Los Angeles Times - 13.08.2019

PRO CALENDAR

TUE. WED. THU. FRI. SAT.

13 14 15 16 17

DODGERS

at Miami

4

SNLA

at Miami

4

SNLA

at Miami

Noon

SNLA

at Atlanta

4:15

SNLA

at Atlanta

4:15

SNLA

ANGELS

PITT.

7

FSW

PITT.

5

FSW

CHICAGO

WHITE SOX

7

FSW

CHICAGO

WHITE SOX

7

FSW

CHICAGO

WHITE SOX

6

FSW

GALAXY

DALLAS

7:30

SpecSN

SEATTLE

7

ESPN2

LAFC

at Salt Lake

7

YouTube TV

SPARKS

at Dallas

5

at Chicago

5

SpecSN

Shade denotes home game

RAMS:Saturday vs. Dallas (at Honolulu, exhibition), 7 p.m., Ch. 2, NFL Network
CHARGERS:Sunday vs. New Orleans (exhibition), 1 p.m., Ch. 2

D2 TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2019 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

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Major League Baseball

National League
Favorite Underdog
DODGERS -250 at Miami +220
at Washington -108 Cincinnati -102
Chicago -120 at Philadelphia +110
at Atlanta -121 New York +111
at Colorado -127 Arizona +117
Interleague
Favorite Underdog
at ANGELS -160 Pittsburgh +150

at Milwaukee OFF Minnesota OFF

St. Louis -185 at Kansas City +170

at San Francisco -131 Oakland +121

at San Diego -105 Tampa Bay -105

American League

Favorite Underdog

at New York -290 Baltimore +260

Texas -139 at Toronto +129

at Cleveland -108 Boston -102

at Detroit -156 Seattle +146

Houston -305 at Chicago +275

ODDS

TIME EVENT ON THE AIR

BASEBALL

4 p.m. Dodgers at Miami TV:SNLA

R:570, 1020

4 p.m. Chicago Cubs at Philadelphia TV:MLB

7 p.m. Pittsburgh at Angels TV:FSW

R:830, 1330

HORSE RACING

5 p.m. Race Night TV:TVG

LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL

4 p.m. World Series, Portland, Ore. vs. Salisbury, N.C. TV:ESPN2

6:30 p.m. World Series, River Ridge, La. vs. Italy TV:ESPN2

SOCCER

5 p.m. Mexico, Queretaro vs. Tijuana TV:ESPND, UDN

7 p.m. Mexico, Atlante vs. Juarez TV:ESPND

7 p.m. Mexico, UNAM vs. UAEM TV:UDN

TENNIS

8 a.m. ATP/WTA, Western and Southern Open, early rounds TV:Tennis

TODAY ON THE AIR

LeBron James
is undoubtedly
one of the
greatest NBA
players of all
time, and could
go down as the
greatest by the
time he retires. However,
he’s finding out that being
an all-time NBA great
doesn’t necessarily make
you an all-time Lakers
great.
James recently posted
an artist’s rendering of
himself, Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, Magic
Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal
and Kobe Bryant in Lakers
uniforms, sitting courtside
together as teammates.
Under the illustration on
Instagram, he wrote,
“SHEESH!!!!!! So HON-
ORED and GRATEFUL to
be apart of GREATNESS.
P.S. Man o Man that
STARTING 5 vs any fran-
chise All-Time. Let’s Get it!!
#LakeShow #KingMe
#Mamba #Diesel #Magic
#KingSkyHook”
The post has nearly 2
million likes, but many of
the more than 20,000 com-
ments are from Lakers fans
reminding James he hasn’t
done enough wearing pur-
ple and gold to be included
in that company.
This kind of backlash
from Lakers fans is nothing
new. A mural depicting
James along with Chick
Hearn, Bryant, O’Neal,
Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt
Chamberlain was vandal-
ized last year when someone
poured white paint over
James’ image and left the
others untouched. Another
mural of James in a Lakers
uniform was vandalized by
someone who spray-painted

over his face and wrote, “We

don’t want you.”

Abdul-Jabbar, who

played 14 of his 20 seasons

for the Lakers, believes

James deserves to be on the

list of Lakers greats and will

begin to show fans why this

season.

“He’s already shown he’s

still the complete player

that the Lakers wanted, so I

don’t think he needs to

worry about that,” Abdul-

Jabbar said Monday during

a phone interview while

attending the grand open-

ing of NBA Experience at

Walt Disney World Resort in

Florida.

