Los Angeles Times - 04.04.2020

D4 SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

Santa Anita suffered its

10th horse death since

Dec. 26 when Smiling Ali

died on the main track dur-

ing training Thursday.

Pending a necropsy report,

it is believed to be a cardiac

event. Santa Anita had gone

32 days without a fatality, al-

though racing was halted

March 27 because the track

was considered a nonessen-

tial business.

—John Cherwa

The Major League Base-

ball Players Assn. agreed to

supplement the weekly

stipend for nonroster play-

ers with major league serv-

ice.

For a player on a minor

league contract with one day

of major league service, the

union voted to provide a

$5,000 payment. For players

on a minor league contract

with at least six years of

major league service, the

union voted to provide a

$50,000 payment.

—Bill Shaikin

Ahacker posted a racial

slur 45 times in an online fan

video chat with a black New

York Rangers prospect,

K’Andre Miller. The Rang-

ers scrambled to disable the

hacker on the chat with

Miller, a defenseman drafted

22nd in 2018.

Texas dismissed wom-

en’s basketball coach Karen

Aston.

pended through May 31

amid the coronavirus out-

break.

ETC.

Swimmer Furniss

hospitalized

Former Olympic swim-

mer Bruce Furniss, who

won two gold medals at the

1976 Summer Games in

Montreal, was hospitalized

in Orange County after suf-

fering a major heart attack

Sunday morning.

Furniss, 62, a Villa Park

resident, broke 10 world re-

cords and 19 American re-

cords.

He won 11 AAU national

titles and six NCAA event

titles at USC.

—Mike DiGiovanna

The Kansas Chiefs and

wide receiver Sammy

Watkins agreed on a restruc-

tured one-year contract

worth $9 million in base

salary. ... Wide receiver

Travis Benjaminand offen-

sive lineman Tom Compton

signed one-year deals with

the San Francisco 49ers. ...

The Detroit Lions agreed to

terms with free-agent cor-

nerback Darryl Roberts. ...

The Chicago Bears declared

the quarterback competi-

tion between Mitchell Tru-

biskyand newcomer Nick

Folesan open one.

The WNBA announced

Friday it is postponing the

start of the 2020 season in-

definitely because of the

coronavirus outbreak.

“As developments con-

tinue to emerge around the

COVID-19 pandemic, includ-

ing the extension of the so-

cial distancing guidelines in

the United States through

April 30, the WNBA will post-

pone the start of its training

camps and tip of the regular

season originally scheduled

for May 15,” WNBA Commis-

sionerCathy Engelbertsaid

in a statement.

“While the league contin-

ues to use this time to con-

duct scenario-planning re-

garding new start dates and

innovative formats, our

guiding principle will contin-

ue to be the health and safe-

ty of the players, fans and

employees.”

The league is scheduled

to hold its draft April 17, al-

though it will be held in a vir-

tual format with players and

team and league personnel

participating remotely.

—Austin Knoblauch

The Preakness Stakes,

normally the second leg of

horse racing’s Triple Crown,

was postponed, but no new

date was announced.

The move was expected

given the uncertainty in the

wake of the coronavirus. The

race was supposed to be

held May 16.

Last month, the Ken-

tucky Derby, scheduled for

May 2, was moved to Sept. 5.

At the time, Churchill

Downs suggested that the

Preakness and Belmont

Stakes would follow. But at

the time neither the

Stronach Group, which runs

the Preakness in Baltimore,

nor the New York Racing

Assn., which puts on the Bel-

mont, had made any deci-

sions about the races.

There has been no an-

nouncement made on the

Belmont, which is scheduled

for June 6.

—John Cherwa

The U.S. Women’s Open

golf tournament in Houston

is moving from June 4-7 to

Dec.10-13 because of the

rapid developments of

COVID-19. ... The CONCA-

CAF Nations League semi-

finals and final in June have

been called off because of the

outbreak. ... The English

Premier League was sus-

pended indefinitely follow-

ing a meeting of its 20 clubs.

... The under-construction

athletes village for the Tokyo

Olympics, which was to

house up to 11,000 Olympic

and 4,400 Paralympic ath-

letes and staff, could be used

as a temporary hospital for

coronavirus patients. ... The

NCAA said hearings and

oral arguments in infrac-

tions cases have been sus-

THE DAY IN SPORTS

WNBA postpones season start

staff and wire reports

Love” when Kenley Jansen

walks out of the bullpen. It’s

the only sport where every

player has his own song that

accompanies his every

entrance, and I dearly love it

that last season Will Smith

batted to the theme song

from “The Fresh Prince of

Bel-Air.”

