One spark makes big difference for Valencia boys basketball in victory over Laguna Hills

• January 16, 2025

LAGUNA HILLS – For 13 minutes Valencia’s Dylan Cheng bided his time. Helped his basketball teammates out any way he could. Any way but scoring. Scramble for a loose ball. Play tough defense on the point guard. Scrap, scrap, scrap.

But then Cheng made like an assassin and delivered a couple of lethal shots to the heart of Laguna Hills.

Cheng’s sudden outburst provided a cannon-burst of momentum Wednesday as Valencia seized control of the Golden West League with a 66-56 victory at Laguna Hills.

Cheng only made three field goals during the game, but his timing was spot-on.

“You could definitely feel the momentum shift,” Laguna Hills coach Sean Sargeant said. “It never feels good going into the half having someone hit a couple of shots like that on you.”

Holding a 20-19 lead, Cheng converted a steal into a bucket from the top of the key for a 23-19 advantage with 3 minutes left in the second quarter. Fourteen seconds later, he waylaid Laguna Hills from the corner for a 26-19 advantage.

Momentum shift? With Laguna Hills reeling and having to defend the perimeter, the Tigers (16-7 overall, 3-0 league) began driving the lane and going to the foul line, converting 5 of 8 – including 5 of their last 6 – for a 33-23 lead going into the break. They finished 13 of 21 on the night.

Laguna Hills (8-15, 3-1), which had to forfeit five games this season because a player was ruled ineligible, never got closer than eight points, 48-40, the rest of way.

“Despite not getting any buckets, I know I can contribute in other ways by playing defense, locking up, getting rebounds, or creating for my teammates,” Cheng said. “Once I’m in a groove – we call it a flow state – I’m feeling good.”

Feeling good spread to everyone as Valencia won the hustle game. And even though they were predictably out-rebounded, they scored nine points off second-chance opportunities, only six fewer than Laguna Hills. Valencia was outrebounded only 34-29.

Tigers coach Danny Ortega credited Phillip Nguyen with stepping up in the second quarter to get some big rebounds. Nguyen had a team-high six rebounds.

“(Cheng) and Aidan Tom]are are our anchors and everyone else scores by committee,” Ortega said. “They’ve been with me for three years. Watching these two grow as young men and as players – we’ve talked about these moments, stepping up to the line and being confident, and they showed exactly that. It’s senior year, it’s time for you to own it, and it showed tonight. They came through when we needed them in the clutch.”

And own it they did. Cheng owned the storyline with his two key buckets, and Tom owned the third quarter with a succession of 3-point baskets. His first was in the opening minute for a 36-23 advantage. His second, from the wing, made it 39-27 at 4:23. His third made it 46-32 with 2:18 left in the quarter. Valencia made only four field goals in the third quarter, but Tom and the Tigers made them count.

It was enough to hold off a run by Laguna Hills, which pulled to within 49-40 entering the fourth quarter.

Tom finished with a team-high 22 points, and Cheng had 13. Rocky Whipple added 12. The Tigers were much smaller than Laguna Hills, but their experience – Valencia has 14 seniors and two juniors on its roster – was enough to carry the day.

Jackson Burnham scored a game-high 27, and Myles Mittelsteadt scored 12, four below his average. Critically, the talented 6-6 sophomore was limited to only two field goals.

Sargeant saw a silver lining. In the same way that Valencia is experienced, his team is young – it started a senior, a junior, two sophomores, and a freshman point guard. Outside of the burst at the end of the second quarter, Laguna Hills basically played even with Valencia.

“We got caught up in their game, which is fast-paced, disruptive,” Sargeant said. “But we showed that we belong. It just took us getting hit a little bit to figure it out.”

Hit right in the heart.

​ Orange County Register 

‘Mr. Baseball’ Bob Uecker, ‘Mr. Belvedere’ star, dies at 90

• January 16, 2025

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Bob Uecker, the voice of his hometown Milwaukee Brewers who after a short playing career earned the moniker “Mr. Baseball” and honors from the Hall of Fame, has died. He was 90.

