The effects of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic have been wideranging on sports and the larger world as well. One of the more subtle effects of those changes has been a desire to stay closer to home, with commercial air travel no longer something people can take for granted. The result has been a recent spate […]
With Long Beach high school football teams setting their schedules for the modified 2020-21 season, we’re taking a weekly look at what the new slate of games will look like. Everything was set up nicely for the Long Beach Poly football team headed into the 2020 season. The Jackrabbits have their strongest young talent base […]
Long Beach Poly junior middle blocker Rylie McGinest did not need long to make the biggest decision of her athletic career so far. When she received a formal offer from USC a few days ago, McGinest committed immediately. “Oh I did commit on the spot, yes,” she said. “They said, ‘You can wait and think […]
There were two Long Beach State basketball alumni in the news last week, for wildly disparate reasons. James Ennis III was making headlines for reasons you might expect from the program’s alums: he’s in the NBA bubble trying to help the Orlando Magic to an upset of the Milwaukee Bucks (Ennis was also ejected from […]
With class set to open tomorrow for the 70,000+ students of the Long Beach Unified School District, one thing is clear: there’s never been a year like this in the more than 100 year history of the district, its teachers, and its students. The Sept. 1 start date will see school conducted entirely online for […]
Adonia Yandall Faumuina College Commitment No Description Long Beach Poly junior outside hitter/setter Adonia Yandall Faumuina has ended a whirlwind college recruitment by announcing she’s staying close to home as she’s verbally committed to USC. “It was important to me to stay close to my family and to pick a school with great academics, athletics, […]
Legendary college basketball coach Lute Olson passed away Thursday evening at the age of 85 after a brief stay in hospice care. Olson built the University of Arizona into a national power and won the Wildcats’ only national championship. He’s won of only five NCAA men’s basketball coaches with 20 20-win seasons. The 2002 Naismith […]
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Semaj Miller. Two weeks ago, I attended a candlelight vigil for Miller, a 14 year-old Compton native who was shot to death in broad daylight. Miller’s youth basketball coach, Derrick Cooper, said that at the time he was shot and killed, Miller would have been at a […]
The YMCA of Greater Long Beach has locations in East Long Beach, North Long Beach, Lakewood, and Bellflower along with a camp in Big Bear, an Early Childhood Education Center, and a Community Development Center downtown. The YMCA serves more than 50,000 people annually and, as it’s involved in both fitness and education, it’s difficult […]
Bruce Flanders, the longtime voice of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, passed away last Friday at the age of 75. Flanders had been the official race announcer for the race since 1978, with an energetic and enthusiastic voice that became synonymous with the sunshine and excitement of Long Beach’s signature event. “The ‘Voice of […]