an isolation for me," Farmar said. "I saw a man run at me. He was wide open, and I got him the ball."

Said Mbah a Moute: "I knew it was coming. I just got ready and finished it. And it was a great pass by Jordan."

Wagner was unable to get a shot off after that thanks to UCLA's hard-nosed defense. Mark Porter's wild 3-pointer from about 30 feet came after the final buzzer sounded, and wasn't close.

"Give them credit, they did a good job defensively on the last possession," Wagner coach Mike Deane said. "I thought we played well enough to win. It was a very disappointing loss, but they made the plays they needed to make in the last 30 seconds and we didn't.

"To be in position to win this game, that's a good statement. We were equal with UCLA tonight. For us as a program to compete at UCLA, it's a testament of how far our team has come as a program."

The win was the sixth straight for UCLA and its ninth consecutive victory at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins (9-1) are off to their best start in eight years.

Wagner (6-2) is off to its best start since the 1979-80 season. The Seahawks, members of the Northeast Conference, had their four-game winning streak snapped and lost for just the fourth time in 21 games dating to last January.

10 Teams a Charm Dodgers Sign lofton to Play Centerfield

The Los Angeles Dodgers think they added new dimensions to their roster by signing Kenny Lofton.

Kenny Lofton
Center Field
Los Angeles Dodgers

Profile
2005 SEASON STATISTICS
GM HR RBI R OBP AVG
110 2 36 67 .392 .335


"His ability to get on base and score runs, combined with his speed and defense, are great additions to our club,'' Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said.

Lofton indeed has proven multitalented over his long major league career. He has a .299 career batting average, his 567 steals are the most of any current major leaguer, and he's a four-time Gold Glove winner.

"I've always been a guy who can impact the team in so many aspects: defensively, offensively, on the base paths, in the dugout. As long as I'm out there I feel good about it,'' Lofton said Tuesday after the Dodgers announced their agreement with the 38-year-old outfielder, who received a $3.85 million, one-year deal.

He figures to be the Dodgers' regular center fielder, a spot left open when Los Angeles traded Milton Bradley to Oakland last week.

Lofton's skills have not been overly diminished by age. The six-time All-Star hit .335 in 110 games for Philadelphia last year, the NL's highest average among players with 350 or more at-bats. He had a .392 on-base percentage and hit .330 with runners in scoring position.

"His skills are very similar to earlier in his career,'' Colletti said. "He knows how to play, how to win.''

Lofton gets a $350,000 signing bonus, a $3.5 million salary and the chance to earn $150,000 in performance bonuses: $50,000 each for 350, 400 and 450 plate appearances.

Kobe Goes Off for 62 Sits 4th Quarter - Lakers Crush Mavs

Two nights after a most annoying loss, Kobe Bryant took out his anger and frustration on the poor Dallas Mavericks.

Bryant was at his incredible best Tuesday night, scoring a career-high 62 points in just three quarters to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 112-90 victory over the Mavericks.

The 27-year-old Bryant, who brought a 31.3-point average into the game, shot 18-of-31, including 4-of-10 from 3-point range, and made 22 of 25 foul shots while playing only 33 minutes.

When he left the game, he had outscored the Mavericks by himself, 62-61.

"I was so frustrated by the loss the other night I was going to will us to victory," Bryant said, referring to a 76-74 loss to the Houston Rockets. Bryant scored 24 points in that game -- a total he matched in the first 16½ minutes against the Mavericks.

"I was very angry, I felt like I wanted to come out and send a message, that we're going to dominate at home," he said. "We're going to hit you, we're going to bring it to you. I wanted to send that message."

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