Until a sea of blue jerseys swarmed him behind the batting cage.

It was a bunch of his former teammates with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Angels’ opponent that night. The Angels third baseman smiled, hugged several players and posed for a picture.

“Yunel was really good for us,” Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said. “I know he’s got off to a pretty good start and he always swung the bat well for us.”

It was not the kind of reception that would have been offered to a player with an inconsistent work ethic and off-putting demeanor, both tags that were applied to Escobar early in his 10-year career.

Editor’s note: Angels third baseman Yunel Escobar spoke to Register reporter Jessica Kwong in Spanish, so we decided to publish the story and a video in Spanish as well. 

Drafted by the Braves in the second round in 2005, he fell out of favor during his fourth season in Atlanta. That started an odyssey that included six additional teams during the next seven years: Toronto, Miami, Tampa Bay, Oakland (for four days), Washington and the Angels.

Needing a player to set the table for power hitters Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, the Angels traded young, rising reliever Trevor Gott to Washington for Escobar in December.

In a season in which so many things have gone wrong for the Angels, Escobar has been one of the lone bright spots. He is batting .301 with a .365 on-base percentage as the team’s leadoff hitter.

“I’ve worked very, very hard,” Escobar said in Spanish on Friday. “This is the beginning of the season, we still don’t know if we are good or bad. One week can be good, one week can be bad.”

The 33-year-old from Havana, Cuba, has “been a spark of energy for us,” Angels first base coach Gary DiSarcina said.

“We need him, I mean, we need him to play every day, which he’s done,” DiSarcina said. “He gets on base a lot via walk or base hits so we need that production definitely from the top of the order. … He’s done a great job providing them so far.”

DiSarcina said Escobar has also played solid defense at third base, a position he transitioned to from shortstop while with the Nationals last year.

Much of that, DiSarcina said, has been owed to guidance from Pujols, who has helped Escobar with positioning and moving around, getting him to think when a batter might bunt, or when it’s better to stay back.

Escobar and Pujols have developed more than a good working relationship on the field. Escobar, whose English is limited, was placed in a locker next to Dominican Pujols from the start, and the two have become buddies.

“I’m extremely comfortable with the (third base) position,” Escobar said. “Pujols has helped me a lot. He has been a critical piece in this team and all the players who pass through here have to speak well of Pujols,” he added half-jokingly, drawing a laugh from Pujols, who was nearby.

Escobar has come a long way since perhaps his darkest days in the major leagues. He hit .271 with a .335 OBP with the Blue Jays from 2010-12, but the team suspended him in September for wearing eye black with a homophobic slur in Spanish.

Though Escobar apologized and the team donated the salary he would have made during his three-game suspension to You Can Play and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, groups that fight discrimination in sports, the Blue Jays traded him two months later to the Miami Marlins.

“I think he’d be the first to admit he made a mistake,” said Longoria, adding that the language barrier is what he noticed Escobar seemed to struggle the most with.

“Yunel did a great job for us in terms of his attitude, in terms of his level of intensity,” Longoria said. “Every day he came ready to play – that’s really all you can judge a guy on.”

Angels shortstop Andrelton Simmons said he has benefited from talking hitting with Escobar.

“He’s really good at going the other way and I mean in spring training, I worked with him doing that and it went well,” Simmons said. “I’ll watch him, mostly how he does that, hit the ball the other way, and some stuff will click with me.”

DiSarcina said Angels manager Mike Scioscia has refrained from restricting Escobar and allowed him to be himself. The result, DiSarcina said, has been “model behavior” and “a total pro.”

“Just let him be himself, don’t try to change his personality and what’s in the past is in the past with him,” DiSarcina said of Escobar’s controversial slip-up.

Escobar said he has no regrets or bitter feelings about his past, including his suspension by the Blue Jays. “One of the best in baseball,” he said of Toronto. “I’m very happy to have played there.”

Angels fans, too, have embraced the new third baseman.

The team last month gave the first 200 fans to arrive at a T-Mobile store in Santa Ana a chance to get Escobar’s autograph.

He stayed the entire time, speaking little but smiling and taking pictures with his phone of some of the items fans brought for him to sign. One was a detailed sketch. The others were old baseball cards in which Escobar wore No. 0, a number with sentimental value that hasn’t been able to wear in the U.S. so far.

“This is my favorite number, man,” Escobar said.

“Suerte,” the fan replied, Spanish for “good luck.”

“English becomes difficult outside of the clubhouse,” Escobar said Friday. “But while I’m in the clubhouse, the English is perfect.”

Escobar, who defected from Cuba and landed in the Florida Keys in 2004, said the style of play in his home country is different. Life in the U.S. has been more comfortable and tranquil, he said, but to one day return to Cuba “is a dream.”

