Alexander: Ten sports stories that mattered in 2024
It is my annual project: Pick 10 stories from the last year that mattered. Not necessarily the ones that generate the most clicks or emails or reaction, good or bad. (Though I’m sure those who usually correspond, either with praise or criticism, will weigh in with their ideas. Trust me, I welcome the feedback.)
But these are stories that I thought had an impact. Some are obvious (and if I wanted to I could probably go six deep with Dodgers-related stories). Some are at or below the radar. They aren’t ranked or listed in any particular order, other than maybe the order the columnist thought of them. But they’re all worth reprising. So here we go.
Shohei: If This Space had a SoCal Sportsperson of the Year, the selection process would be closed after one nomination. Shohei Ohtani’s Dodger tenure began with an unexpected distraction, the revelations that interpreter Ippie Mizuhara essentially stole him blind to pay off gambling debts, as a federal indictment confirmed. Distraction? Bah. Ohtani only had one of baseball’s greatest individual seasons ever, becoming the charter member of the 50 homer/50 stolen base club, and he did so knowing that everyone in the Dodger clubhouse had his back.
And just think: That heavily deferred contract that the Dodgers gave Ohtani? The player gave his former team the same proposal during the free agent process. Arte Moreno said no. Let that sink in.
‘Everybody Watches Women’s Sports’: It’s the message on a popular T-shirt these days, and before you consider it hyperbole consider this scene outside of Pauley Pavilion two days before the end of 2023. The line of fans waiting to get in snaked around the side of the building, two hours before game time. The attraction: UCLA-USC women’s basketball, both teams undefeated before the Bruins’ 71-64 victory. And it wasn’t a novelty; UCLA is currently ranked No. 1 and USC has the sport’s next superstar, JuJu Watkins.
After all of the seasons where the centers of attention for women’s game were Storrs, Conn., Knoxville, Tenn., Columbia, S.C., Baton Rouge, La. and Iowa City, Iowa., L.A.’s the place. (And by the way, USC and UCLA play each other Feb. 13 at Galen Center and March 1 at Pauley.)
The fans are heard: Galaxy fans, and soccer fans in general, are loyal almost to a fault. But they’re also not hesitant to come down hard on their own team when warranted. And there’s a clear line between Galaxy fans’ boycott at the start of the 2023 season, demanding changes in the organization, and the team’s sixth MLS Cup, achieved earlier this month and the direct result of those changes. Voting with your feet, and your wallet, does work.
Those we lost: Three towering figures in the history of Southern California sports passed away in 2024: Bill Walton, one of the linchpins of UCLA’s men’s basketball dynasty under John Wooden, later a two-time NBA champion and most recently a basketball broadcaster with his own unique style, not to mention the most fervent defender of the Pac-12 as we knew it. Jerry West was a tortured figure before finally winning an NBA title with the Lakers, and went on to have a magnificent second act as an executive and talent evaluator. And Fernando Valenzuela, in addition to his pitching feats, may have been the most culturally influential figure in the history of the Los Angeles Dodgers. May they rest in peace.
Aaron Donald: We probably took him for granted as the dominant force in the Rams’ defensive line, but no one who opposed him ever took him for granted. He was an eight-time All-Pro selection, and the sight of him pointing to his ring finger at the end of the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI triumph at SoFi Stadium in February of 2022 spoke volumes. He deserved a Super Bowl ring, and he finally got it.
Harbaugh v. Chargering: Jim Harbaugh began 2024 with a big victory in the Rose Bowl as Michigan’s coach, en route to a national championship. After that Rose Bowl game he was asked if SoCal – and particularly the Chargers coaching vacancy – was in his future. His response: “My future consists of a happy flight back to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Can’t wait.” Yeah, but a few weeks later he was back, and now as Chargers coach all he has to do is change the reputation and direction of an entire franchise.
The Great Lakers Coach Search: It’s still uncertain whether the Lakers’ brief flirtation with University of Connecticut coach (and owner of back-to-back NCAA championship rings) Dan Hurley was serious and/or whether Hurley had any real interest or was using the Lakers to get a sweeter deal. That said? I think JJ Redick will turn out to be the right call. But at some point, the onus is on boss of basketball operations Rob Pelinka to provide him a championship-caliber roster. The jury’s still out.
The little guys pay the bill: The guardians of amateurism may still rail at the role money now plays in college athletics’ roster-building, but the idea of players sharing in the sport’s profits is mostly a good thing from this point of view. But there’s one small problem (pun intended), as we noted a few months ago: The tentative settlement in the House v. NCAA lawsuit, which will be the subject of a fairness hearing in April, places a disproportionate financial burden on non-autonomous schools and conferences, particularly non-football schools whose shares of the NCAA basketball tournament proceeds will be reduced to help facilitate the deal.
In other words, big school athletes will be sharing in smaller schools’ revenues. Sound fair to you?
CSDR’s star turn: The California School for the Deaf, Riverside football program turned into a power after the school switched from the 11-man game to eight-man football. And that success was improbable enough that the Cubs became a national phenomenon, including appearances on the field for the Super Bowl LVI coin toss and on the Kelly Clarkson Show, and a book, Thomas Fuller’s “The Boys of Riverside,” that delved into the process of making champions, among other things making the point that deafness, and the focus that it required on the football field, wasn’t a disadvantage but a superpower.
Whether the ride continues or not – coach Keith Adams resigned after the Cubs’ third straight section title this past November, and his younger son, quarterback Kaden, is a senior – it’s one that no one at that school will forget.
A Blue October: You didn’t think we forgot, did you? It wasn’t just a blue October but a memorable one for not only the Dodger organization but a fan base that had been whipsawed by back-to-back Division Series losses the past two years … and was one loss away from yet another long, chilly winter. Instead, the Dodgers vanquished the Padres and then brushed aside both New York teams for the organization’s eighth championship – and maybe, hopefully, convinced some in the fan base that Dave Roberts wasn’t a bad manager after all. And I’d imagine Freddie Freeman’s lightning bolt of a grand slam to decide Game 1 will be replayed on the video boards in The Ravine for years – no, decades – to come.
jalexander@scng.com