“They just needed to put

the right pieces in place

around him. You can’t win a

world championship with

just one elite player. You

need some help, and I think

he has that now.”

Abdul-Jabbar wouldn’t

make any championship

predictions, but he did say

the Lakers with James and

the additions of Anthony

Davis and DeMarcus Cous-

ins could win a champi-

onship. And he expects

Lakers fans to warm up to

James if the Lakers are

playing meaningful games

in May and June after miss-

ing the playoffs the last six

seasons.

“If he plays well and the

team is contending and in

the playoffs and advancing

late in the playoffs, that

should be enough,” Abdul-

Jabbar said. “He doesn’t

have anything to prove to

anyone, but Lakers fans are

still hungry and that’s a

good sign. They want to win

and they want to support

the team.”

O’Neal posted the same

photo James did on his

Instagram feed and said he

would play power forward

with Abdul-Jabbar playing

center on that Lakers

“dream team.”

He also said he would

put Abdul-Jabbar and

Chamberlain over himself

when ranking the best Lak-

ers centers.

“It’s nice that Shaq

would say that, but I’ve

always felt you can’t really

compare eras,” Abdul-

Jabbar said. “We don’t know

how dominant George

Mikan was in the late ’40s

and early ’50s. It’s just hard

to compare one era to the

next.”

James is fourth on the

NBA’s all-time scoring list

behind Abdul-Jabbar, Karl

Malone and Bryant. He

likely will pass Bryant next

season, which will create

another interesting mo-

ment between Lakers fans

and James, who is 5,844

points behind Abdul-Jabbar

for first on the list.

If James, 34, plays four

more seasons, he likely

would pass Abdul-Jabbar

and could finish a 20-year

career as the all-time leader

in points and the only player

to record at least 30,000

points and 10,000 assists. If

he wins a championship

with the Lakers, he should

be thought of as an all-time

Lakers great. The best

comparison would be

Chamberlain, who played

the final five seasons of his

Hall of Fame career with the

Lakers and won one cham-

pionship in Los Angeles

before retiring.

The key is winning a

championship, and that

ultimately will determine

how Lakers fans view

James. The same goes for

Davis, who is hoping to

become the next great

Lakers big man to win a

title.

“Davis is a complete

NBA player,” Abdul-Jabbar

said. “He can do it all on

both ends of the court. He’s

going to be a great addition,

and the fact that he has

played with Cousins before

in New Orleans and they’ll

be teammates again will be

good. They have some his-

tory, and now they’re going

to team up with LeBron

James.

“They have the nucleus

of a very good team. The

Lakers have put the right

pieces together to be cham-

pionship contenders this

season.”

The King is not Lakers royalty just yet

LeBRON JAMESis one of the NBA’s all-time greats, but in his first season with the Lakers he failed to make

the playoffs. Many fans think he has to win a ring in L.A. before he can be considered a Lakers legend.

Jonathan DanielGetty Images

ARASH MARKAZI

Ceyair Wright, a junior

cornerback and wide re-

ceiver at Los Angeles Loyola

High, had a good excuse for

missing football workouts

last week. He was busy

playing the role of LeBron

James’ son in the new movie

“Space Jam 2,” filming in Los

Angeles.

“It’s been amazing. It’s

still crazy thinking about it,”

Wright said Monday after

football practice. “It’s a

dream come true.”

Teammates have teased

him by calling him “Bronny,”

the name of James’ oldest

son, a freshman basketball

player at Chatsworth Sierra

Canyon High.

Wright auditioned for the

role in March, came back for

a reading and got a call while

visiting Stanford on a re-

cruiting trip that the film’s

executives wanted him. He

has been filming since June

around L.A. The movie is

scheduled to debut in

July 2021, when he will be a

high school graduate and ex-

pects to be preparing to play

college football.

“It’s really fun,” he said.

“I’m having a great time.”

Wright said he has met

several NBA players and

taken photos he will be able

to show friends later.

As for LeBron James,

Wright said: “He’s such a

humble guy. He’s just like a

friend. He’s a mentor now.”

Wright said he hopes he

can convince James to come

to a Loyola football game.

Wright, 16, plays a 15-

year-old in the film. Even

though football is his main

sport at Loyola, he has used

his athleticism to show off

some basketball skills.

