Los Angeles Times - 31.10.2019

D2 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

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The Amgen Tour of Cali-

fornia — the only U.S. stop

on cycling’s prestigious

WorldTour circuit — has

been placed on hiatus for

2020 and faces an uncertain

future.

Since its debut in 2006,

the multiple-day road race

has featured top interna-

tional cyclists traversing the

state in an important lead-

up to the Tour de France.

But its owner says the event

has become increasingly

problematic from a financial

standpoint.

“This has been a very dif-

ficult decision to make, but

the business fundamentals

of the Amgen Tour of Cali-

fornia have changed since

we launched the race 14

years ago,” said Kristin

Klein, the tour’s president

and executive vice president

for AEG Sports. “This new

reality has forced us to re-

evaluate our options and we

are actively assessing every

aspect of our event to deter-

mine if there is a business

model that will allow us to

successfully relaunch the

race in 2021.”

In recent years, the Tour

of California has become

known as a steppingstone

for emerging talent. Egan

Bernal, at 21, earned his first

world-level victory in the

2018 race, then won the Tour

de France the following year.

On the women’s side, a

shorter competition has

drawn Olympic and world

champions such as Kristin

Armstrong and Anna van

der Breggen by offering

equal prize money for its

stage races.

Last year’s course for the

men began in Long Beach

and covered 645 miles over a

span of seven days before

finishing in Sacramento.

“I like racing as well as

training in California,” Ger-

man cyclist Marcel Kittel

said before the start. “I can

see the beach and do alti-

tude training all in one

place.”

USA Cycling said it

would attempt to help revive

the event, which it called “an

outstanding showcase for

the sport in America.”

Amgen Tour of California placed on hold

Financial problems

might doom the only

U.S. stop on cycling’s

WorldTour circuit.

By David Wharton

Retired sprinter Usain

Bolt, who still holds the world

record for fastest 100-meter

dash (9.58 seconds) and won

eight Olympic gold medals in

track, could have a new sport

in his sights: Football.

Bolt, 33, told TMZ Sports:

“If the Patriots or Aaron

Rodgers call me. If they call

me, I’m ready!”

As if the New England

Patriots or Rodgers’ Green

Bay Packers don’t have

enough weapons.

Could he do it? Bolt is

6-foot-5 and ran a 4.22 40-

yard dash at this year’s Super

Bowl NFL Experience fan

event. Plus, who’s going to tell

the fastest man in the world

no? He’d just run off before he

could hear you.

Interview is over

Cleveland Browns

quarterback Baker Mayfield

abruptly ended his weekly

news conference Wednesday

after being asked what he

deemed “the dumbest ques-

tion” he could have possibly

been asked at that moment.

While discussing a stalled

drive during the Browns’ 27-13

loss to the New England

Patriots on Sunday, Mayfield

became irritated with ESPN

Cleveland’s Tony Grossi,

saying things such as, “Stop

saying ‘but,’ ” and “You don’t

play, you don’t know it” to the

longtime local reporter.

But Mayfield decided he’d

had enough after Grossi

asked if he was happy with

that drive.

“Was I happy with the

drive? No, we didn’t score

points,” Mayfield answered

without even attempting to

hide the disgust in his voice.

“That’s the dumbest ques-

tion you could ask.”

He then paused and

exclaimed, “What?” before

walking away from the group

of reporters while muttering

about Grossi under his

breath.

Top sports moment

What is your all-time

favorite local sports mo-

ment? Email me at hous-

[email protected]

and tell me what it is and why

and it could appear in a

future daily sports newsletter

or Morning Briefing.

This moment comes from

Bob Oppermann of Sylmar:

“Sept. 27, 1973, was going

to be a big night for me!

Nolan Ryan was pitching for

the Angels, and if all went

well, he would set the single-

season strikeout record. And

in honor of the occasion, the

game was even going to be

televised! This was going to

be a big night for a 15-year-old

Angels fan!

“But then Dad stepped in

and ruined my plans. He said

that he had to make an emer-

gency service call in Santa

Ana. Somebody’s chairlift

had broken and he was going

to need help lifting the unit.

He was only going to need my

help for a minute, but he

wouldn’t be able to do it

without me. (He was only

going to need me for a min-

ute, but my entire night was

going to be ruined is how I

saw it!) I looked pleadingly at

my Mom, begging her to let

Dad know how important

this night was! She just

shrugged and gave me a look

that said, ‘Sorry, I can’t help.

You need to help your Dad.’

So Dad put his tools into the

box on the back of his Honda

750, and off we went. Heading

south on I-5, I remember

getting off at Katella, and

seeing the Big A right in front

of us! How I wish we were

going to the game!

