By GREGG PATTON, The Press-Enterprise

LOS ANGELES -- Considering the caliber of teams going at it, this pennant race may not seem like much.

But it's the only one we've got.

LOS ANGELES -- You have to admire the pluck.

If only UCLA's football program can manage a few touchdowns to back up the bluster. So, just how long can you hold your breath?

Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards might swap paint, roar to another narrow finish ahead of the pack, bicker and add another episode to their flowering rivalry.

Cool, but who's the poor sap in the smoking junker getting lapped?

We don't think the Los Angeles Angels won the World Series on Tuesday, although it's quite possible they set fate in motion.

We do know they did the next best thing. The team with the best record in baseball made themselves the best team.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Their moms would be proud. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim didn't waste a thing Sunday.

Of course, they've been thriftier than a fleet of hybrid cars all year long. No one gets more mileage out of less fuel than the Angels.

We are less than one month from the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, at which point the world will slow down considerably for two weeks and produce a truckload of great stories.

Naturally, we have no idea what those stories will be. But there's a chance some of them may spring from this early guess at who will be the biggest American newsmakers at the Olympic Games:

The presumption among the faithful is that the young and blessed Los Angeles Lakers will be back to another NBA Finals again soon.

Maybe a few more times.

The reality may be something quite different.

BOSTON -- Nice run at the end.

Way to make it exciting, Lakers.

Big deal.

A loss is a loss is a loss, and a great seven-minute run that almost scared the TD Banknorth Garden crowd out of its "Beat LA" T-shirts, only added up to a two-game deficit for the Lakers.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- To a lot of people around Southern California, it must sound like the misspent youth of Luke Walton.

Surely it gives Los Angeles Lakers fans the creeps.

LOS ANGELES -- A 17-point deficit right out of the box?

No problem, apparently, for the Los Angeles Lakers who surely are flexing their muscles these days after erasing another big San Antonio lead Thursday night, and capturing the Western Conference championship.