Arriving in the Beijing Capital International Airport for the 29th Olympiad with excitement up to my forehead, I was still prepared to deal with huge crowds, long lines, and impatient vendors. What I found was a sense of world unity and camaraderie that is rarely seen these days; one in which, Chinese natives, or anyone for that matter, could wear the colors of another country without irony or malice, but simply enjoy what life had to offer at that particular point in time.

Being an LA native, I have dealt with all the above mentioned nuisances, but hearing there was going to be “soooo many people” and that it was going to be “soooo crowded” didn’t really help in assuaging any concerns of mine. But after arriving and taking a cab to my hotel, I found Beijing to be less crowded and dense than I had imagined. Traffic was about what one might find here in LA, but it never took more than thirty minutes to get around the city; and the pollution levels I had heard about seemed to be that of an urban legend. True, the government did a lot of cleaning up for these Olympics (instituting odd-even license plate traffic restrictions, closing down street vendors, etc.) in order to present a cleaner and more welcoming China, but that was not going to take away from my enjoyment of the city.

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An estimated 10,500 athletes are expected to participate in this year’s Olympics in Beijing from over 200 countries. The United States team has 596 athletes participating, and you’ll be surprised to find out that a good number of them are from the greater Los Angeles area. From basketball, to fencing and boxing, L.A. has definitely gone to the Olympics.

• Khatuna Lorig - West Hollywood - Archery

• Tina Thompson - Inglewood - Basketball

• Javier Molina - Commerce - Boxing

• Shawn Estrada - East Los Angeles - Boxing

• Mike Day - Santa Clarita - Cycling

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The Dodgers have made the first step to making the postseason. Third base was in need of a major upgrade over the likes of Andy “You mean pitching’s different in the Majors” LaRoche and Blake “What’s a bat” DeWitt.

On Saturday, the Dodgers made, hopefully, the first of many moves as the trading deadline approaches on July 31st. Casey Blake was traded from Cleveland to LA for a couple of minor leaguers. Now, he may not be the piece of the puzzle that propels the team to the World Series, but he is a nice upgrade. Blake will hit for power and is the gritty type of player that is needed to keep the offense moving.

Are more trades looming in the future or is General Manager Ned Colletti content keeping this young, underachieving team as is? If the past is indicative of anything, then he will make a few minor moves to maybe bolster the bullpen but make sure to keep the farm system intact.

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The Lakers decided to take it easy last night and suffered a loss to the Kings 114-113. They trailed the entire game until they attempted a late surge in the 3rd. They gained the lead for a moment in the 4th, but could not close it out. Kobe Bryant took a tough shot at the buzzer for the win, but instead lost, making their record 44-19. They still hold the top spot in the west, but only by half a game ahead of San Antonio.

The Kings shot .550 percent from the field, with 6 players in double figures. They scored 71 points in the first half, as the Lakers played virtually no defense. The Lakers out scored them, 53-43 in the second half, and still could not win. Kobe scored only 1 point in the 4^th quarter, he finished with 26. Pau Gasol had 25 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists.

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This Pac-10 season lived up to all expectations set forth by numerous prognosticators throughout the country. The highly touted Freshmen delivered almost beyond expectation as we saw O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love, and Jerryd Bayless practically carry their teams during the course of a brutal in conference schedule. Take any one of those guys away from their respective teams and each would suffer considerably. Just look at Arizona. They lost Bayless for a five game stretch and could barely muster 2 victories. The Pac-10 has proved to be the nation’s top conference, on par with the Big East at the very least.

Unfortunately the Pac will probably only see 6 teams invited to the dance as a result of all the parity, a number which has been equaled in the past, but deserves to be surpassed. Only UCLA and Stanford really separated themselves with everyone else playing catch up. The exception would be the lowly Beavers of Oregon State, whom we’re not sure could beat the Oregon high school state champions at this point. They have a chance to do what no one has done since the league expanded to 10 teams…go a full 0-18 in conference play. Anytime you get the chance to do something no one has ever done before…well that’s just impressive. After the Miami Dolphins failed us, let’s hope that the Beavs can pull through.

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We’ve got ourselves a nice little boxing weekend to look forward to and for me it can not come soon enough because I’ve been starving for some quality hitting power and big-name attraction. The WCB: Oleg Maskaev vs. Samuel Peter fight is shaping up to be a pretty darn sweet evening. It has a tremendous undercard as well, lightweight knockout kid Juan Diaz is set to blast it out against usually cool, calm, and collected Nate Campbell. The folks over at HBO Sports have put together another spectacular night of blood guts boxing saga for us, the viewers at home.

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The Cityzine sports report begins with the Dodgers. Yes, baseball is back. Well, it’s still spring training, but there was a hell of a finish in yesterday’s game when the Dodgers faced the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. It started off with a hit and a steal from Juan Pierre, but we were unable to drive him in due to Tim Wakefield’s solid outing. He threw 3 shut out innings and gave up only the one hit from Pierre.

Derrick Lowe was not as sharp, pitching 2 just innings, giving up 5 runs. Down 5-2 in the ninth, pinch hitter Luke May hits a three run homer that tied the game 5-5. Then, Jason Repko, who had missed all of last season, hit a grand slam making it 9-5. The final score was 9-6 as the Joe Torre enjoyed a win against his former rivals. The Dodgers first game of the season is March 31 against San Francisco.

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After 17 grueling years of playing in the NFL Brett Favre has finally decided to call it quits. After breaking all sorts of records, most consecutive games played at quarterback (253), most passing yards, most TDs and most interceptions, just to name a few.

A teary eyed Favre basically said that he could still play, but he can’t handle the mental part of the game. That he was just tired of training for upcoming seasons. He doesn’t care if he is ending his career with his last pass being the interception that lost the Packers chances of going to the Super Bowl. And he doesn’t care whether or not he is ranked among the best quarterbacks (he’s not even in my top 5), he played for the passion and fun of the game. One thing is for certain he always gave it his all every game and for that he is greatly appreciated.

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The Lakers had another big win at Staples Center against Dallas yesterday. It marked their 42 victory, the most in the conference. The game was close the whole way and went into overtime, ending at 108-104. These two teams are among the elite in the West, and every game counts. They played as if it was like a playoff game, Kobe Bryant scoring 52, a season high for him and all players in the league. Dirk Nowitzki scored 30 points and pulled 13 rebounds, but he and the newly acquired Jason Kidd, though given an opportunity, could not close it out. Kidd had 16 points, 11 assists, and 4 steals.

Pau Gasol contributed 17 points and 14 rebounds for L.A. The Mavericks Erick Dampier had 16 points, shooting 100%, and pulled 17 rebounds. Dallas had a well rounded game, but the Laker defense was the key. Bryant said after the game, “We didn’t give them any good looks, and I think eventually that wears a team down. We really got it done on the defensive end.”

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What’s going on with sports this year? Why is there so much interest in a team or player going undefeated in a season? It all started with the Patriots. They have a brush with greatness and now everyone wants to see someone go undefeated. I understand that, yes it would be cool if it actually happened, but enough with trying to predict an undefeated season in every sport. Next thing you know the Yankees win their first 5 games out of 162 and they’re going undefeated.

The next victim of having an undefeated season thrust upon them is Tiger Woods. He wins his first two tournaments (out of the seventeen that he has to play) and all of sudden he can go undefeated. Doesn’t anyone realize how hard that would be to accomplish? It’s hard to do in team sports, imagine in golf where it’s you against 70-80 players. I doubt very much that it will happen. Tiger Woods will be known as the best golfer when his time is done, but it won’t be for an undefeated season. It will be for the most tour wins and the most major wins ever.

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