I miss Keith Williams Jr.

singing the national anthem

before big games, and

Randy Newman singing “I

Love L.A.” after every win,

and, in the middle of the

seventh, thousands swaying

and singing and taking

themselves out to the ball-

game.

I miss all these noises,

none being more joyful than

the ones created by the

organist with the long hair

and a soft smile.

Filling the giant pedal

imprints of longtime legend-

ary Dodgers organists

Nancy Bea Hefley and

Helen Dell, Ruehle, 51, has

spent the last four years

brilliantly filling Chavez

Ravine with music both

inspirational and witty.

“The organ and baseball

just go together,” he said.

“You hear the crowd’s emo-

tions and you play off it.”

He’s the one who begins

each homestand with the

theme from “Welcome Back,

Kotter” and ends each night

with, “Closing Time” or “Oh,

What a Night.” When Max

Muncy makes a good play,

he plays, “Maxwell’s Silver

Hammer.” For each of

Walker Buehler’s big mo-

ments, he plays, “Oh Yeah”

from the movie, “Ferris

Bueller’s Day Off.”

He doesn’t try to make

fans think and smile and

say, “Oh, I get it ...” But

that’s what happens, and

it’s a blast to play along.

“That happens uninten-

tionally,” he said. “I’ll just

play something I think fits a

certain player or situation.”

For close plays, it’s the

theme from “Close Encoun-

ters of the Third Kind.” For

home runs, it’s “Seven Na-

tion Army.” Andevery

strikeout is rewarded with a

live version of the first bars

of Beethoven’s Fifth Sym-

phony.

During some drawn-out

games, he’ll even play the

theme from “Gilligan’s

Island.” You figure it out.

“Dodger Stadium is such

a happy place,” he said. “I

love the crowd, I love the

singing, it still gives me

chills.”

Ruehle, who also is em-

ployed to play for the Kings,

is getting chills of a different

sort these days. While the

Kings are paying him for the

games he missed because

their season was “paused”

—six total — the Dodgers

have not yet done the same.

Every major league team

has pledged $1 million to an

assistance fund for their

workers, but the Dodgers

have not made a decision

regarding the disbursement

of that fund.

He was scheduled to

receive his season’s first

check Friday for two exhib-

ition games and three regu-

lar-season games but re-

ceived nothing. As with

many others, he’s anxiously

waiting for the Dodgers to

take some sort of action,

especially because the

Dodgers and Kings provide

his sole source of income.

“Obviously, with no

games being played, we’re

not being paid, and that’s

definitely making things

challenging,” he said.

When contacted Friday,

the Dodgers issued the

following statement.

“The Dodgers have

pledged $1 million towards

an assistance fund for our

workers during this chal-

lenging time,” it read. “Like

most of the other teams, we

are working to find a way to

distribute the funds in a

manner that will be most

beneficial for the recipients

and hope to come to some

conclusions soon.”

There is another tune

that Dieter Ruehle some-

times plays these days to

cheer himself up. It’s the

theme to the “Charge”

chant. Sometimes he’ll even

do a little fist pump after he

finishes, charging into the

unknown with unbowed

faith, a symphony of hope,

and music to our ears.

Ruehle plays on in a symphony of optimism

[Plaschke,from D1]

‘The organ and baseball just go

together. You hear the crowd’s

emotions and you play off it.’

—Dieter Ruehle,

organist for the Dodgers and Kings

As he drove to Fox Sports’
studios in Charlotte, N.C., on
Sunday morning, Jeff Gordon
felt that familiar buzz of race
day.
“I got excited when I woke
up,” the retired NASCAR
driver and current television
analyst said. “Knowing that I
was going to get to go see a
race, I was going to get to
broadcast a race, be a part of
it.”
Not a real race, of course.
Not now, anyway. Like the rest
of the sports world, NASCAR
suspended its schedule be-
cause of the coronavirus out-
break, its drivers stuck at
home while its monolithic
venues sit empty.
Back in Fox’s Charlotte
studios, however, Gordon has
been hard at work the last two
Sundays broadcasting races
of a different variety. In the TV
time slots originally dedi-
cated to NASCAR, computer-
generated images of an iRac-
ing competition have aired, a
video-game broadcast that
had the look of a virtual pre-
sentation but the feel of some-
thing much more substantial.
“I don’t know what to call
it,” Gordon laughed. “I guess
you’d call it real racing. Our
normal broadcast has now be-
come iRacing.”
Virtual simulators are

nothing new to auto racing,

used as training tools by al-

most every major racing

team. IRacing turned the con-

cept into an actual competi-

tion, allowing drivers to race

against one another from the

comfort of their homes.

