Mike Guardabascio “You can take the Summer League out of Long Beach, but you can’t take Long Beach out of the Summer League.” That was the thought I had as I was driving my family home from Las Vegas last weekend, after 72 hours of nonstop basketball action at the NBA’s Summer League, hosted at […]
A certain level of toughness and grit is required to play any sports, but every year an athlete or two catch our eyes and distinguish themselves as having found another gear. That’s true of both of this year’s honorees, who played through injury and led their teams both emotionally and in terms of production. Sone […]
One of the special aspects of the Long Beach sports world is how community-based it is, and how many programs feel like a family. The Long Beach Poly football team has always been one of those teams, and that’s been evident in how the program has grieved and remembered Keith “Slice” Thompson, the beloved longtime […]
The All-City Freshmen of the Year award has been a great predictor of success the last two years, with previous winners Camille Lindsay, Maya O’Dea, Jason Parra, and Sammie Hamilton all continuing to dominate the Moore League this year (all four won Moore League Player of the Year or individual championship honors in 2021-22). We […]
Each year we present the Spirit of Long Beach award to a person or group of people that’s inspired us over the course of the school year. We’ve never spent less time deliberating the award than we did this year, in deciding to present it to Long Beach Poly junior Gabriel Tyler. We’ve known Gabe […]
Mike Guardabascio A few weeks ago we celebrated a milestone moment in American sports history, the 50-year anniversary of the passage of Title IX. A federal civil rights law that has influenced so much around gender equality in education, arguably Title IX’s biggest impact was leveling the playing field for girls and women in sports. […]
Edison High School hosted one of the best 7-on-7 tournaments of the summer on Saturday, bringing together the best high school football teams in Southern California for a passing league showdown. Long Beach Poly and Millikan were two of the teams competing, and the Moore League rivals got the chance to face off during pool […]
NUMBER ONE It’s hard to imagine a Long Beach high school football season to go better than it did at the end of 2021 when Long Beach Poly, Jordan, Compton and St. Anthony all reached CIF championship games. Poly was moved down to Division 4 but its 20th CIF football championship didn’t mean any less […]