Who is most associated with L.A. sports? That was the question we started with, and in the first week of April, The Times began an online tournament to decide the biggest icon in L.A. sports history. After consulting with Times sports editors, reporters and readers, we came up with a list of 128 names and divided them into four 32-person regionals in an NCAA men’s tournament style bracket: Baseball, basketball, football and wild-card. They were seeded 1-32 in each regional, and readers of our Sports Report newsletter, as well as all online readers, were asked to vote in each matchup, with winners advancing after a week of voting in each round.
That brings us here, to the final hours of voting in the Sweet 16. There have been many upsets along the way, including 28th-seeded Bill Shoemaker defeating fifth-seeded David Beckham in the first round. And, in the biggest surprise of all, former Times sports columnist Jim Murray, who was seeded 11th in the wild-card regional, has defeated Ryan Getzlaf, Tiger Woods and The Williams Sisters to advance to the Sweet 16. Meanwhile, Billie Jean King, seeded 20th in the wild-card regional, defeated Rob Blake, Rafer Johnson and Oscar De La Hoya.
Here are the matchups. The winner of these matchups will be announced throughout next week.
No. 1 Magic Johnson vs. No. 4 Kobe Bryant (in early voting, Magic leads, 61.4%-38.6%. Vote at Polldaddy: https://poll.fm/10543753)
No. 2 John Wooden vs. No. 3 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (in early voting, Wooden leads, 56%-44%. Polldaddy: https://poll.fm/10543754)
No. 1 Sandy Koufax vs. No. 5 Fernando Valenzuela: In early voting, Koufax leads, 65.4%-34.6%. Polldaddy: https://poll.fm/10544310
No. 2 Vin Scully vs. No. 3 Tommy Lasorda: In early voting, Scully leads, 91.2%-8.8%. Polldaddy: https://poll.fm/10544314
No. 1 Marcus Allen vs. No. 5 The Fearsome Foursome: In early voting, Allen leads, 50.4%-49.6%. Polldaddy: https://poll.fm/10544797
No. 2 Pete Carroll vs. No. 6 John Robinson: In early voting, Carroll leads, 55%-45%. Polldaddy: https://poll.fm/10541256
No. 1 Jackie Robinson vs. No. 20 Billie Jean King: In early voting, Robinson leads, 87.3%-12.7%. https://poll.fm/10545316
No. 2 Wayne Gretzky vs. No. 11 Jim Murray: In early voting, Murray leads, 55.5%-44.5%. https://poll.fm/10545318
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