The team announced Uecker died Thursday morning, calling it “one of the most difficult days in Milwaukee Brewers history.” In a statement released by the club, Uecker’s family said he had battled small cell lung cancer since early 2023.

“Even in the face of this challenge, his enthusiasm for life was always present, never allowing his spirit to falter,” the family said.

Uecker was best known as a colorful comedian and broadcaster who earned his nickname during one of his numerous appearances on Johnny Carson’s late night show.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Uecker signed his first professional contract with the Milwaukee Braves in 1956 and reached the majors in 1962. He’d last six seasons in the big leagues as a backup catcher, finishing with a .200 average and 14 homers.

He won a World Series ring with St. Louis in 1964 and also played for Atlanta and Philadelphia.

“Career highlights? I had two,” he often joked. “I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets.”

Uecker also befriended former Brewers owner and MLB commissioner Bud Selig, who initially hired him as a scout. Selig liked to joke about how Uecker’s initial scouting report was stained with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Selig eventually brought Uecker to the broadcast booth. Uecker became the voice of the Brewers in 1971, in the second year after the team moved from Seattle.

Uecker remained with the club from that point on and became one of the Brewers’ most indelible figures. Brewers manager Craig Counsell grew up in the Milwaukee area and remembered spending summer days throwing a baseball against the roof and catching it while listening to Uecker’s broadcasts.

“There’s no single person in this franchise’s history who has been as iconic and as important as Bob Uecker,” said Jeff Levering, a member of the Brewers’ broadcast team since 2015.

Even as his celebrity status grew nationwide, Uecker savored the opportunity to continue calling games to fans in his hometown.

“To be able to do a game each and every day throughout the summer and talk to people every day at 6:30 for a night game, you become part of people’s families,” Uecker once said. “I know that because I get mail from people that tell me that. That’s part of the reward for being here, just to be recognized by the way you talk, the way you describe a game, whatever.”

Uecker was honored by the Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick award in 2003 and spent nearly 20 minutes keeping the Cooperstown, New York, crowd of about 18,000 in stitches.

“I still — and this is not sour grapes by any means — still think I should have gone in as a player,” he quipped.

“Ueck” got his big break off the field after opening for Don Rickles at Al Hirt’s nightclub in Atlanta in 1969. That performance caught Hirt’s attention, and the musician set him up to appear on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. He became one of Carson’s favorite guests, making more than 100 appearances.

Carson was the one who dubbed Uecker “Mr. Baseball.” And the name stuck.

But Uecker’s comedy was just a part of his abilities. His warm storytelling and delivery made Uecker a natural to become one of the first color commentators on network TV broadcasts in the 1970s with ABC. In the ’90s, he teamed up with Bob Costas and Joe Morgan for the World Series.

From there, Uecker reached most households as one of the Miller Lite All-Stars in popular commercials for the beer brand based out of Milwaukee and Uecker later launched his TV acting career in 1985 on the ABC sitcom, “Mr. Belvedere.”

Uecker played George Owens during the successful 122-episode run of the series that lasted six years, as the head of the family and sports writer in a home that brings in a butler who struggles to adapt to an American household.

In a bit of casting that kept things pretty close to home, Uecker also played a prominent role in the movies “Major League” (1989) and “Major League II” (1994) as crass announcer Harry Doyle for a down-and-out Cleveland Indians franchise that finds a way to become playoff contenders.

“I’m part of American folklore, I guess,” Uecker told The Associated Press in 2003. “But I’m not a Hollywood guy. Baseball and broadcasting are in my blood.”

His wry description of a badly wayward pitch — “Juuuust a bit outside!” — in the movie is still often-repeated by announcers and fans at ballparks all over.

Uecker’s acting left some to believe he was more about being funny than a serious baseball announcer, but his tenure and observations with the Brewers were spot on, especially when games were tight. Equally enjoyable were games that weren’t, when Uecker would tell stories about other major leaguers, his own career and his hobbies as an avid fisherman and golfer.

