Sports

Robb Field Park Improvements — Community Meeting Tues., Oct.3

October 2, 2023 by Source

There is a community meeting of the Robb Field Community Recreation Group on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023, at 6:00pm. The City is inviting community members to attend and where the city will continue deliberating on long-term plans for improvements at Robb Field.

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It’s Nice Having Sha’Carri Back

August 29, 2023 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

Sha’Carri Richardson.
I just love that young woman.
Watching her win the hundred
in a World Track Championship
puts a smile on my face
like the one she planted there
when I first saw her race,

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PLNU Surf Team Wins National Championship

June 30, 2023 by Source

by Kylie Capuano / sdnews.com / June 28, 2023

The Point Loma Nazarene University surf team took home the championship at the NSSA College Nationals Competition held on June 16-18. Their La Jolla competitor, UC San Diego, trailed behind with a fourth-place finish.

PLNU surfer Noah Kawaguchi was named the 2023 National College Men’s champion.

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Pickleball Players Not Happy With Surprise ‘Sand-Bagging’ by Point Loma’s Barnes Tennis Center

June 21, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

Last week at a meeting of San Diego’s Parks and Recreation Board, it was all supposed to end – all the acrimony between tennis players and pickleball players that’s been going on over the last two years. Or so tennis players thought.

They believed that when Point Loma’s Barnes Tennis Center announced during the June 15 hearing it will soon have 19 pickleball courts, pickleball players would be happy, and everyone could just get along. But they weren’t. Pickleball players view the surprise announcement by Barnes as a “sand-bag,” “underhanded,” and “greedy.”

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ReWild Activists and Recreation Proponents Reach Consensus on ‘Buffer Zone’ in Northeast Mission Bay

June 21, 2023 by Source

Activists from ReWild Mission Bay have reached an agreement with recreation proponents on a key element of the redevelopment of northeast Mission Bay.

It’s called the “Rose Creek Buffer Zone” and stretches from the Mike Gotch Memorial Bridge over Rose Creek to Garnet Avenue.

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G.O.A.T. Talking to Ease My Mind

June 15, 2023 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

Pondering
some of what’s going on
in the nation
and the world,
I was in a low-grade funk
and then
I turned my TV on
to two talking heads
on ESPN
who were going on and on
about who was
the G.O.A.T.,
the greatest to ever play
in the NBA,

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Midway Rising Developer and Todd Gloria’s Top Campaign Contributor Is an Owner of New San Diego Soccer Team

May 19, 2023 by Frank Gormlie

Did anyone else notice it?

Amidst all the hoopla and genuine joy over the recent announcement that San Diego will have a major league soccer team, is the little-emphasized fact that Brad Termini — the Midway Rising developer and Mayor Gloria’s top campaign contributor — is one of the owners of the new franchise. A minority one, yes, but one nevertheless.

Yesterday’s U-T gave us an insight into the whole origin story and with a nod towards Termini’s role.

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Public Input Needed on Robb Field Improvements in OB — Tuesday, April 4

April 4, 2023 by Source

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Barnes Tennis Center to Open 4 Lighted Pickleball Courts

February 16, 2023 by Source

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Surfers as Modern Day Transcendentalists

February 13, 2023 by Source

By Steve Anderson / LomaBeat.com/ Feb.

Nearly 200 years ago in the spring of 1845, Henry David Thoreau borrowed an ax and began collecting lumber for his cabin that he intended to build at Walden Pond. For about two years Thoreau lived at Walden Pond and practiced simple living.

He dedicated his life for a couple of years to learning to live off the land with as little as possible, rejecting any sort of luxurious living and argued that the comforts of life served as hindrances to the advancement of mankind.

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Remarks for My Ring of Honor Induction – After Arizona v. UCLA Game

January 24, 2023 by Ernie McCray

By Ernie McCray

Back when I was playing
in the old Bear Down Gym
doing my “Easy Ernie” thing,
draining 2’s
and what today|
would be 3’s
and snatching rebounds
like I was taking back
something that had been stolen from me,
I couldn’t have dreamed
that all that balling
would someday
result in my name hanging from a rafter
in the University of Arizona’s
Basketball Ring of Honor,

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Pt Loma High Baseball Pancake Breakfast — Feb. 4

January 23, 2023 by Source

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Pickleball Players Offer ‘Compromise’: Half of 12 Tennis Courts at Robb Field to Be Temporarily for Pickleball

January 18, 2023 by Source

The Pickleball Association of San Diego has proposed a “Managed Pickleball Facility at Robb Field”. The group last week met with the Parks Director, his staff, the Mayor’s staff, and tennis representatives and proposed a compromise.  Here is the Association’s statement from Jan. 15:

We proposed a compromise: Temporarily repurpose half of the 12 tennis courts at Robb Field into dedicated pickleball courts, funded and managed by our nonprofit organization. This would be an interim solution for pickleball players until a pickleball facility at Robb Field is built from scratch at a future date.