“My team is in my heart and for my family,” he said. “As long as you keep playing baseball, everything is good.”

https://www.ocregister.com/2016/05/10/yunel-escobar-has-been-a-bright-spot-in-angels-season-full-of-tough-times/

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En espanol o ingles, Yunel Escobar ha sido una de las pocas cosas positivas para los Angels este mes

Yunel Escobar focused on home plate as he waited his next turn during batting practice before Friday’s game at Angel Stadium. It seemed nothing could break his concentration.

https://www.ocregister.com/2016/05/10/en-espanol-o-ingles-yunel-escobar-ha-sido-una-de-las-pocas-cosas-positivas-para-los-angels-este-mes/

But the breathtaking price of a ticket for Bryant’s final game today has her considering selling the basketball keepsake with the most sentimental value.

It’s an official replica of the jersey Bryant wore when he played for Lower Merion High School in 1996. Mulligan, 25, bought it for $65, back when she was in eighth grade and Bryant was in his prime.

“I’ve had it so long, it’s kind of like my ‘Linus’ blanket, it’s gone to so many games with me,” she said.

“But a jersey versus being able to see him for the last time? That is a lot bigger deal, for sure.”

By midday Tuesday, the Westminster resident was offering two iPhones, a 32-inch flat-screen television and some True Religion jeans on Craigslist. If two of them sell, Mulligan figures she have cash to buy a nosebleed seat for $850, the cheapest ticket that brokers were selling 24 hours before the game.

Prices for Bryant’s last NBA game – up to $18,000 on Tuesday afternoon for courtside seats – are the highest for any regular season game that Barry Rudin of Barry’s Tickets has seen during his 33 years in the ticket business.

“It’s even bigger than (New York Yankee Derek) Jeter’s last game,” Rudin said.

The price to watch Bryant bow out is inching close to the priciest game Rudin’s ever seen, Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals. The Lakers beat the Boston Celtics that night, and the cheapest seat at Staples Center was $1,500.

Bryant announced on Nov. 29 that he’d be retiring at the end of this season, and within 10 minutes Barry’s Tickets had sold 150 seats. Some went for as little as $85 before the brokerage could bring prices up to what Rudin describes as market rate.

Rudin doesn’t expect prices to drop today. He and other brokers are running out of tickets, he said, because sellers would rather attend the game than let anything go for less than a super-high markup.

Carlos Gavia, 33, of Orange and his girlfriend, Jessica El Massry, 34, of Westminster, were among the fans who bought tickets on Nov. 29.

“I actually saw the prices changing as I was searching. I felt a little bit uneasy about things, about the money,” Gavia said, explaining that they were – and still are – planning their wedding.

“But my girlfriend said, ‘Just go for it, what the hell.’ She gave me the courage to go and just bite the bullet on that one.”

Their two tickets in Row 1, way up in Section 313, cost them $1,063 on Vivid Seats.

“It wasn’t anything like, ‘Oh my God, what did we do.’ It’s more like, ‘We can’t wait for the game,’” El Massry said.

Some sellers, however, do have regrets.

Joe Kristy, 61, of Corona, who has held Lakers season tickets for a decade, sold a pair of today’s game seats in Section 331 for $125 each, two weeks before the Nov. 29 announcement. A couple of months ago, he sold another pair of nosebleed seats for today’s game for $725 a pop.

At the time, he thought he could buy other tickets for less. Turns out he can’t.

“Ticket prices have ramped up,” Kristy said. “So I’ll watch on TV, like most other people.”

Fountain Valley resident Eric Sarraf, who said a highlight of working for an airline was watching Bryant deplane in 2010 after he’d played an exhibition game in Barcelona, wishes some tickets had been set aside for fans on a budget.

“The common people really can’t afford the ticket prices.”

But diehard fan Mulligan is still hoping to attend today’s game, and she’ll hold on to that Lower Merion jersey when she goes.

She’s thinking it’ll be a game-time decision if she has to sell the jersey to buy the ticket.

Mulligan was 5 when Bryant was drafted, and imitated his moves when she learned to play basketball as a kid. She eventually played at Orange Coast College and in local pickup leagues.

But she says she had to stop playing a few months ago, when she was diagnosed with lupus. Like Bryant, she said, she’s learned what it’s like to play a game one day and pay for it, physically, the next.

“Every time he got injured and came back, it was like, ‘Well, I can do it,’” Mulligan said.

“It’s going to be an adjustment without him being there anymore. It’s going to be pretty weird.”

https://www.ocregister.com/2016/04/13/to-get-in-to-his-final-nba-game-kobes-fans-say-buy-buy/

And when the World Series championship parade finally started rolling down Market Street around noon, Shawl and the rest of the dense crowd went wild.

Players, celebrating the third trophy in San Francisco in the past five years, towered above the crowd on double-decker buses, waving with delight and at times pointing up to the sky and chanting, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” – the rally cry made famous this postseason by outfielder Hunter Pence.

