PUPPET ABUSE: Geeser the Walking Puppet Stage...

PUPPET ABUSE: Geeser the Walking Puppet Stage spends his workday at the Antelope Valley Fair (B14) in a heavy costume in 100-degree heat, getting kicked, punched and insulted by children he has never met before. But, hey, he’s in show business. . . . Geeser is just one of the “variety performers,” as they call themselves, who make the circuit of county, state and other local fairs. He and Professor Marvel, Stanley the Talking Scarecrow and the All Alaskan Racing Pigs are all in Lancaster this weekend.

LITTLE WINNERS: The Long Beach Little League World Series champs (C1) are only the second California team to take that title. Exactly 30 years ago this month, a team of pint-size sluggers from Granada Hills swept the series in Williamsport, Pa., and triumphantly returned home to a ticker-tape parade. . . . They also got plaques from the local Optimist Club declaring them “Men of the Year,” even though they were 12 and 13 years old.

PRINCIPAL ADVOCATE: Love her or loathe her, you can’t ignore Yvonne Chan, the dynamic principal of the San Fernando Valley’s first charter school (B1). Known as a tireless fighter, she befriends the media and pressures politicos in her battles to get the best possible deals for her Sylmar school. . . . Her detractors say she gets more than her fair share but admit that she has spearheaded Vaughn’s transformation from educational outpost to a vibrant center of hope.

SHOWING DAYLIGHT: Coley Kyman, although an All-American in volleyball, has had a particularly uneventful career as a football player (C16). . . . Saturday, though, in Cal State Northridge’s annual intrasquad game, he distanced himself from Clayton Millis in the competition for the Matadors’ starting quarterback position, completing 11 of 18 passes for 171 yards and scoring twice.