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Long Beach’s Site of 1938 National Surfing Championship Nominated as California Historic Point

January 4, 2023 by Source

From Save Our Heritage Now – Jan-Feb 2023 Newsletter

The nonprofit Sea of Clouds (a San Diego preservation group) together with Surfrider Foundation, Long Beach Chapter, have nominated Long Beach’s former site of the 1938 National Surfing and Paddleboard Championships as a California Point of Historical Interest to commemorate the area’s pre-World War II surfing history.

Held adjacent to Long Beach’s famed (and since demolished) Rainbow Pier, the contest was Los Angeles County’s first surfing and paddleboard competition billed as a national event.

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Winners in Bodyboarding Competition Held in Ocean Beach

November 18, 2022 by Source

Vert Magazine / Nov. 16, 2022

The California Bodyboarding Tour 2022 stopped off in Ocean Beach November 12th-13th for the US Festival.

As usual, the event was a get together of the boogie scene in Southern California despite the clean and small waves, with new faces showing up in Ocean Beach but also a couple legends like Jay Reale competing and winning, for the second year in a row, the Masters division.

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Peninsula Tennis Club Presents Options for Robb Field – Includes Pickleball Center

November 7, 2022 by Source

From PR.com

Peninsula Tennis Club President Todd Sprague, presented two conceptual plans for facility improvements at Robb Field at the Mission Bay Park Committee meeting held on October 4, 2022.

The first concept is for improving and enhancing the existing Peninsula Tennis Club.

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The Saga of Pickleball at Robb Field Continues at Mission Bay Park Committee

November 4, 2022 by Staff

By Geoff Page

The saga of pickleball’s attempt to find a home at Robb Field continued Tuesday, November 1, with an appearance before the Mission Bay Park Committee, at the Santa Clara Recreation Center in Mission Beach.

Stephan Boyland and Mike Shinzaki made the pitch on behalf of the Pickleball Association of San Diego. The pitch involved three possible options to have pickleball at Robb Field.

#1 – Share the existing 12 tennis courts. There are six courts in one fenced-in enclosure and six in another. Pickleball would like to have six of the 12 courts.

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OB Rag Makes National News – Over Pickleball Brouhaha at Robb Field Last July

October 7, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

On Thursday, October 6, the OB Rag made national news. The Guardian newspaper ran a long piece about the “escalating war between pickleball and tennis players” across America. It began:

There’s a storm brewing on the tennis courts of America. Admittedly a very middle class, middle-aged storm, but a storm nonetheless. On one side are the tennis players, with their eons of history, perfectly pressed shorts and thousands of dollars to spend on lessons. And on the other are the advocates for America’s fastest growing athletic pursuit: pickleball.

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Update From San Diego Pickleball Players

October 3, 2022 by Source

By Mike Shinzaki

I got into pickleball seven years ago at the suggestion of some close pals. To be honest I didn’t take to it much at first, it seemed like a silly pastime. A month later I realized I was playing everyday. As time went on I started competing, instructing, and advocating for pickleball’s growth here in town. Pickleball quietly became the fulcrum of my entire life. It has been a beautiful surprise. I’ve gotten to know great people along the way, many of you included. Stefan Boyland as well.

In 2020, Stefan and I embarked on a coordinated, full-time undertaking to help pickleball secure its rightful place in the City of San Diego

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2 San Diego State Football Players and NFL Punter Matt Araiza Accused in Gang-rape Lawsuit

August 26, 2022 by Source

By Colleen Shalby, Robert J. Lopez / Los Angeles Times / Aug. 25, 2022

A civil lawsuit filed Thursday in state court accuses three past and present San Diego State University football players — including a top punter now in the NFL — of gang raping a 17-year-old girl last year at an off-campus party.

Matt Araiza, 22, whose powerful and precision kicking in college earned him the moniker “Punt God,” was accused of having sex with the minor outside the home and then bringing her inside to a room where she was repeatedly raped.

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In 1966, the Surfing Championships Brought the World to Ocean Beach

August 18, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

The third annual World Surfing Championships came to sleepy Ocean Beach in the late summer of 1966. And Eric DuVall, head of the OB Historical Society, has just compiled a wonderful remembrance of that event and those early days of surfing in OB and Southern California.

Here are some quotes from DuVall’s latest historical piece in the Pt Loma – Ocean Beach Monthly:

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Rape by San Diego State Football Players 10 Months Ago Still Has Gone Unpunished

August 8, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

The following is based on news accounts but edited on the premise that the victim, her family and friends are telling the truth.