“I don’t think anyone wants to hear somebody screwing around when you got a good game going,” Uecker said. “I think people see ‘Major League’ and they think Harry Doyle and figure that’s what Bob Uecker does. I do that sometimes, I do. But when we’ve got a good game going, I don’t mess around.”

In his later years, he took a serious approach to his health, swimming daily leading up to heart surgery in April 2010. Very soon after the procedures, doctors said Uecker returned to walking several miles and was ahead in recovery.

Uecker pushed to return to the booth and began calling games again in July, saying he bribed the doctors by allowing them to throw out the first pitch.

“You talk about all the things Bob has done, he never wanted to leave Milwaukee,” Selig said. “Above all, he made himself into a great play-by-play announcer. That’s what he did. He’s everything to this franchise and loves every minute of it.”

Uecker’s own career provided him most of his material. His former teammates said Uecker would do impressions of other broadcasters on the bus, but Uecker turned the spotlight on himself after his playing career was over.

“I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for $3,000. That bothered my dad at the time because he didn’t have that kind of dough,” he said “But he eventually scraped it up.”

Another classic: “When I came up to bat with three men on and two outs in the ninth, I looked in the other team’s dugout and they were already in street clothes.”

Uecker also presided over the stirring ceremony that closed Milwaukee County Stadium in 2000. When the Brewers’ new stadium opened as Miller Park in 2001, the team began selling “Uecker Seats” high in the upper deck and obstructed for a $1.

The stadium, now known as American Family Field, has two statues in Uecker’s honor. There’s a statue outside the stadium and another one in the back of Section 422, a nod to the Miller Lite commercial in which he famously said “I must be in the front row!” while getting taken to one of the worst seats in the ballpark.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

​ Orange County Register 

Messages penned on art installation remembering President Carter’s housing legacy

• January 16, 2025

President Jimmy Carter was a tireless volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, helping the nonprofit open the door to affordable housing for people around the world, including hundreds in Orange County.

In the wake of his recent death at age 100, the community can take up markers to pen their appreciation on another door, the Jimmy Carter Memorial Door, a temporary art installation at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.

“This was a man who rolled up his sleeves and got in there and did the work,” said Michael Valentine, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County president. “It’s a way for us to remember him and write notes of remembrance and appreciation.”

Carter, and his wife, Rosalynn, volunteered with Habit for Humanity for more than 30 years, even picking up tools to help build Orange County’s first project, Carino Vista, a community of 48 condos in Rancho Santa Margarita, in 1990.

To date, 239 homes have been built in Orange County with another 84 in various stages of development.

The installation will be on display at the Bowers Museum through Friday, Jan. 17.

Then officials will look for a new location so more people will have access to write a note.

“The man gave and gave and gave,” said Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua, adding her family’s appreciation of Carter’s generosity. “Orange County is grateful to him. We will not forget.”

​ Orange County Register 

Grapevines, fruit trees and herbs in the garden this week, plus more tips

• January 16, 2025

5 things to do in the garden this week:

Grapevines and fruit trees. Now is the time to clonally propagate grapevines, fig and pomegranate trees from cuttings. In a full to partial sun location, take a spade or shovel and make a slit in your soil that is eight inches deep. Insert a 10-16 inch terminal stem cutting with at least four buds into each open slit, making sure that at least two buds from the cutting are beneath the soil surface. Soak the soil in the slit before closing it up tight around the cutting. Make sure that the soil around the cutting stays moist, but not saturated, in the months to come. A year from now, you can unearth the cuttings, which will have rooted abundantly by then, and plant them in the locations of your choice. Thanks to Greg Alder (gregalder.com) for providing this propagation tip.

Vegetables. You can germinate tomato seeds indoors on a sunny window sill throughout the winter. Plant them in small clay pots or paper cups, making sure you punch drainage holes in the latter. Another technique utilizes peat pellets, peat pots or peat cubes for seed germination. Seedlings growing in these biodegradable starters can be transplanted into larger containers or directly into the ground without disturbing their roots. Since the ground never freezes in Los Angeles or anywhere further south, you can plant here virtually year-round. However, seedlings of tomatoes and other frost-sensitive plants should be covered at night from late November through mid-March. The easiest way to do this is with a 1-gallon plastic pot – that ubiquitous black container used for growing nursery stock — turned upside down. To be safe, nurture your seedlings indoors until March 15th since frosts in this part of the world rarely occur after that date.

