USC’s Eric Musselman, like Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, doles out heavy minutes

• January 18, 2025

LOS ANGELES — The only time his legs found a seat last weekend in Champaign, Illinois, was for 60 measly seconds, and USC forward Saint Thomas found himself laboring amid USC’s upset bid. He’d played the most minutes of anyone in a Trojans jersey. And midgame, naturally, he asked head coach Eric Musselman for a break.

Denied.

“He said if I wanna be an NBA player,” Thomas after USC’s win over Iowa on Tuesday, “I gotta suck it up.”

Teammate Desmond Claude grinned next to him, USC’s point guard having just played every single second in defeating the Hawkeyes.

“Shoot,” Claude smirked, speaking of Musselman, “he did that to me today.”

He has done this, in fact, for years, the 60-year-old Musselman operating with a trust in his veterans’ legs and a no-nonsense approach to substitutions that harkens to his earliest days in the profession. Look at a box score from one of his old Nevada teams, Musselman cracked after that Iowa win: Twins and future NBA wings Caleb and Cody Martin “never came out of a game,” he put it. At Arkansas, former assistant Gus Argenal remembered, Musselman would sometimes act like he couldn’t hear a player if they asked for a sub. He’d simply turn away.

Sure, that might have drawbacks. Musselman acknowledged, smiling, that a “couple guys might’ve been exhausted” after USC’s defense slipped toward the end against Iowa. But Thomas and Claude, and a heap of transfers, had come to USC to play for Musselman specifically for the trust he’d expressed in them. He’d put the ball in their hands. He was “letting us rock,” Claude put it, as USC’s offense has suddenly erupted across an eight-game stretch in which the Trojans are averaging 84 points a game.

That will mean a heavy dose of heavy minutes. And the occasional back turned on a request for a sub.

“He said, ‘Nah, Tom Thibodeau don’t do this,’” Thomas said Tuesday, recounting Musselman’s words to him in Illinois. “Like, you gon’ stay in the game.’”

It’s no random reference, as the New York Knicks head coach is still one of Musselman’s best friends. Over three decades ago, Musselman joined his late father Bill Musselman’s staff with the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves. On staff already was a young Thibodeau, whom Bill Musselman had plucked from Harvard.

The young Musselman lived on the seventh floor of Hennepin Crossing Apartments, in downtown Minneapolis, in the Timberwolves’ second season in 1990-91. Thibodeau lived on the sixth floor. When Musselman was leaving his apartment, he’d stomp the floor to alert Thibodeau, and the two would run to the Target Center together. They played pickup ball at a health club five or six days a week with Bill Musselman, the runs becoming the stuff of local Minnesota legends.

They were all on staff together for just one year. But that year still trickles into how Musselman and Thibodeau operate, shared branches on a Bill Musselman tree that’s lived throughout modern basketball long after his death in 2000.

“Something now that he’s passed, especially – it’s so, so important, that timeframe,” Musselman told the Southern California News Group in the summer.

Bill Musselman, simply, was a different guy, as fellow former Timberwolves staffer and former Milwaukee Bucks general manager John Hammond put it. He had his own way of doing things. In life. In coaching. In Minnesota, Bill Musselman built his roster in part from veterans he’d coached previously with the CBA’s Albany Patroons. He did not tank, even as the Timberwolves struggled; he played former guard Tony Campbell, who averaged 23.2 points a game, nearly 39 minutes a night.

Musselman would tell his staff stories, Argenal remembered, of him and Thibodeau trying to convince Bill to play other players. Younger players. Musselman’s father wouldn’t do it.

“He was playing the best guys he thought were capable of getting it done, night in and night out,” Campbell remembered. “That was – that was his stance on that.

Eric Musselman, he’ll tell you himself, is his father’s son – a “copy of his dad,” as former Timberwolves center Randy Breuer put it. Hammond, meanwhile, will still watch Thibodeau patrolling the sidelines 30 years later and see Bill Musselman in him: in the mannerisms, in the steely-eyed intensity. Musselman once played future NBA guard Anthony Black 35 minutes a night in 2022-23, leading the SEC; Thibodeau’s heavy minutes have become the stuff of legends in NBA ranks.

“I think they’re very similar, in how they do things,” Hammond reflected, on Musselman and Thibodeau.

