Home Depot

When former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel led the successful charge to prevent Home Depot from opening a new store in her district, she talked about the potential environmental and traffic drawbacks and accused the chain store of flouting local development rules. One thing she did not mention during the heated debate in the summer of 2007 was that weeks earlier, she had inherited a 50% interest in a competing business - her family's building supply store about nine miles from the proposed Home Depot in Sunland.

The Galaxy will renew its Home Depot Center rivalry with the Houston Dynamo on May 5, highlighting a 34-game regular-season schedule released Wednesday. The Galaxy, the two-time defending Major League Soccer champion, begins play March 3, playing host to the Chicago Fire. That's a week earlier than last spring's opener, making this season the longest in league history. The regular-season finale for the Galaxy will be Oct. 27 in Seattle. The Galaxy plays its first three games, and six of its first nine, at home with the final game in that stretch coming against Houston.

Shianne Rosselli stood just inside the Home Depot Center gates Monday, wearing a crisp blue Galaxy jersey and clutching to her chest a plastic bag full of grass. But this wasn't just any grass. This swathe of bullseye bermuda and perennial ryegrass was cut from the turf on which the Galaxy won its second consecutive MLS Cup on Saturday. And that, said the 14-year-old from Corona, meant one thing: "David Beckham stepped on it," she said. An hour later, Beckham again made it clear that Saturday's final was the last time he'll step on MLS grass.

If you're a Black Keys fan and you've ever been enticed to order a Meat Lovers' Supreme at Pizza Hut or invest in a storage shed from Home Depot, there might have been a subliminal reason. Each company used songs in commercials that sounded an awful lot like tracks from the Black Keys' smash album "El Camino," namely "Lonely Boy" and "Gold on the Ceiling. " The Black Keys noticed this too, and have reportedly settled the resulting lawsuits around copyright infringement of the band's music.

vs. Seattle Sounders When: 6. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: ESPN, ESPN Deportes; Radio: 1150, 1220. Regular-season records: Galaxy 16-12-6, Seattle 15-8-11. Record vs. Seattle: 1-2. Update: Seattle is playing in a conference final for the first time in its four-year history, thanks in large part to a defense that has given up only two goals in its last seven MLS matches — including consecutive shutouts of Real Salt Lake in the semifinals. Sounders keeper Michael Gspurning leads MLS with a 0.67 goals-against average while giving up one goal in three starts against the Galaxy.

VS. COLORADO RAPIDS When: 7:30. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: KWHY, Prime Ticket. Records: Chivas USA 7-17-8, Colorado 9-19-4. Record vs. Colorado: 0-1-1. Update: There's little on the line as both Chivas USA and Colorado stumble toward the finish line. Chivas, playing its final home game of the season and looking to snap a team-record 12-game winless streak, has been stuck on seven wins since early summer and needs one more to match its total from each of the previous two years.

Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado engaged in a fight-of-the-year slugfest at Home Depot Center on Saturday night, with Oxnard's Rios notching a seventh-round technical knockout that proves he retains wallop while moving up in weight. Nonito Donaire couldn't match the nonstop brawling of that bout, but he did take another step toward standing as the world's top super-bantamweight with a ninth-round technical knockout of Japan's Toshiaki Nishioka. Former lightweight champion Rios, in his junior-welterweight debut, unleashed a pair of hard overhand rights in the seventh, then pounded two lefts onto Alvarado's mug to force referee Pat Russell to stop the fight at the 1:57 mark.

Nonito Donaire hopes to affirm his position as one of the world's top super-bantamweights Saturday night. Brandon Rios is out to prove he can take a brawler's best punch in his junior-welterweight debut. Their fight card at Home Depot Center in Carson has created some buzz for boxing's hard-core fans. Donaire (29-1, 18 knockouts), the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization champion, faces perhaps his stiffest challenge yet in the main event against World Boxing Council champion Toshiaki Nishioka (39-4-3, 24 KOs)

-- Home improvement chain Home Depot Inc. will close its remaining seven big-box stores in China after a slowdown in the country's economy depressed sales. The retailer will continue to operate two specialty stores in Tianjin, China, and concentrate efforts on expanding its online business. About 850 jobs will be cut, the company said Friday. Home Depot stepped into China six years ago after acquiring a small, locally grown chain of stores called the Home Way. “We've learned a great deal over the last six years in China," Home Depot Chief Executive Frank Blake said in a statement.

Chivas today AT SEATTLE When: 1. Where: CenturyLink Field, Seattle. On the air: TV: KWHY, Prime Ticket. Records: Chivas USA 7-11-7, Seattle 12-6-8. Record vs. Seattle: 0-1-1. Update: Three weeks ago Chivas USA was in the Western Conference playoff chase. But after going winless in its last five matches - during which it has been outscored 18-6 - the team is nine points out of the postseason picture and just a point out of the conference cellar with nine matches to go. If the team is to have any hope of turning that around, it will have to start Saturday against a Seattle Sounders team that has not only lost just once in 12 home matches this season but also routed Chivas, 6-2, two weeks ago at the Home Depot Center.