Herbs. Greek oregano (Oreganum heracleoticum) is a robust perennial that grows 18 inches tall and wide. It is one of the more pungent oreganos. Incidentally, oregano and marjoram are both from the same genus with marjoram being sweeter than oregano. You can substitute one for the other in recipes as long as you double the quantity of marjoram where oregano is called for. These two herbs, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf are best used when dry, while basil, parsley, chives, tarragon, and cilantro are best used fresh. You can substitute fresh for dry herbs but you will need to triple the quantity of fresh herbs to equal the pungency of their dried counterparts. After five years, the pungency of Greek oregano wanes but the plant can easily be propagated from shoot tip cuttings. Greek oregano seeds and starter plants are readily available through online vendors.

Flowers. According to Pat Walsh’s “Southern California Gardening: A month-by-month guide,” the best time to plant azaleas and camellias is when they are in bloom, and many of them are blooming now. The reason for this is that when these plants flower, their roots are dormant. Planting later on, when roots are actively growing, can hinder all-around growth. When azaleas and camellias finish blooming, there is a surge in root growth, with which you do not want to tamper by planting at this time.

Petal blight is the principle pathogenic scourge of camellias. You know you have petal blight when the edges of your flowers turn brown. Eventually, whole flowers and sometimes every flower on a plant turns that color. To prevent this disease, Pat Welsh recommends cutting a circle of shade cloth that matches the canopy diameter of your camellia. Then, cut from the outside of the circle to the center, where you will cut a small circle that will enclose the base of your shrub. When flowers drop, remove the shade cloth and dump the flowers that collect there in the trash. Petal blight develops when camellia blooms fall to the ground and deposit spores they may be carrying beneath the plant. When it rains or sprinkler irrigation is on, fungal spores will splash up from the ground onto the plant’s flowers. As long as your fallen camellia flowers make no contact with the earth and you continually remove them to the trash, petal blight should not be a concern.

​ Orange County Register 

Sights and Sounds of the 2024 LA Bowl: UNLV beats Cal

• December 19, 2024

INGLEWOOD — On Wednesday night, UNLV beat Cal, 24-13, in the 2024 Art of Sports LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium for its first bowl victory since 2000. Here are some of the sights and sounds from the game.

Key plays

Cal and UNLV showcased tough defenses and offensive creativity throughout the game. UNLV converted one of the most impressive fake punts this season in a key turning point early.

On fourth and 7, the Rebels lined up for a seemingly routine punt with 13:52 remaining in the second quarter. Punter Marshall Nichols dropped down, and instead of kicking the ball, he threw a jump pass over the rush to Cameron Oliver for a first down inside Cal’s 10-yard line that quickly led to a 14-10 UNLV lead.

Late in the third quarter, in a close game, Cal quarterback EJ Caminong dropped back to pass and scrambled to avoid the charging UNLV defense. As he was pressured, he threw a backward pass and UNLV’s Jett Elad recovered it.

The Rebels scored on the following drive to make the score 21-13, all but sealing the game.

A family moment for two fans

Sometimes, the game isn’t just about the X’s and O’s.

Rene and Jordan Zavala braved the trek up the 5 freeway from San Diego for seats on the 50-yard line to watch Jordan’s high school football teammates suit up for UNLV.

More importantly, college football continues to link generations. Rene started taking Jordan to Padres games when Jordan was a boy. Now, overcome with emotion, Rene expressed gratitude for the opportunity to take the day off from his cement masonry job to catch another game with his son, who is now grown.

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Photos from Keith Birmingham:

The story

Reporter Aaron Heisen’s coverage is here:

UNLV outlasts Cal in an LA Bowl that sees both offenses struggle

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County Power Authority fails basic mission, circles the drain

• December 19, 2024

The Orange County Power Authority is nearing the end of the line, as the city that spearheaded its creation, Irvine, announced that it might pull out and take 65 percent of the authority’s customers with it. Other participants in this green energy boondoggle – the county of Orange and Huntington Beach – left the non-profit last year after a series of audits slammed its lack of transparency and poor management.