“Well, to my surprise, we

were going to the game! Dad

had gotten some tickets from

a friend of his. Ryan was

going to need 15 strikeouts to

tie Sandy Koufax’s single

season record of 382, 16 to

break it. By the sixth inning it

seemed that breaking the

record was imminent, as

Ryan was just mowing them

down. As I recall, he tied the

record in the eighth inning.

But as luck would have it, he

couldn’t get a strikeout in the

ninth or the 10th. He finally

got his 383rd strikeout of the

season, in the top of the 11th

inning, and history was

made! Fortunately, the An-

gels scored a run in the bot-

tom of the inning to make it a

complete-game victory.

“What a big night it was,

indeed!

“Nolan Ryan’s awesome,

record-setting performance

was made even better by the

best prank that Dad ever

pulled on me.”

MORNING BRIEFING

Bolt ready

to play for

Packers

or Patriots

By Houston Mitchell

Kawhi Leonard

had many

reasons for

coming to work

in Los Angeles;

laying the

groundwork for

a future career

as a leading man in Holly-

wood was probably not one of

them.

But Arnold Schwarzeneg-

ger, his costar in a commer-

cial for the upcoming film

“Terminator: Dark Fate,”

thinks he could one day make

that transition.

“Kawhi is great,” Schwarz-

enegger said. “He’s very funny

and very natural on camera.”

The commercial debuted

last week before the NBA

season opener between the

Lakers and Clippers, and

shows Schwarzenegger run-

ning into Leonard at Gold’s

Gym in Venice. Schwarzeneg-

ger and Leonard, who has

been nicknamed “The Termi-

nator,” meet Paul George and

Linda Hamilton, who makes

fun of Leonard’s “crazy robot

laugh.” The 60-second spot

has been viewed nearly 3

million times on Schwarzen-

egger’s Twitter page. He

laughs when he thinks back

to the extravagant produc-

tion behind the commercial.

“I arrived and there were

motor homes everywhere,” he

recalled, “like we were shoot-

ing a movie, and I said, ‘What

are we doing here?’ It’s a

commercial with three guys

and Linda Hamilton and we

need 15 trucks and camera

equipment and lighting

equipment? I said, ‘C’mon,

guys, we can shoot this with a

handheld.’

“They wanted me to put

on makeup and I said, ‘You

want me to go to the gym and

do makeup? What are we

talking about? Since when do

athletes have makeup on in

the gym?’ It was too much.”

Schwarzenegger didn’t

know about Leonard’s nick-

name until the commercial

shoot, but he loved the way

Leonard was showcased in

the spot.

“The finished product

turned out great,” Schwarz-

enegger said. “Both of those

guys were very funny and

natural.

“I liked that we showed

he’s a real Terminator. At the

end, when he walked away, his

eyes lit up. Maybe there’s

something else we don’t know

about this guy.”

The commercial is anoth-

er example of how far the

Clippers have come the last

decade. If a similar commer-

cial would have been shot 10

years ago, Schwarzenegger

would have likely shot the

spot with Lakers players.

When Schwarzenegger

moved to Los Angeles in 1968,

he became a Lakers fan be-

cause of his friendship with

Wilt Chamberlain, who had

joined the Lakers that sum-

mer in a trade.

“I was working out at the

original Muscle Beach in

Santa Monica and there was

Wilt Chamberlain playing

volleyball,” Schwarzenegger

said. “He was a fantastic

volleyball player, but that’s

also where he would go to

pick up his girls. He was a

funny guy and we had a great

relationship.

“I would go watch him play

when he was on the Lakers

and we would work out to-

gether at Gold’s Gym. He was

the only basketball player in

those days I saw working out

with weights. He did triceps

extensions with 180 pounds,

which blew us all away. He

was so strong. Our relation-

ship extended into making

‘Conan the Destroyer,’ where

we worked out every day on

set.”

Schwarzenegger’s sup-

port of the Lakers continues,

as does his friendship with

LeBron James, which began

almost a decade ago. They

partnered to launch Ladder,

a sports nutrition company,

and shot a commercial for the

product last year.

“I have been friends with

LeBron for many, many years

with his involvement in after-

school programs,” Schwarz-

enegger said.

“He was always very inter-

ested in helping kids. When

he was playing in Miami, we

had an event in Florida and I

asked if he could help with

this after-school program

and he came and he got in-

volved in donating his money

and his time. He was always

very generous and we became

good friends. When LeBron

wanted to start his own sup-

plement line ... I told him we

should market this together

and we did.”

