TORRANCE TRIBUNE October 19, 2017 Page 5
Up and Adam Are Lakers Ready
for Showtime?
By Adam Serrao
It’s that time of the year again. Once
everyone has finally gotten fully involved
in the football season, the NBA has done
its part to sneak up around the corner to
begin its regular season slate across the
league. The main question on the hearts and
minds of Lakers fans everywhere in Los
Angeles seems to be: “Just how good will
this Lakers team be?” The answer? While
the addition of Lonzo Ball may have added
a lot of juice to the watch-ability factor of
the team, don’t expect this year’s roster
to compete with other elite squads of the
Western Conference for a championship or
playoff spot anytime soon.
The last four seasons haven’t been easy for
Lakers fans. The team has averaged 22 wins
per year, players have come and gone, and
the most exciting point of the year has come
during the NBA Draft, when the Lakers are
picking near the top of an order that includes
the absolute worst teams in the league. The
Lakers have, indeed, been among the absolute
worst--a fate that the organization had
previously eluded for decades as they hung
championship banners from the rafters seemingly
year after year. Even through the bad
times, however, Laker fans have remained
among the most loyal in the entire sports
world. Can this be the year that their loyalty
actually pays off?
The answer to that question lies in each
fan’s very own definition of success. With
every bad season comes a high draft pick
for the Lakers. Those high draft picks have,
to this point, accumulated talent like Julius
Randle, Brandon Ingram and--making his
debut in the purple and gold this year--Lonzo
Ball. A high draft pick or two isn’t the only
thing that will make this year’s Lakers team
feel brand new. The additions of Lakers legend
Magic Johnson (who seemingly turned
around the Dodgers) and new general manager
Rob Pelinka, who have been deemed with
the task of running Los Angeles’s front office,
should not only have the Lakers arrow
trending upward, but also make the Staples
Center a destination that other free agents
would now like to put on their respective
maps once again.
That fact alone, though, doesn’t mean that
the Lakers will be great this year. The accumulation
of talent that now comprises Los
Angeles’s roster is still relatively unproven,
especially when it is held in comparison to
other powerhouse teams like the Golden State
Warriors and now, the Houston Rockets and
Oklahoma City Thunder. A quick glance at
the Western Conference landscape would
leave any enquiring Lakers fans’ minds stuck
with the simple fact that a finish within the
Top eight in their conference seems relatively
impossible, to say the least. While many
Laker fans are eternal optimists, that simple
fact makes them some of the most loyal
around. Seeing how an extremely young and
inexperienced roster will beat out the likes
of teams like the Utah Jazz or New Orleans
Pelicans (who project as the number eight
and nine teams in the standings) would take
enough optimism to make even a New York
Knicks fan think that even they will make it
to the Finals this year.
The fact about the Lakers remains that
despite their additions of talent including
the point guard Ball and even number 27
draft pick Kyle Kuzma to go along with
other new names, the team is still in the
process of taking baby steps back towards
greatness. And let’s all face it--while the
Warriors remain at the top doing their thing,
the Lakers might as well take their time with
the process. The Lakers should improve
drastically on the offensive side of the ball
this season, but still project to be one of the
worst defensive teams in the entire league.
Even still, that’s okay for a team coming off
of the worst four-year stretch in franchise
history that only won a grand total of 26
games one year ago.
The real key to the Lakers’ eventual success
and return to greatness won’t, in fact,
be their record at the end of this season. The
key to the Lakers raising another banner will
be what the team does in next year’s summer
when the free agent pool will be as deep
as the middle of the ocean. LeBron James,
Paul George, Chris Paul, DeMarcus Cousins
and many more top names from across the
league will all be eligible to sign with the
Lakers in the 2018 offseason. As much as
anything else, this year is about how the
young nucleus of Ball, Ingram, Clarkson
and Randle all play together to not only
make the Lakers as appealing as possible
to free agents, but also to make themselves
appealing enough to other teams that may
inquire about young talent in any possible
trade scenarios.
