By Tom Hoffarth
Jim Rome takes one of his trademark pronounced pauses, measuring a way to make sure the server at the high-end Costa Mesa restaurant doesn’t take offense to what he is about to say as the seared ahi salad is set in front of him.
“I think the phrase I’m looking for here is … this pisses me off,” the 53-year-old sports-talk show host says.
The server doesn’t flinch. Read more
Editor’s note: This essay, first posted on June 20, is available as an audio read by the author at www.gametakes.com at this link.
By Steve Lowery
This marks the 29th year since I arrived at Cal State Long Beach, the start of five of the most uneventful years of my life.
In that time, nothing much happened except that one time, I got a really good parking space and that other time, an English professor punched me. That was about it. Read more
Note: An updated version of this story appears as a column in the Los Angeles Times posted on Aug. 20 at this link.
An audio version read by the author of the new column is also available at the GameTakes app, linked here.
By Tom Hoffarth
If only this was a simple Hollywood relationship that occasionally had its dramatic ups-and-downs based on insecurities, jealousy and side-ways assumptions. Read more
By Tom Hoffarth
The official arrival of LeBron James in Hollywood, versus simply living in Brentwood and commuting to Cleveland, has taken on a new dynamic that we have covered in recent weeks.
Back in early July, we wondered if James would take that awful next step and remake “Space Jam,” with him in the role of Michael Jordan. But it got even a little crazier. Read more
By Tom Hoffarth
At one point in Sunday night’s season opener of HBO’s “Ballers,” lead sports agent Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne Johnson) takes business partner Joe Krutel (Rob Corddry) to a spot below the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro.
Strasmore sadly explains how this was the place where his older brother, a onetime USC quarterback headed for fame but derailed by the NCAA, ended his life with a tragic fatal leap.
“That’s pretty heavy, even for me,” says Krutel, trying to break the tension. “And I learned how to cremate my wife on a do-it-yourself website.” Read more
By Tom Hoffarth
It’s not like we want to keep checking what’s been posted in the want ads.
But when we come across something as highly unclassified as this — the Clippers are looking for an analyst — we first check our resume to see if things line up, then we immediately over-analyze everything.
The franchise with 48 seasons to its tax credit and a 1,562-2,326 win-loss record seeks a well-respected yet historically-naive numbers person to make it competitive. Read more
The Drill 