Long Beach Ca Athletics

Forget the Long Beach of adults, lately a cheerless place where the Queen Mary is rusting away, McDonnell Douglas is manufacturing pink slips and the Navy is charting a course out of town. The self-proclaimed "International City" was feeling some civic pride Saturday, thanks to 13 residents who have not even finished middle school. The Long Beach Little League All-Stars represented the United States in the 46th championship game of the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

There's blind faith in the dugout of the Long Beach Breakers, who play their first home game tonight as the new minor league team in town. They know little of Long Beach's tumultuous history with pro ball. Imagine the Dodgers being seized by the National League because the owner blew all his money. Paychecks bouncing. Weeks with no owner, not even a team name, the fans singing "root, root, root for the franchise."

The appeal of no pros and no protests has drawn 123 entries in seven classes to the sixth annual Audi/North Sails Race Week starting at Long Beach today. The first race is scheduled to start at 4 p.m., with two races Saturday and one Sunday. Racing in most classes will be under the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) system popular among weekend sailors, but J-35s and Schock 35s will race in separate level classes without handicaps.

Downtown Long Beach will be transformed into a 1.97-mile race track this weekend for the 26th running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The reconfigured course adds a 1,275-foot chute from Turn 5 to Turn 6 just past the Aquarium of the Pacific. Friday: Practice and qualifying; 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday: Practice and qualifying; 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Celebrity race 12:45-1:30 p.m. Toyota Atlantic Race, 3:415-4:15 p.m. Sunday: Warm ups and pre-race activities, 8 a.m.

Gays and lesbians in Long Beach hope to bring Gay Games VI to Long Beach, an event that would draw about 15,000 athletes from throughout the world. Andra-Nina Davis, a triathlete and chairwoman of Long Beach Games 2002 Inc., is bringing members of the community together next week to begin preparing a formal proposal to the Federation of Gay Games, the organization that will name the host city next November.

In the confusion that reigned during the bottom of the sixth inning at the Little League World Series on Saturday, light-hitting Jeremy Hess waited patiently in the Long Beach dugout with a bat in his hands. With the score 2-2 and the bases loaded, Panama Coach Carlos Botello replaced starting pitcher Alex Beitia with third baseman Abel Navarro, then tried to remove Navarro after the reliever served up two balls to Long Beach catcher Billy Gwinn.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is the most famous and successful street-course motor race in North America and, in attendance and recognition, is second only to the Indianapolis 500 in importance in Indy car-style racing. More than 125,000 people are expected for Sunday's 105-lap race around the 1.59-mile course through the seaside streets of Long Beach.

Long Beach's bid to host a National Football League franchise has come up short of a first down. Before even considering how to finance a football stadium, the City Council decided this week that Long Beach is not big enough for both a stadium and its other aspirations for economic revival. The council Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to shelve a report that identified two possible sites for a stadium.

STADIUM: Long Beach City Councilman Alan Lowenthal wants to attract a new National Football League franchise to the region--preferably to his city. At his request, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to support a study to determine the cost and possible location of an NFL stadium in Long Beach. The study will be conducted by consultants free of charge to the city.

It is still the most successful street race in the world, but the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach has a vastly different look today from its first race 25 years ago. In 1975 and for the next seven years, the race ran down Ocean Boulevard, the city's main street where today there is a row of fine hotels, the World Trade Center and the Promenade. The original two-mile course, longer than today's 1.

The Indy Lights series, considered the final rung in CART's driver development for its champ car program, will run its second round Sunday after the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach's main event. Officially called the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights championship, the race will be 47 laps (73.9 miles). Mario Dominguez of Mexico had an auspicious debut in the series, winning the season opener at Homestead, Fla., with a wire-to-wire performance.

Ice Dog fans who have come to the Long Beach Arena with signs reading "No L.A." were told Friday night that there would be no L.A. in the team's future. No Inglewood either. At their 2-1 loss to Detroit, the Ice Dogs announced a two-year extension of their agreement with the city of Long Beach and SMG, operator of the arena, that will earn them a greater share of concession and parking revenue and ensure that when the Kings leave the Great Western Forum they will not be replaced by the IHL team.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is the most famous and successful street-course motor race in North America and, in attendance and recognition, is second only to the Indianapolis 500 in importance in Indy car-style racing. More than 125,000 people are expected for Sunday's 105-lap race around the 1.59-mile course through the seaside streets of Long Beach.

A 16-month effort by Los Angeles and Long Beach representatives to co-host the Gay Games in 2002 came to an end Thursday when the games were awarded to Sydney, Australia. The announcement by directors of the Federation of Gay Games, which has been meeting here all week, left a contingent of Los Angeles and Long Beach delegates clearly disappointed. Representatives of the two cities had put together a proposal that promised to transform the Gay Games into a big-budget extravaganza.

Gays and lesbians in Long Beach hope to bring Gay Games VI to Long Beach, an event that would draw about 15,000 athletes from throughout the world. Andra-Nina Davis, a triathlete and chairwoman of Long Beach Games 2002 Inc., is bringing members of the community together next week to begin preparing a formal proposal to the Federation of Gay Games, the organization that will name the host city next November.

Long Beach offers a real beach, with sand and everything. Nonetheless, the organizers of the Evian Open, part of the Coors Light Women's Professional Volleyball tour, wanted more. So they ordered 400 tons of sand and had it delivered to a makeshift beach on the Long Beach Promenade, just yards from the real thing. The intent was to focus attention, and media cameras, on the city skyline, which surrounds the new urban sandbox, promoters said.

A 16-month effort by Los Angeles and Long Beach representatives to co-host the Gay Games in 2002 came to an end Thursday when the games were awarded to Sydney, Australia. The announcement by directors of the Federation of Gay Games, which has been meeting here all week, left a contingent of Los Angeles and Long Beach delegates clearly disappointed. Representatives of the two cities had put together a proposal that promised to transform the Gay Games into a big-budget extravaganza.

It's ice hockey in the Long Beach Arena and the scout from the Montreal Canadiens, a team that for many is the embodiment of professional hockey's rich history, is aghast. It isn't the oversized beach ball that bounces onto the ice and stops the action. It isn't the Beach Boys song played during player introductions or the surfer band setting up in the lobby. It isn't even the motorized water skis offered as giveaways in a sport more suited to snowmobiles.