Kevin Modesti to leave SCNG on his own terms ...

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Game Day: Farewell and thanks for reading

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Game Day: Farewell and thanks for reading
This is the last edition of 'Game Day With Kevin Modesti,' who is in his last week with the Southern California News Group papers
Kevin Modesti, who began the Game Day newsletter in August, worked in 12 different roles as a writer and editor, in the sports, news and opinion sections, working the Dodgers, Rams, horse racing and politics beats. (Staff image)
By KEVIN MODESTI | kmodesti@scng.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: July 13, 2023 at 12:48 p.m. | UPDATED: July 13, 2023 at 2:25 p.m.
Good day. Today's newsletter begins at the end. This is the last edition of "Game Day With Kevin Modesti," and this is my last week with the Southern California News Group papers. I'll say more about that after a check of the sports news.

• The Lakers' LeBron James made it official Wednesday night, in case you ever really doubted it: He isn't retiring.

• Just when it was feeling routine for the U.S. men to reach the CONCACAF Gold Cup final, they were surprised by Panama on penalty kicks in a semifinal in San Diego.

• LAFC tightened the race for the Western Conference crown by smacking St. Louis with three second-half goals.

• The Sparks' loss to Las Vegas was their sixth in a row heading into the All-Star break.

• Angels beat writer Jeff Fletcher looks at what's gone right and wrong, and lays out what the team must overcome in the second half of the season to get Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout to the playoffs.

• Baseball columnist J.P. Hoornstra picks out a common theme in the All-Star Game and draft, and says it's illustrated by Ohtani's admiration for the Dodgers' Mookie Betts.

• Columnist Mirjam Swanson digs into the Thousand Oaks roots of MLB draft picks Jacob Wilson and Roc Riggio.


• The Dodgers and Padres announced they'll open next season in South Korea.

• And the Ducks signed No. 2 overall draft pick Leo Carlsson to a three-year contract.

I don't know if I've done much good writing in the 10 months I've produced this newsletter, but I know I've done a lot of great reading.

The objective was to be newspaper readers' companion, offering a daily guide to Southern California sports and SCNG's sports coverage, helping fans to appreciate the work of our reporters, columnists, photographers and editors a little better than before.

That required my reading almost everything the SCNG staff did for the 11 papers. In the process of which I came to appreciate my colleagues' work a little better than even I had before.

On a day-by-day, game-by-game, team-by-team basis, this staff made up of diverse experience, expertise and talents can now be said to deliver the best sports coverage in any medium in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

If the newsletter has helped to draw more eyes to those sports pages, well, it has been a fitting and fulfilling final act for someone like me who always was as big a fan of the men and women in the press box as the players and coaches on the field.

I'm happy to have played 12 different roles as a writer and editor, in the sports, news and opinion sections, working the Dodgers, Rams, horse racing and politics beats, under four owners of the Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles News Group and now SCNG. Thankful for having worked with so many great journalists and good people in newsrooms and press rooms. Grateful for being able to go out on my terms, as too many of my favorite colleagues couldn't.

I don't see this as retirement, but I don't have an immediate plan either. I could show up somewhere as a freelance writer, even with SCNG – Breeders' Cup sidebars don't write themselves.

I might try to write a book. Or read one. "Or both!" said someone I know, the sort of taskmaster I mean to avoid for a while.

You can reach me by email (kmodesti@aol.com) and Twitter ((at)KevinModesti); direct messages are open.

Beyond all that, I have only one message, but please find it in the section at the bottom after enjoying the rest of today's newsletter.

TODAY
• The Los Angeles Knight Riders face the Texas Super Kings in Grand Prairie, Texas, in the opening match of the inaugural season of U.S.-based Major League Cricket (5:30 p.m., Willow TV).

BETWEEN THE LINES
As baseball comes out of the All-Star break tomorrow, the two teams with the best records also have the lowest betting odds to win the World Series, the Atlanta Braves at +350 (bet 100 to win 350) and the Tampa Bay Rays at +500. Below them, though, it gets interesting, with the odds anticipating second-half improvement from playoff perennials like the Dodgers (fifth-best record, third-lowest odds at +550), Houston Astros (eighth, fourth at +800) and New York Yankees (13th, sixth at +1500).

280 CHARACTERS
"Serious – maybe stupid – question: Are the Aces, scorching hot + darn near unbeatable, good for the WNBA? Everyone tells me yes, duh. But if a season's champion is all but a foregone conclusion …? Still good? Even here in L.A.? Vegas up 32-15 after one at the Crypt." – Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) as Las Vegas beat the Sparks 97-78 last night.

1,000 WORDS

Too good: Las Vegas Aces forward A'ja Wilson is outnumbered by Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike, left, and Karlie Samuelson, but the two-time WNBA MVP controls the ball on her way to a game-high 25 points and 12 rebounds in the visitors' one-sided win in Los Angeles. The photo is by Keith Birmingham of the Pasadena Star-News and SCNG.

THANK YOU
And finally: As I've said for months, thanks for reading. Only now it's thanks for continuing to read my colleagues' work. I'll be reading too.

Editor's note: Thanks for reading the "Game Day with Kevin Modesti" newsletter. To keep receiving our newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.