Wright said he made a

music video at age 4, was

modeling at 5 and worked in

commercials at 9, but this

movie role is the biggest job

of his acting career.

Filming should be com-

plete by the end of this week,

clearing the way for Wright

to focus on the football sea-

son. He ran 100 meters in

10.84 seconds during the

track season, but everyone

will have to wait until 2021 to

see his basketball skills.

Movie role is ‘a dream come true’

Loyola High’s Wright

‘having a great time’

as son of Lakers’ James

in ‘Space Jam 2.’

By Eric Sondheimer

CEYAIR WRIGHTis a

junior football player at

Los Angeles Loyola High.

Eric SondheimerL.A. Times

In the recent offseason,

the NFL and the players’ as-

sociation banned several

models of football helmets in

an effort to improve player

safety. This has not gone

over well with some players.

Oakland Raiders re-

ceiver Antonio Brown, for

example, hasbeen getting

headlines for his apparent

unwillingness to play unless

he can wear his old helmet.

On Monday, Brown lost his

grievance against the league

over the issue. But he’s not

the only person complaining

about wearing a new helmet.

Enter New England Patriots

quarterback Tom Brady.

“I’ve been experimenting

with a couple different ones,

and I don’t really love the

one that I’m in, but I don’t

really have much of a

choice,” Brady told Boston

radio station WEEI on Mon-

day. “So I’m just trying to do

the best I can to work with it.

“You get used to the same

helmet for a long period of

time. My last helmet, I wore

it the last four Super Bowls,

so it was a pretty great hel-

met for me. I hated to put it

on the shelf. It’s kind of what

I’m dealing with.”

Your favorite

sports moment

What is your favorite all-

time L.A. sports moment?

Tell me what it is and why,

and it might run in a future

Morning Briefing. Today’s

moment comes from Chuck

Mozena of Paso Robles:

“On June 4, 1968, my dad

and I went to see the Dod-

gers play the Pirates. It was a

very memorable night.

“First off, I caught a ball

although caught is a very

generous term. We were sit-

ting on the field level about

12 rows up. Before the game,

Maury Wills, who was then

on the Pirates [which to this

day doesn’t sound right],

was walking in front of us.

Some kids farther back were

yelling at Maury to throw a

ball to them, which he did.

However, he threw it too

high and it hit the cement

overhang of the second deck.

The ball ricocheted off the

cement, hit a seat a few rows

behind us and then it rolled

over my shoulder and

landed in my lap. I am now 65

and to this day, it’s the only

ball I have ever ‘caught.’

“That night was also

memorable to historians of

both baseball and the world.

Don Drysdale pitched his

sixth straight shutout to run

his then-record total of

scoreless innings to 54. Dad

and I were still so excited

that when we got home, we

had my mom take a picture

of Dad holding the programs

and me holding that ball.

“It was a school night, so I

went to bed. But I remember

being woken up by my older

sister yelling to my parents

to come see the TV. For some

reason I didn’t get up, so it

wasn’t until the next morn-

ing that I learned Robert

Kennedy had been shot.

Along with all the memories

of the night before, I will also

never forget the look on my

parents’ and sister’s faces

that morning.

“My dad passed away at

the age of 92 in October, be-

fore the World Series [Dod-

gers, you couldn’t have won

for my dad?], but as I write

this, I see a framed picture of

a program, two tickets for

$3.50 each and a photo of a

goofy 14-year-old standing

next to his idol. Thanks,

Dad.”

Sports poll

We asked readers of the

daily sports newsletter and

of Morning Briefing to tell us

“Which team has the best 1-

2-3 rotation in baseball? Is it

Houstonwith Justin Verlan-

der, Zack Greinke and Ger-

rit Cole; Washington with

Max Scherzer, Stephen

Strasburg and Patrick

Corbin; the Dodgers with

Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu and

Walker Buehler; or some

other team?” After 13,260

votes, here are the results:

8 Dodgers.........................53.8%

8 Houston.........................37.7%

8 Washington....................7.4%

8 Other..................................1.1%

The New York Mets drew

most of the votes for “other,”

but one person, apparently

stuck in a time loop, voted

for “Koufax, Drysdale and

Osteen.”

MORNING BRIEFING

Brady not a fan of new helmets, either

TOM BRADYhas a soft spot for the helmet he wore

en route to four Super Bowl wins for New England.

Rey Del RioGetty Images

By Houston Mitchell