Fans

Edward M. Kennedy was in San Francisco celebrating his brother Robert's victory in California's 1968 Democratic presidential primary when a gunman assassinated the candidate at his election-night party in Los Angeles. Twelve years later, the Massachusetts senator vanquished President Carter in another California primary -- yet effectively lost his own bid for the party's White House nomination that same night. In decades of campaigns, Kennedy marched with farmworkers and other Californians in battles for civil rights and labor advances.

When pitcher Kiko Garcia struck out the final Taiwanese batter Sunday, several hundred exuberant fans at Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Co. were quick to pick up the chant: "We are the champions." Chula Vista's Park View Little League team, dubbed the Blue Bombers, beat Taoyuan, Taiwan, 6-3, to climb the tallest mountain in Little League: the world championship at the annual tournament at South Williamsport, Pa. It did so with a come-from-behind victory, snappy fielding, poise and sportsmanship.

The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 and 6-3, Monday to sweep a doubleheader that drew the two smallest crowds in Great American Ball Park's history. The Reds sold only 9,087 tickets for the second game, the smallest gate in the ballpark's seven-year history. The opener, a makeup of an April 10 rainout, drew a much smaller actual crowd -- fewer than 2,000 fans. When the afternoon game began, 11 fans were scattered in the upper-deck bleachers in left field. After the fourth inning, the video board showed one fan surrounded by empty seats as Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" played over the speaker system, drawing a smattering of applause and laughs from the other fans who knew the feeling.

Looking for power and a veteran presence to spark a promising young team, the Dodgers found both in a slugging outfielder who'd worn out his welcome at his previous stop. So successful and charismatic was the newcomer, plucked in a trade, that fans in L.A. took an immediate liking to him. A section of the bleachers was named in his honor. Manny Ramirez? He was still in diapers. It was 1974 and the object of the fans' affections, the honorary mayor of "Cannon Country," was a 5-foot-9, 165-pound center fielder named Jimmy "The Toy Cannon" Wynn.

Conclusive proof that controversy sells: During the five-month period from April 1 to Aug. 28, Brett Favre's jersey was the top-seller on the NFL's merchandise website, followed by Jay Cutler at No. 2 and Michael Vick at No. 4. It is also further evidence that wherever he plays, Favre sells. "It is normal for sales of a player's jersey to jump significantly when he changes teams," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the Associated Press. "However, we're witnessing the Favre Factor.

Memories are exceedingly short in sports, so it should come as no surprise that Washington Huskies fans are calling Saturday's 16-13 victory against USC the greatest upset in the school's history. In a Seattle Times Internet poll, 43 percent of respondents voted Saturdays triumph as the school's biggest upset, far outdistancing the runner-up -- Washington's 38-20 victory against No. 5 Miami in 1994 (31 percent). The Huskies' 1961 Rose Bowl upset of No. 1 Minnesota garnered only eight percent of the vote.

A trip down memory lane with UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft, who will face Stanford in Palo Alto on Saturday: The last time Craft started a road game, he produced big -- for Arizona State. Interception returns of 38, 45, 100 yards by the Sun Devils were the longest scoring plays Craft "created" during the 2008 season. The last time Craft faced Stanford, he took the Bruins on an 89-yard drive in the last two minutes, finishing with a game-winning touchdown pass. That's the Craft UCLA hopes it is getting on Saturday.

The crowd came for a party. Wearing orange 2016 T-shirts, an estimated 10,000 people filled Daley Plaza in the heart of the city with chants of "Chi-ca-go! Chi-ca-go!" Then the announcement stunned them into silence. Chicago -- the city expected to compete mightily with Rio de Janeiro for the Summer Games -- had been knocked out in the first round of voting. "I am dumbfounded; utterly speechless," said David Long, who moments before had predicted victory. "I have no clue what just happened."

Sick of staring at it, the Dodgers became it, pouring themselves across Chavez Ravine on Saturday night like the champagne that has haunted them. Clayton Kershaw popped. Casey Blake bubbled. Mark Loretta sprayed. An entire dugout of bouncing blue poured into the cool night awash in intoxicating relief. On their sixth day of trying, the Dodgers have finally traded chokes for corks, defeating the Colorado Rockies, 5-0, on Saturday night to clinch their second consecutive National League West championship.

In arguably the greatest finish to an exhibition game in world history -- taking into account that even conducting such an argument would indicate lunacy or at least acute boredom -- a basketball hovered on a high arc as a rapt crowd inhaled. Then, as if it mattered, that ball dropped cleanly through the hoop and the O2 Arena roared, especially the Chicago Bulls, who acted like they'd won something with their court-corner love-in of group hugs and gaping grins and slaps of the formidable back of the rookie James Johnson.