WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1999

Professional Southland sports in trouble

Mind-boggling isn't it?

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Arnold V. Cruz

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How Southern California professional sports seems to be in a funk right now.

Let's start with hockey.

The Anaheim Mighty Ducks made the playoffs, but lost the first three games and are on the verge of elimination. If they have not already been eliminated by the time this goes to print.

The Los Angeles Kings didn't even make the playoffs.

Basketball.

The Los Angeles Lakers have one of the most talented teams in basketball, yet they seem to have simply given up this season.

Since the Eddie Jones-Elden Campbell trade and the Dennis Rodman fiasco, the Lakers have gone downhill.

The pre-season predictors had the Lakers finishing fourth in the Western Conference behind Utah, San Antonio, and Houston. This made Shaquille O'Neal pretty upset, yet they turned out to be true.

Actually, the Lakers have the fifth best record in the West but are slipping fast.

The Clippers (3-5) have won more games than the Lakers (2-6) in the last eight games. How pathetic is that?

Baseball.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are probably the second most disappointing team in Major League Baseball. The Baltimore Orioles have the third highest payroll in the Majors and have only won four of 18 games.

The Dodgers are 9-10 with the second highest payroll and are struggling with their starting pitching rotation.

The $105 million man, Kevin Brown, has struggled a bit as of late and No. 2 starter Chan Ho Park gave up 11 runs in one inning last week. He has the privilege of being in the record books as the only pitcher to give up two grand slams to the same batter (St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Fernando Tatis) in one inning.

The lineup is inconsistent in producing runs with the exception of leadoff hitter Eric Young.

But with 143 games remaining you can't count anyone out of the race yet.

Football.

Supposedly, Los Angeles is hoping to get a football team pretty soon.

Personally, I can't wait to have another team to be disappointed in.

Arnold V. Cruz is a print journalism major.