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The Tuskers (2-7) were shut out 26-0 Saturday to rivals the San Luis Obispo Grogs (2-7) at Damon-Garcia Sports Field in San Luis Obispo.

The Grogs would defeat the Tuskers, who have not posted a win against San Luis Obispo since Feb. 25, 2006, for the second time this season. The Tuskers could not hold on to the ball racking up 18 knock-ons and three missed scoring opportunities inside the 22 meter line in the first half alone. San Luis Obispo would score three more unanswered try’s in the second half cruising to a 26-0 win.

The Kern Wood Award went to Zacharia Peters.

The Tuskers will conclude their 2009 season April 4 at 1 p.m. against the San Diego Old Aztecs (4-4) at Robb Field in San Diego.

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There are rumors in Los Angeles that a sparkling new $800M stadium may be rising and there are several NFL team willing to relocate to the nation’s second-largest sports market.

Billionaire developer Edward P. Roski, partial owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings, wants to build a 75,000-seat NFL stadium 20 miles east of Los Angeles in the City of Industry. Construction on the stadium could begin as early as this fall and be ready by the 2011 season. Roski first unveiled his plans for a stadium in April 2008 and in August 2008 had talked of potentially bringing in a team as early as the 2009 NFL season, but this was not the case as the City of Industry City Council just recently approved the stadium’s environmental report in January.

But does it make sense to bring a team back to Los Angeles? Will Angelinos support an NFL franchise?

The second largest media market in the US has been without an NFL team since Al Davis slithered back to Oakland with his Raiders in 1995. The Rams left that same year for St. Louis. Three years later in 1998, the Los Angeles Times commissioned a poll gauging local attitudes toward pro football. It found that 59% of Southern Californians did not consider having a pro football team in Los Angeles important. Only 9% of the respondents called themselves a "strong fan" of the Raiders. Some 69% said they were "not a fan." The Rams' numbers were worse. Only 6% called themselves a "strong fan" and 77% said they were "not a fan."

More than ten years has passed since the poll was taken and the longer the NFL is out of Los Angeles, those numbers have dramatically declined. Fans have moved on and thanks to Pete Carroll, USC practically operates as the defacto 33rd NFL team already, besides an NFL team in Los Angeles could mess with USC's salary cap.

Despite the potential lack of interest by disgruntled LA fans, Roski has already started shopping for a team -- probing a small group that includes the Minnesota Vikings.

By know everyone has heard the Vikings’ ownership say that they’re committed to staying in Minnesota for the love of the fans, blah blah blah. However, be certain they are keeping one eye on what is happening in LA. Minnesota owner Zygi Wylf has made it clear that he would move the team when the Vikings' lease at the Metrodome ends in 2011 if a new stadium is not built.

Other NFL teams that are speculated to be interested in relocating to Los Angeles are the Chargers, Bills and Jaguars. My best guess is that the Bills wouldn't move to Los Angeles because the NFL would rather see them move to Toronto if they're going to move at all, but the Jaguars and Chargers -- probably in that order of likelihood -- could move. One way or another, the NFL wants to put a team back in L.A. If there were a good stadium deal in place, we might even see Al Davis make a bid to return the Raiders to “El Lay”.

In any case, given the miserable history of NFL teams relocating to Los Angeles, it will take an entire generation to build the trust and solid fan base to support an NFL franchise.

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The Tuskers (2-6) get their first win in eight years against Riverside spoiling the playoff hopes for the Killer Bees (3-5) this past Saturday at Emerald Cove Park, 23-14.

Riverside would score first but the Tuskers would answer by launching an all out attack mid-way into the first half scoring four trys and a penalty goal with help from Soon Jo Hong, Scott McDonald, Mark Eberhard and Billy Ross. The Tuskers would hold on for their second win of the season officially knocking Riverside out of the playoffs.

“ We are very proud of the young players on the team and it is very evident that they are gaining confidence in themselves and each other”, stated Club President Ahmed Baaumer.

Billy Ross received the Man of the Match Award and the Kern Wood Award went to Andy Magargee. The Tuskers next game will be at San Luis Obispo (1-6) Mar. 28 at 1 p.m.

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Whether you are male or female, young or old, spend hours picking your brackets or chose your teams by who would win a fight between the mascots, anyone can fill out a bracket and have a chance to win following these 10 simple rules of bracketeering.

1. Only once (in 2008) have all four number one seeds made the Final Four. So don’t put all four no.1 seeds in the Final Four. But if the top four seeds all make it to the Final Four, and I mean if. Louisville would take on Connecticut and Pittsburgh would face North Carolina.

2. A 16 has never beaten a one. There is a reason why they are a 16 seed.

3. A 15 rarely beats a two. Don’t pick this unless you feel lucky or your alma mater is playing.

4. A 14 or a 13 beats a three or four seed practically ever year. Take a shot with one of these, because if you get it right you are a genius or at least you can claim to be one.

