TED SOBEL SPORTS AUDIO VAULT: Your Inside Access to TOUCHING GREATNESS

DeAndre Jordan slamming the Pistons…

In the nightcap of a Staples Center NBA doubleheader the heavily favored Clippers easily manhandled the lowly Detroit Pistons 129-97. Blake Griffin scored 14 of his game-high 22 points in the first half for an 18 lead at the break. And the Clips made it an L.A. Sunday sweep (easier than Tiger Woods today at the Blue Monster) after the Lakers had earlier bumped off the Bulls.

Griffin flying after perfect pass from CP3

Sitting directly behind Clippers voices Ralph Lawler and Mike Smith are two well-known members of the Calgary Flames Jerome Iginla (on the right) and Mike Camalleri (the ex-L.A. King) who have the night off in L.A. between back to backers against the Kings (Monday night). Cammy probably made a quick phone call to his old team and BOOM–he’s in the front row, not bad!

The following is my postgame locker room chatter with the winning Clippers who are now an impressive 25 games over .500 before hosting Memphis on Wednesday night (which you can always hear on KFWB Newstalk 980).

Blake dunks on Detroit

Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro gives us his take on the blowout win and a look ahead to the Memphis game:

Blake Griffin and Chris Paul commented on many things including that circus dunk by DeAndre Jordan:

DeAndre Jordan describes his monster dunk making Brandon Knight of Detroit looking like he blew a piston:

Chauncey Billups tells me what it was like to beat up on his old beloved Pistons:

New Clipper Maalik Wayns (on a 10 day contract with Eric Bledsoe out) with me after making his L.A. debut with 2 points, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 5 fouls:

After the game I ran into 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the hallway near the locker rooms and asked if I could get a comment for KFWB (on him just being at the game) being with the Clippers’ flagship station? Unfortunately Colin has been taught by the new school team media folk not to talk unless they approve it first. He was friendly about it but I told him how much I miss the good ol’ days when we could speak to players almost anywhere and they learned to trust harmless guys like me…but those days are obviously LONG GONE! Instead he begged to take a picture with me, so what the heck! Hopefully he wins a Super Bowl before I do–at least I haven’t lost one yet. Just kidding Kap! 🙂

The between games changeover to Clippers hoops has begun…

To begin a long day for me of NBA doubleheader basketball at Staples Center, the Lakers put away an injury depleted Chicago Bulls squad 90-81 despite some putrid shooting streaks that saw them end the day making just 5 of 26 three-pointers.

Either way the Lakers were all smiles in the postgame locker room and the following sound is for you to digest as they’re now 2 games over .500 for the first time this season before hitting the road for the next 3 games starting in Orlando on Tuesday night. Of course it’s also the first return there of Dwight Howard since he left town in a most uncomfortable way. I’ve compared it to Lebron leaving Cleveland after his ‘Decision’ incident as Dwight’s ‘Indecision’ which caused him to look as bad as it turned into. I asked several of the guys to comment on Dwight going home including Kobe who laughed it off as something that should hardly be emotional. In other words-Mr. Vino won’t be handing D-12 any kleenex tissues to cry into anytime soon.

Your hopeful playoff bound Lakers—
Kobe Bryant having fun again including putting himself in Howard’s shoes going home:

Dwight Howard with finally a reason to smile before facing mucho booing in Orlando on Tuesday night while still calling me ‘Shorty’ referring to me needing apple box to get this interview done:

Steve Nash admits it’s strange to finally reach a playoff spot in March:

Antawn Jamison talks newly found chemistry and Howard’s return to Orlando:

Earl Clark looking forward to their 3 game roadie:

Jody Meeks looks ahead to having his bags packed this week:

A fun sidebar–I ran into Chicago all-star Joakim Noah on his way out of the building and I asked him how his famed tennis father Yannik is doing? He said all is well and that his dad now lives in South Africa. So I asked him why there and Joakim responded…it’s a great place to be away from people-chuckling off into the fray.

The Clippers and Detroit Pistons are next–hopefully they won’t charge me rent here tonight!

Remembering the old tymes with Kelly

I’m usually off on Saturdays but I didn’t want to miss seeing former Kings goalie Kelly Hrudey get celebrated on this 2nd and final Kings legends night of the season. It was a nice pregame ceremony with Hall of Fame voice Bob Miller introducing the guy who led the Kings to their only other Stanley Cup final appearance exactly 20 years ago (and it feels like yesterday-almost!).

