 The gym in the Nickerson Gardens housing project can be an unfriendly place for anyone who dares to enter without a tough, competitive game of basketball.
Just ask the Latino players from East Wilmington who, in May, for the first time, drove 15 miles to Watts to join the project's Moonlight basketball league. When they walked on the court, they were greeted with a chorus of taunts, and someone in the crowd issued a blunt warning: "You better not bring any weak stuff in here!"
The 12 young men didn't flinch; they knew they would have to prove themselves if they wanted respect in a tournament dominated by African Americans.
Read on about how the Latino team impressed locals in the mostly black event
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Coach Manny Panduro speaks to a Latino team from Wilmington playing in the Moonlight league basketball tournament at Nickerson Gardens in Watts. The players had to prove themselves if they wanted to win respect from opposing players and spectators — most of whom were African American. Credit: Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times
 On a recent weekend afternoon, under a sky so vivid and crystalline it actually was Dodger blue, a group of fans filled the courtyard outside the loge decks at Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine for Carne Asada Sunday. They gathered -- in baseball caps and vintage Dodgers jerseys, Vin Scully's voice still reverberating from the stadium -- for plates of carne asada tacos, a favorite of infielder Nomar Garciaparra.
Garciaparra is such a fan of carne asada that he showcases the dish at this twice-a-year event benefiting the Dodgers Dream Foundation, which provides athletic and educational opportunities for children.
Read on about the Dodgers Dream Foundation event here...
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Along with the carne asada, fans are treated to a chance to meet infielder Nomar Garciaparra, who had a hand in formulating the recipe. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
 Depending on who's doing the counting, there have been nearly five dozen world title fights between boxers from Mexico and Puerto Rico and most have been classic brawls, writes Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times.
"In other countries people go crazy to see a soccer game between Spain and Italy, Italy and England," said boxing writer Gerardo Fernandez of the Puerto Rican daily Primera Hora. "Well, it's the same ambience for a boxing match between Mexico and Puerto Rico."
It's not hard to figure out why. They are Latin American lands with similar backgrounds and cultures. And in both lands, boxing is revered.
More about the intense boxing rivalry between Puerto Rico and Mexico...
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico will take his colors and pride into the ring when he battles Mexico's Antonio Margarito for the world welterweight crown on July 26.
Credit: Miguel Maldonado / For The Times
 Playing soccer in the United States is a rejection of traditions back home -- where soccer is too macho a game for women. But playing the sport in the United States makes some undocumented Guatemalan women feel like real Americans, writes Molly Hennessy-Fiske in this Los Angeles Times report.
" 'Be like the men -- aggressive,' Elda called out. During the week, the sisters spend their days like scores of other illegal immigrant women in Los Angeles: Wedged behind Singer sewing machines, they feed pants and shirts under the needle until their shoulders grow stiff.
"But on the weekends they play a game that was off-limits to them in Guatemala. It is on the soccer fields that the Lopez sisters feel like American women....
"On any given weekend, scores of immigrants line the hills of the bowl-shaped field where Celestina and her sisters play in MacArthur Park. Vendors with strollers full of Gatorade and Cheetos compete for territory closest to the field, bickering in Spanish. Men stand in clusters on the sidelines, following the action. Mothers dressed in heels and glitter-dusted jeans watch with babies hoisted on their hips. Boys and girls roam nearby, passing soccer balls."
Read on here, where you can watch a multimedia slide show of the women's games.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Celestina Lopez, left, battles for the ball during a game at MacArthur Park. She says playing soccer has made her feel less stress, and she's encouraging her daughter, Erica Hernandez, 8, to play. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
 Sitting in a restaurant in Cincinnati last week, Jaime Jarrin shook his head and smiled, writes The Times' Dylan Hernandez.
"Increible," Jarrin said. "He repeated the word several times over a lunch that lasted nearly three hours when describing his 50-year Hall of Fame career as the Spanish voice of the Dodgers.
"He talked about how he came to the United States from Ecuador with $40 in his pocket on June 24, 1955, the anniversary of which will be celebrated this evening at Dodger Stadium before the Dodgers' game against the Chicago White Sox. He talked about how he used to translate Vin Scully's English-language broadcasts over the air from a studio in Pasadena. He talked about times he had to call games seated next to stadium loudspeakers or in places where his view of the field was obstructed."
Click here for an interview with Jaime Jarrin, the Spanish voice of the Dodgers.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Says Pepe Yniguez, left, of Dodgers broadcasting partner Jaime Jarrin, right, "He's our Vin Scully." Credit: Bob Carey, Los Angeles Times
The Mexican town of Zihuatanejo is much different from the Americanized Cabo San Lucas -- and much less expensive, writes Pete Thomas in the Los Angeles Times:"Cabo San Lucas, the primary angling destination for so many Southlanders, including me, barely qualifies as a foreign city, having become thoroughly Americanized."
"In Zihuatanejo I was forced to use Spanish and struggled because my many recent adventures to Los Cabos required only English."
"Cab rides around Zihuatanejo are $2-$3. Not $10-$12, as cabbies demand in Cabo. A freshly whipped chili-relleno breakfast, with handmade tortillas and jamaica tea, costs less than $4 in the thriving central market."
"Ed Kunze, who became so enamored with Zihuatanejo and its people that he moved there 10 years ago, was my host."
"Charters cost as little as $210 per day and the prolific blue water, which at times is only a few miles from shore, attracts sailfish, blue marlin, dorado and yellowfin tuna."
Photo: Zihuatanejo in southwestern Mexico is a little-known paradise for fly and light-tackle anglers seeking, among other species, powerful roosterfish. This one was caught by Doc Coulthurst, right, just beyond the surf south of town. Credit: Ed Kunze
-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City
He came out of one of Buenos Aires' toughest neighborhoods, a villa called Fort Apache. Short of stature but long in determination, Carlos Tevez has become one of Europe's top soccer stars. The forward is not especially flashy, but he always shows a lot of grit.
 On Sunday, his team, the legendary Manchester United, won England's coveted Premier League championship. Tevez had previously won an Argentine championship with Boca Juniors and a Brazilian cup with Corinthians. During Sunday's victory celebrations, Tevez draped himself in a blue-and-white Argentine flag, a photo that made the newspapers at home. Asked by the sports daily Ole about his popularity with British fans, Tevez replied: "They see me on the field every Sunday and they know I give my all."
-- Patrick J. McDonnell and Andres D'Alessandro in Buenos Aires.
Photo: Manchester United players Carlos Tevez, left, draped in the Argentine flag, and Gary Neville, right, celebrate with the Premier League championship trophy after 2-0 victory Sunday against Wigan. Credit: Rich Eaton / EPA
 Cuauhtémoc Blanco, the former Mexico national team icon now plying his trade for Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire, scored his third goal of the season on Thursday.
The goal has earned him comparisons with British footballing star David Beckham. Beckham, now playing soccer in the United States, has also scored three goals this season.
Photo: Chicago's Cuauhtémoc Blanco blows kisses to the Washington crowd after scoring a goal against D.C. United during the second half of a 2-0 Fire victory Thursday at RFK Stadium. Blanco has helped Chicago to a 5-1-1 record, its best start ever.
Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
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The gym in the Nickerson Gardens housing project can be an unfriendly place for anyone who dares to enter without a tough, competitive game of basketball.
Chris Kraul
Buenos Aires:
Patrick McDonnell
Caribbean:
Carol Williams
Mexico City:
Hector Tobar
Deborah Bonello
Marla Dickerson
Ken Ellingwood
Reed Johnson
San Diego:
Richard Marosi
Washington:
Nicole Gaouette