5. A 12 will beat a five, maybe even two of them. Picking one maybe two might give you the upset you are looking for.

6. Six vs.11 games are the hard ones; because no. 6 seeds have been know to make deep runs. They usually have talent, but they are inconsistent. At least one 6 seed will make it to the Sweet Sixteen, while the other will lose in the opening round.

7. Seven vs.10 games and the 8-9 games are toss-ups. Never refer to a 9 beating an 8 an upset. It isn’t an upset. They are the same caliber of team. The only people who call them an upsets are “experts” who are too chicken to pick an actual upset. A 10 over a 7 just barely qualifies for an upset.

8. At least one no. 1 seed will not make it to the Elite Eight, yet all the talking heads will be shocked when this happens.

9. At least one no. 2 seed will not make it to the Sweet Sixteen, yet again, everyone will be shocked when this happens.

10. At least 3 of the Final Four teams will be top 3 seeds in their regions, and a top 3 seed will win the National Championship.

Lastly find yourself a Cinderella and dance with her at the Sweet 16, take a 10 seed or a 12 seed to win their first two games because it makes the tourney that much more fun. Remember that teams that play defense tend to win more games. So especially look for defensive-minded teams. If your bracket is busted, don’t let it ruin March Madness for you. March Madness is well -- madness.

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As budding "bracketologists" busily weigh in their picks for their annual March Madness office pool, what number one seed has the best chance of winning the NCAA Tournament?

Connecticut, Louisville, North Carolina and Pittsburgh are all favored number one seeds in this years tourney. As one would expect, all four of the top seeds are all heavy favorites in their opening-round games.

Big East champion Louisville (28-5), the No. 1 seed both overall and in the Midwest Region, will play their first game on Friday against Morehead State. Louisville gave Morehead State a walloping the last time the two teams met beating them by 38 last November.

The North Carolina Tar Heels (28-34) are the No 1 seed in the south region and earned the top spot after an ACC title victory 73-70 over Florida State. The Tar Heels the No. 1 seed are a 27.5-point favorite - the largest spread of the first round - against the Radford Highlanders in their opening game on Thursday.

Connecticut, the No. 1 seed in the west region, is favored by 21.5 against the Tennessee Mocs in their opening game. The Huskies are currently 3 for 5 in their last 5, losing to Syracuse 127-117 in the Big East Conference Tournament.

In the east region it’s all about the Pittsburgh Panthers (28-4). The Panthers got the top seed after going 10 for 11 to wrap up the regular season and then losing to West Virginia in the Big East Conference Tournament. The East regional's No. 1 seed, are 21.5-point faves over the East Tennessee State Bucs.

If the top four seeds all make it to the Final Four, Louisville would take on Connecticut and Pittsburgh would face North Carolina.

The Cardinals who are a 10 game win streak and could be very dangerous to the favored North Carolina Tar Heels if they meet anywhere along the way.

The NCAA National Championship game is slated for April 6 at Ford Field in Detroit.

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Having the acceleration of a Formula One race car with no brakes and powered by pure methanol British Speedway is an exciting form of dirt track racing with an international following.

Originating in New South Wales, Australia in 1923 by young New Zealander Johnny Hoskins Speedway is now a global sport attracting large crowds in many countries around the world with top riders of all nationalities including riders from Poland, Russia, Denmark, Sweden and the United States. But the toughest league in the world that boasts the best riders from around the globe has to be the British Speedway Elite League.

British Speedway meetings are two teams racing against each other around oval circuits of around 300 metres in length in an anti-clockwise direction around tight corners at high speeds where riders actually have to accelerate to bring the rear wheel out and initiate a "skid"!

The two teams have seven riders each and they race over 15 heats with two riders from each team in every heat. If a rider wins a race he will earn his team three points, if he comes second he will earn them two points, 3rd and they will only earn one point and if he comes last the rider earns no points. The team with the most accumulated points wins the match. Clubs travel weekly to compete both home and away like traditoinal sporting teams.

The Bellvue Aces, Coventry Bees, Poole Pirates, and Ispich Witches are just of four of the nine clubs that make up the British Speedway Elite League that began the 2009 season on March 16.

The season runs though the summer ending with the Elite Riders Championship to be held at Coventry Speedway on October 2.

I will be posting more as the season progresses inlcuding match results, fixtures and standings.

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There will be joy in Mudville when mighty Manny advances to the bat. It’s sunny, the band is playing, hearts are light, men are laughing, and children are shouting. “Manny is here”.

Yes, Manny-mania has returned to Chavez Ravine. After an often tense, four-month negotiation process that occasionally included sarcastic and hostile exchanges between the sides, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and Ramirez have agreed to a two-year $45 million contract -- making Ramirez baseball's second-highest-paid player behind Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.

Ramirez, who turns 37 in May, will make $10 million this year with another $15 million set aside in deferred payments. If he exercises his own player option for 2010, he will get another $10 million that year and then three deferred payment installments of $8.3 million from 2011-13.