Musselman has started every season dating to Arkansas and Nevada, as Argenal reflected, by playing a deep rotation before trimming. In 2021-22, the Razorbacks started 0-3 in SEC play. Musselman resolved, as Argenal remembered, to take a page from his father’s playbook: When you’re in a tough spot, play your five toughest guys.

The next game against Missouri, Musselman started three bigs at once. Arkansas won 87-43, and later made a run to the Elite Eight.

“I know that when we got in tough spots at Arkansas, at Nevada, it was like, ‘OK, well, we just gotta go into battle with these guys that we know are really tough,’” Argenal said.

Years later, now at USC, Musselman has the Trojans (11-6, 3-3 Big Ten) head into a key Big Ten stretch, starting with No. 24 Wisconsin on Saturday. Claude and backcourt mate Wesley Yates III each played all 40 minutes against Iowa. Thomas and Chibuzo Agbo each played at least 37. Two months after Musselman started the season tweaking the minutes of 11 or 12 Trojans, he played just seven against Iowa.

And if Thomas or Claude are declined a sub again, they’ll in some way have Thibodeau and Bill Musselman to thank.

USC vs. No. 24 Wisconsin

When: Noon Saturday

Where: Galen Center

TV/radio: Big Ten Network/710 AM

USC at Nebraska

When: 6 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Neb.

TV/radio: Big Ten Network/710 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Air quality monitoring not equipped to measure full dangers from Eaton, Palisades fires, experts say

• January 18, 2025

A race against time.

That’s how one air quality expert describes the current public health situation in Los Angeles, where thousands are coping with destruction wreaked by the Palisades and Eaton fires.

Together, the fires have ravaged more than 37,000 acres since they broke out last Tuesday — leaving over 12,000 structures, including homes, business, cars, and more, melted to nothing in their path.

And unlike California’s usual wildland fires — which have occurred in mostly forested, sparsely populated areas creating typical smoke and particulate matter pollution — the public health ramifications of the current L.A. wildfires are much greater, experts say.

“There’s all kinds of chemicals that you cannot see in the air. They are not measured by the Air Quality Index — and they’re extraordinarily toxic,” California Communities Against Toxics executive director Jane Williams said in a recent public briefing. “We are literally in a race against time to stop the disaster after the disaster, and try to intercept these exposures that we know are already occurring.”

Pollution created by the Palisades and Eaton fires differs from typical wildfire smoke largely because so many buildings and cars — home to a host of potentially toxic materials — were burned down.

Melted home electronics and vehicles, for example, are potential sources of exposure to toxic metals including lead, cadmium and aluminum, Williams said during the Thursday, Jan. 16 Coalition for Clean air briefing. Homes with furniture and building materials containing plastic and vinyl create volatile organic compounds when burned, she said.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District, the government agency charged with regulating and improving air quality for much of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernadino Counties, monitors the region’s air quality for five major pollutants including particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide  — but it doesn’t account for ash from fires, nor other toxic compounds that may have been released into the air by the fires.

“(We’re) really looking at the type of problems that occur when you’ve dropped a bomb on a city — it’s really unprecedented in the country’s history what’s happened here,” Williams said. “So, this is what you’re most likely breathing now if you live anywhere near any of the burn zones, and none of this will be monitored by any of the existing air pollution monitoring.”

That essentially means that even when the AQMD’s air quality index reads “good” or “moderate” — the data isn’t accounting for those toxic chemicals and ash.

The potential health impacts from the fire-related air pollution are varied. Small particles from smoke, dubbed particulate matter 2.5 or PM 2.5, can penetrate deep in the lungs and sometimes enter the bloodstream, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Exposure to particulate matter can exacerbate pre-existing pulmonary conditions such as asthma, cause heart attacks, decreased lung function, and even premature death, the EPA said. The California Air Resources Board estimates that particulate matter exposure contributes to the early deaths of about 5,400 Californians every year.

Though the risk of exposure is greatest for people in close proximity to the fires. Williams cautioned people eager to return to Pacific Palisades or Altadena to survey the damage to their communities to avoid doing so for the foreseeable future — especially without any personal protective equipment.

“It is a very powerful sociological drive to return to your home — and the problem is, that we we do not emphasize enough that you are breathing in particles that you cannot see, the Air Quality Index doesn’t tell you they’re there,” Williams said. “But when you breathe them in, even for relatively short periods of time, they get lodged inside your lungs in your body, and have just enormous public health impacts.”

