The Pipeline

Monday, August 3, 2026

LJ FH: Tryouts 8/3 - day 1 (of 3)

Photos by Ed Piper

Saturday, August 1, 2026

LJ FB: Camp ends Sat., 8/1

Junior kicker/punter Ryan Hassankhani

(left) covers cornerback coach Damarious

Whitten in pickup basketball as other

football players take a break

on their mattresses in the Big Gym

Fri., July 31.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Startling things to a 70's-something sportswriter who also taught three decades in public schools:

--Eighty-nine LJHS football camp registrants checked in their phones, texting head coach Tyler Roach, then turning off the phone. Remarkable in this age of device obsession.

--One boy's bathroom--again, for 89 registrants. No way. (Then I realize there's the locker room above, with ample facilities...)

Annual Viking fall camp has been an experience and a team-bonding. Multiple people, coaches as well as athletes, talking about "confidence", commitment", all the "C" buzzwords, as the objective for this edition of the football team.

Nico Bardaro, senior defensive end/tight end who was out all summer with a badly-sprained ankle, welcomed the activity after so much inactivity (despite a pleasant trip to his mom's home region in southern Italy). Named one of the Vikings' new team captains, the humble, respectful 6'4" multi-sport athlete said in a conversation, "It's about community."

He had said the afternoon before at the Mount Soledad cross to his teammates, "I know fellow seniors. Freshmen and sophomores, we'll build relationships, too."

Roach, prepping for his tenth season as head coach, knows the task ahead will be challenging. "We're not there, yet," he said. With a complete overhaul of the roster, several seniors from last year's squad graduated, and a few transfers coming in (including from Garden Grove), junior Brody Bukich (from Mt. Carmel High) and returning sophomore Ty Tortorice showed varied levels of skill and experience at quarterback in June 7-v-7 passing tournaments.

Gumption, not a "C" buzzword, will have to come from leaders like tackle Zach "Snacks" Gergurich, who also addressed his teammates at the cross, Bardaro, and Sean Bannon, injured last year and not able to compete.

After camp closes at noon today, Saturday, Aug. 1 (following 48 hours of workouts, bonding, and fun since Thursday at 3 p.m.), Viking Nation is looking ahead to its annual Kickoff Classic/Friday Night Lights scrimmage versus Mission Bay Saturday, Aug. 15, at University City at 5 p.m.

Then the following week, Friday, Aug. 21, La Jolla travels to Patrick Henry for the season opener.

LJ FB: Day 2 (of 3) - Fall camp - Fri., July 31

Photos by Ed Piper

Christian Hobson (R) leaps

for the ball in half-court

basketball during team-

building/free play Friday

afternoon.

Wiffleball during rec time

New Viking Defensive

Coordinator Stephen Dixon

looks intimidating as he takes

a breather from basketball

in the late morning of day 2

of fall football camp.

Team members (including Sean

Bannon, near left) swarm line coach

Ben Gooding, who holds onto the ball

under the basket.

Head coach Tyler Roach, starting his 10th season,

gives players an update on the afternoon schedule,

which includes Wiffleball, basketball ("save your

legs, because we have a two-hour practice later"),

soccer, and cornhole. The squad also did offensive

and defensive "installs" (introduce play schemes)

and shared "words" (team commitment phrases

by individual players) at other times.

Friday, July 31, 2026

LJ FB: Day 1 (of 3) - preseason camp Thurs., 7/30

Photos by Ed Piper

Viking football players complete their run up

to the Mt. Soledad cross from campus,

about 2.8 miles away.

Senior defensive end/tight end

Nico Bardaro, liked and respected

by his teammates, speaks after

being named one of the new team

captains.

Kick/punt coach Patrick Nasiatka

(shirt off, near the cross) and

Viking players wait for their

teammates to arrive after running

some of the 2.8-mile route

from the school. At lower left

is Miles McPherson.

Miles McPherson (right), former NFL cornerback

and nationally-known motivational speaker,

shares a heart-felt message about his own

victory over cocaine use with the assembled

members of the 2026 LJHS varsity and JV

football teams. The 66-year-old pastors

a church in San Diego.

Lineman Zach "Snacks" Gergurich (in black

muscle shirt) checks in with other Viking

players and prospects at 3 p.m. at the start

of three-day fall camp.

Saturday, July 18, 2026

FIFA meal at McDonald's: What a trip

By Ed Piper

I just bought my eighth FIFA World Cup meal (July 18) at McDonald's, and I want to share my experience writing my first blog entry on my new electric table (assembled yesterday).

Aaahhh (sigh of disappointment). I received another Bebote Gimenez (presumably from Mexico) souvenir cup (cheap plastic, with the figure's image in a painting on the outside. In the six weeks of the soccer tournament, I also got three--not two--Ronaldinho (Brazilian, I suppose) cups. Neither played in the tourney, to my knowledge. That was a bummer.

I wanted more variation among the nine available designs. (I got five.) I was telling people at my local McDonald's (always got them at the same outlet) that in the old days, cups or whatever else the promotion was were out in the open, and you requested the one you wanted.

In this age of collector's items in sealed packages (example: baseball cards in protective sleeves--I bought cards when I was a kid with the gum staining the back of the back card), each of the World Cup containers came in a white sealed bag. After receiving each one, I would open the bag inside the store, at the counter, to see what I got.

