It's a beautiful day for a ballgame, let's play two

Today was not a good day to be indoors watching basketball.

Unless if you live in Tok, Alaska.

As temps dipped to minus-80 in the Land of the Midnight Sun, they jumped over 80 here in LaLaLand. Ahhh, the dead of winter.

This was the kind of afternoon that must have inspired The Rascals and A Lighter Shade of Brown.

It was so nice out, both Israeli and Palestinian protesters were outside the federal building in Westwood, peacefully tanning side-by-side. There was certainly more harmony between them than we saw when the UCLA women's basketball team visited USC last year.

A number of cars drove by waving Israeli flags. Since this is L.A., I started wondering if they won a basketball title. Don't forget, that's where Davon Jefferson's career was sent to wander the desert for 40 years. Everything's possible.

For those planning trips to Westwood in the next few days, remember that the Wilshire Boulevard protests can cause traffic to back up all the way onto the 405.

If you're just getting home from the beach or some other outdoor activity, here's what you need to know about the wide world of sports:

• Upsets ruled the weekend in the NFL, though the Bolts may not be able to keep up the trend.
• UCLA women's basketball easily defeated USC, 87-75. It didn't look easy early on, but don't forget that USC has depth issues. I think they've lost their top 20 or 30 players to injury this year. More on the game this evening.
• USC men's basketball hosts UCLA at 7:30 tonight. The game's sold out, but make sure to watch on PrimeTicket (the Fox-owned station should be broadcasting this one in HD). Expect a lower score than the women's game, but probably a similar margin.
• Rick Neuheisel was on a local TV broadcast today. During the live interview, he mentioned that the economy could cause an NCAA football playoff sooner than most people expect. The host also asked him for an NFL prediction (Neuheisel is a fan of Baltimore, his old team) and invited him to join the station's pool. Neuheisel replied that he doesn't even get in swimming pools anymore.
• David Beckham made his debut for a club in Italy. I don't need to make a joke here, because his time with the Galaxy has been enough of one.

-- Adam Rose

Comments

[Daniel]

The pro-Israel rally was a passionate cry against Hamas and their supporters, Palestinian and otherwise. It is insulting in the extreme to see it implied here that there was only sun tanning going on at the Wilshire Federal Building today. That is fine to have your head in a ballgame, but refrain from belittling the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Get your butt down to a pro-Israel rally.

[Adam Rose]

Daniel -- While I was making light of the protests, I certainly wasn't making light of the ongoing conflict. Please don't take it as an insult. Keep in mind that I was also using a sports blog to call attention to the fact that there's a world outside of sports. On one level, this was just joking about the fact that it was a nice day. On another, there are veiled references to global climate change, Middle Eastern conflicts, copyright (both musical sampling and digital piracy), Biblical history, gambling as a vice, etc. I'm very happy if people get a superficial laugh. I'm even happier if it encourages them think about any of these other issues. But either way, I'm happy.