Law enforcement officials have yet to allow residents to return to the remains of their homes in both Pacific Palisades and Altadena as efforts to contain both fires continue — and the county prepares to safely remove hazardous debris from the areas.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, on Thursday, issued a new mandate prohibiting the removal of fire debris from affected areas until an approved government agency can perform a hazardous materials inspection.

“Fire debris, ash, and dirt from residential and structural fires may contain asbestos, heavy metals, and other hazardous substances,” DPH said in its order. “Improper handling or disposal of fire debris can increase these risks, spreading hazardous substances throughout the community and endangering workers, residents, and the environment. Fire debris must be removed safely to prevent more harm.”

That order, though, doesn’t apply to the collection of personal property from residential sites. DPH advised anyone allowed to return to their homes to wear proper respiratory, eye, and skin protection.

For people around the immediate areas impacted by the fires, officials recommend monitoring local air quality data — bearing in mind that not all pollutants are represented in that data — and taking precautions based on if they smell or see smoke, or begin to experience adverse health reactions such as rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, runny noise, cough, chest pain and eye irritation.

“Ash will remain a concern in the communities near the fires, especially on windy days when winds blow over the burned areas,” AQMD spokesperson Jack Chin said Friday. “If you see ash in the air, smell smoke, or if AQI levels are elevated, take precautions to avoid exposure.”

In those cases, people are advised to wear a well-fitting N95 mask if they go outdoors, though it’s best to stay inside and keep windows and doors closed, run an air conditioner or a high-efficiency air purifier, and avoid vacuuming, frying food, burning candles or using gas-powered appliances when air quality is bad.

Officials aren’t sure how long air quality issues will persist in the Los Angeles region as a result of the fires, though it will likely be a concern for the foreseeable future.

“It is unclear how long windblown ash will be produced from these burned areas,” Chin said. “We’ve seen ash transport from large burn scars on wildlands until vegetation grows over the area in the following spring. Rainfall and clean-up efforts will likely influence ash transport from burned urban areas.”

Aside from monitoring the AQMD’s Air Quality Index, a smoke and fire air quality data map is also available at fire.airnow.gov. This map, aside from PM 2.5 concentrations, also includes information about fire locations and smoke plumes.

For additional information about air quality and public health, visit the AQMD, the California Air Resources Board, AirNow, or the Department of Public Health‘s websites.

​ Orange County Register 

Residents returning to homes in Altadena, Pacific Palisades feel relief, but anxiety for the future

• January 18, 2025

Nikki Lewis and Anteres Anderson Turner greeted each other with a big embrace. These neighbors shared a sigh of relief: Their homes in the Meadows neighborhood of Altadena had survived the Eaton fire.

“For us it was days of watching the fire climb and go back,” said Lewis, 48, a professor at Mt. San Antonio College. “We were waiting to see if today was the day that we lost our homes. Is tonight the night that we go to bed and we wake up in the morning and there was a breakthrough of the fire line?

“It was very intense, going back and forth. And a lot of lack of sleep.”

But on Friday, Jan. 17 they were able to return home, even if just for a visit. As firefighters started to get higher containment on the Eaton and Palisades fires, officials gradually have started to downgrade evacuations, allowing some residents like Lewis and Turner to go back to their neighborhoods.

The Eaton fire was 65% contained and the Palisades fire 31% by Friday morning, Jan. 17, authorities said. Neither fire has grown in size in several days.

The fires have combined to claim at least 27 lives. The number of damaged or destroyed structures in the Eaton fire was just under 8,000, according to updated numbers from the Angeles National Forest on Friday morning, while officials have said more than 5,000 have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades fire.

And though Lewis, Turner and others are relieved their homes were spared, they remain concerned about the future.

“I think Anteres and I are definitely in the same boat, we’re feeling extraordinarily lucky that our houses have survived but also a huge fear of what the future holds for Altadena,” Lewis said. “The destruction of this rich, historical community. One of the historical Black communities in Los Angeles, and what is going to happen to that heritage, what is going to happen to the old folks who might be swindled, or people trying to put up a gated community.”

Anderson Turner, 45, grew up in the house on Canyon Dell Drive. She has twin 8-year-old sons who she is raising in the same home with her husband, Louise.

“It feels amazing to come home,” Anderson Turner said. “It’s bittersweet because we passed the homes that have gone and you see that you survived, so it’s a mixture of survivors’ guilt and gratitude.”