What a groan I let out when I got yet another Ronaldinho. Ugggh. Plus when I received a cartoon character, I had to have an employee explain to me who it was: Grimace. I still don't know who he is. What does he have to do with the World Cup?

Imagine how my nutrition went down the barrel. I never drink sugared sodas. On these eight purchases, I selected Sprite, since you either choose a drink or you get nothing.

Then five Big Mac's. The last three, I've ordered the 10-piece Chicken McNugget meal (the first one tasty and tender; the last two not so). I'm making a comeback body-wise! (I won't even comment on the nutrition value of seven medium French fries orders.)

By the way, the electric table is working great so far. I have it elevated to its top height, 46.5 centimeters. My hands and wrists feel a little strained during this entry, as I arch down to the keyboard from a standing position. (My keyboarding level is higher.) (Plus, I love the cool breeze blowing in the window on a hot day.)

However, my right hand is severely cramped after holding my drill to insert 20 or more screws during the assembly of the table. Ouch. I never do that kind of work!

My strained leg and back feel much appreciated--as I'm not aggravating those conditions further while I work. I hope it will be a long and fruitful relationship.

Monday, July 13, 2026

Samurai Japan: Movie review

By Ed Piper

I just watched the two-hour "Samurai Japan WBC" movie on NetFlix, consuming a very un-Japanese dish of three scrambled eggs in tortillas two-thirds of the way through, and I'm reminded of my most recent interaction with someone concerning Asian culture.

In a trip to see Shohei Ohtani (stay with me, here), I talked for three innings, standing, shielded in the shade on the Upper Deck of Dodger Stadium with a white (though culturally Jewish) American who was seeing his first Dodger game in years, having just spent six months in Taipei on an internship, I think.

He was glad to be back on American soil, having grown up in West L.A., I believe, very much in reactive mode to the "shame-based" culture of Taiwan. He called Taiwan the "Disneyland" of that part of Asia, with beaches, showy culture, very "surface" in his short experience there.

Though only 24, I believe (I'm 72), this young man has traveled to many parts of the world, including Israel (though not on a "birthright" trip, as he called it) and many countries in Europe. So he's not a newbie on travel or exposure to cultures other than his own secular Jewish upbringing.

I've forgotten his name (this visit occurred June 17, and here I am writing a month later), but he was so filled up with being around an environment in which "you don't do anything to make yourself look bad", you don't stand out, that he was done with travel for a while.

Which brings us back to the Samurai program. As you recall, the Japan team did not win this year's World Baseball Classic--Venezuela did--but the movie immerses you in a subtitle-reading mode (for two hours--my brain is tired--I don't speak Japanese except "MLB", "Acuna Jr., "meeting" (they use a lot of words from outside the culture).

What did I learn that was new? Power-hitter Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs and Ohtani are long-time friends and associates. Suzuki sported frosted tips in his hair during the WBC. He clubbed a few homers right behind Shohei's leadoff home run-hitting antics.

Ohtani has a thick, lush movie-star-type mane of hair, which flows prominently. Reinforced was the fact Japanese fans revere Ohtani and adore the other Japanese baseball players in the same manner.

Connecting to my earlier comments on my conversation with the 20-something West L.A. fan, I sensed some of the conformity Asians comply with, the military discipline their country has a history of. You don't see Asian males with long, outlandish hair, none with tattoos. I know that the film is aimed at Japanese fans, so though they show Suzuki's knee injury at the start and later in the movie--"the triumphs and tough spots" of the Samurai Japan team's WBC campaign--it is very much the fan piece, lots of puff that fans will enjoy, kind-hearted kidding and joking among team members.

There is a lot of camaraderie on the team depicted in the film. Of course, different from my experience but something I'm aware of, team members bow as they shake hands, kind of a mix of Asian and Western adaptation.

Earlier this year, a South Korean-born male who grew up in California shared his analysis that Japanese are staid, resistant to accept new ideas, in his view, compared to South Koreans, whom Japanese (he said) regard as kind of entrepreneurs, go-for-broke business people who will try new ideas. This man, whom I have known for 20-plus years, said it is very hard to get Japanese to try new things. The Confucian way says stay with the tried-and-true, tradition, don't veer another direction, off the beaten path.

Both Japanese and Korean traditional cultures are so different from my own. In those cultures, both these observers said, you don't do something that will shame your family and your ancestry. So, standing out by doing something differently from anybody else is a big risk, and carries the possible consequences that you will not only look foolish yourself, but shame your whole family line as well.

My mother was born and grew up in China until 15 years of age, but as a white American--though learning a perfect native Chinese accent from her nanny, or ama (she was called), which she retained until the day she passed away at age 64--she very much embodied the mores of Western culture. Those mores of individualistic culture were passed on to us three kids, reinforced by the modeling and teaching of her life partner, our dad, who grew up in good old Toledo, Ohio. "Go west, young man," and all that.

* * *

The athletes depicted in "Samurai" are not your average human beings. When they hit home runs--Ohtani and Suzuki, especially--they make it look like a video game, like you just walk up to the plate and bash one out of the park. That is not easy, or normal.

Even Shohei's Samurai teammates watch the public, ticketed (probably cheaper than the World Cup this month!) batting practice that was held in the Tokyo Dome with wonder, as he hits shot-after-shot well up into the outfield stands.