New Year has to be happier, right?

Don’t bother glancing over your shoulder if you’re looking for something to make you smile about local sports in 2010.

Our best football program, USC, was lashed by the NCAA infractions committee and handed penalties harsher than any given out to another program in more than a decade.

Our lead college basketball programs, UCLA and USC, both missed the NCAA tournament — bad performance for the Bruins, NCAA ban for the Trojans.

Dodgers and Angels? No playoffs for you.

Clippers? You’re kidding, right?

Ducks? Missed the playoffs.

Success did come from a familiar place — the Lakers won a second consecutive NBA title — and an unfamiliar one — the Kings made it into the NHL playoffs and even though they were knocked out in the first round by Vancouver, there was a sense of a bright future, of bigger accomplishments set to be achieved just around the corner.

Is that corner 2011?

Let’s hope so for the good of the local sports fan.

Unless there is a drastic change of attitude at the NCAA and the Trojans have better luck arguing their case when their appeal is heard next month, there will be no bowl game or national championship hunt for them in 2011.

Ownership of the Dodgers (and consequently whether there is enough money available to make Los Angeles’ signature baseball team a contender) has been left in turmoil because of the ongoing divorce proceedings between the McCourts, Frank and Jamie. Playoffs? Don’t bet the house on it, unless it’s one of the McCourts’ houses.

The Angels just saw the big-name free agents they had coveted sign with East Coast teams. Carl Crawford, Cliff Lee? Boston, Boston, Philadelphia. What’s wrong out here? Guys hate perfect weather?

But squint a little, there are some positives.

Lakers of course. Always.

Kings again. Surprise. That young talent from a year ago, it’s still young but a season wiser.

Blake Griffin. The Clippers won’t sniff the playoffs but have become must-see because the rookie does amazing stuff almost every night.

USC basketball. Don’t laugh. The Pac-10 isn’t very good this season. The Trojans have already upset nationally ranked Texas and Tennessee (yes, they got punished by Rider too) and have added talented guard Jio Fontan. Making the NCAA tournament doesn’t seem impossible.

Nationally, this appears to be a year where labor strife changes the landscape. It is feared that both the NBA and NFL could have seasons affected by strikes or lockouts. See, maybe it’s not so bad there is no NFL team in Los Angeles. Yet. Soon, though, it seems. There are now three renderings for a new downtown stadium and, look, the Minnesota Vikings don’t have a roof anymore!

But in the NBA, any labor strife won’t be until after the Lakers try for their three-peat.

And, really, right now in Southern California that’s almost all that matters.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

twitter.com/mepucin