“I always thought it was a

cool concept,” Gordon said.

“But I never knew it could do

what it’s capable of doing to-

day, to put the sport on a

broadcast.”

With a roster of 35

NASCAR drivers headlined

by semi-retired Dale Earn-

hardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Jimmie

Johnson and Denny Hamlin,

Fox’s two “eNASCAR” broad-

casts together have drawn

more than 2 million viewers,

dusting previous eSports tele-

vision rating records at a time

other sports are stuck in neu-

tral.

“There’s a lot of things that

made NASCAR and iRacing a

perfect candidate for this,”

said Brad Zager, Fox Sports

executive vice president and

head of production. “It’s a

simulator rather than just any

other eSport. You’re not just

hitting a joystick. ... These

drivers have rigs and it really

feels like racing. They’ve got to

deal with shifting and the is-

sues in the track they nor-

mally would deal with.”

Founded in 2008, iRacing

carved out a niche within the

racing community over the

last 12 years among fans and

drivers alike.

Some professionals use it

to learn new tracks. Others to

keep hand-eye coordination

sharp. According to Steve My-

ers, iRacing’s executive vice

president and executive pro-

ducer, most simply enjoyed

the competition.

“They all got into racing

because they love racing,”

Myers said. “So to be able to go

to a software platform like

ours that more closely, more

accurately represents what

racing is ... it’s fun for them to

do.”

Though iRacing — which

is currently staging similar

virtual series for Formula One

and NASCAR truck racing —

can’t replicate all the physical

sensations of stock car racing,

it does force drivers to make

the same mental calculations.

Go for a pit stop or stay on the

track? Attempt a pass or

maintain position in the

pack? Slow down through a

turn or risk smashing into the

wall?

“In the real world, you feel

the air moving in the window,

you feel it in the seat. The

loads on your body tells you

what the car is doing,” Gordon

said. “In this world, it’s visual.”

NASCAR drivers have tak-

en it seriously. Timmy Hill,

who won Sunday’s race, spent

so much time preparing for

the race that his wife, Lucy,

started asking, “When are you

going to come downstairs?

You’ve been on this thing all

day.” After his win, however,

she was the one to deliver the

ceremonial glass of milk as

they celebrated in their home.

“I definitely rank it up

there,” Hill, who has yet to win

a NASCAR event on a major

series, told reporters when

asked how the virtual victory

compared with other career

achievements. “Just because

the platform is being televised

on Fox, having essentially the

entire NASCAR audience

tuning in.”

Others in the industry are

also toasting to the success of

eNASCAR, which will contin-

ue until actual racing re-

sumes.

After reaching peak popu-

larity early this century,

NASCAR’s popularity has spi-

raled in recent years. The days

when Gordon, Earnhardt and

Johnson captivated capacity

crowds and headlined televi-

sion broadcasts of almost 6

million television viewers are

gone.

Last season, the average

NASCAR race attracted

about 3 million viewers, ac-

cording to Statista, and

swaths of empty seats were

noticeable in grandstands

across the country.

The virtual races won’t re-

verse those trends. Butthey

offered up a timely reminder

of just how relevant racing can

still be. “It’s proven out be-

yond our wildest dreams of

being a tremendous business

story,” said Scott Warfield,

NASCAR managing director

of gaming. “It’s having an

impact on company morale

and giving employees some-

thing to rally behind in a very

tough time. There’s a fan ben-

efit, there’s an industry bene-

fit, and there’s a business ben-

efit where you have a lot of

partners that were able to

help at a time when some of

that exposure could have

been lost.”

The phenomenon is

loosely reminiscent to

NASCAR’s coming-out party

in 1979. That year, the first full

national broadcast of the

Daytona 500 coincided with a

massive snowstorm that kept

much of the East Coast and

Midwest inside, introducing

the sport to a country-wide

audience for the first time.