The vehicle that Shawl cheered for the most was a pickup truck near the end of the 100-float parade. It carried none other than Madison Bumgarner, the Giants starting pitcher who sealed the World Series win in Game 7 and earned MVP honors (he also captured the MVP in the National League Championship Series).

Ecstatic, Shawl picked up a soaked jockey with “MadBum” written across it that she had spread out to dry atop her open, orange umbrella and held it up as Bumgarner passed by.

“Where’s my underwear?” the Sunnyvale resident said, not realizing she had dropped it in the midst of jumping up and down. “I got it soiled again.”

“Too bad they were riding on top,” Shawl said, laughing, as she picked up the wet underwear. “I was going to have Bumgarner sign his bum for me.”

The parade, which traveled from Market and Steuart streets to City Hall, was a mixture of precipitation and orange, black, white and metallic confetti. At some parts of Market Street, the confetti was so thick it completely covered the roadway.

Among the celebrities that graced the procession was the former lead singer of Journey, Steve Perry, who ran around high-fiving fans near Mission and Steuart streets at the start of the parade until he was out of breath. Journey’s anthem “Don’t Stop Believin’” is played during Giants games, and he is a regular fixture at the ballpark.

“We just said, don’t stop believing,” said Anne Kehoe, 28, of Inverness, referencing the song.

For Chris Miles and Fely Marquez-Miles, this third parade was the charm. The couple from Santa Clara arrived at Market Street at 5 a.m. and set up a large tent against the parade gates, shielding them from rain and other encroaching fans.

“We’ve done this for three years and we got crushed, so we decided we were going to have one good parade,” said Chris Miles, 42. “It’s been quite a ride.”

Miles, who had not shaved his Giants orange-colored beard since August when the team went through a slump, added that the real fans braved the rain.

“2010 was quicker; you could tell everything was kind of thrown together,” he said. “2012, there was a bigger response and a lot more people. This one, it’s really lots of big-time Giants fans.”

For most of the parade, Giants manager Bruce Bochy held the trophy and drew loud cheers.

By the time the parade ended at Civic Center Plaza, the rain had tapered off.

The players came out one by one from City Hall for the official ceremony, initiated by Mayor Ed Lee.

“Is MadBum a man or a machine?” the mayor said.

Bumgarner shook his head slightly and chuckled. Lee also asked when Bochy would be eligible for the Hall of Fame and, referencing Pablo Sandoval, said, “Is there anything I can do to keep the Panda in S.F.?”

“You torture us and you make us the proudest city in the world,” Lee said. “Today, once again we are champions.

And with that, the mayor gave Bochy and team CEO Larry Baer the key to The City.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/giants-fans-celebrate-another-world-series-title-with-wet-and-wild-parade/Content?oid=2910960

World Series Prade slideshow

For players and spectators alike, many of the special moments at the team’s last regular-season game at the Stick involved honoring memories of the past.

Tailgating with 50 fellow San Francisco natives hours before kickoff, Paul Gaus, 24, said he first started going to the Stick for Giants games with his father, but since he passed away last year, it was up to Gaus and his little brother to continue the tradition.

“Me and my brother are going to take a picture like when we were 4 and 2 years old. Now we’re 24 and 22 years old,” Gaus said. “We are probably going to cry.”

Everyone, it seemed, came to the Stick to say goodbye, said Joe Starkey, radio play-by-play announcer for the 49ers from 1989 to 2008.

“It’s almost a double-edged sword,” Starkey said. “In fact, we had so many great moments, magic moments. On the other hand, the facility was way below NFC standards.”

Before the game, San Francisco police Sgt. Eric O’Neal said officers would be on the lookout for people trying to take home a keepsake from the stadium. The department had “more officers for this game than we’ve ever had for any other game at Candlestick,” he said.

The 49ers trailed early in the game and played poorly for most of the first half, but the fans’ spirits remained high. At halftime, Dwight Clark kneeled by the spot where “The Catch” took place in 1982, spray-painted gold.

For Chris Pezzi, whose family has had season tickets since 1946, the moment was tied with the memory of watching Clark catch the legendary pass from Joe Montana with her dad.

“It is very emotional because I was here with my dad and he cried,” Pezzi said. “It was awesome, I just wish Joe [Montana] had been there too.”

Stacy Samuels, 63, also known as “Banjo Man” or “Super Niner” because he has dressed in a 49ers cape and played the banjo at every game for 31 years, said. “It’s like the Super Bowl here today, having all the fans out here today.”

In the final quarter, the Atlanta Falcons started closing in on the 49ers’ lead until NaVorro Bowman’s 89-yard interception return sealed the 34-24 win for the home team.

Several days before the final game, Bowman said he has enjoyed and would miss walking through the tunnel, and hoped it would rub off on his performance Monday.