Though Schwarzenegger

will be rooting for his friend

and business partner to win a

championship this season

with the Lakers, he said he

understood why Leonard and

George chose the Clippers.

“They’ve created their

own little special thing and

that’s really important for the

identity of the Clippers,”

Schwarzenegger said. “Le-

Bron has his own thing with

the Lakers and I wish him

well. The focus is on the per-

sonalities this season. With

Kawhi and Paul, the Clippers

have two of the best person-

alities, and they’re fun to

watch. I’m going to tune in to

watch to see if they can pull it

off this season.”

Schwarzenegger, who was

the governor of California

from 2003 to 2011, is no longer

in politics, but he offered a

politically correct answer

when asked which Los Ange-

les team he would be pulling

for this season.

“I became a big fan of the

Lakers because of Wilt, but I

was never a fanatic,” he said.

“I enjoyed watching them

play. I support all the teams

in Los Angeles. I support the

Lakers and the Clippers. I

just love that we have as

many teams as possible.

“I hated when we lost the

NFL, but now it’s back and we

have two teams in every

major professional sport.

That’s the way it should be.

L.A. should have it all.”

KAWHI LEONARD,left, and Paul George costar for the Clippers when they’re

not acting in commercials in Los Angeles to promote “Terminator: Dark Fate.”

Ezra ShawGetty Images

Los Angeles home

to two Terminators

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGERand Linda Hamil-

ton have returned to the “Terminator” franchise.

Willy SanjuanInvision/Associated Press

ARASH MARKAZI

PRO CALENDAR

THU FRI SAT SUN MON

31 1 2 3 4

LAKERS

at Dallas

6:30

SpecSN, ESPN

at San

Antonio

4

SpecSN

CLIPPERS

SAN

ANTONIO

7:30

Prime

UTAH

6

Prime

RAMS

NEXT: NOV. 10 AT PITTSBURGH, 1:15, CH. 11

CHARGERS

GREEN BAY

1:15

Ch. 2

KINGS

CHICAGO

7:30

FSW

DUCKS

VAN.

7

Prime

CHICAGO

5

FSW

Shade denotes home game

TIME EVENT ON THE AIR

BASKETBALL

4 p.m. Miami at Atlanta TV:TNT

6:30 p.m. Denver at New Orleans TV:TNT

7:30 p.m. San Antonio at Clippers TV:Prime R: 570

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

5 p.m. West Virginia at Baylor TV:ESPN

5 p.m. Georgia Southern at Appalachian State TV:ESPNU

COLLEGE HOCKEY

4 p.m. Wisconsin at Penn State TV:Big Ten

COLLEGE SOCCER

1 p.m. Women, Arizona at California TV:Pac-12

2 p.m. Women, North Carolina State at Louisville TV:FSW

4 p.m. UCLA at California TV:Pac-12LA

4 p.m. Women, Texas Christian at West Virginia TV:FS1

4:30 p.m. Women, North Carolina at Miami TV:FSW

5 p.m. Women, Duke at Florida State TV:ACC

5 p.m. Women, Arizona State at Stanford TV:Pac-12

8 p.m. San Diego State at Stanford TV:Pac-12

GOLF

9:30 a.m. PGA Tour, Bermuda Championship, first round TV:Golf

7 p.m. PGA Tour, HSBC Champions, second round TV:Golf

HOCKEY

5 p.m. Calgary at Nashville TV:NHL

HORSE RACING

10:30 a.m. Breeders’ Cup TV:TVG

6 p.m. Race Night featuring Remington Park TV:TVG

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

5 p.m. Professional Fighters League, heavyweight and

light-heavyweight

TV:ESPN2

PRO FOOTBALL

5:15 p.m. San Francisco at Arizona TV:11, NFL, FOXD

SOCCER

10:45 a.m. Spain, Eibar vs. Villarreal TV:beIN1, beINES

12:45 p.m. FIFA U-17 World Cup, Spain vs. Tajikistan TV:FS2, UNVSO

12:45 p.m. Netherlands, Fortuna Sittard vs. ADO TV:GOLTV

12:45 p.m. FIFA U-17 World Cup, Solomon Islands vs.

