Five prime sports stories – ORANGE COUNTY TRIBUNE

By Pete Zarustica/Orange County Tribune

 Of all the interesting people and events that made 2023 a particularly interesting sports season, the person – and event – that towered over all of them can be described in two words: Shohei Ohtani.

  Not only did the two-way star have another all-star season for the Los Angeles Angels – on his way to winning his second American League Most Valuable Player honor – the issue of where he would go in 2024 absorbed much of the media’s and public’s attention.

 The fact that Ohtani, as many predicted, ended up signing a $700,000 million 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers salved the feelings of many Orange County fans. Many of them also root – at least part-time – for the Dodgers. Additionally, the Halos and Blue Crew play an annual series just before the regular season starts, and interleague play guarantees that “The Unicorn” will be making a few visits to Anaheim in 2024.

 Here are some other outstanding sports stories of interest to Tribune readers.

2. The Underdogs Rise Up

 Two high school football programs that have struggled to get much success in recent years are Bolsa Grande and Huntington Beach.

  In 2022, the Matadors got their first CIF-SS playoff spot in over three decades. In 2023, Bolsa came close to winning the Garden Grove League title.

  The GGL ended in a tie between Rancho Alamitos and Los Amigos, with Bolsa Grande and La Quinta tied for third. 

  The Mats advanced to the playoffs, losing 35-28 to Ocean View. Ethan Nguyen was named the league’s top player and Michael Acosta was Coach of the Year.

  At HBHS in the tough Sunset League, a new era may have dawned in the person of Brady Edmunds, a 6-5 freshman quarterback. 

 The Oilers finished fifth in the SL, but qualified for the Division 6 playoffs and won their first two games before losing 32-29 to the eventual champion Simi Valley.

3. Dodgers dominate, then ….

  The Blue Crew (100-62) ran away with the National League West Division title, their 10th championship in 11 years and 11th consecutive trip to the playoffs.

  Fans, sportswriters and bookies were predicting a trip to the World Series, or at least a deep run into  the MLB playoffs. But the Arizona Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers in the Division series.

There was much complaining about a disappointing season, which was received with considerable irony by Angels’ fans.

4. The end of college football as we know it

 Most fans of “big league” football among local colleges and universities have their loyalties divided between USC and UCLA. The former had a disappointing season and the latter a slightly improved campaign and both made it to (and won) third-tier bowl games.

  But beyond that, there were other reasons to shed a tear. The huge – one might say overpowering – influence of television money has cracked the long-standing structure of the game at this allegedly “amateur” sport and scattered the traditional conferences and rivalries.

  USC and UCLA have left the Pac-12, and so has nearly everybody else, so that it’s now the Pac-Two, searching around for somebody new to play against next fall. Perhaps Washington State and Oregon State can play each other 10 times.

5. The Angels are now  in a grave new world

  In another hugely disappointing season, the Halos (73-89) fell short of all goals again. Despite having two of the greatest players in baseball history – Mike Trout and Ohtani – the team was unable even to break-even.

 But at the end of July the team was still in contention for a wild card spot so General Manager Perry Minasian arranged for a flurry of trades to make it stronger. 

 The result was an almost immediate collapse and most of the “new” Angels were back on the market, having done more damage than help.

 Field manager Phil Nevin was fired and Ron Washington hired to replace him. He has promised to make the team work harder to do better. We have heard this before.