The Sports Report: Can Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers beat the odds?
Howdy, I’m your host, Iliana Limón Romero, filling in for Houston Mitchell, who is probably planning his Olympic opening ceremony watch party. Let’s get right to the news.
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From Dylan Hernández: Las Vegas is an escape from reality — unless you’re the Chargers.
While the Chargers enter training camp Tuesday energized by a potentially transformative offseason, Vegas sports books have delivered a sobering assessment of where they stand.
The over/under for Chargers wins this season is 8½.
The modest expectations are more of a reflection of the roster than they are of new coach Jim Harbaugh, who moved to the Chargers on a five-year contract after winning a national championship with Michigan.
Harbaugh has won at each of his previous coaching stops, and there’s a feeling of inevitability that he will eventually win here as well.
“I think he’s one of the most elite leaders in all of sports,” said defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who followed Harbaugh from Michigan.
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RAMS
From Gary Klein: The Rams signed veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo knowing he would not be able to play the first two games this season. They stuck with Stetson Bennett despite his being away from the team his rookie season.
The Rams and coach Sean McVay, a master of anticipation, did not see one thing coming, however: starting quarterback Matthew Stafford making a play for a contract adjustment.
Now, unless the Rams and Stafford have quietly resolved the issue, the Rams will welcome players to training camp Tuesday with a cloud not related to a marine layer hanging over their preseason workouts at Loyola Marymount.
Stafford, due to carry a salary-cap number of $49.5 million this season, participated in offseason workouts. Teammates and coaches said Stafford operated as usual and showed no signs he was distracted.
But for the first time since he joined the Rams in 2021, the veteran was not made available to reporters during the offseason program. His decision to avoid questions about his contract — despite McVay acknowledging a report that Stafford wanted more guaranteed money beyond this season — spoke volumes.
DODGERS
From Mike DiGiovanna: River Ryan handed the ball to manager Dave Roberts in the top of the sixth inning Monday night, and as he headed toward the third-base dugout, a crowd of 49,576 in Dodger Stadium rose to applaud the 25-year-old right-hander, who tapped his chest in appreciation of the gesture.
No matter what happened after he departed with the score tied and runners on first and third and one out, it was clear by the crowd’s reaction and the high-fives and handshakes Ryan received in the dugout that his major league debut was a success.
“The ground starts to shake a little bit when everybody gets loud,” Ryan said of the standing ovation. “That was really fun to be a part of.”
Teoscar Hernández then drove the decibel level in Chavez Ravine even higher in the eighth when he knocked in his third run of the game with a two-out single to center field to lift the Dodgers to a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
With the score tied 2-2, Kiké Hernández opened the eighth with a fly ball that fell on the warning track between center fielder Heliot Ramos and left fielder Luis Matos for a double.
Giants left-hander Erik Miller struck out Shohei Ohtani, but Will Smith walked. Shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald made a nice diving stop of Freddie Freeman’s grounder up the middle and shoveled the ball with his glove hand to second for the second baseman Brett Wisely for the second out.
MORE DODGERS:
Dodgers designate James Paxton for assignment. Is there another move forthcoming?
Amid struggles, Evan Phillips has a tenuous hold on Dodgers’ closer role
‘Right place, right time’: Dodgers fan snags Shohei Ohtani home run ball in Centerfield Plaza
ANGELS
From the Associated Press: Jo Adell drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the ninth inning, and the Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 3-1 Monday night.
Adell’s base hit to center against reliever Trent Thornton (3-2) scored Brandon Drury. Center fielder Victor Robles’ throw to the plate went wide and ricocheted away from catcher Cal Raleigh for an error, allowing Zach Neto to score from first base to make it a two-run game.
Adell is hitting .429 over his past seven games, with a .556 on-base percentage and .619 slugging mark, with nine hits and eight RBIs.
