The Fearsome Foursome vs. Pete Carroll? Vote in the final round of the football icon regional

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. The fourth round of voting in the football regional of our “Biggest Icon in L.A. Sports History” tournament is over, and we received more than 18,000 votes. Today, voting in the final round begins. To see the entire football regional, click here.

Some rules.

1. There are four regionals, with 32 people in each regional, seeded from No. 1 to No. 32. The winner of each regional will face off in the Final Four. Those two winners will meet in the championship round.

2. With each matchup, there will be a link for you to click on to vote. You also can send your picks by email by clicking here. Or you can vote on Twitter by clicking here.

3. When voting, ask yourself “When I think L.A. sports, whom do I think of first?” and vote for that person.

4. A brief sentence or two accompanies each entrant below. It is not meant to be an all-encompassing list of their accomplishments, just a brief reminder of why they are on this list.

So without further ado, let’s get to the final round of the football regional. Voting ends at noon Sunday. Remember, you can vote by email by clicking here, on Twitter by clicking here, or you can click on the link after each matchup. If you missed the final round of the basketball regional, you can take part by clicking here. The final round of the baseball regional is here.

Biggest Icon in L.A. Sports History, football regional (final four)

No. 2 Pete Carroll vs. No. 5 The Fearsome Foursome

Pete Carroll: Let’s face it, most Trojans fans were disappointed when he was hired, but he coached the team back to prominence. Under Carroll, the Trojans reached the Bowl Championship Series title game two times (winning once) and seven consecutive BCS bowl appearances.

How he got here
Defeated No. 31 Ricky Bell in the first round, 82.5%-17.5%
Defeated No. 15 Jackie Slater in the second round, 60.8%-39.2%
Defeated No. 7 Anthony Davis in the third round, 65.3%-34.7%
Defeated No. 6 John Robinson in the fourth round, 57.6%-42.4%

The Fearsome Foursome: Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen, Deacon Jones and Rosey Grier was one of the most dominant defensive lines in NFL history. They transformed the Rams from a mediocre team to an NFL powerhouse.

How they got here
Defeated No. 28 Kenny Washington in the first round, 87.4%-12.6%
Defeated No. 12 Mike Garrett in the second round, 87.3%-12.7%
Upset No. 4 Eric Dickerson in the third round, 59%-41%
Upset No. 1 Marcus Allen in the fourth round, 50.6%-49.4%

Vote via Polldaddy

Don’t forget to vote

You can vote one of three ways: Click on each individual Polldaddy link above, click here to vote via email (with all your picks in one email) or vote here via Twitter. Check out the entire football bracket by clicking here.

BASEBALL

The pre-pandemic staging of a baseball game in Dodger Stadium required “a symphony of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people,” in the words of Stan Kasten, the team’s president and chief executive officer.

If baseball returns this summer, that philharmonic convergence of players, coaches, executives, medical staff, media, clubhouse attendants, ushers, vendors, concessionaires, security guards, parking attendants, plumbers and electricians will be reduced to the stadium-employee equivalent of a string quartet.

Fans are expected to be excluded from the start of an abbreviated 2020 season, whether games are played in home parks with the league divided into three 10-team regional divisions (increasingly likely); games are played in Florida, Texas and Arizona (doubtful); or 30 teams begin play in the Phoenix area (highly unlikely).

That would eliminate the need for the bulk of the 1,800 or so spectator-related stadium employees Kasten and Angels team President John Carpino say are required for regular-season home games.

In an effort to reduce the exposure to and possible spread of the coronavirus, Major League Baseball is expected to limit stadium access to “essential personnel.” But who would be considered essential, and who would not?

The list is likely longer than expected at first glance.

BORN ON THIS DAY

1907: Football coach Weeb Ewbank (d. 1998)

1915: Boxer Freddie Cochrane (d. 1993)

1931: Baseball player Willie Mays

1937: Boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (d. 2014)

1944: Sprinter Tommie Smith

1944: Baseball player Masanori Murakami

1964: Volleyball player Kim Oden

1972: Hockey player Martin Brodeur

1980: Swimmer Brooke Bennett

1985: Former Clipper Chris Paul

DIED ON THIS DAY

2010: Pitcher Robin Roberts, 83

2014: Boxer Jimmy Ellis, 74

2017: Bobsledder Steven Holcomb, 37

AND FINALLY

Willie Mays gets his 3,000th hit. Watch it here.