“It’s just knowing that so many greats came through that tunnel and won a Super Bowl,” Bowman said. “Hopefully what they did in that stadium can wear off on us and we can have a shot.”

After the victory, which clinched a playoff spot for the 49ers and a slight chance of another game at Candlestick, fans stuck around for postgame ceremonies. Eddie DeBartolo, who was the 49ers’ owner when the team won their five Super Bowl titles, received affectionate “Ed-die!” chants from the crowd. Boyz II Men also took the stage and sang a couple of hits, including “End Of The Road.”

Then the stadium lights went out slowly and fireworks — mostly red and gold — lit up the sky, set fittingly to “Hello, Goodbye” by the Beatles, who had their final concert at the Stick.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/fans-say-their-goodbyes-to-candlestick-park/Content?oid=2657692

Warriors co-owner Peter Guber brought “Rush Hour” actor Chris Tucker as his guest, while part-owner Craig Johnson used Halloween as an excuse to dress up as Jack Nicholson, the Lakers’ No. 1 celebrity fan. Johnson sat courtside along with a friend disguised as Lou Adler, another big player in the entertainment business.

The centerpiece of the Warriors’ extravagant introductory ceremony was a graphic-lit curtain wrapped around the Jumbotron — something their in-state opponent kicks games off with regularly — and the players loved it, break-dancing underneath.

After Golden State’s 125-94 blowout, Coach Mark Jackson said: “First of all, I want to give credit to the people who organized the introduction, from the big screen to the curtains. I thought it was first-class. That’s how big-time organizations do it.

“I thought it was a thing of beauty from beginning to end.”

The Warriors led the game by as many as 35 points, and scored the first victory in their seven season openers against the Lakers in franchise history.

For seemingly endless years, except last season and 2006-07, the Warriors have failed to make the playoffs. But with Warriors expectations high this season and the marquee Lakers in rebuilding mode, a real rivalry could finally materialize between the California teams.

“It’s cool, to start a little rivalry. We’ve already seen each other three times,” said Warriors guard Klay Thompson, referring to the preseason games between the two teams in China. “And we’ll play them three more times this year.”

Golden State season ticket-holders are known to sell their tickets to Lakers fans when the Southern California team has come into town. But this year, the Warriors sold a record 14,500 season tickets, said spokesman Raymond Ridder, and the crowd wore a lot more gold and blue than purple and gold Wednesday.

“This is my 16th year here and that was the smallest amount of Laker fans that have been in our building,” said Ridder, who previously worked for the Lakers. “We’ve always had really good fans but I attribute that to the fact that we’re a better team now.”

Knowing Lakers star Kobe Bryant would sit out the game while still recovering from his Achilles injury made a big difference for San Jose resident Jackie Magtibay, who wore a Lakers T-shirt and attended with a fan of the home team.

“I’m mostly a Kobe fan and right now I don’t really care who wins because he’s not playing,” she said. “If Kobe was playing I would care more but I figured [the Lakers] would lose anyway.”

Warriors star Stephen Curry said it was “big for us to play well” and “make the show worth it.”

With a more-than-30-point lead in the fourth quarter, many fans were their loud, “Beat L.A.”-chanting selves, but others acted like some fans from the rival team, leaving their seats to beat the crowd since the win was in the box.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/a-hollywood-occasion-at-warriors-season-opener/Content?oid=2617046

Y los fanáticos vestidos en la camiseta que inmortalizó a Shaquille O’Neal lo sintieron, dándole la gran bienvenida al mejor conocido como ‘Shaq’,  el hombre detrás los Lakers que ganaron el título de la Éne-bé-a los años 2000, 2001 y 2002.

El gigante fue parte de la purpura y oro desde el 1996 hasta el 2004 tuvo famoso número 34 retirado en el techo de la arena, entre la compañía de Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes y Gail Goodrich.

“A los espectadores les encantó. Todas las memorias, el hecho de que salió con ‘Can you dig it?’”, comentó Roberto Hernández, de 28 años de edad de Alhambra. “Fue espectacular que todos regresaron”.

FOTOS: LA INMORTALIZACIÓN DE SHAQ

Kobe Bryant inició la ceremonia en la pantalla gigante, diciendo que Shaq es “el espécimen más talentoso que he visto jugar este juego. Histórico, la racha que tuvimos juntos”.

Los recuerdos de alrededor de una década atrás – la complicada despedida de Shaq cuando la franquicia escogió seguir con Bryant porque no se llevaban bien – fue un recuerdo distante en ese momento.

“Los fans de los Lakers estuvieron divididos en ese entonces pero cuando ves atrás, todos aprecian a Shaq porque no hubiéramos ganado sin él”, expresó Jeff González, de 35 años de edad del oeste de Los Ángeles.

