UCLA announces Jackie Robinson apparel collection

Get your Jackie Robinson collection now.

The UCLA Bruins are honoring their greatest athletic alumni with a new apparel line.

UCLA’s first four-sport athlete, playing baseball, basketball, football, and track and field, Jackie Robinson was a trailblazer and an American icon. Breaking the color barrier in professional baseball, Robinson’s influence on American athletics rivals none.

Now, the Bruins honor his legacy with Roots of Fight, an apparel brand that, according to their website, “Celebrates the improbable achievements of today’s most legendary athletes, innovators, and cultural icons.”

Though Robinson never wore his iconic number 42 at UCLA, the number is retired for the Bruins and is the namesake of UCLA’s baseball stadium in Westwood.

The collaboration with Roots of Flight honors Robinson and his legacy on and off the field. In addition to his playing career, Robinson served in the Second World War, ranking as a second lieutenant in the 761st Tank Battalion.

The new line is available at the UCLA online store and is an opportunity for fans to represent the Bruins’ most important athletic alumni.

Ben Verlander ripped for calling Shohei Ohtani ‘the most important signing in Dodgers history’

Did he forget about Jackie Robinson?

Ben Verlander — the FOX MLB analyst and brother of legendary pitcher Justin Verlander — is right about some of things in a monologue he delivered about Shohei Ohtani signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a ton of money.

He talked about how you’re not just paying for Ohtani, but for the marketing hat comes along with him, the Dodgers fans the franchise will pick up and so on.

But he declared it “the most important signing in Dodgers history.”

Uh, sir: Just about every response to Verlander was some version of: What about Jackie Robinson?

Here you go:

 

 

 

 

California High School Football Hall of Fame to include 100 players, 13 coaches

100 players and 13 coaches will be included.

As one of the country’s biggest and most populous states, it only makes sense that California has one of the deepest pools of football talent and some of the most competitive programs. Good news: some of the greatest players in state history will soon be recognized for their outstanding achievements.

According to Eric Sondheimer at the LA Times, the new California High School Football Hall of Fame will be unveiled at the Rose Bowl game later this year in November. One hundred players and 13 coaches will be included.

Some of the most famous player names on the list will be Tom Brady, John Elway, Warren Moon, Jackie Robinson, Jim Plunkett, Carson Palmer, Ronnie Lott, Reggie Bush, Tony Gonzalez, Maurice Jones-Drew, DeSean Jackson and Richard Sherman.

Here is the full list of players, per Sondheimer:

Among the 13 coaches are Kevin Rooney and Lou Farrar.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place on Nov. 21.

Jerry West: Bill Russell and Jackie Robinson were in the same class

“In every generation people make a difference not only with their play, but also with their persona,” said Jerry West. “Bill Russell and Jackie Robinson were in that same class.” One might think that West and Russell would be sworn enemies considering Russell’s Celtics beat West’s Lakers in six of those Finals. One would be wrong. “Bill was not my rival,” said West. “Bill was my friend.”

Donaldson se disculpa con familia de Jackie Robinson por sus comentarios

Y es que Anderson ha sido de los jugadores de raza negra que más activismo han mostrado en la gran carpa del beisbol y hasta el mismo se comparó con Jackie Robinson.

El tercera base de los New York Yankees, Josh Donaldson se disculpó con la familia del histórico beisbolista Jackie Robinson por los comentarios vertidos sobre Tim Anderson de los Chicago White Sox.

El pelotero de Yankees fue suspendido un partido y multado por la liga por los “comentarios irrespetuosos y de mal juicio” en los que fue evidenciado durante el partido del pasado lunes.

Donaldson se mostró arrepentido de los comentarios utilizados pues asegura que Tim Anderson ha aportado mucho al beisbol y así mismo respeta mucho a la familia de Robinson.

“Declaré el fin de semana que me disculpaba por ofender a Tim y que fue un malentendido basado en las múltiples discusiones entre nosotros a lo largo de los años. Mi punto de vista sobre ese intercambio no ha cambiado y no tuve la intención en absoluto de faltar al respeto. En el pasado, jamás había sido un problema y ahora que lo es, tenemos un entendimiento mutuo. dijo Donaldson.

Y es que Anderson ha sido de los jugadores de raza negra que más activismo han mostrado en la gran carpa del beisbol y hasta el mismo se comparó con Jackie Robinson.

“Quisiera disculparme ante la señora Rachel Robinson y la familia de Jackie Robinson por cualquier problema que este incidente pudiera haber causado. Jackie fue un verdadero héroe estadounidense y le guardo el mayor respeto a su nombre”, añadió Donaldson.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5]

New York Yankees fans sided with Josh Donaldson over simple decency

New York fans could’ve demanded their third baseman to act like a professional. Instead they stooped to his level.

Josh Donaldson has a documented history of pestering players in the White Sox clubhouse. He caused issues in 2018 as a member of the Blue Jays. Created more tension in 2021 with the Minnesota Twins. And barely a week ago, he caused a bench-clearing shoving match after an aggressive pick-off attempt on Tim Anderson ended with the shortstop taking a knee to the head while barely avoiding a cleat spike to the hand.

Donaldson taunted Tim Anderson twice Saturday by calling him “Jackie” — as in Robinson, one of baseball’s most unimpeachable icons — in what the third baseman says was an “inside joke” but is an unmistakably racist remark any way you try to explain it.