Today’s COVID-19 circum-

stances are much bleaker,

and the impact of these virtu-

al races will surely be much

smaller in scale. Few other

television programs, sports

or otherwise, have provided

abetter large-scale distrac-

tion.

“This is an opportunity,

with everything going on in

the world right now, to step

away from that for a short pe-

riod of time,” Gordon said.

“To go have some fun and be

able to do some racing that is

as realistic as it gets.”

On the right track with iRacing format

NASCAR’s virtual

presentation offers

viewers the look and

feel of ‘realracing.’

By Jack Harris

DENNY HAMLINleads the pack during eNASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 125

at virtual Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin is one of many big names participating.

Chris GraythenGetty Images

Jeff Grosso, a skateboard-
er from Arcadia who rose to
the heights of greatness in the
1980s before falling to the
depths of despair and eventu-
ally making a comeback, died
Tuesday at Hoag Hospital in
Newport Beach. He was 51.
Orange County coroner’s
office investigator Inez
Chavez said the cause of
death had not been deter-
mined and that the results of
an autopsy were pending.
Grosso, who was a resi-
dent of Costa Mesa, broke
onto the skateboarding scene
as a 12-year-old when he be-
gan riding as a professional.
Two years later, in 1982, the
shoe and apparel company
Vans began its sponsorship of
him, one that continued into
2020 with his popular
YouTube show “Love Letters
to Skateboarding.”
Known for his hard-charg-
ing lifestyle and sardonic wit,
Grosso was the unofficial his-
torian of skateboarding, al-
ways ready to share a story
and insight into the sport with
the younger generation. He
later became a popular com-
mentator and analyst on
skateboarding broadcasts.
“To say Jeff ’s impact on
our brand, our people and
skateboarding was unparal-
leled, would be an underesti-
mation of how much of a role
he played in the lives of us all,”
Vans representatives said in a
statement on its website.
“From curating content that
highlighted the global skate
community, to his unique and
raw commentary of the skate
industry, and mentoring up-
and-coming athletes— there
was nothing that Jeff wouldn’t
do to uplift skateboarding and
the people around it. Jeff
Grosso is the epitome of
skateboarding.”
Aficionados and other leg-
ends of the sport pointed to
Grosso as a guiding light and
one of the pioneers of skate-
boarding.
“I believe Jeff is a big rea-
son that anyone truly cares,
and skateboarding was lucky
to have him as an ambassador

and gatekeeper to its history,”

Tony Hawk wrote on an Insta-

gram post. “Jeff was a true

skateboarder at his core, and

a great wealth of entertain-

ment, insight and valuable

philosophy to a younger gen-

eration. I was lucky enough to

skate with him over the last

four decades and occasionally

featured on his Vans’ Love

Letters series.”

Michael Burnett posted a

heart-wrenching note on

Thrasher Magazine’s website.

“We have the terrible task

of saying a heartbreaking

goodbye to beloved vertical-

ist, commentator and friend

of the mag, Jeff Grosso,” Bur-

nett wrote. “The Brat,

Mothra, Grossman or just

plain Jeff, Grosso went from

number-one amateur to ’80s

superstar to cautionary tale

and back again.”

Born Jeffrey Blaine Grosso

on April 28, 1968, in Glendale,

he talked openly about de-

pression and addiction, in-

cluding to pain pills after mul-

tiple surgeries following

skateboarding accidents and

to heroin. In interviews after

his recovery, he discussed

times when he tried to take his

life.

“I tried getting sober in

1997 and didn’t get there

until 2005, if that tells you

anything,” Grosso said in an

interview with King Skate-

board magazine. “Life was

never easy for me. I like to do

things the hard way. It’s

one of the reasons I was at-

tracted to skateboarding in

the first place. It’s problem

solving.”

Grosso went on to say in

the interview that he had few

regrets in life, except how he

treated people.

“I treated some woman

really poorly; I treated my

mother poorly and my family,”

he said. “I abused friendships;

I burned bridges. ... I thought

the world owed me something

and I thought skateboarding

owed me something.”

Grosso is survived by a

son, Oliver, who is 8.

Daily Pilot staff writer Matt

Szabo and internet reports

contributed to this story.

YouTube/Vans

TROUBLED FIGURE

Grosso, who became professional at age 12, talked

openly about drug addiction and depression.

J EFF GROSSO, 1968-2020

Pioneer, historian

of skateboarding

By Dan Loumena