Luego salió el ex entrenador de la púrpura y oro Phil Jackson, el genio tras esos años de campeonatos.

“Cuánta diversión tuvimos, los triunfos, los títulos”, recordó Jackson. “Para mí, Shaquille, quiero darte las gracias por tu dedicación, liderazgo y el trabajo duro que pones”.

En los asientos viendo el momento histórico, Sandy Bravo, de 24 años de edad de Arcadia, dijo que ese fue su momento favorito.

“Me quiebra el corazón, no los había visto en mucho tiempo”, expresó.

Jeanie Buss, la hija de Jerry Buss quien lo trajo a los Lakers en el 1996, lo describió sobre todo como “campeón” y “Laker”.

“Desde el fondo de nuestros corazones te agradecemos por siempre entretenernos con tu talento, sentido del humor y, sobre todo, las victorias”, dijo.

Rolando Mondragón, de 39 años de edad de Long Beach, lo va a recordar sobre todo por siempre dominar en la pintura.

“Siembre hacia la clavada. Si tenía oponente en su espalda, los llevaba con él”, recordó Mondragón. “Aunque jugó con muchas organizaciones, siempre va a ser un Laker”.

Pero para Oscar Menjivar, de 34 años de edad, el recuerdo más grande de Shaq fue el rap que hizo cuando era jugador y la energía que trajo al resto del equipo.

“Gracias por ganar tantos campeonatos y por aguantar a Kobe”, agregó con una sonrisa.

En sus pensamientos personales a Shaq, Alex Galdámez, de 49 años de edad de Los Ángeles, le dio las gracias por poner a los Lakers en el mapa de la liga por primera vez desde los años 80, cuando tuvieron sus últimos campeonatos.

El retiro de su jersey fue no sólo algo bien merecido, según Galdámez, sino que lo mínimo que la franquicia podía hacer para un hombre que hizo tanto para la Nación Laker.

“Puso en alto nivel a los Lakers en el baloncesto y pienso que estaría bien que le pusieran una estatua fuera del Staples Center”, aseguró.

“Hizo mucho para mi generación”, dijo Tim Carlos, de 31 años de edad de Venice.

“Voz del Fan” is a blog by Jessica Kwong on twcdeportes.com channeling the voice of Latino fans at Los Angeles Lakers games

http://www.twcdeportes.com/articles/2013/04/3/voz-del-fan-shaquille-oneal

Para los jugadores de la púrpura y oro, este homenaje anual en el mes de marzo va más allá que un cambio del jersey que lee “Lakers” a “Los Lakers”. El catalán Pau Gasol dijo estar muy contento de vestirse con la playera de Noche Latina “cuando sea que tengamos el chance”.

“Es enorme el apoyo de nuestros fans latinos aquí en Los Ángeles, son una gran parte de nuestra familia, de nuestra base de aficionados”, dijo Gasol. “Entonces nosotros los queremos, yo los quiero. Gracias”.

Hasta los jugadores del equipo no hispanohablantes expresaron entendimiento profundo sobre lo que significa la Noche Latina para la comunidad latina.

Dwight Howard recordó la impresión que le dejaron los aficionados púrpura y oro cuando jugaba para un equipo diferente y visitaba el Staples Center.

“Cada persona de origen hispano se vestía con cachucha de Lakers o jersey de Lakers o pantalón de Lakers, y cada vez que venía a jugar ante lo Lakers pensaba, ‘¡Qué padre!”.

“Tenemos muchos fans latinos aquí y es muy divertido tener su apoyo”, continuó el centro estrella. “Hice algo basado en la comunidad latina al comienzo de la temporada y mucha gente salió y siempre me apoyan mucho en L.A.”.

El novato Robert Sacre tampoco es latino, pero reveló que su mujer y su hijo si son, por lo que el apoyo latino es algo muy especial para él.

“Me encanta, es asombroso”, dijo sobre Noche Latina. “No tengo ningún problema de modelar [la playera de] ‘Los Lakers’”.

El reconocimiento que los jugadores tienen para la ocasión especial emocionó a los fans que asistieron el partido Noche Latina entre Los Lakers y Los Bulls el domingo.

Según Louis Damián, de 23 años de edad de Bakersfield, es agradable que Kobe Bryant, así como Steve Nash, habla español y que “saben quién somos y nos reconocen”.

Freddy Benavides, de 34 años de edad de El Monte, dijo que le gusta que Howard, quien siendo afroamericano, apoya otras culturas.

“Cualquier jugador de los Lakers que se vistan en jersey de ‘Los Lakers’, siempre lo vamos a apoyar, no importa su nacionalidad”, expresó.

Vestido en playera de ‘Los Lakers’ que estaban regalando, Frank Gallegos, de 36 años de edad de Cudahy, dijo que es “genial” que los Lakers tengan tributo a los latinos tomando en cuenta la población grande.