Coming back to her family’s home, Anderson Turner said, she cried, because it not only is her home but her mother’s and sons’ home. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and it was an intense feeling of relief.

The 1956-era home survived the Station Fire in 2009, and the 1993 Kinneloa fire, she added.

The home still does not have power or water so the Anderson Turner family is staying at a friend’s house in Covina.

Mike Saddler, 79, and his wife, Sunshine, came to their home along Canyon Crest Road on Friday to clean up their lawn and get a couple more things before they headed back to their hotel in Pasadena. The couple, together more than 60 years, has lived in their home since 1974 and raised two sons in their tight-knit community.

“When I saw the house,” Sunshine Saddler said, “I fell on my knees, and said, ‘Thank you, God.’ ”

Mike Saddler is a retired engineer and worked at JPL, which sits across the canyon from his house. As he cleaned up his property, Saddler would wave to cars passing by – whether neighbors or first responders. Neighbors would also stop by as they drove by. “Glad you’re still standing,” one neighbor told Saddler.

“As you can see when you come up here, one side of the street their houses are partially burnt up, and on the other side there’s nothing, and you come up here and there’s nobody’s house that’s been burnt up,” Mike Saddler said. “It’s been unbelievable.”

He added: “I’m just happy that it’s here.”

Near the Palisades fire, Frank LeClair, 68, watched his neighbors trickle back into their homes in Woodland Park Mobile Estates.

The mobile home park, which sits at the mouth of twisty Topanga Canyon, is part of one of the first previously evacuated areas to reopen.

LeClair stayed in the area throughout the evacuation order, one of roughly 30 residents who remained, he says.

“I’m not leaving. I’ve been burned out of three homes,” LeClair said.

Including a childhood house fire and a blaze in Malibu in the 1990s, he has experienced displacement from fire in the past and was not worried about the fire reaching his home this time.

As he sat on his front porch, more cars pulled into the neighborhood. He was grateful the Palisades fire didn’t affect their area.

While some residents began to return, others will be waiting to see when they, too, will be allowed back in the coming days and weeks. Officials have said it will be at least a week, if not more, before some residents are allowed back to some of the most heavily impacted areas.

As time passes and the fires themselves fade, what comes next is on many residents’ minds.

“The idea of the unknown and what the future holds,” Anderson Turner said. “While we were lucky, I have a dozen family members who weren’t so lucky, and so it’s the displacement and how long is it going to take to start the rebuilding process. And then how long beyond that is the healing process for Altadena and are we going to be forgotten about once this news cycle is over?”

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Anita horse racing consensus picks for Saturday, January 18, 2025

• January 18, 2025

The consensus box of Santa Anita horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Eddie Wilson, Kevin Modesti and Mark Ratzky. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Saturday, January 18, 2025.

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​ Orange County Register 

Santa Ana College fire technology and nursing programs offer value, affordability

• January 18, 2025

As the son of a City of Orange firefighter, Ryan Thibert grew up around the fire station. But he never considered firefighting as a career – until his father suffered a cardiac arrest in 2020.

Thibert’s father made a full recovery – largely thanks to the timely medical assistance provided by paramedics from Orange County Fire Authority Station 31 – and the incident left a lasting impression on Thibert.

“I always thought the job of firefighters looked cool, but that moment when they came in and gave me extra time with my dad changed it for me,” Thibert said. “I wanted to make that difference for someone else.”

Thibert graduated from Santa Ana College’s Fire Academy Class 182 in 2022. (His dad was a graduate of Class 72.) He chose SAC because of its outstanding reputation and high standards.

“The more I learned about it and all the preparatory work just to get into the academy, it seemed like the right choice. They have such a high standard, and it’s the best place to prepare you to be a firefighter in Orange County.”

Exceptional value

Thibert is one of thousands of Orange County students who are passing up traditional four-year universities and private colleges to earn certificates and degrees at Santa Ana College. SAC’s acclaimed fire technology and registered nursing programs are two of its most popular tracks.

And with good reason: the exceptional value.

Thibert graduated with a Firefighter 1 certificate in 2022 and now works as a firefighter for the City of Brea, where he earned more than $100,000 in his first year. The program cost? About $5,200.

“It’s a little bit of an investment but compared to going to a four-year college and taking out a loan, it’s been life-changing,” Thibert said.