The authority was formed in 2019 amid much fanfare, but it is past time for OCPA to shut its doors after years of failed promises.  It’s one of California’s 25 “community choice aggregation” systems. They don’t create energy, but rely on investor-owned utilities to handle transmission, delivery and billing.

Instead, these agencies promise local customers greener energy choices and more control over their energy choices. OCPA says it’s “part of a growing movement … that is providing millions of electricity users in local communities an important and critical choice to embrace a cleaner energy future.” It sounds nice, but OCPA has failed by every major metric.

It’s been immersed in scandal as state and county oversight reports have shown. It’s not really giving locals more control over electricity decisions. Irvine provided the agency with $7 million in seed money, but its officials complain about a lack of transparency and difficulty in accessing information about rates.

The agency is not making great strides on the renewable-energy front. This month, OCPA voted to reduce the percentage of renewable energy sources in its default plan for Irvine residents as electricity prices soar. It’s obvious why the authority did so. As this newspaper recently reported, all Irvine residents had been placed in that 100-percent renewable plan – giving them the highest rates in the county with a large increase looming next year.

Irvine might still work with OCPA to deal with these recurring issues, but it would be best if it just returns its customers to Southern California Edison. The city can chalk up any losses to the price of placing green ideology above the needs of its residents.

​ Orange County Register 

Lincoln Riley says money is a factor in USC’s transfer-portal losses, for multiple reasons

• December 19, 2024

LOS ANGELES — At a Newport Beach hotel in April, in a conference room packed full of USC luminaries and donors and donor luminaries, Lincoln Riley first uttered the words he has come to restate profusely over the past couple of weeks: “This is a business.”

He was speaking as part of a USC coaches’ panel at a fundraising event hosted by third-party collective House of Victory, with sheer zeal. He had taken this very job, he professed to the room, in large part because of how well-positioned USC was “to take advantage of this.” The implication there, on a night dedicated to donor checks, was simple. Money.

“My honest perception of this place after a couple of years,” Riley said then, “was, like, all the firepower in the world. Like, things that other people cannot – they couldn’t do it if they wanted to.”

That firepower, in large part, has finally started exploding. House of Victory’s budget to pay players was more than $12 million in 2024-25, and is “significantly higher” for 2025-26, according to a source familiar with the situation. Revenue sharing is coming. The funds will flow at USC.

But Riley’s program, still, is losing players left and right to the transfer portal, at a rate that has increasingly alarmed the fan base. Former five-star recruit Zachariah Branch, and brother Zion, hit the portal on Tuesday. Former five-star receiver Duce Robinson entered a few days before. Ten of Riley’s highest-ranked commitments from his first recruiting classes at USC, in 2022 and 2023, are now gone.

And a large part of the reason, Riley affirmed Wednesday – both from players’ consideration and from USC’s – was simple. Money.

“Yeah, I mean, they have,” Riley nodded Wednesday, asked if he felt money had influenced the decisions of Trojans who are entering the portal. “On both sides, like I’ve told you guys.”

“I mean, let’s, every school, like, you have a budget,” he continued. “And this is what we got to spend. And you got to decide – it’s tough, because we’re not completely professional.”

The lines between college football and the professional model, though, have blurred like never before. Perhaps irrevocably. Look to North Carolina, where 72-year-old NFL legend Bill Belichick has for some reason now thrust himself into the world of recruiting visits and NIL funds. Look across the country, where football programs of all forms are hiring general managers of all forms to manage those budgets Riley mentioned.

It’s probable that USC, too, will look to expand its “front office” operation in the coming months with the dawn of revenue sharing. In the meantime, though, Riley told reporters Wednesday that USC had “used a lot of consultants in the off-season” for input on monetary roster construction considerations, everyone from people in the NFL to people in the business world. And in early December, Riley hinted – after reports of the departures of wide receiver Kyron Hudson and running back Quinten Joyner – that USC was saying no to players as much as players were saying no to USC.

