The world according to Jim:
• All hail the Los Angeles Queens, the city’s latest champion after winning Game 5 of the inaugural Women’s Professional Baseball League championship series on Tuesday.
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Let’s say they earned a place in L.A. sports lore if for no other reason than beating San Francisco in the best-of-five championship series, albeit after letting a 2-0 series lead get away, and two days after getting shelled by the Firebells, 17-4. Legends have been formed around here for far less.
And yes, the Queens have their own Japanese stars. Pitcher Ayami Soto hurled a seven-inning, 71-pitch shutout, the first complete-game shutout in the league’s brief history, to win Game 5. She was named the series MVP, just as countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the MVP of the World Series – do we need to call it the men’s World Series? – last fall.
Also, pitcher/infielder Ayuri Shimano hit .300 with an .814 OPS during the 15-game regular season (and was 1-1 with a 5.65 ERA as a pitcher), and hit .423 with a 1.251 OPS in eight postseason games. …
• Of course, there is a catch. The fledgling women’s league and its four teams – representing New York and Boston as well as L.A. and San Francisco – played their entire eight-week schedule in Springfield, Ill. So while the Queens – who knocked off New York in the semifinal round – might have been of L.A., they never actually set foot in L.A. as a team. …
• But there are a couple of L.A. ties. Manager Eric Young Sr. had two different stints with the Dodgers during his 15-year career. Mo’ne Davis, heroine of the 2014 Little League World Series and the Queens player with the most name recognition going in, was a Dodgers video production intern in 2013 and has said her goal is to work in a major-league front office. Additionally, catcher Jamie Mackay hails from Laguna Beach, though she played college softball at South Carolina. …
• So where should they fly the championship pennant? City Hall? Dodger Stadium, maybe? And where would a parade take place? …
• Seriously, this first season of the WPBL was an experiment of sorts, and it was understandable for the organizers to launch with a short schedule in one city. But the league did draw significant interest, especially from those who care about women’s sports. As it grows, hopefully it will tweak the format enough so that the team that represents a city actually gets to play in that city. …
• Oh, and does this mean L.A. is ruining women’s baseball, too? …
• Elsewhere, the Sparks sent out a news release on Friday saying that they had “parted ways” with Coach Lynne Roberts. I suspect that was a euphemism for “fired,” so why not be honest?…
• There are two ways Saturday’s USC-Oregon game at the Coliseum could go. Either the Trojans wrest control of the West Coast from the Ducks, or Oregon reasserts its dominance over the Trojans – which could well be the beginning of the end of Lincoln Riley’s tenure.
See, when those billboards around the region went up saying “The time is now,” they weren’t referring to a 4-0 start against weaker competition and continuing doubts about the Trojans’ defense. Saturday is when USC proves it or not. …
• Of all of the tributes to longtime Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter, whose classy, measured baritone announcements were so different from those of the screamers in so many other arenas, this might have been the best description of why he was the best. It came from the man himself, as posted by The Athletic’s Law Murray following Tanter’s death Wednesday:
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“I think I’m different than a lot of guys in other cities because I’m not a screamer. My feeling was, years ago, that people paid money to come and see the Lakers, not to hear some clown on the P.A. I use enthusiasm when the appropriate time comes, but I’m not a cheerleader and I don’t want to be.”
Isn’t that the way it should be? Rest in peace, LT. …
• This might be the best thing about sports at this moment in our existence: Artificial intelligence has no place on the field, court or ice. Human beings still maintain control between the lines. …
• Sports Illustrated published its list of the 25 greatest college football teams of all time a month ago, and USC appeared twice: The 1972 team that went 12-0 and the “leave no doubt” 2004 team, which finished 13-0 but later had its hand smacked over NCAA violations. …
• The 2005 Texas team (13-0, including a memorable Rose Bowl victory over USC) was listed 14th. And forever more, Trojans fans will wonder if the outcome in Pasadena would have been different if they had at least had Reggie Bush on the field on fourth-and-2 with 2:09 to play. Instead, everyone in the Rose Bowl knew LenDale White was getting the ball, he got stuffed, and Vince Young then drove Texas the length of the field to win it.
Even with the result, Trojans fans would consider those the good old days. …
• A couple of weeks ago, in our commentary about the Protect College Sports Act, we again suggested a football Super League with promotion and relegation, and to go with that a re-regionalization of other sports that would get the eight teams that once made up four-fifth of the Pac-10 back together. Maybe even all 10, if Washington State and Oregon State were willing to take that chance.
We solicited possible names for a new western power conference, and the readers responded, as they always do. …
• John Fay decided that since we already have a Big Ten and a Big 12 – and both are mathematically challenged, with 18 and 16 teams respectively, “why not a PAC 12 (fictional number) and a PAC 6 (honest number and, BTW, honest geography)?”
Joe Blair suggested “Far West Conference.” That was a Division II conference that was formed in 1925 but changed its name to Northern California Athletic Conference in 1982, so it’s available. Bob Cunningham suggested the Pacific Conference: “Geographically accurate and implies stability and strength.”
And Tom Starr came up with these possibilities: West Coast Conference (that one’s taken), West Coast Regional Conference, West Coast Super Powers, Best In The West and West Coast Power Conference.
“Doesn’t matter what it’s called,” he wrote. “We just need the old Pac-12 colleges to recreate themselves. You think the same way most of us west coast fans do.”
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