“No pienso que L.A. fuera lo que es sin los latinos y los Lakers tampoco fueran lo mismo sin latinos”, señaló.

El equipo visitante de Chicago también se vistió en jerseys de Los Bulls para el homenaje. Efraín García, de 30 años de edad de Las Vegas y criado un fan de Chicago, dijo que al entrar al Staples Center le pareció raro que estaban tocando música latina.

“Después me di cuenta que conocía la música porque mis padres la tocaban cuando era chico”, relató.  “¡Pensé que fue genial!

La música también la disfrutó Claudia Correa, de 26 años de edad de Santa Barbara.

“Esto lo que oímos en nuestra casa y en nuestra cultura, entonces me hace sentir que estoy es mi casa”, explicó.

Aldo Téllez, de 32 años de edad de Bell, lo vio como un sistema de apoyo mutual.

“El modo en que los jugadores apoyan a los latinos, nosotros estamos aquí para apoyar a los Lakers”, expreso. “¡Hasta que nos muramos!”

El último partido del séptimo anual Noche Latina en el Staples Center toma lugar el domingo, 17 de marzo ante los Reyes de Sacramento.

“Voz del Fan” is a blog by Jessica Kwong on twcdeportes.com channeling  the voice of Latino fans at Los Angeles Lakers games.

“I ate a lot of Jack In The Box in college and Taco Bell and now I’ve transferred into Whole Foods,” laughed Robert Sacre. “Grass-fed animals, that’s all I eat, is grass-fed animals and I make sure that it’s grass-fed cows when I drink milk. None of this like, you know, wannabe cows.”

He wasn’t joking.

Lakers strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco, tasked with receiving the Whole Foods Market deliveries at home and on the road, explained a typical pregame meal: grass-fed beef skewers or omelets from eggs from chickens that ate grass, bacon from humanely-raised pigs, full-fat chocolate milk from grass-fed cows.

The rationale, according to DiFrancesco, is you can’t out-train a bad diet. All the work he does with the players in the weight room and on the court would not be as effective without being supported on the back end by good nutrition. So the question became, ‘What is good nutrition?’

Part of the answer came in a book by Dr. Cate Shanahan that head athletic trainer Gary Vitti had on his desk just before training camp. A couple phone conversations with Dr. Shanahan confirmed that knowing where the food comes from is key. The search for those products kept bringing DiFrancesco and Vitti back to Whole Foods, so they went ahead and created a relationship that’s set to go on indefinitely.

“The one in El Segundo is one of the largest and most extensive stores in the country and we happen to have it in our backyard, so we’re very lucky about that,” DiFrancesco said. “And that being the hub, they communicate with all Whole Foods in the other cities we travel to, so it’s a seamless relationship.”

A standard pre-game spread includes Applegate organic sliced meats like turkey, pepperoni and genoa salami; Organic Valley raw sharp cheddar, mild cheddar and jack cheese; and naturally fermented dill pickles with healthy bacteria to boost the players’ immune systems. Even meals on the plane come from Whole Foods.

Stuck on sugar? Not anymore!

When word got out about the new nutrition project, some players feared they’d no longer be able to eat what they wanted.

“It’s like telling a kid he can’t have any candy!” said Antawn Jamison. “It’s not bad though, a lot of guys really take care of their body on the team anyway so it’s just letting us know that what we eat, what we do off the court really makes a difference on the performance on the court.”

Before the new regiment, Dwight Howard said he was “stuck on sugar” – not just candy, but four to five fruits a day. He’d have two or three good meals a day and then one McDonald’s.

“When I got with Tim, no candy at all,” he said. “Fruits once a day for breakfast and throughout the day, only eat almonds and crazy snacks, things I wouldn’t eat, ever.”

For meals, his new diet includes steak and pasta, but tomato-based sauce instead of alfredo. A break from strictly water means Kombucha, a synergy drink Howard described as having “real itty bitty stuff in the inside, looks nasty, like octopus or something is floating around.”

“I’m like ‘uhh’ but it’s actually pretty good and it helps me recover,” he said. “I miss having sodas and stuff like that but I want to be able to get my body back to 100 percent and start to help this team win and just help myself get in better shape.”

DiFrancesco described the difference in energy coming from good fats versus carbohydrates and sugars as analogous to building a fire with sticks and twigs.

“If you put a bunch and lit them, they would burst into flames but they would quickly die out, that’s what things like pasta, rice, different types of energy bars that have a lot of carbohydrates and sugars end up doing,” he said.

‘It sucks, but it’s worth it’

The adjustment has varied among players.

At 39 years old, Steve Nash already watched what he ate and just had to try to get more healthy fats in his diet.

“It’s been good, I think it’s helped me. I feel like I have a lot of energy and my joints feel better too,” he said.