Close to Halloween last year in October 2021, a then 17-year old woman, as yet publicly identified, was out with friends on a Saturday night. She wore a costume. They had heard about a night house party so she and her friends decided to check it out.

Once at the party, she either began or continued to drive alcohol and was intoxicated. At some point, she was approached by a man who made small talk and offered her a drink. He then led her to a room. Other men were there.

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Despite Failure by City and Community to Resolve Issue, Compromise Must Be Sought Between Tennis and Pickleball Players

August 2, 2022 by Frank Gormlie

Clearly a compromise between local tennis and pickleball players must be sought, before more angry public arguments, yelling and disruptions through acts of faux civil disobedience lead to fisticuffs or worse.

After months of simmering, the conflict between pickleball and tennis players burst out into the open over the weekend when a group of pickleball players ambushed staff at the Peninsula Tennis Club  and took over tennis courts for about 40 minutes. Staff called in San Diego Police and eventually the scene quieted down when the pickleball players left.

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Here’s the Pickle Ball Players’ Video of Incident at Peninsula Tennis Club

August 2, 2022 by Source

In response to a report of an incident at the Peninsula Tennis Club over the weekend, posted by the Rag Monday, here is the video shot by the pickle ball players, showing their side of what happened.

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End of an Era for Bill and Me

August 1, 2022 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

I finished reading
the U-T
and thought I would
watch a little TV
to see what was going on
in the world that might interest me
and before I knew it
soft tears were rolling
from my eyes
after hearing that
Bill Russell
had died,

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100 Years of the Sport in San Diego Highlights Peninsula Tennis Club

July 22, 2022 by Source

From the Third Option / July 22, 2022

Public park tennis in San Diego began a hundred years ago this month when players raised $5,000 to build what is now the Balboa Tennis Club.

The number one racket sport in the country is also the fastest-growing, with 6.8 million new and returning tennis players in 2020 alone— a growth spurt of 22%. Research claims it adds ten years to a player’s lifespan; data also reveals it to be the safest sport to play during a pandemic.

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We Should Never Give Up the Quest for Setting Brittney Free

July 12, 2022 by Ernie McCray

by Ernie McCray

Brittney Grinder.
WNBA superstar.
Sits in a Russian lockup far
from where she displays
her hoops wizardry
on the court with the Phoenix Mercury,
and to her predicament her coach says
“If this was LeBron James
he’d be home, right?”
to which I say
“Not likely,”
not with all that’s going on
in these moments in time,
a war of a kind,
between two arch enemies,

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Point Loma Nazarene’s Baseball Team Moves Closer to National Title

June 7, 2022 by Source

By Editors / Times of San Diego / June 7, 2022

Every batter in the Point Loma Nazarene lineup recorded a hit Monday as the Sea Lions enjoyed a 11-3 victory over No. 3 seed Southern Arkansas.

With their 50th win of the season, No. 2 PLNU became the first team with two wins in the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship in Cary, N.C., moving within one win of a spot in the weekend best-of-three series for the national title.

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The Widder Curry Disses the Incitement of Violence at Hockey Games

April 26, 2022 by Judi Curry

By Judi Curry

People that know me are aware that I enjoy most sports. I frequently went to the Chargers game – or Patriot’s games when I lived in Maine; I went to baseball games at Dodger Stadium since I was a little girl – a hundred years ago. I attending Horse Racing all over California, Arizona and Maine; My grandkids played a variety of sports – rugby, soccer, softball, and a grandson was a wrestling champion not all that long ago. I attended their game/matches whenever I could. Every now and
then my husband and I would attend a Gulls Ice Hockey game, and it was enjoyed.

However, those same people that know about my enjoyment of those sports are now aware of my distaste for Ice Hockey. My problem is that Steve has season tickets to the Gulls game; his seats are one row back from the goal, and we have a practically unobstructed view of the game. Perhaps that is some of the problem for me. If Ice Hockey were the only thing played it would be great,

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‘America’s Most Scenic Ballpark’ Is Right There at Point Loma Nazarene

April 20, 2022 by Source

Matt Monagan / mlb.com news / February 28th, 2022

“It’s a place you wanna come to work to every day.”

Most people, if they’re being honest, don’t say that about their jobs.

Then again, most people aren’t Steven Riddle; manager of athletic facilities at Point Loma Nazarene University. Most of us don’t get to work in baseball paradise — along the breezy, dreamy Pacific coast of “America’s Most Scenic Ballpark.”

Since the 1970s, the Point Loma Nazarene University Sea Lions have been lucky to call this seaside oasis — dangling ever so gently off downtown San Diego — home. Baseball writer Kevin Kernan gave the ballpark its “Most Scenic” moniker in the mid-’90s — a trademark the school has run with ever since. They put it on their scoreboard and all over their athletic website and, I mean, why not? It fits.

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