Del Rey

A construction company contracted by the city of Los Angeles is working around the clock to fix a six-foot-deep sinkhole on a Playa del Rey street that was caused by a sewer-line break. A section of Lincoln Boulevard near 83rd Street gave way about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when a city sanitation truck rumbled over it. The driver of the truck was injured slightly. Caltrans officials closed both northbound lanes and diverted traffic into the median lane.

Alemany COACH: Pat Blackburn, 1st year LAST SEASON: 3-5-2; 6th in league, 0-4-1 PLAYERS TO WATCH: Blackburn was 13-9 in two seasons at Montclair Prep, a school from the Southern Section Division IX (formerly Small Schools). He moves to a team that last season did not win a game in the Del Rey, a Division I league that features the top-rated teams in the state (Loyola is No. 1 and Crespi is No. 2).

Teams listed in predicted order of finish by Times staff writers. Crespi COACH: Bill Redell, third year LAST SEASON: 13-1; 2nd in league, 4-1 PLAYERS TO WATCH: Crespi enters the season ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation by the National Prep Poll and by ESPN. If you need a reason, you can find him lined up about three steps behind senior quarterback Rob O'Byrne (6-1, 185).

Two years ago, they were the Welts, the whipping boys of the Del Rey League. The once-proud Crespi High Celts had become little more than a light Friday night workout for more-than-willing opponents. It was tough to believe that National Football League players like Randy Cross, Babe Laufenberg and Willie Curren had ever been a part of their history. Teams that Crespi had previously buried were returning the favor and there was talk that the Celts had begun to melt. That's all it was.

An odd item will appear on the agenda when Del Rey League athletic directors meet later this month: How should ties in baseball games be considered? Three Del Rey games have been called because of darkness with the score tied, leaving four of seven teams with one tie and Loyola with two. "I can't remember such an amount of ties," said Marty Dusserre, St. John Bosco athletic director and the league's baseball secretary. "I have a feeling we will do it like they do in soccer.

Alemany High is 6-1, but don't bring it up around Indian Coach Jim Ozella. If you must, be tactful, and keep in mind it was just a season ago when Alemany started strongly and finished in the Del Rey League's second division. It's not that the Indians were poor last year, far from it. They were 18-9, but 5-7 in league play, which was below their expectations. Their forgettable season was even left out of this year's Southern Section master schedule guide.

After a two-year hiatus, the now-defunct Del Rey League likely will be pulled from mothballs and reformed for two seasons beginning in the fall of 1992, pending Southern Section approval of a series of releaguing proposals made by the Catholic Athletic Assn. Del Rey League teams would play at the Division I level in football and the league would be composed of Crespi, Alemany, Bishop Amat, St. Paul, St. John Bosco and Loyola, the defending Division I champion.

Some years ago, the publisher of Del Rey/ Ballantine Books handed over the smallest advance payment ever for a book by a best-selling author--a $1 check made out to Arthur C. Clarke for an unwritten work tentatively titled "20,001: The Final Odyssey." Few science fiction sagas have been as popular as the exploration of mankind's destiny that Clarke began with "2001: A Space Odyssey." The ultimate chapter was eagerly awaited. Only Clarke was in no hurry.

How down is down? How low is low? Not only did Crespi lose 18 games last season, but the team found new and exciting ways in which to do it. Last season was as unwanted as fungus in the usual Crespi harvest of victories. "Losing kind of mushroomed," Coach Paul Muff said. "A lot of the games were close, really close, but it seemed like we always found new ways to lose."

I would like to know why you continue to misrepresent the proposed Playa Vista mega-development as being in Playa del Rey in the headings in all of your articles pertaining to this subject. None of the land designated to be Playa Vista is anywhere near Playa del Rey as it actually exists. Playa del Rey (the village half) lies well to the extreme western end of the Ballona Wetlands. The upper half of Playa del Rey, adjacent to LAX, is even further away from Playa Vista. As such, the name "Playa Vista" is a misnomer.