Category: Sports

by Debbie L. Sklar / Times of San Diego / July 22, 2026

Before there was Del Mar, there was another racetrack.

There’s no sign of it today, but Pacific Beach once had a racetrack — and for a brief period in the 1880s, it became one of the region’s most notable gathering places.

Today, Pacific Beach is known for its boardwalk, beach traffic, and nightlife. In the late 19th century, however, it was part of a developing coastal landscape shaped by real estate speculation, rail expansion, and ambitious efforts to create destination communities.

One of the most ambitious of those early projects was the Pacific Beach Driving Park, also known as the American Driving Park, a horse racing facility established during San Diego’s 1880s land boom.

The track was developed in 1887 after the Southern California Breeders’ Association acquired property for a formal racing venue. Located on what was then undeveloped land near Pacific Beach, the site included a racetrack, stables, and a grandstand designed to support organized races and public events while also helping promote surrounding land sales.

Public Has Until August 24 to Give Feedback to Port

By City News Service / 7SanDiego / July 10-13, 2026

The comment period for a proposed redevelopment of East Harbor Island for a Topgolf and Waterfront Park Project is open, Port of San Diego officials announced Friday.

The port published a Draft Environmental Impact Report for the project, with the public comment period open through Aug. 24.

The project, if approved, would entail a 10.1-acre public waterfront park with a promenade, plaza areas, playgrounds, restrooms and public art. It also includes a 16.5-acre section designated as an entertainment district, with 9.8 of those acres set aside for the popular arcade/ driving range company Topgolf. The remainder is slated as “eatertainment” concepts, to be determined by a competitive public solicitation process.

Additionally, the proposal calls for realignment of Liberator Way with new public parking, sidewalks, planting buffers and reconfiguration of adjacent intersections.

By: Ben Higgins / 10News / July 16-17, 2026

Major League Pickleball is back in San Diego, bringing professional competition to Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma this weekend [July 18-19].

The event marks year two of Major League Pickleball in San Diego. Day one drew local fans to the venue while cameras and commentators streamed and broadcast matches for viewers around the world as pickleball’s popularity has continued to grow over the past decade.

The So Cal Hard Eights swept the Florida Smash on the opening day of competition. Among those leading the charge was Murrieta native Meghan Dizon, a pickleball pro who said the sport caught her attention during the pandemic.

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Shelter Island looks like a quiet stretch of marinas, sailboats, and waterfront hotels today, but its history is anything but ordinary. What appeared to be a natural peninsula was actually a shifting sandbar in San Diego Bay, gradually transformed over decades of harbor dredging, engineering projects,s and the city’s expanding maritime economy.

Even its name tells only part of the story.

1. It Isn’t Really an Island

Despite the name, Shelter Island has never been a true island. It began as a low sandbar near Point Loma that was visible mainly at low tide.

Beginning in the 1930s, harbor improvement projects deposited dredged material onto the shoal, gradually creating the landform visitors see today. Over time, what had once been open water became one of San Diego’s most recognizable waterfront destinations.

On Thursday, June 18, a woman’s body was found near the Ocean Beach Pier. Now, authorities have publicly identified her as Summer Nash, 34.

Nash was seen in the water near the western end of Newport Avenue that day, according to the San Diego County medical examiner’s office. Lifeguards pulled her to shore, where she was pronounced dead shortly before 3:30 p.m., the office reported.

A ruling on the cause of Nash’s death was pending completion of postmortem examinations.

A couple of days after the Rag posted about her unidentified body being found, someone named Avery left this comment to the article:

This woman was my daughter, Summer. She was beautiful, deeply empathetic, and an accomplished athlete. Over the past couple of years, she’s spent much of her time surfing beaches from Tourmaline to Mission. The loss is insurmountable.

Here is some commentary about her time at San Diego State U by GoAztec (2010–2012):
PERSONAL
Summer Montana Nash was born May 18, 1992, in Bozeman, Mont. … Daughter of Avery Ash … Interests include philosophy, nutrition and the outdoors … Enjoys arts and crafts, longboarding and activities with friends … Favorite athlete is Swedish track and field athlete Carolina Kluft … Majoring in environmental studies. …

By Steve Rodriguez

Preface

Major college sports are dominated by the concept of Name, Image, Likeness (NIL), which allows student-athletes to control how their name, image or likeness is commercially used. Since 2021, college athletes have been allowed to monetize their personal brand without losing a scholarship or team eligibility. In many cases, star athletes can make millions of dollars.

However, one gets the impression NIL at the White House means the current President of the United States aggressively seeks like a king of old to unashamedly stamp his name, image and likeness on numerous objects, institutions and concepts as a way of signaling success and legitimizing his legacy. Proposing his own image be placed on a commemorative two hundred and fifty dollar bill – though federal law bars living people from appearing on U.S. currency – is just one example. 

