The Sports Report: More on Vin Scully

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From Dylan Hernández: Sharing my favorite story about Vin Scully requires me to make a confession: When I was traveling around the country in my mid- to late-20s as the Dodgers beat writer for this newspaper, I liked to go out.

Almost every night on the road was a party, and more than once I showed up to the ballpark the next day in some degree of physical discomfort.

I had one particularly painful experience in Colorado. I was severely hungover, some colleagues teasing me while others were offended that I would show up to work in that condition. With my head pounding and my eyes feeling as if they had knives stuck in them, I didn’t want to hear any of it.

I was in the media dining room at Coors Field with a tray of untouched food when Scully sat down in front of me.

He took one look at me, smiled mischievously and asked, “Mr. Hernández, were you overserved last night?”

I laughed, and for a few seconds forgot about how much I hurt.

Vin Scully died on Tuesday at 94. Countless words have been written about how he was a one-of-a-kind broadcaster, how he was kind and gracious. All of that was true. But when I think of him, what comes to mind is his sense of humor.

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From Eduardo Gonzalez: The Dodgers will honor broadcasting legend Vin Scully with a commemorative jersey patch beginning Wednesday when they play the Giants in San Francisco.

The black patch features a microphone with the word “Vin” above it. Scully, who was the voice of the Dodgers for 67 seasons, died Tuesday at age 94.

Dodgers players, coaches and managers who have been honored with commemorative patches include Jim Gilliam (1978), Tim Crews (1993), Don Drysdale (1993), Roy Campanella (1993), Pee Wee Reese (1999), Duke Snider (2011), Don Newcombe (2019), Tom Lasorda (2021) and Don Sutton (2021).

The Dodgers plan to honor Scully with a tribute Friday before their game against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Funeral services are pending.

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Vin Scully, forever the voice of the Dodgers, dead at 94

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RAMS

From Gary Klein: No cause for alarm, Rams coach Sean McVay has cautioned.

Or is there?

Two days after McVay said quarterback Matthew Stafford was still feeling pain in his right arm and that his workload would be reduced, the 14th-year pro did not throw a pass during Wednesday’s workout.

Check that: He did toss the ball left-handed before practice began.

“This was part of the plan,” McVay said.

The goal is to get the 34-year-old Stafford to the Sept. 8 opener against the Buffalo Bills — and beyond — with little or no discomfort in his throwing arm, McVay said.

As part of the Rams plan, McVay said Stafford would not participate in full-team drills during the next three days of practice at UC Irvine, or during practices next week before the Rams return to Thousand Oaks.

CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: The Chargers’ practice Wednesday ended after a collision that resulted in Maurice Ffrench being attended to by medical personnel.

The backup wide receiver was OK and left the field on his own.

The other result of the play also was worth noting: Nasir Adderley had another interception.

One day after picking off Pro Bowler Justin Herbert, Adderley got Herbert’s backup, Chase Daniel, near the goal line, securing the ball as he and Ffrench ran into each other.

When the Chargers drafted Adderley in the second round in 2019, he arrived with the reputation of being a playmaker who could generate turnovers.

USC FOOTBALL

From Ryan Kartje: When Lincoln Riley took the reins of a USC program in desperate need of a rebuild, no one expected a new foundation to be laid overnight. Still, when Riley was asked in November how quickly he could turn around the Trojans, he didn’t try to limit expectations.

“In this day and age, I think it can happen quickly, I do,” Riley said.

Fast forward nine months — and 20 transfers — later, and USC enters camp as one of the most intriguing roster experiments in college football, a team rebuilt almost entirely through the transfer portal. Torn down essentially to the studs, the Trojans return this season with a new coaching staff, a new quarterback, a new backfield, two new potential All-American receivers, a new left tackle, a new corps of linebackers and a handful of new faces in the secondary.

What Riley has already built over the course of a single offseason will stand as an early case study for program building in the age of the transfer portal. Can a team that completely unraveled be completely transformed overnight? We’ll know soon enough.

As USC opens its first training camp of the Riley era on Friday, plenty of other pressing questions need to be answered first.

Click here to see the five biggest questions the Trojans have to answer.

UCLA FOOTBALL

From Ben Bolch: A year after UCLA notched its first winning record under coach Chip Kelly, no one will break out any eight-claps over another 8-4 season.