Anderson called the comments disrespectful. His manager, Tony La Russa, called them outright racist. New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the taunt was “somewhere [Donaldson] should not be going.” MLB is investigating.

But the story doesn’t end there. The next day, many fans within Yankee Stadium booed Anderson and chanted “Jackie” during a nationally televised game on ESPN.

To say it’s the wrong side to take is an understatement. Booing a Black man who explained in no uncertain terms a day earlier he felt disrespected by the “joke”? In the middle of a spat that’s only connected to The Bronx because Donaldson happens to play there now?

This is not playful banter between fans and opposing players. Yankees fans have already crossed the line too many times this season to earn the benefit of the doubt. That Anderson beautifully responded to those chants with a three-run homer into right field doesn’t mean all is well. That he declined to speak to the media after Sunday’s 5-0 victory in New York is even more telling.

Because what should he have to answer for, really? What more could he say about Donaldson’s antics over the years that his teammates haven’t already made clear?

“A f****** pest,” Lucas Giolito said of Donaldson in 2021.

“This game went through a period of time a lot of those comments were made, and I think we’re way past that…I guess [Donaldson] lives in his own world,” Yasmani Grandal said after the incident on Saturday.

“Usually you have inside jokes with people you get along with — not people who don’t get along at all. So that statement right there was complete bull****,” Sox closer Liam Hendriks added on Sunday.

There’s four years of bad blood between Donaldson and the Sox. As much as Yankees fans may want to believe they’re defending their guy, this really has nothing to do with anyone in New York.

In fact, they’re just making this worse.

When one of the few Black players in MLB is telling reporters how disrespected he feels by Donaldson’s taunting, when multiple teammates are backing him up and when no players have publicly sided with Donaldson’s version of events, there is no justification for anyone to continue harassing Anderson.

Those fans are either chanting “Jackie” because they know it’s racist, or they’re chanting it because they believe Anderson was wrong to take it as racist and believe the proper way to respond is by continuing to inflict more pain.

Anderson first made a comparison between his experience in baseball and Jackie Robinson’s experience in a 2019 profile by Stephanie Apstein in Sports Illustrated — which is where Donaldson pulled his “inside joke” from. The story touched on the lonely existence of being Black in today’s MLB. How racism remains pervasive in the game’s highest levels. How he wants to inspire more Black youth to pick up the game that’s taken him to superstardom and how he wants kids to embrace their own personalities while doing so, not to assimilate.

(It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that this profile ran after MLB swiftly suspended Anderson for using the N-word after he was targeted with a pitch by the Royals Brad Keller. But the league has now waited three days to rule on Donaldson, despite managers of both teams saying the comments crossed the line.)

“I kind of feel like today’s Jackie Robinson,” Anderson said to Apstein. “That’s huge to say. But it’s cool, man, because he changed the game, and I feel like I’m getting to a point to where I need to change the game.”

This is the basis for Donaldson’s “inside joke” — that Tim Anderson feels isolated as a Black man, even as one of the best players in the league, and wants to make sure others don’t have a similar experience.

Yankees fans threw it all right back in his face because Donaldson wears the pinstripes. They could’ve demanded their own third baseman conduct himself like a professional.

Instead, they eagerly, and despicably, stooped to his level.

Bruins able to quiet the Oregon bats again to take weekend series

Oregon’s ninth-inning rally falls just short and UCLA wins the series with a 4-3 victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

This hasn’t happened all season long.

For the second straight day, the Oregon baseball team struggled to score runs and UCLA was able to take the weekend series with a 4-3 win.

With the loss, the Ducks moved out of first place in the Pac-12 as they fall to 7-4 in league action and 18-9 overall. The defeat gives the Ducks their first league series loss and it’s the first time Oregon has a two-game losing steak since March 5th and 6th as UC Santa Barbara took the final two games of that series.

Arizona now sits on top of the Pac-12 standings with an 8-3 mark. The Bruins improved to 18-8 overall and 5-3 in conference play.

Last night it was Jake Brooks that held down the Oregon offense and today it was Max Rajcic, who allowed just two runs on four hits and struck out six.

Oregon took the early 2-0 lead on Anthony Hall’s two-run home run in the second inning, but UCLA scored one in the third and three more in the fifth off starter Isaac Ayon.

The Ducks were able to put a mild scare into the Bruins in the ninth with some two-out lightning. Josh Kasevich and Hall each singled with Novitske continuing the rally with a run-scoring single to make it 4-3.

That was enough for Bruins coach John Savage who proceeded to bring in Austin Kelly and the former Sunday starter struck out Josiah Cromwick to earn his first save of the season.

Now the Ducks have to hope they can salvage one game down in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon. Oregon has yet to name a starting pitcher, but whomever it is, they will go against UCLA’s Thatcher Hurd (2-0, 1.07 ERA).

Game 3 of the weekend set is scheduled for 12 p.m. and can be streamed on Pac-12 Insider.

A ticket that Cole stashed for years in …

A ticket that Cole stashed for years in his basement alongside some other keepsakes turned out to have more than sentimental value. It was one of two tickets that nearly doubled the record for the most expensive vintage sports ticket when their auctions closed early Sunday morning. Cole’s ticket sold for $468,000, including a 20 percent buyer’s premium. A ticket stub from Jackie Robinson’s 1947 Major League debut fetched $480,000. The highest-graded ticket stub from Jordan’s NBA debut set the record in December when it sold for $264,000.