Kelly was gracious enough to give me a few minutes between periods of his Hockey Night in Canada broadcast to share his emotions on what was a special night for he and his family who were here with him at center ice.

Kelly and I like old tymes:

Kelly with another Kings legend Luc Robitaille

Bob Miller’s reaction after the game:

The current Kings celebrated nicely too with an easy 6-2 win over the Calgary Flames and the following are my postgame interviews with a few of them.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick:

Kings head coach Darryl Sutter who’s first year behind San Jose’s bench was Hrudey’s final year in the NHL:

Kings forward Justin Williams after scoring a goal with two assists:

Kings defenseman Keaton Ellerby finally meeting him for the first time:

And now it’s a Sunday basketball doubleheader with the Lakers followed by the Clippers…not a good night to lose an hour of sleep. Just remember to set your clocks ahead an hour and happy Daylight Savings time!

It’s been too long since we’ve last connected here due to some technical issues with the posting of my audio (which I hope to have resolved very soon).

I can still be heard (my 19th year) on KFWB Newstalk 980 in L.A. and at KFWB.com mostly on Thursdays and Fridays from 10a-2p during the top of the hour newscasts. And I cover sporting events the other 3 days a week with much of my sound played on both KFWB and KNX Newsradio 1070. I’m also currently in my 6th year with the more than 250 station Sports USA Radio Network coverage of the NFL (Sunday doubleheaders) as their in-studio anchor.

The following is an update of some of what I’ve been up to in the field during this year:

*Kings and Ducks hockey (including all Stanley Cup Final games for the first time L.A. champions)
*Lakers and Clippers basketball (KFWB remains your Clippers station)
*Dodgers and Angels baseball
*UCLA and USC football and basketball including PAC 12 Tournament
*The Rose Bowl game (Wisconsin vs. Oregon)
*PGA Tour: Humana-formerly the Bob Hope, Farmers’ at Torry Pines, AT&T at Pebble Beach, Northern Trust Open at Riviera C.C., U.S. Open at the Olympic Club, British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s
*LPGA Tour: Kia Classic at La Costa Resort, Kraft Nabisco Championship in Rancho Mirage (4th year as their 18th green announcer)
*ATP and WTA Tours: Wimbledon, Farmers’ Classic at UCLA (12th year as the lead on-court P.A. announcer)

And it’s been a slow year after my “Sobel-Slam” in 2011 when I covered the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Final, and World Series (and added the MLS Cup Finals at the end).

Thanks for following me along this journey and I look forward to sharing more as we continue on. And see you on the radio!
Sincerely,
Ted

Sorry that’s been awhile since I last posted anything here due to techical difficulties with audio issues. But I’m back this week to inform you that I’ll be doing live NCAA basketball tournament updates every hour (on the half hour) on KFWB Newstalk 980 starting tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 9:30 pacific time until 6:30pm and then again on Friday from 9:30am-9:30pm. And our tournament coverage is “powered by your Southern California Chevy Dealers” so you can thank them for this opportunity to keep you up to date with all that’s happening in the ‘Big Dance’.

Looking at some first round possible upsets, I like Long Beach State over New Mexico although it doesn’t help that my 49ers (I called LB hoops when Coach Tex Winter ruled the bench) senior captain Larry Anderson’s knee injury has him doubtful, but I am going with New Mexico St. to beat Indiana, Ohio to top Michigan, Belmont over Georgetown, and give Montana a shot to beat my Wisconsin Badgers (I called UW Hockey games many moons ago). If for nothing else, take the underdogs in all of those matchups if you have a betting interest and enjoy the ride.

My final four picks are Kentucky, Missouri, Florida St., and North Carolina with UK to face UNC in the finals. My heart is with neither so I’ll have to go with the team that has the most ‘now’ NBA guys–Kentucky to win it all.

Good luck with your brackets and/or your hopeful money making plays!

First the Indianapolis Colts found a way to finally reach the win column and then the Green Bay Packers perfect record got barbequed in Kansas City as Week 15 of the NFL had a little of everything. Both New York teams stunk up the joint on the Sports USA Radio Network to cloudy their playoff situations even further.

The following is our brief NFL Sunday Wrap up show with some play by play hightlights of games, plenty of fantasy stats, and some playoff scenarios.

NFL Sunday Wrap up on Sports USA Radio: