Dynamo

Galaxy tonight AT HOUSTON When: 5:30 PDT. Where: Robertson Stadium. On the air: TV: FS West (delayed until 10 p.m.); Radio: 1150, 1330. Records: Galaxy 2-0, Dynamo 1-0-1. Record vs. Dynamo (2009): 1-0-1. Update: The Galaxy plays on the road for the first time this season. Last year, the teams met in the Western Conference final after tying for the conference lead during the regular season. But the Galaxy is catching the Dynamo at a good time since Houston, already missing Brian Ching (hamstring strain)

The give-away for fans at the Galaxy game Sunday night was a Landon Donovan bobblehead doll. But for Donovan, what mattered was the penalty kick that got away. Donovan failed to convert his second consecutive penalty kick and the Houston Dynamo defeated the Galaxy, 1-0, in front of 20,071 at a chilly Home Depot Center. BOX SCORE: Houston 1, Galaxy 0 The victory gave Houston some solace after the Galaxy defeated the Dynamo in the MLS Cup to win the league championship the last two years, with the Galaxy winning both titles at home.

at Houston, 5:30 PDT, FSN West (8:30, tape delay) Site -- Robertson Stadium Radio -- 690. Records -- Chivas 1-3-1, Dynamo, 0-2-3. Record vs. Dynamo (2007) -- 0-2-1. Update -- The Dynamo is searching for its first win in 2008, and Chivas USA's drought in Houston extends a bit longer, having never won there, going 0-4-1. Of shorter-term note, Chivas USA has lost its last three games. The Dynamo will be without defender Eddie Robinson, who will be serving the first of a three-game suspension for violent contact with Tyson Wahl of Kansas City last Saturday.

For movie musical lovers in general and gay men of a certain age in particular, Judy Garland represents the alpha and omega of stardom. So it was with some trepidation that I knocked on the apartment door of Tracie Bennett, the English actress who has been uncannily transforming herself into Garland in "End of the Rainbow," Peter Quilter's musical drama about the final chapter of Garland's life. Garland died tragically in 1969 at age 47. Bennett, just over the half-century mark yet still vibrating with pixieish vitality, is the next best thing to a fantasy meeting with the icon.

As a constituent of the late Congressman Phillip Burton and a volunteer worker in his campaigns, I am surprised that Ted Simon's review of John Jacob's biography (Jan. 14) made no mention of the dynamo behind Burton's career, his wife Sala Burton. It was common knowledge among activists in California Democratic politics during the mid-'50s and '60s that had it not been for Sala Burton's support, guidance and practical intelligence, the commendabl career of Phillip Burton mightnever have gotten off the ground.

To rebut the two letters of May 7 in favor of all-terrain vehicles being allowed in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park: Camping here seemed like the best time and place to answer those letters, and sure enough, it was. I met a man named Slim and his horse Dynamo at the south end of the park on their way to Riverside, so when Richard Fisher writes that a motor vehicle is necessary to enjoy the primitive state, he's wrong; and wrong again when he...

Chivas USA tonight VS. HOUSTON When: 7:30. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: FS West, KWHY; Radio: 690. Records: Chivas USA 5-7-8; Houston 5-6-9. Record vs. Houston: 0-1-0. Update: Chivas' 2-1 defeat against the Dynamo on June 11 was more lopsided than the score indicates. It won't help that forward Ben Zemanski is listed as doubtful after injuring his left ankle during a scrimmage Tuesday. That leaves Chivas especially short up front while the team continues to seek a striker on the international trade market.

A highly regarded female police officer has been accepted into the training program for the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT unit, clearing a major hurdle toward becoming the first woman officer to join the elite, insular group since its formation more than 35 years ago. Jennifer Grasso, 36, is one of 13 LAPD officers selected for spots in the department's 12-week training school, which is scheduled to begin on Monday, according to an internal LAPD email obtained by The Times.

How they match up Both teams followed difficult paths to get here. The Galaxy was in last place in the Western Conference in June but lost just four times in its final 21 regular-season games to earn a wild-card berth. Then the team came from behind to beat Vancouver and San Jose in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Houston, meanwhile, earned the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot by losing just once in the last five weeks of the season. The Dynamo then upset Chicago, Sporting Kansas City and D.C. United to reach the title game for the second straight year.

Landon Donovan hasn't decided yet whether the Major League Soccer Cup final on Saturday will be his last game with the Galaxy. But if that proves to be the case, he picked up a nice parting gift on his way out the door while giving the team and a record Home Depot Center crowd of 30,510 something by which to remember him. Because it was Donovan's penalty-kick goal in the 65th minute that snapped a tie and sent the Galaxy on the way to its second consecutive...

One is a team of superstars led by David Beckham and Landon Donovan, probably the closest thing soccer has to household names in this country. The other is a team of unsung grinders, probably the closest thing soccer has to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Galaxy is sleek but temperamental, like an expensive sports car. The Houston Dynamo is dull but dependable, like a well-worn pick-up truck. Yet for all their differences, the two teams who will meet in Saturday's MLS Cup final at the Home Depot Center also have a lot in common - starting with ownership.

Mario Martinez ended a season-long scoring drought for the Seattle Sounders against Real Salt Lake when he found the net in the 81st minute, helping Seattle advance to the Western Conference final with a 1-0 victory Thursday night at Sandy, Utah, after the teams played to a scoreless tie in the first leg of their series. The third-seeded Sounders scored for the first time in five games against Real Salt Lake this season, including the opener of this semifinal Nov. 2 at Seattle.

Shari and Judi Zucker became vegetarians as teenagers, shared high school records in the mile and two-mile and became authors together at 17. "We've been walking our talk - running our talk - since we were 16," says Judi. Their first book, "How to Survive Snack Attacks Naturally," was featured in the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 10, 1984. Even then it was clear why their father, publicist Irwin Zucker, named them the Double Energy Twins - which conveniently has become http://www.doubleenergytwins.com.

Chivas USA played a soccer game it didn't win Sunday. Nothing new about that. The team has won just 16 times in the last two years combined. But in this case, a 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo on Andre Hainault's goal two minutes into stoppage time felt almost like a victory. Almost. "I'll never say I'm happy with a loss," goalkeeper Dan Kennedy said after his team's Major League Soccer season opener, played before a Home Depot Center crowd generously announced at 14,464.

When: 4 p.m. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: Galavision, Prime Ticket. Records: Season opener. Record vs. Houston (2011): 1-1. Update: Chivas and its revamped roster did not win a match during the preseason — and won just eight times all of last season. But one of those victories was a 3-0 rout of MLS Cup finalist Houston at the Home Depot Center in July.

Growing up poor and black in Mississippi, Gerri Hall learned there was a meanness in the world, a set of laws and customs aimed at people like her, which her mother tried to explain once when they were forced to stand aside and let a white lady use the sidewalk. "Honey," Hall remembers her mother saying, "that's just the way it is in Mississippi. " But there was also love and pride and determination in rural Greenwood, along with a belief that things could and would eventually change — and the way to change them was within her grasp.