The Sports Report: Horse racing in California could be in peril

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From John Cherwa: The California Horse Racing Board was facing what could be its most consequential decision in its almost 90 years of existence. Will it try to save Northern California racing at lower odds for success and possibly putting Southern California in further peril with an outside chance it could work out for both? Or will it follow Kahneman’s Theory and make the less risk-adverse decision and sacrifice the north in order to give the south a better chance of immediate survival?

That was the question it was asked to make at Thursday’s marathon monthly meeting of the state regulatory agency in Sacramento. So, what did it do? It kicked the can down the road until March.

Despite the certainty of the agenda item for “allocation of Northern California Racing Dates … for 2024,” it was well known no decision would be made in order to give a group that is trying to save Northern California racing additional time to come up with a plan. But, it’s not a good sign when the plan is still filled with uncertainties after almost a half-year warning of this eventuality.

Commissioner Wendy Mitchell expressed the most skepticism about the outline of a plan presented by Larry Swartzlander, executive director of the California Authority of Racing Fairs.

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NBA scores

NBA standings

CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: The Chargers added two experienced head coaches to the list of candidates to replace Brandon Staley on Thursday, interviewing David Shaw and Mike Vrabel.

They announced both meetings, bringing to 11 the number of people the Chargers have publicly identified in their search.

Shaw, 51, most recently was the head coach at Stanford, where his teams went 96-54 in 12 years. He left that position after the 2022 season.

Vrabel, 48, was fired this month after six years with Tennessee. His teams finished 54-45 in the regular season and reached the playoffs three times.

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Breaking down matchups and picking four winners in the NFL playoffs’ divisional round

NFL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE

All times Pacific

Divisional round

AFC
Saturday
No. 4 Houston at No. 1 Baltimore, 1:30 p.m., ESPN, ABC, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes

Sunday
No. 3 Kansas City at No. 2 Buffalo, 3:30 p.m., CBS, Paramount+

NFC
Saturday
No. 7 Green Bay at No. 1 San Francisco, 5:15 p.m., Fox, Fox Deportes

Sunday
No. 4 Tampa Bay at No. 2 Detroit, noon, NBC, Peacock, Universo

Conference championship
Sunday, Jan. 28
AFC, noon, CBS, Paramount+
NFC, 3:30 p.m., Fox, Fox Deportes

Note: Super Bowl is Feb. 11 at 3:30 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+

LAKERS

From Broderick Turner: The basketball was passed ahead to D’Angelo Russell in stride while Anthony Davis trailed on the fast break. Russell then passed the ball to Davis, who sucked in the defense before he threw it back to Russell.

Russell calmly tossed up a three-pointer that gave the Lakers a 22-point lead in the third quarter. And then in the fourth quarter, Russell struck again. He grabbed a defensive rebound, rushed up court and drilled a three-pointer that pushed the Lakers’ lead to 23 points.

And it had become clear that Russell is a much more engaged player when he starts, which he has done the last three games after being demoted to the bench 12 games ago.

In a 127-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night, Russell led the Lakers in scoring with 29 points, to go with four rebounds and three assists. He was 11-for-20 from the field and five-for-seven from three-point range.

“Engaged? I’m engaged,” Russell said. “I think it’s just a shift in mentality, not really a focus or lack of focus thing. Each position is going to present an opportunity. You’re either going to be ready for it or you’re not. So, I try to attack that mentality.”

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Hernández: Does LeBron James still dream of playing with son Bronny?

KINGS

From Helene Elliott: A season that began with great expectations dissolved into a struggle to stay afloat as the Kings hit the halfway mark. They had more reason to look nervously in the rear-view mirror at the teams gaining on them than to look optimistically ahead toward the top of the Pacific Division, which is where they thought they’d be after they acquired Pierre-Luc Dubois and his eight-year, $68 million contract in an effort to counter their rivals’ superior depth and size.

General manager Rob Blake’s answer to the 1-5-4 slump that left the Kings with a record of 21-12-8 and 50 points after their first 41 games was to say the team must go back to its defensive foundation, even though defense is a pronounced weakness for creative but careless winger Kevin Fiala and for Dubois, who had scored a paltry nine goals and 19 points at the halfway point and is often clueless when he doesn’t have the puck.

Speaking to the media Thursday morning, before the Kings lost to Nashville 2-1, Blake also said the team must execute more precisely on offense while adhering more closely to its defense-first system. It didn’t seem to matter to Blake that opponents have dissected and shredded that system on a disturbingly regular basis, or that coach Todd McLellan hasn’t made effective counter-adjustments.

No, McLellan got a vote of confidence from Blake, who gave the coach a contract extension last summer that put both on the payroll through 2024-25. Blake said Thursday he hadn’t been considering a coaching change. If that’s true — and Blake is known for fierce loyalty to his friends — then he hasn’t explored every option to turn the team around.

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Kings box score

NHL scores

NHL standings

ANGEL CITY

Sixteen-year-old Casey Phair, the youngest player at last summer’s Women’s World Cup as a forward for South Korea, has signed with Angel City of the National Women’s Soccer League.

Phair was signed through 2026 via the league’s under-18 entry mechanism, the Los Angeles-based team announced Thursday. She is Angel City’s youngest-ever signing.

“Her maturity and experience on the world stage in this past Women’s World Cup will help her have a smooth transition to the professional ranks. We’re excited to add depth to our front line and allow Casey an opportunity to grow and develop at Angel City,” team general manager Angela Hucles Mangano said in a statement.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1937 — Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker and Cy Young are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the second year of voting.

1952 — The Professional Golfers Assn. approves the participation of Black men in golf tournaments.

1972 — Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers becomes the youngest player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame at 36. Yogi Berra and Early Wynn are also elected.

1974 — UCLA’s 88-game winning streak is snapped when Notre Dame overcomes an 11-point deficit in the final 3:32 to win 71-70. With 29 seconds remaining, Dwight Clay’s jump shot from the right corner gives the Irish the lead.

2005 — LeBron James becomes the youngest player (20 years, 20 days) in NBA history to record a triple-double, with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in Cleveland’s 107-101 win over Portland.

2006 — Irina Slutskaya wins her seventh European figure skating title, breaking the record she shared with Katarina Witt and Sonja Henie.

2008 — Bode Miller wins the downhill at the traditional Hahnenkamm World Cup races to become the most successful American skier ever with 28 World Cup wins, overtaking Phil Mahre.

2012 — Serena Williams moves into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova for her 500th career match win.

2013 — Lance Armstrong admits to doping in all seven of his Tour de France victories.

2015 — Lindsey Vonn wins a super-G for her record 63rd World Cup victory. The American breaks Annemarie Moser-Proell’s 35-year-old record of 62 World Cup wins with a flawless run down the Olympia delle Tofane course at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, finishing by a huge 0.85 ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria.

Compiled by the Associated Press