The expectation of the 2017-18 Lakers
season isn’t as dull and dreary as reading
this article may make it seem. The key to
enjoying this season revolves around just
where you set your expectations for the team.
Don’t expect this year’s Lakers to make a run
at an NBA championship just because there
will be new names on the back of the jerseys
running up and down the basketball court. Do
expect to see some of the most entertaining
basketball that you’ve seen on the Staples
Center floor at least in the last four years.
That exciting basketball is exactly what has
the opportunity to signal the reinvention of
Showtime in Los Angeles whether the Lakers
finish each game with an “L” or a “W” in
either column of the standings.
– Aserrao6@yahoo.com •
Victory Over Leuzinger Has
North Controlling Its Own Fate
By Adam Serrao
Just two weeks ago, North High’s offense
looked dead in the water against the West High
Warriors in what eventually became a 3-0 victory
for the Saxons. Fast forward one week
later and it was quarterback Sean Sigala who
made sure his offense was firing on all cylinders
while this time looking a whole lot more like
its former self. With three touchdowns on the
night, Sigala and North scored at will, early and
often. What made the win even more intriguing
was that it came over last year’s Pioneer
League champions, the Leuzinger Olympians.
In order to be the best, you have to beat
the best. With the Saxons’ 47-8 victory over
Leuzinger, head coach Todd Croce and North
High steamrolled the best team in their division
from one season ago. Now the 5-2 Saxons are
tied for first place with the Torrance Tartars
heading into the final three games of the regular
season. The Saxons’ third straight win came
on the heels of an impressive all-around team
victory. Not only did the offense come out firing
away behind Sigala, but the defense succeeded
in not allowing a point until the third quarter
of play. “Every week, we know our defense is
geared up and ready to play,” Sigala explained.
“As an offense, we have to match it.”
Sigala certainly had no problem matching
his team’s defensive effort by tossing his first
touchdown of the game with two minutes to
go in the first quarter. A safety by North’s
physical defense accompanied by a field goal
moments later accounted for five more points
before Sigala ran the ball into the end zone
for a touchdown to give his team a huge early
lead. The Saxons then came up with one of
their three interceptions on the night to set the
offense up with yet another touchdown, all
before the half, to lead 26-0 at the break. “We
knew they were going to come in and try to
be more physical than us,” sophomore defenseman
Mehki Jordan said. “Our defense was
really locked in tonight, though.” Jordan came
up with two of his team’s three interceptions.
The second half saw more of the same from
the North High team as a whole. Running
back Saeed Galloway got the ground game
going as the Saxons continued to run away
with the contest and Galloway continued to
make his way toward the end zone. A 79-yard
attempt helped North’s effort in taking a 33-0
lead in the third quarter. Galloway ended the
game with 150 yards on just 17 carries. His
skill, combined with Sigala’s second rushing
touchdown and third total touchdown of the
game, helped the Saxons milk the clock and
eventually take a 39-point victory.
North (5-2, 2-0) has now won three games
in a row and four out of its last five. The
Saxons have three games remaining in the
regular season, beginning with a matchup
this Friday night against one of the Pioneer
League’s two last place teams, the Centennial
Apaches. A matchup one week from now against
the Torrance Tartars will likely determine the
champion of the Pioneer League division--but
with the way that the Saxons are currently
playing, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that
they are clearly sitting in the driver’s seat, in
clear control of their own fate.
Torrance High vs. South High
After an extremely lackluster start to this year’s
regular season, the Torrance Tartars find themselves
right in the thick of things in the Pioneer
League championship race. With a 49-0 shellacking
of the South High Spartans, the Tartars
not only continued to win when it mattered,
but also vaulted themselves into a first place tie
in their division with the North High Saxons.