Arguably the most disciplined player in the league, Kobe Bryant cut out pepperoni pizza, Sour Patch Kids, sugar cookies in favor of fish, lean meat and vegetables last summer.

“It sucks, but it’s worth it,” said Bryant.

Now 16 pounds lighter, the superstar is putting up numbers better than his career averages in points, rebounds, assists and minutes per game, as well as shooting percentage, despite this being his 17^th season.

“The diet has a lot to do with it to be honest with you, I think it’s really impacted my energy level,” he said after scoring 41 points and leading the Lakers to a remarkable comeback against the Toronto Raptors earlier this month.

Strict as their new diet may be, players do get five or six meals out of the week on their own. DiFrancesco said it’s not about wagging a finger and telling players they can’t eat what they love, but instead educating them on how certain foods can impair their performance and empowering them to make better choices.

Jodie Meeks said he still eats pizza and fries sometimes, but tries to limit that intake during the season.

“As you get older, you have to watch what you eat,” he said. “I like the diet. It gives you more energy and they’ve done a great job of giving us an idea of what to eat when he’s not around.”

Indeed, DiFrancesco’s carrot-not-the-stick approach of surrounding players with the right food choices has gotten many of them hooked on healthy eating.

“The guys start saying, ‘Where did you get this? I really want this at home,’ because they notice how much better they feel and how much it helps them to avoid injury and breakdown during the course of the season,” DiFrancesco said.

Having a nutrition regiment is a luxury compared to the days when legend James Worthy was a Laker.

“It wasn’t as apparent as it is now,” the Hall-of-Famer said about emphasis on having nutritionists and someone like DiFrancesco around.

“I don’t want to give him credit, but I have to give him credit,” said Sacre, who’s been able to limit his number of stops at Popeyes chicken. “I’ve definitely seen an improvement and it’s helped me, so I don’t really look back at what I used to eat.”

http://www.twcsportsnet.com/articles/2013/03/26/kwong-lakers-nutrition-032613

La celebración de cada marzo ha evolucionado desde su inicio en el 2006, cuando los jugadores se vestían en jerseys con las banderas de países latinoamericanos. La práctica no tuvo la mejor reacción inicialmente y hasta a algunos de los jugadores no les pareció apropiado.

Sin embargo, la Éne-bé-a hizo una extensa investigación de mercado para descubrir lo que los fans latinos realmente querían en las noches creadas en su honor, y encontraron que se sentían más relacionados a jerseys como “Los Lakers”. También introdujeron la música latina, que ahora tocan durante el partido.

Con la base en su lugar, ¿Cuáles otros elementos serían buenos para enriquecer esta costumbre de la Éne-bé-a?

Para el jugador de los Lakers Robert Sacre, cuya mujer e hijo son latinos, la organización de la Noche Latina esta en su punto perfecto.

“Me gusta el ambiente y no sé qué cambiaría”, dijo.

Steve Nash, quien habla español y está mejorando su habilidad en el lenguaje, expresó: “Pienso que es bueno que tenemos varias Noche Latinas y me gustaría oír lo que los fans les gustaría ver de nuevo”.

Al oír que muchos fans en el Staples Center sugirieron música en vivo, Nash compartió a los artistas que disfrutaría escuchar.

VIDEO: NASH, EN TU IDIOMA, HABLA DEL MOMENTO DE LOS LAKERS

“Me gusta alguna música salsa cubana, del caribe. También me gusta Marc Anthony, Rubén Blades y me gusta Maná”, aseguró El Mago.

Nash le dio al clavo con la afición, ya que varios fans se relacionan con la gustaría oír a la banda de rock de Guadalajara, Jalisco. Uno de ellos fue Jose Guzmán, de 25 años de edad de Visalia, quien estuvo presente en el Staples Center.

“Una actuación en vivo durante el medio tiempo sería súper”, dijo.

“Otro artista clásico”, fue la selección de José Salmerón, de 27 años de edad de Lake Country, para el show en vivo de medio tiempo deseado.

“Carlos Santana, es un buen músico. Es de la vieja guardia pero se queda a la corriente, cambiando su estilo”, relató.

Oscar Cruz, de 31 años de edad de Sun Valley, escogió un músico más moderno, de hip hop, rap y pop – el cubano Pitbull.

“Sería padre Pitbull porque él es diverso”, explicó Cruz. “Tiene canciones en inglés y español y hasta fans de Lakers que no hablan español lo pueden reconocer”.

Sin embargo, la solicitud más común fue una más realista, debida a que los latinos son entre los más exitosos en el mundo musical.

“Una banda de mariachis tradicional”, dijo Ebony Oropeza, de 25 años de edad de Visalia.
“Es lo que tienen en cada fiesta que van los latinos”, señaló Lily Salazar, de 41 años de edad de Los Ángeles.