Paraguay

TV:Fox Soccer Plus

1 p.m. Spain, Getafe vs. Granada TV:beIN1, beINES

3:45 p.m. FIFA U-17 World Cup, Mexico vs. Italy TV:FS2, UNVSO

3:45 p.m. FIFA U-17 World Cup, Cameroon vs. Argentina TV:Fox Soccer Plus

5:30 p.m. Mexico, Morelia vs. Juarez TV:ESPND, TUDN

7:45 p.m. Mexico, Cruz Azul vs. Leon TV:TUDN

TODAY ON THE AIR

NHL
Favorite Underdog
at Nashville -145 Calgary +135
at Vegas OFF Montreal OFF

College Football
THURSDAY
Favorite Line (O/U) Underdog
at Appalachian St 15 (44^1 ⁄ 2 ) Georgia Southern
at Baylor 181 ⁄ 2 (56) West Virginia
FRIDAY
Navy 271 ⁄^2 (55) at Connecticut
SATURDAY
at Wake Forest 71 ⁄ 2 (60^1 ⁄ 2 ) N.C. State
Liberty 231 ⁄ 2 (70) at Massachusetts
at Florida Int. 17 (48^1 ⁄ 2 ) Old Dominion
Troy 1 (61) at Coastal Caro.
Pittsburgh 71 ⁄ 2 (43) at Georgia Tech
Nebraska 3 (58) at Purdue
at Central Florida 22 (71) Houston
Michigan 21 (55^1 ⁄ 2 ) at Maryland
at Indiana 111 ⁄ 2 (43^1 ⁄ 2 ) Northwestern
at Bowling Green 6 (49^1 ⁄ 2 ) Akron
at Illinois 201 ⁄ 2 (50^1 ⁄ 2 ) Rutgers
Cincinnati 231 ⁄ 2 (46^1 ⁄ 2 ) at East Carolina
at Syracuse 31 ⁄ 2 (60) Boston College
Buffalo 1 (50^1 ⁄ 2 ) at E. Michigan
at N. Carolina 21 ⁄ 2 (46^1 ⁄ 2 ) Virginia
at Utah St 31 ⁄ 2 (50^1 ⁄ 2 ) BYU
at Notre Dame 171 ⁄ 2 (58) Virginia Tech
Oregon 41 ⁄ 2 (62) at USC
at UCLA 61 ⁄ 2 (64^1 ⁄ 2 ) Colorado
Kansas St 61 ⁄ 2 (55) at Kansas
at La.-Lafayette 22 (55^1 ⁄ 2 ) Texas State
at S. Carolina 15 (51) Vanderbilt
N. Illinois 1 (50^1 ⁄ 2 ) at Cent. Michigan
Marshall 101 ⁄ 2 (47) at Rice
at Colorado St 81 ⁄ 2 (65) Nevada Las Vegas

at Memphis 51 ⁄ 2 (72^1 ⁄ 2 ) SMU

at Texas A&M 381 ⁄ 2 (53^1 ⁄ 2 ) Texas San Ant.

at Air Force 141 ⁄ 2 (45^1 ⁄ 2 )Army

at Arizona 51 ⁄ 2 (72) Oregon St

at Tennessee 12 (48) Ala. Birmingham

at Auburn 191 ⁄ 2 (52^1 ⁄ 2 ) Mississippi

Georgia 61 ⁄ 2 (44^1 ⁄ 2 ) Florida

at Oklahoma St 21 ⁄ 2 (59) Texas Christian

at North Texas 23 (60) UTEP

at Tulane 101 ⁄ 2 (60^1 ⁄ 2 ) Tulsa

Mississippi St 71 ⁄ 2 (58^1 ⁄ 2 ) at Arkansas

Middle Tenn. 3 (65) at Charlotte

at W Kentucky 11 ⁄ 2 (50) Florida Atl.

Arkansas St 2 (67^1 ⁄ 2 ) at La.-Monroe

at Florida St 3 (47) Miami

at Nevada 31 ⁄ 2 (58^1 ⁄ 2 ) New Mexico

Utah 31 ⁄ 2 (47) at Washington

Boise St 17 (59) at San Jose St

at Hawaii 2 (69^1 ⁄ 2 ) Fresno St

NFL

THURSDAY

Favorite Line (O/U) Underdog

San Francisco 10 (42^1 ⁄ 2 ) at Arizona

SUNDAY

Houston 1 (46^1 ⁄ 2 ) Jacksonville

at Buffalo 91 ⁄ 2 (37) Washington

at Carolina 4 (41^1 ⁄ 2 ) Tennessee

at Philadelphia 5 (42) Chicago

at Kansas City OFF (OFF) Minnesota

New York Jets 3 (41) at Miami

Indianapolis 1 (42^1 ⁄ 2 ) at Pittsburgh

at Oakland 2 (50^1 ⁄ 2 ) Detroit

at Seattle 6 (51) Tampa Bay

Cleveland 3 (39) at Denver

Green Bay 3 (48) at CHARGERS

New England 31 ⁄ 2 (45) at Baltimore

MONDAY

Dallas 7 (48) at New York Giants

ODDS