A 2024 report conducted by research and consulting agency HEA Group measured the return on investment across all higher education institutions in California, ranking Santa Ana College 12th out of 292 for cost-to-earnings among low- to moderate-income students.

“Santa Ana College, as the fastest growing community college in the state, provides affordable access for a diverse community of learners to achieve their educational goals, whether that be transfer to a four-year university or career-based certificates,” said Vice President of Academic Affairs Jeffrey Lamb.

There are accolades to back that up: For the second consecutive year, the college was named among the Top 100 community colleges in California by Intelligent.com for its academic quality, graduation rate, cost and student resources.

Storied fire tech program

SAC’s Fire Technology program serves more than 12,000 students annually, offering 88 different fire technology courses over five program areas: Fire Technology Core, Fire Academy, Fire Service Agreements, Fire Officer Training and Wellness Program. Students can choose from four academic certificates, four associate degrees and 42 accredited regional training programs.

Established in 1967, the 16-week SAC Fire Academy is one of the oldest and largest in the state, graduating 186 academies since its inception.

Thibert praises the academy for exposing him to “everything you’re going to see in this job” including defending structures, rendering medical aid and wildland training. Students even learn how to prepare for job interviews.
Graduates are employed throughout Southern California and other western states, said William Reardon, associate dean of fire technology. He also noted that many of SAC’s instructors are academy alums, including Fire Academy Commander Tim Butler, a retired battalion chief from Anaheim Fire.

“There’s a specific vetting process and a specific type of person that they want teaching these kids to become firefighters,” Thibert said, “and Tim Butler has done a great job with that.”

SAC nurses stand out

Across campus, the Registered Nursing Program is earning accolades, as well, providing exceptional outcomes in career placement and earnings among its graduates. The accredited program has four 16-week semesters that include theory courses and clinical training in a hospital setting.

Graduating students receive an associate degree and are eligible to take the nursing licensing exam. Job placement percentage rates are high: In Spring 2023, 94.6% of graduates were employed in nursing professions.
What makes the program stand out? Faculty members point to affordability, smaller class sizes, and more clinical hours than other schools.

“Our students are competent when they come out; they’re ready to practice,” said Mary Steckler, associate dean of health sciences and director of nursing at Santa Ana College.

Instructor Maria Davia, a 2009 graduate of the program, agreed.

“We can teach them how to do skills, we can teach them about labs, we can teach them about vital signs,” she said. “But when they’re in the hospital setting, in clinical, they get to prepare themselves for that mental aspect. And as clinical instructors, we’re there to support them through that.”

Nursing grads also earn a livable wage; according to a 2024 report, students who graduate from SAC earn more than $90,000 annually five years after graduation.

The program cost? Under $6,000.

And employers love SAC nurses.

“We have a great reputation in the community,” said instructor Louise Jones, a 2007 SAC grad. “We have a beautiful new health sciences building that’s top-of-the-line technology. That, along with the human aspect of what we have at Santa Ana College, gives the students a lot of resources and opportunities.”

For more information on Fire Technology and Nursing Programs at Santa Ana College click here.  To learn more about Santa Ana College, please visit www.sac.edu.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Friday, Jan. 17

• January 18, 2025

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Friday, Jan. 17

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

FRIDAY’S SCORES

GIRLS WATER POLO

DOWNEY TOURNAMENT

Camarillo 17, Villa Park 4

Los Alamitos 18, Long Beach Poly 2

South Pasadena 8, Villa Park 4

NORTH HILLS LEAGUE

Crean Lutheran 7, Yorba Linda 6

NONLEAGUE

Orange Lutheran 12, Oaks Christian 10

Helix 18, Troy 2

​ Orange County Register 

Disabled father and son died awaiting rescue from Eaton fire

• January 18, 2025

“Chocolate, the fire’s coming … I’ll call you back.”

Those were among the last words Anthony Mitchell V, 28, heard from his grandfather, who nicknamed him “Chocolate Red” because of his chocolate hue and how he turned “almost red” while crying as a baby.

Anthony Mitchell III’s last phone call to his grandson came around 2 p.m. Japan time Jan. 8 — 9 p.m. West Coast time Jan. 7 — as the Eaton fire closed in on the longtime Mitchell family home in Altadena.

Called Anthony Mitchell Sr. by family members, Mitchell III, 68, and his son, 35-year-old Justin Mitchell, are among at least 25 confirmed fatalities in the Eaton and Palisades fires that devastated Southern California this month.

