Bill Dwyre

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are on the brink of a season to remember.

This summer should be a game-changer, a franchise-maker, a preview of rosy things to come. All things considered, the Big A should become the Huge A. The second-fiddle role, the little-brother-to-the-Dodgers stuff that has plagued the Angels for so long, should begin to change with this springboard season.

Years ago, in his TV commercials for a camera, a longhaired tennis star, Andre Agassi, confirmed a societal axiom: Image is everything.

LOS ANGELES -- Jockey Mike Smith is in the legacy-building stage of his career. That comes after bug boy, journeyman and star.

The foundation is like a rock. In a 31-year career still going strong, he has won races worth $224 million, has won two Eclipse Awards as the best jockey in the country, went into racing's Hall of Fame in 2003 and shares the record for most victories in the Breeders' Cup with retired Jerry Bailey at 15.

LOS ANGELES -- This is the story of a lawyer who went straight and a horse who has little chance in the $750,000, Grade I CashCall Futurity on Saturday at Hollywood Park.

But read on, anyway.

Aron Wellman is the former lawyer. Actually, he still is one, but he has somehow managed to leave behind the thrills of insurance litigation. He is 34 and feeds his family now as a main partner in a new horse racing ownership enterprise called Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. He and main partner Lee Midkiff have been in business since mid-August.

De La Hoya fights this foe one day at a time

By Bill Dwyre

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES -- Legendary boxer Oscar De La Hoya has a message for a sports world that idolized and doted on him.

"Hi. I'm Oscar De La Hoya and I'm an alcoholic."

So, we have tarnish on the Golden Boy. The fighter who carried the sport for nearly a decade, who proved you didn't have to be a heavyweight to appeal to the masses, who generated nearly $700 million in pay-per-view revenue before retiring at 36 in 2009, is telling all.

LOS ANGELES--As boxing awaits the Fight of the Century, a big question remains.

Which century?

It has been a couple of years since the matchup between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. became obvious and compelling. Now, with the passage of time, fans are beginning to see Pacquiao-Mayweather like a racing greyhound sees the mechanical rabbit. It's frustratingly elusive. It's out there, but they can't quite catch it.

LOS ANGELES -- To best understand the athletic pursuits of Oscar Pistorius, it would be ideal to walk a mile in his shoes. Except, we can't.

When Pistorius competes, he runs on artificial limbs known as Cheetah Flex-Foot prosthetics. They are shaped like the letter J, are made by a company (Ossur) with headquarters in Iceland and connect to the leg just below the knee.

LOS ANGELES -- A problem with boxing is that the punches you don't see are often more significant than those you do.

Such was the case with Saturday night's Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight in Las Vegas.

If you were there, in the crowd of 16,412 at the sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena, you saw Pacquiao do pretty much what he has for the last four or five years. He beat up the other guy. He is too fast, too well trained and too strong -- despite usually being smaller than the other guy -- to lose.