It was another ground-and-pound type of
game for Torrance High, which used a total
of 17 different players to carry the ball on the
night. Head coach Rock Hollis, clearly concerned
with getting the lead and then running
out the clock, received a total of 355 yards
and six touchdowns on the ground from his
team. Senior Ethan Meyers led the way for the
Spartans, who jumped out to a 14-0 lead after
the first quarter and a 35-0 lead at the half.
Meyers finished with 75 yards rushing and
two touchdowns and also caught quarterback
Nathan Gottlieb’s lone touchdown pass of the
night, which was good for a 31-yard score in
the second quarter.
Once again, South High looked completely
hapless on both offense and defense. The Spartans
(0-7, 0-2) failed to notch a point for their fifth
game in a row and have been outscored by a total
of 201-0 in that same amount of time. The Tartars
(3-4, 2-0), on the other hand, have now won their
second game in a row and will look to truly
prove themselves with matchups against Leuzinger
and the North High Saxons next on the
schedule. The Spartans will look for any kind of
offensive firepower at all when they take on the
West High Warriors this Friday night at home.
West High
After coming off of their hard-fought rivalry
game against the North High Saxons two weeks
ago in which the team as a whole was shut
out, the West High Warriors exploded for 52
points in a rout of the Centennial Apaches.
A fumble returned for a touchdown put all
of the momentum onto West High’s sideline
in the first quarter. It wasn’t long before the
Warriors jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the
first quarter and a 30-0 lead at the half. Centennial
would eventually go scoreless against
West High’s stout defense in the game as the
Warriors garnered their second shutout of the
season. West (2-5, 1-1) will look for another
offensive explosion and another shutout as
they take on the lowly South High Spartans
this week on the road.
– Asxilion@earthlink.net •
City Council from front page
installation of over 12,000 unsightly no parking
signs in our beautiful neighborhood,”
Seaside Rancho Neighborhood Homeowner
John Blanco said. “The un-mandated
Optimized Street Sweeping Program has
already generated $626,000 for the City
this year.”
Blanco went on to question the City’s
program and stated that more than 80
percent of residents don’t support it. However,
he didn’t cite any specific study or
survey to prove these numbers, but rather
his own door-to-door survey efforts of 100
people and a poll he conducted regarding
the issue where he stated to have had
566 responses.
The staff report did confirm that the total
revenue collected from all parking citations
for the 2016-2017 fiscal year was $626,123.
The no parking street sweeping citation of
$43 was established in 2012, two years before
the Optimized Street Sweeping Program was
adopted. The amount has not changed, nor
are there plans to increase the fine. Each year
2,642 tons of trash (5,283,200 pounds) and
debris are removed from Torrance streets
and kept out of the storm drain and ocean.
Also on Tuesday, the Council appropriated
a donation in the amount of $8,848.46 from
Torrance residents to resurface Miramar Park.
In addition, the Council approved a contract
services agreement with Subsurface Imaging,
Inc. of Torrance for the labor and repair of
the concrete dolphin located at Miramar Park.
The donation was a collective effort led by
Torrance resident Brian Diederich, who after
a community meeting on June 17 launched
a “go fund me” campaign and was able to
garner enough community support to collect
the amount donated on Tuesday. After
the June meeting, Diederich contacted the
President of Subsurface Imaging, Inc., Jamie
Davis about the park’s dolphin restoration
efforts. Davis, along with the Rosalie Ellen
Company, reached out to City staff and gave
a verbal commitment to cover the labor and
materials needed for the task.
“Miramar Park has had the iconic concrete
dolphin for many years that was initially
surrounded with landscape,” states the staff
report signed by Community Services Director
John Jones. “Over time, the landscape was
worn out by all the kids and parents wanting
to play on the statue.”
The City would eventually turn the landscape
surrounding the dolphin into rubberized
material, but three years ago staff noticed the
deterioration of the dolphin and the material
underneath. Before being named Miramar
Park, the site was home to the Hollywood
Riviera Beach Club, which burned down
in 1958. Due to the historic nature of the
location, a historic plaque was dedicated on
February 24, 1985. •