“My grandfather, he was always sweet, caring,” Mitchell V, an Air Force servicemember stationed in Japan, said in a telephone interview. “He would always take care of everybody in the family. He was like the center. He brought everybody together.”

Mitchell Sr., who used a wheelchair after losing a leg to diabetes, and Justin Mitchell, who had cerebral palsy, died awaiting rescue, according to published reports.

Mitchell Sr. had four children — Justin, Jordan, Anthony IV and Hajime White of Arkansas.

White told The New York Times and Washington Post she spoke with her father by phone Jan. 8 as the flames headed toward their home, which bordered the Angeles National Forest.

According to the Times, the Mitchells’ address “is one of several that emergency dispatchers discussed as they deployed crews in the early hours of the fire. … They were among several people who had called saying they were trapped.”

Mitchell Sr. lived with Jordan, who took care of his father and Justin. Jordan was hospitalized with sepsis and not home when the fire started, according to published reports.

Mitchell Sr. would not have left Justin behind, Mitchell IV told the Times. “We were his legacy,” he was quoted as saying. “We were his diamonds.”

According to Mitchell V, his grandfather was born in 1956 in Pensacola, Florida.

The Times reported Mitchell Sr. “worked in sales at Radio Shack and then studied to become a respiratory therapist. But the work was sad. Many of his patients, including children and older people, died. He quit and went back to sales.”

Mitchell Sr. was known for his skills at the barbecue and was often recruited to cook for a crowd, the Times reported.

Mitchell V remembers holidays and summers spent with his siblings at his grandfather’s Terrace Street home, which had been in the family for generations.

“My grandfather was like, ‘I just got some bikes you guys can ride around. You guys can travel around the neighborhood’ and we would do that,” Mitchell V said.

“We made friends with kids in the local area and it was just nice. Just being there in the atmosphere of my grandfather’s house made me feel safe.”

Mitchell Sr.’s wife “would bake cookies for the neighborhood and she would always bake me my favorite cookies … and blueberry muffins,” Mitchell V added. “Once she passed … I know my grandpa, he was hurt and sad. That was the love of his life.”

Although she grew up in Arkansas, White told the Times her father always kept in touch.

“‘He would call me a lot of times, and he would ask me, ‘Baby, what do you want for Christmas?’ ” White recalled. “He would sometimes start in June and July.”

White told the Times her father “would ask around about what the latest trends were. Big boxes of presents would then show up on White’s doorstep, filled with the latest fashionable clothes and in-demand items, such as Air Jordan shoes, Reeboks and, once, a keyboard.”

Mitchell V,  who has not been able to go home as much as he’d like because he is stationed in Japan, said he spoke “a lot” with his grandfather by phone.

“My grandfather, he would always tell me stories about himself growing up,” Mitchell V said. “He would tell me how he was always proud of his family.

“The thing that stuck with me the most — he’d always tell me when you walk out that door, you don’t represent just you, you represent your family. And it was really true. You really do represent your family when you walk out that door.”

The Post reported Mitchell Sr. had 11 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. White told the Post her father “had nicknames for everybody: Strawberry Shortcake, Marshmallow, Bug. He just went on and on.”

According to NPR, White said her father “would help Justin practice reading and speaking by looking over the newspaper together. ‘When he’d get the newspaper, Justin had a certain part in the paper that he had to read too,’ she said.”

Mitchell V said his uncle Justin, a paraplegic, was always smiling. “He would love being on a computer, playing games (and) reading,” he said.

According to the Times, Justin Mitchell was an avid reader, “particularly books ordered from Amazon. Whenever someone asked if he wanted a present, he answered simply, ‘Amazon.’ ”

According to NPR, Mitchell IV, who is Mitchell V’s father, talked with his father about 2025 plans that included a Fourth of July barbecue and a possible trip to Japan to visit Mitchell V.

“We were setting everything up to have a big ol’ family get together,” Mitchell IV was quoted as saying.

Mitchell V, who has a son named Anthony Mitchell VI, said he plans to visit his family “as much as I can,” He said he spoke with his uncle Jordan, who told him: “We shouldn’t let this tragedy stop us from being together.”

“I want to continue those traditions,” Mitchell V said. “I want to be able, when I do have my own grandkids, I want to continue the nicknames and stuff like that.”

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: Are we really surprised that Roki Sasaki is a Dodger?

• January 18, 2025

Cue the wailing, again.