USC
From Ryan Kartje: Nearly two months after the NCAA and its power conferences agreed to a settlement that would allow college athletes to be paid directly by their schools, USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen still has far more questions than answers about where college sports is headed.
Cohen can’t say much right now about the school’s plans for sharing revenue with its athletes as the final details of the settlement and revised NCAA rules structure are still being negotiated, other than to assure that “every possible model is being explored” at USC.
While her colleagues across the country warn of budget shortfalls and existential crises, Cohen said she has no qualms about leaving the past behind. As she sees it, college sports and its leaders have a chance to start anew, with a system that actually makes sense for an era that’s already upon us.
“You have to stay big-picture in your thinking,” Cohen told The Times. “We can’t hold on to things that don’t exist anymore. We have to do business differently, and we have to support students and coaches and athletic programs and universities differently.”
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1907 — Australasia beats British Isles 3-2 to win the Davis Cup held at Wimbledon. Australasia wins its first David Cup and ends the four-year reign of the British Isles.
1921 — At the annual Harvard-Yale vs. Cambridge-Oxford meet at Harvard Stadium, Harvard’s Edward Gourdin becomes the first to long jump 25 feet. Harvard lists Gourdin’s jump as 25 feet, 3 inches, but the official listing in U.S. Track and Field is 25-2.
1960 — Betsy Rawls becomes the first woman to win the U.S. Women’s Open golf title four times.
1966 — John Pennel pole vaults 17 feet, 6 1/4 inches for the world record in a meet at Los Angeles. It’s the eighth of nine world records he set in the event in his career and his first since 1963.
1976 — The last NFL All-Star game is held and is shortened when thunderstorms hit Chicago. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the All-Stars 24-0.
1978 — Hollis Stacy wins the U.S. Women’s Open golf championship for the second straight year.
1989 — Mark Calcavecchia wins the British Open, edging Greg Norman and Wayne Grady in a three-man playoff. Calcavecchia, the first American to win the Open in five years, birdies three of the four holes in the playoff.
1989 — Greg Lemond wins his second Tour de France with the closest finish ever, edging Laurent Fignon by 8 seconds. Lemond starts the day 50 seconds behind Fignon and wins the final stage, a 15-mile race against the clock from Versailles to Paris, in 26:57. Fignon finishes the stage 58 seconds slower.
1995 — John Daly wins the British Open at St. Andrews by four strokes in a four-hole playoff with Italy’s Costantino Rocca. Rocca forces the playoff by sinking a 65-foot putt on the 18th hole.
1995 — Miguel Indurain of Spain wins his record fifth consecutive Tour de France. Indurain joins Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault as the other five-time winners.
2000 — Tiger Woods, at 24, becomes the youngest player to win the career Grand Slam with a record-breaking performance in the British Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews. Woods closes with a 3-under 69 for a 19-under 269 total, the lowest score in relation to par at a major championship.
2000 — 87th Tour de France: no winner (Lance Armstrong disqualified).
2006 — Tiger Woods, one month after missing the cut for the first time in a major, becomes the first player since Tom Watson in 1982-83 to win consecutive British Open titles.
2006 — Floyd Landis, pedaling with an injured hip, cruises to victory in the Tour de France, keeping cycling’s most prestigious title in American hands for the eighth straight year.
2009 — Mark Buehrle pitches the 18th perfect game in major league history, a 5-0 win over Tampa Bay.
2012 — Penn State is all but leveled by penalties handed down by the NCAA for its handling of the allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The NCAA imposes an unprecedented $60 million fine, a four-year ban from postseason play and a cut in the number of football scholarships it can award.
2017 — British cyclist Chris Froome wins his fourth Tour de France.
2019 — Nike’s Jordan Brand signs 2019 NBA #1 draft pick Zion Williamson to richest multiyear sponsorship deal for a rookie in history; estimated 7 years for $75 million.
2021 — The Opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games takes place after a one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 — The Cleveland Indians announce the team will be re-named the Guardians.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time...
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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