Name, Image, Likeness at the White House

Plaster his face on a two-fifty note?
Name, Image, Likeness goes beyond game day.
Needy king keeps weighty ego afloat.

By Kurt Johnston / UCSD The Guardian / May 26, 2026

1. FIFA ‘Americanizes’ the game

In about two weeks, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada will host the most bizarre World Cup that FIFA has ever organized. Yes, that includes Benito Mussolini’s personal propaganda tournament in 1934, Vladimir Putin’s personal propaganda tournament in 2018, and the Qatari regime’s personal propaganda tournament in 2022. Take a bow, Gianni Infantino.

FIFA is billing the 2026 edition of the world’s biggest sporting event — soon to be President Donald Trump’s personal propaganda tournament — as an overdue expansion of the beautiful game. The month-long spectacle will span three host countries, increasing to 48 participants for the first time in World Cup history. It will instead be remembered for a number of other first-time inclusions that threaten the sport’s integrity.

Most egregiously, all matches will be paused for mid-half water breaks.

by Scott Hopkins / Times of San Diego / May 19, 2026

A first-time occurrence of any kind is big news at a 101-year-old school and Point Loma High’s boys volleyball team accomplished the feat May 16.

Playing in the San Diego CIF Div. V finals, the Pointers defeated Hoover High 3-0 to win the school’s first volleyball title.

The Pointers entered the playoffs as a No. 4 seed with a first-round bye. Next was a match against No. 5 seed Southwest of El Centro. The Pointers defeated them 3-0 before winning 3-1 in a huge match at No. 1 seed Del Lago Academy, sending them on to the finals against the No. 2-seeded Cardinals.

Both the Pointers and Cardinals had to travel to Oceanside’s MiraCosta Community College, site of the finals. But the Pointers arrived ready for action, led by head coach Ethan Phung and assistant Justin Phung.

By Kate Callen

Shortly before 12 noon on May 4, I nearly killed a bicyclist.

After I made a full stop at the 30th & Upas four-way stop sign, I stepped on the accelerator to start moving through the intersection. Within seconds, a speeding cyclist ran the stop sign meant for him and flew past the front of my car.

If I hadn’t slammed on the brakes, I would have crashed into him, and it’s doubtful he would have survived. News stories would have accurately reported that I hit him. Biking activists would have vilified me as a murderer.

This awful scenario happens all too frequently in neighborhoods across San Diego because too many cyclists think stop signs and stoplights are a nuisance.

They will literally bet their lives that they can frighten motorists into giving them the right-of-way that the law doesn’t grant them. If they lose the bet, motorists who obeyed the law can still face criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.

Bicycling activists often talk about “bike safety.” For them, the term seems to mean that drivers should always be deferential to the needs of cyclists.

by Brooke Binkowski / La Jolla Village News / April 21, 2026

Ernest McCray has never stopped to consider whether something is impossible. There’s only one thing he says he isn’t capable of.

“I tried to be a grown-up — for about 30 seconds,” he said, laughing.

McCray’s life began in Arizona to a hardworking, music-loving family in which he was raised mainly by his mother. It was a different country then, and Tucson was still enforcing Jim Crow-style segregation.

“I was born in 1938, to give you an idea,” said McCray. “They didn’t desegregate schools in Tucson until I was going into the 8th grade. We couldn’t eat at the white restaurants, we could only swim in the ‘colored’ swimming pool.”

He found refuge from Jim Crow in the local library. Despite the animus enforced from above, McCray knew he had a voice — and he used it.

“That’s how I make it in the world,” he said. “Through writing and being an educator and a teacher and a principal…  I use my writing in school communities and working with kids and turning them on to writing.”

Above all, McCray said, he does everything he can to make the world a kinder place.

By JW August / Times of San Diego / April20, 2026

After a 12-year journey, “The Black Family” statue will soon resume its place in one of San Diego’s oldest parks — and in the city’s arts world.

A new version of the statue will replace the 52-year-old original that was removed due to years of decay, at its old home at the front of Neal Petties Mountain View Community Park, formerly known as Mountain View Community Park. It will be unveiled on June 13 as part of the annual Juneteenth celebration.

The stainless steel statue, like the original made from painted redwood, will continue to honor late artist Rossie Wade’s image of Black values and community pride, as it did when it was dedicated in the southeastern San Diego park in 1974.

Wade’s concept was inspired by an abstract painting he created in the 1950s of a Black family of four. The new statue is intended to reflect the earlier work’s message of hope, depicting a Black family of four including a father, mother, son and daughter reaching for the sky.