Para otros fans opinando sobre como expandir Noche Latina, algo tan sencillo como palabras de sus jugadores favoritos en español estaría suficiente.

“Pau Gasol podría decir algo en vivo, siendo hispanohablante que ha logrado mucho éxito en la Éne-bé-a”, dijo Salmerón. “No hay muchos latinos que son buenos jugadores de baloncesto y es un orgullo verlo”.

Cruz, consciente que Kobe Bryant sabe hablar varios otros leguajes incluyendo el español, dijo que unas palabras de él “¡Sería padre!”.

“Kobe porque a todos les encanta”, dijo Jose González, de 28 años de edad de Pomona. “Si dijera algo simple a los fans como ‘Gracias por salir y vernos jugar’, seria padre”.

Todas estas ideas creativas aparte, hubieron algunas sugerencias prácticas.

“Que promocionen más comerciales para difundir el conocimiento de la Noche Latina mas allá que la arena donde toma lugar”, dijo Salmerón.

Eso, según Samuel Rodríguez, de 26 años de edad de Visalia, seria mas educativo que ver a un fan extraño intentar el tiro para 1 mil dólares, que se ha convertido en costumbre de cada partido Lagunero.

“Voz del Fan” is a blog by Jessica Kwong on twcdeportes.com channeling the voice of Latino fans at Los Angeles Lakers games.

Defenseman Jason Demers’ one-timer from the right point with 58 seconds remaining in the first period tied the game at 1-1. It was in the middle of the second period that the Sharks let themselves slip, allowing the Ducks to net two goals in 34 seconds and three within 2:46.

Said center Logan Couture of Anaheim’s goals at 11:09, 11:43 and 13:55 that put his team down 4-1:

“It was seven minutes maybe, seven really, really bad minutes and we shot ourselves on the foot once again. So frustrating to give up those goals and those chances. I mean, obviously we responded well in the third and pretty much dominated the third period but it’s seven minutes you can’t have and you’re not going to win like that. So it’s tough.”

The goal that started the onslaught was a beautiful display of passing resulting in a tic-tac-toe goal by Peter Holland.

Again, the Sharks would go on the attack late in the second period, with center Patrick Marleau netting one from the right circle at 19:31 assisted by Martin Havlat and Douglas Murray. At 4-2, there was hope.

It became very much a game 6:48 in the third period, when defenseman Matt Irwin fired a shot from the left circle off a pass from Brent Burns and made  it a one goal game at 4-3. Irwin told SFBay:

“We played hard in third period and gave ourselves the chance to climb back into it.”

In an ideal world, the Sharks would score the last-minute goal to tie the game but instead,  it was Anaheim’s Francois Beauchemin who would capitalize on San Jose’s turnover and go in for the kill on the easy empty netter with :46 left in regulation.

San Jose coach Todd McLellan wasn’t as upset after this loss as he was against the defending Stanley Cup champions on Saturday, saying that the effort was better but the results were the same: disappointing. McLellan said:

“Tomorrow when we wake up, it’s going to be a loss and we’re going to be two points behind everybody else. We took a big checking game, a tight game, and turned it into a track meet and that certainly doesn’t favor us.”

The Ducks’ twelfth straight win at home is a new franchise record, and they’ve won both encounters against the Sharks at the Honda Center. San Jose captured a win at home in late January back when the team was 6-0.

There are two more games left in the season series. The Sharks finale of the five game roadie is back here in Anaheim next Monday.

McLellan again referenced the track meet-style play in looking ahead:

“The plan will be not to open the game and play that fast 200-foot game that favors them and doesn’t favor us.”

Sharks center Joe Thornton attributed this loss to his team’s mistakes, explaining:

“We got away from the game. Our game is grind them out, use our big bodies. We totally got away from it for some reason in the second for five, six minutes and they made us pay.”

But Marleau had a brighter take on the performance of his team:

“I think we’re going to try and focus on the positives. I think guys are seeing what it’s going to take to win games and we have to do it more consistently throughout the game.”

Adding insult to injury for the Sharks, San Jose gave up the first career NHL goal to Anaheim’s Emerson Etem who also had an assist. Corey Perry also hit the jackpot by inking an eight-year, $69 million contract extension to remain with the Ducks.

Rookie Viktor Fasth who has supplanted Jonas Hiller as the number one goalie, stopped 32 of 35 shots for the Ducks.

Notes

Sharks forward Ryane Clowe did not play. Clowe was injured in the prior game at Los Angeles and sat out with a bum shoulder. He has just nine assists and zero goals in 25 games. … Dan Boyle, Brent Burns, Andrew Desjardins, and Matt Irwin were each a minus-2 on the scoresheet.

http://sfbay.ca/2013/03/19/ducks-feast-on-sharks-mistakes/