Ramirez originally took Dodgertown by storm on July 31, 2008 through a three-team trade involving the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates and served as the spark for the Dodgers' run to the National League Western division title, hitting a combined 37 home runs and driving in 121 runs.

With a frenzy not seen since Fernando-mania in 1981 or Nomo-Mania in 1995, have Dodgers fans been so fervent about a single player, going as far as renaming the left field pavilion, formerly known as East LA, to Mannyville. Dodgers’ tickets sales are on the rise, Ramirez memorabilia are the hottest items at the park and those funky black wigs that are supposed to resemble Ramirez's dreadlocks are selling wildly. Not to mention the new Manny Ramirez biography, “Becoming Manny," co-authored by clinical psychologist, Jean Rhodes. This is why the Dodgers need Ramirez. He can put more fans in seats and stir up a fever that hasn't been in Los Angles for over 27-years.

But what happens when the crush wears off? Dodgers’ fans will likely get to see Manny's nauseating egotistical dark side. You know the one that includes not running out ground balls and letting fly balls drop. Put aside for the moment the issue of how he dogged it in Boston and then turned it on only when it was apparent he would force his way out. The kind term that was used was, it’s just "Manny being Manny", but pure laziness and lack of commitment are more accurate.

Can he sustain his ridiculous .396/.489/.743 line? Probably not. But he'll be his usual mashing self and will make everyone in the lineup around him better. Since there's no other true home run threat on the Dodgers, he could rake in some serious RBIs.

Beware Angelinos as there is always the threat of the imminent Manny Meltdown which will happen, have no doubt. It's just a question of when and how. But until then enjoy. Not since Kurt Gibson’s limp off home run in game one of the 1988 World Series has it been such a magical time to be a Dodger fan.

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The Tuskers (1-6) extend their losing streak to two games with a disappointing road loss 24-7 Saturday against second place San Fernando Valley (5-1).

The Tuskers only scoring opportunity would come 10 minutes into the second half on a try from Steven Rodriguez who added two more points with a successful conversion goal.

Kern County has fallen to last place in the standings and continue to struggle as the team allows more playing time for less experienced players in ongoing efforts to build depth within the organization.

Jeremy Ramirez was awarded the Man of the Match and the Kern Wood Award went to Soon Jo Hong for the second consecutive week.

The Tuskers next game will be Mar. 21 at 1 p.m. against Riverside Killer Bees (1-5) at Emerald Cove Park.

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In the lyrical context of punk pop stars the Clash, “Should I stay or should I go” seems to be the ballad of David Beckham who has made it clear that he wants to play for Italy’s AC Milan.

Beckham, 33, who is on a two-month loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy and is due back in California in time for the resumption of the Major League Soccer season on March 19, has not committed himself to a return, saying that he will "enjoy it in Milan until then and see."

This whole "loaning" business is a bit mind boggling, you'de never see the Lakers loan Kobe to Maccabi Tel Aviv for a couple of games.

AC Milan had made an earlier offer that the Galaxy turned down saying they would not have received the right compensation for their loss. Of course Beckham does have a “burnout” clause in his contract that will allow him to leave after next year leaving the Galaxy with nothing to show for the massive number of Benjamin’s they threw out.

Beckham's contract with Los Angeles Galaxy became effective in July of 2007 and gave him the highest player salary in MLS history. The Galaxy is paying Beckham $32.5 million over five years. The deal to bring Beckham to America is thought to be the biggest in sporting history, with industry experts estimating the worth to the player in excess of $250 million.

Well, along with wife Victoria no one can “Spend it like Beckham”.

When the Galaxy unveiled David Beckham, he presented himself as a modern-day missionary who would take "soccer" to the American masses. The MLS banked on Beckham to bring them the fan base they'd been missing and Beckham talked a grand game about being an ambassador, but never did any of the hard work of diplomacy. It became evident early on that he was uncomfortable in the spotlight of the American press and lacked the personality and gregariousness needed to survive American pop culture.

Beckham should thank the MLS for rehabilitating him into a desirable quantity that a major world club power is willing to wrangle for him. Fans have short memories, but this is a man that was allegedly 'washed up' when he joined the MLS just two years ago.

Although Beckham may have given the MLS an international platform in places like England and Italy, American soccer fans are the ones that lose here. Let's face it; the general public still doesn’t care. It turns out soccer is bigger than one man and it always has been, at least in the United States.
 

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The Tuskers (1-5) suffered the most lopsided defeat in club history 75-0 on Saturday against the undefeated Back Bay Sharks (5-0) of Newport Beach.

The Sharks started the scoring early and by the end of the match had out paced the Tuskers that depsite a number of offensive opportunities failed to produce any points.

Coming off their first and only win of the season Kern County continues to struggle in the standings as younger inexperienced players receive more playing time in an ongoing effort to build depth within the organization.

Rookie players Andrew Magargee and Soon Jo Hong were awarded Man of the Match and the Kern Wood Award.

The Tuskers next game will be on thh road Mar. 7 at 1 p.m. against San Fernando (4-1).