Roki Sasaki broke the news himself on Instagram on Friday afternoon, much the same way that Blake Snell announced his signing with a doctored photo of himself in a Dodgers uniform on Nov. 26. Baseball’s latest Japanese import is now a Dodger as well, and the club’s hold on Japan might as well be an iron grip.

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A post shared by 佐々木朗希 (@rouki.sasaki)

For the record, the translated version of Sasaki’s announcement was as follows: “I have signed a minor contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a very difficult decision, but I will do my best to make it the right decision when I look back after my baseball career. I want to slip my sleeve on the Dodgers’ uniform at the opening conference, thanking everyone who has supported me this far.”

Oh, the support is just beginning. That Instagram post had more than 111,400 likes in just 44 minutes. Dodger fans were waiting for this.

Meanwhile … well, I ran the term “Evil Empire” through the Google translator. In Japanese it’s 悪の帝国, or “Aku no teikoku,” and while that term might not actually be used in Japan, I guarantee you the complainers on this continent are fuming, again. As was the case after the Snell signing, or after the Dodgers got Shohei Ohtani, or Yoshinobu Yamamoto, or Tyler Glasnow or Freddie Freeman or Mookie Betts or … well, you get the drift.

And now let’s cue the calls, again, from 29 deprived fan bases for a salary cap. Those aggrieved fans won’t care that Sasaki signed a minor league contract for less than $10 million, as is the rule for a Japanese player younger than 25 or with fewer than six seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball who wants to come to the big leagues. This time, it wasn’t about the Dodgers bludgeoning the rest of the sport with their financial might.

The Dodgers outlasted the Toronto Blue Jays, after the San Diego Padres dropped out of the running earlier Friday and began using their international bonus pool money on other players. The Jays had actually made a trade with Cleveland earlier Friday to add $2 million to their bonus pool space, with outfielder Myles Straw going to Toronto as well. Subsequently, the Dodgers made their own deal with the Phillies to add to their bonus pool space.

But the Jays should be used to this. Remember the private jet flight that wasn’t in December of 2023, the one that purportedly was carrying Shohei Ohtani to Toronto to sign with the Jays? We all know how that turned out.

How impactful is this signing? Sasaki reached NPB at age 19 and has become dominant, with a four-pitch mix that features a 100-mph fastball, a plus slider and an 88-90 mph splitter that has been described as unhittable. In four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines, he compiled a 29-15 record in 64 starts, with a 2.10 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings. He was a member of the Japan pitching staff that won the 2023 World Baseball Classic, along with Yamamoto and Ohtani.

Sasaki’s heaviest usage in his four NPB seasons was 129⅓ innings in 2022. He logged 110 innings last season and was said to have showed some shoulder fatigue at one point.

But consider: What might have been the Dodgers’ final selling point was a conversation between Sasaki and Yamamoto, and the suspicion is that Yamamoto pointed out some of the Dodgers’ pitching methods.

There are 10 potential candidates for the Dodgers’ six-man rotation in 2025, but keep in mind how many starting pitchers were still standing when they finished off the Yankees in the World Series last October. That old adage that you can never have too much pitching? It’s not just a saying any more, especially in The Ravine.

So should we assume that Yamamoto and Sasaki will start the Dodgers’ opening games against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo on March 18 and 19?

Beyond that, Snell and Tyler Glasnow will be there. Ohtani won’t be ready to pitch at season’s start but he will be in the mix at some point. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May will be available. Youngsters Bobby Miller – who regressed in 2024 – and Michael Grove will, too. And then there’s a future Hall of Famer waiting in the wings, with Clayton Kershaw expected to sign at some point with a targeted return of midseason.

And no, Dodger fans, there is no need for defensiveness or apology over this embarrassment of riches.

This is the bottom line, ever since Mark Walter’s Guggenheim group took over the Dodgers from Frank McCourt in 2012 and assembled an organization willing to pay and with decision-making brainpower and savvy: These owners not only have the wherewithal to win, they care, mightily.

Team president Stan Kasten put it this way during the championship celebration at Dodger Stadium on Nov. 1: “Every one of you cares as much about being here today as every one of us on this stage.” You can flip that statement, in fact, and it sends an even more powerful message: The owners and the executives care as much as their fans do.

If you root for another team, can you say that about your ownership?

Didn’t think so.

jalexander@scng.com

​ Orange County Register