1997

The joke among the women of luge is that the highest non-German finisher at any race is the real winner, so strong is that team's grip on the top of the podium. Erin Hamlin is tired of being a punch line. "Yeah, it gets old," says Hamlin, 23, of Remsen, N.Y. "We improve every year, but we still have a place to look up to." With 97 consecutive World Cup wins dating back to 1997, the German hold has engendered that kind of black humor. Last year, Hamlin struck back with a gold medal at the World Championships on her home track at Lake Placid, a win that stunned the Germans, who even admitted their shock to reporters in an uncharacteristic moment of candor.

Frankly Scarlet (and gray), that was beautiful. The play of your young, Vince-like quarterback, the schemes you drew up, the time-consuming marches down the field, the marching band -- you pitched the perfect game plan. The two-tone hues on the mountains, as the sun set over the Arroyo Seco, even resembled Ohio State's uniforms. Woody, were you up there? Friday's 26-17 victory over Oregon in the 96th Rose Bowl was everything Columbus could have conjured. It was vindication after three straight major bowl losses.

VS. SACRAMENTO STATE When: 7:30. Where: Galen Center. On the air: Radio: 710. Records: USC 2-4, Sacramento State 4-5. Record vs. opponent: USC leads series, 4-0; won last meeting, 79-40, on Nov. 16, 1997. Update: USC is on a three-game losing streak after dropping its first two road games this season against ranked teams (No. 2 Texas, No. 23 Georgia Tech) by a combined 45 points. Sacramento State already has surpassed its win total of last season (2-27)

Defensive players don't win the Heisman. It has happened once, in 1997, when Michigan's Charles Woodson took home the award -- though he also gained fame as a punt returner and occasional wide receiver. A defensive player won't win it this year, either, although it's unclear why at least one top defender hasn't gained any notice at all. I mean, how can you miss him? Terrence Cody is 6 feet 5, 355 pounds. Alabama's senior nose tackle is the best player on what might be college football's top defense, yet the Heisman front-runner headed into the most recent games was teammate Mark Ingram , who, with the spotlight on him against Auburn, was held to 30 yards in 16 carries.

Gustavo De La Vina, a former U.S. Border Patrol chief who worked to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the country, has died. He was 70. De La Vina died Monday in the Balkan nation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he worked as a private advisor, said Steve Cribby, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The El Paso Times reported that De La Vina died of natural causes. De La Vina joined the Border Patrol in 1970 at the Eagle Pass, Texas, port of entry. He taught Spanish at the agency's training academy in Georgia and rose through the ranks to become deputy El Paso sector chief, San Diego sector chief and the Western regional director.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. said today it will buy embattled Citigroup Inc.'s commodities trading unit, which has drawn fire for its compensation practices. Los Angeles-based Occidental said its net investment in Citigroup's Phibro unit would be about $250 million, which represents the difference in value between the trading firm's assets and liabilities. Phibro's assets consist primarily of cash and marketable securities, Occidental spokesman Richard Kline said. Adding Phibro to its stable will essentially double the size of Occidental's existing energy trading business, Kline said.

Recently released CIA files from the mid-1960s show Cuban exile and suspected terrorist Luis Posada Carriles informed on violent Miami-based efforts to attack Fidel Castro's fledgling Cuban government even as he was deeply involved in helping them. In the files, the CIA also appeared confident that Posada was a moderate who would not embarrass the agency or the United States. "A15 is not a typical kind of 'boom and bang' individual. He is acutely aware of the international implications of ill-planned or overly enthusiastic activities against Cuba," Posada's CIA handler, Grover T. Lythcott, wrote in a July 26, 1966, memo, using a code name for the Cuban exile.

Luis Villalobos, who founded Tech Coast Angels, an Orange County angel investment group that expanded throughout Southern California to become one of the biggest in the nation, has died. He was 70. Villalobos died Thursday at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange because of a lung condition, said his wife, Ora-Zoe Villalobos. The idea behind Tech Coast Angels was to "make early-stage investments that will make money for us as individual investors," said John Kensey, a consultant who attended Harvard Business School with Villalobos and was one of TCA's founding members.

Mexico's Supreme Court ordered the release of 20 men convicted in the 1997 massacre of 45 Indian villagers in Chiapas state and new trials for six more, ruling Wednesday that prosecutors used illegal evidence. Paramilitary fighters with alleged ties to government figures attacked a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists who sympathized with rebels demanding more rights for Indians. Over several hours on Dec. 22, 1997, the assailants killed 45 people. The court cited irregularities such as the fact that suspects, largely speakers of the Tzotzil Indian language, were not provided with interpreters.

A veteran Los Angeles police officer involved in a controversial shooting more than a decade ago opened fire last week on a group of robbery suspects after one allegedly brandished a gun, according to police. In the afternoon of Aug. 6, Det. Jeff Nolte and his partner, Det. Donald Walthers, who both have worked as LAPD officers for about 20 years, were tracking a group of people suspected in a series of recent robberies in South Los Angeles. The pair were assigned to the department's elite Special Investigation Section.