“It’s cool to win eight games, it’s cool to go to a bowl game,” redshirt senior offensive lineman Jon Gaines II said last week at Pac-12 media day. “But we were nowhere near where we wanted to be and where we want to be this season.”

So what are the Bruins goals?

“Win every game we play,” Gaines said.

That would be something for a program that has gone unbeaten only once — during its 1954 national championship season — and has not won 10 games since 2014. Showing its usual skepticism of the UCLA brand, the media picked the Bruins to finish fourth in the Pac-12 even with the return of high-jumping quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and star running back Zach Charbonnet.

SPARKS

Sabrina Ionescu scored eight of her 20 points in the final 2:18 and the Liberty rallied from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the Sparks 64-61 on Wednesday night.

The Liberty (13-18) earned two wins over the Sparks (12-19) in the span of 24 hours, sweeping the back-to-back set. New York had a much tougher time than its 102-73 victory a night earlier to stay in the playoff hunt.

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1945 — Byron Nelson wins his 11th consecutive PGA Tour event, beating Herman Barron by four strokes. Nelson finishes the year with a record for most tournament wins (18) in a season.

1982 — Joel Youngblood becomes the only player in major league history to play and get hits for two different teams in two different cities on the same day. In the afternoon, his hit drives in the winning run for the New York Mets in a 7-4 victory at Chicago. After the game, he’s traded to the Montreal Expos and plays that night in Philadelphia. He enters the game in right field in the fourth inning and later gets a single.

1984 — Carl Lewis wins the 100-meter dash in 9.99 seconds at the Los Angeles Summer Games. US teammate Sam Graddy wins the silver in 10.19 and Canada’s Ben Johnson gets the bronze with a time of 10.22.

1985 — Tom Seaver, 40, becomes the 17th 300-game winner in major league history with a six-hitter — all singles — as the Chicago White Sox beat the New York Yankees 4-1.

1985 — Rod Carew of the California Angels gets his 3,000th hit in a 6-5 win over the Minnesota Twins, his first major league team.

1996 — Laura Davies shoots a 6-under 66 for a two-stroke victory over Nancy Lopez and Karrie Webb in the du Maurier Classic.

1996 — The Atlanta Olympic Games end with U.S. boxer David Reid’s stunning gold-medal knockout, and the women Dream Team’s romp over Brazil. Reid captures America’s only boxing gold, knocking down Cuban Alfredo Duvergel, while the U.S. women roll to a 111-87 victory behind Lisa Leslie’s 29 points. A record 11,000 athletes from 197 countries make it the biggest Olympics.

2011 — Cappie Pondexter scores 15 points to lead New York past Chicago 59-49, and the Liberty hold the Sky to a WNBA-record one point in the fourth quarter.

2012 — Michael Phelps wins another gold medal as the United States wins the medley relay at the London Olympics. Phelps leaves the sport with a record 18 golds and 22 medals overall. At these games, he wins four golds and two silvers.

2012 — Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 to join Steffi Graf as the only women to complete the Golden Slam — winning the Olympics and the four majors. In a men’s semifinal match, Roger Federer outlasts Juan Martin del Potro in a 19-17 final set and clinches his first Olympic singles medal. Canadian equestrian Ian Millar rides into Olympic history by competing in his 10th games — the most of any athlete.

2013 — Missy Franklin claims her record sixth gold medal on the final day of the world championships in Barcelona, becoming the most successful female swimmer ever at a world meet. Franklin eclipses the record shared by Tracy Caulkins — who won five times in 1978 — and Libby Trickett, who did it in 2007.

2013 — Stacy Lewis wins the Women’s British Open after a marathon final day. Lewis finishes with a pair of birdies on the Old Course at St. Andrews and closes with an even-par 72. It’s her second major on the LPGA Tour, and it ends a record streak of 10 straight majors won by Asian players. Forced to play 36 holes, Lewis is the only player at par or better from the last 21 groups that tee off.

2018 — British swimmer Adam Peaty improves his own world record in the 100-meter breaststroke to 57.1 seconds at the European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

2021 — Sydney McLaughlin sets a world record in in the women’s 400m hurdles, 51.46s, for a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

Tom Seaver gets his 300th win. Watch and listen here. Rod Carew gets his 3,000th hit. Watch and listen here.