“The reality is, there are just some guys that you either can’t, or are not gonna pay what they want, or you assess their value and it does not … if your value doesn’t match the money, then, it’s not going to go well much longer, right?” Riley said, in an appearance on USC’s “Trojans Live” radio show.

A source with knowledge of the situation, for one, told the Southern California News Group that Hudson’s decision to leave USC was purely about reps and did not involve money. But in general, as Riley pointed out Wednesday, there is a financial component to every decision a player makes in college football’s current era.

There is a financial component to every decision USC makes, too, he pointed out. Multiple times, during a wide-ranging set of answers giving insight into USC’s football operations, Riley pointed to the concept of a “salary cap.” For now, until USC is permitted to pay players directly – with the possible summer 2025 introduction of revenue sharing – that cap comes through House of Victory, with Riley and staffers then tasked with breaking down a total budget into percentages allocated to different positions on the roster. Some transfer portal payment could go, for instance, to a quarterback. Some to a left tackle.

And USC was adapting, Riley affirmed. But given the knowledge of that landscape now, would he have made some of the recruiting decisions he made a few years ago? No.

“Before, again, it was 85 scholarships,” Riley said Wednesday. “This one scholarship doesn’t affect the other 84 … now, you overpay for the wrong person, it affects every other one on the roster.”

This business, Riley said on that earlier radio show appearance, had become “cutthroat.” Gone were the days, even, of his first recruiting class at USC, when commitments would come from sitting in living rooms. There has been no explicit point or mention from Riley of Branch or Robinson or any of USC’s transfer portal departures, in the past couple of weeks.

There is only salary cap. And percentages. And money.

“Right now, you wake up every day,” Riley said, “and you never know what’s coming.”

​ Orange County Register 

Edison boys basketball gets lift from returning players in win over Fountain Valley

• December 19, 2024

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — With a star player returning after being sidelined for two weeks due to injuries and two more players rejoining the team after playing on the football team that just won a state championship, the Edison basketball team seemed to have all the advantages against Fountain Valley in a Sunset League opener for both teams Wednesday.

Four players scored in double figures for the Chargers, who led from early in the first quarter in a 61-54 victory over the Barons at Fountain Valley High School.

The Chargers, (7-6, 1-0), who are ranked No. 22 in the county, also dominated on the boards with 30 rebounds, including 14 at the offensive end, compared to 16 for the No. 19 Barons (10-3, 0-1).

Derick Johnson, a 6-foot-3 junior, was returning to the starting lineup after missing six games with injuries to both ankles and scored a game-high 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds, five on the offensive end.

“He was guarded by smaller players, so he was just killing them inside,” Edison coach Josh Beaty said. “They couldn’t keep him off the glass. So, to see him play the way that he did with as much heart as he had … Because he’s not up to his condition yet.”

Beaty, who is in his first year coaching the Chargers, was returning to Fountain Valley for the first time after coaching the Barons last season.

“It’s weird but it’s not about me,” said Beaty, who guided the Barons to the quarterfinal round of the CIF-SS Division 2-AA playoffs last year. “I’m just trying to make it about the kids.”

Along with Johnson, scoring in double figures for the Chargers were Jayden Oei (19), Connor McNally (15) and Devyn Blake (10).

Blake and Teo Hampton were both on the Chargers’ football team that defeated Central of Fresno, 21-14, on Saturday to capture the CIF State Division 1-A title.

Devin Payne and Aaron DeSantiago scored 21 and 18, respectively, to lead Fountain Valley and were the main reason the Barons were within striking range for much of the contest.

The Barons trailed by four with four minutes, 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter but the Chargers then scored four times off of offensive rebounds to make the score 59-52 with 26.9 seconds left.

“It is tough to win games when you give that many second opportunities,” Barons coach Brendon Holmes said. “We had moments where we were battling and playing hard but we could have been a little bit more aggressive when it came to the ball going up in the air and us needing to go get it. It was a tough one, but I think it was a great opportunity for those guys to learn.”

​ Orange County Register