Anthony on LA: Reflecting on being a sports editor

Friday night, I was in a limbo. 

I originally planned on using this space to call for Lakers owner Jeanie Buss to sell the team, but that topic was no longer important to me.

Granted, this was fresh off the Lakers firing Head Coach Frank Vogel in an embarrassing fashion. I had also grown tired of the reports of Buss’ friends such as Linda and Kurt Rambis having power within the organization. 

I was mad. But, this is a discussion for another day. My Twitter DMs are dangerously open if you’d like to discuss this though. 

I could have touched on the Clippers failing to make the NBA playoffs after losing two play-in games. For all the hate directed to the Lakers for having a disastrous season, the Clippers are in the same position as them — not in the playoffs. 

Why no uproar on Twitter? Well, I’m sorry friends. No one really cares about the Clippers like that to make a scene across social media. In 2020, we did, but not anymore.

Right when I was going to think, “Damn, I don’t have another idea I feel passionate about,” it came to me. How could I not have realized? 

This is the last column I’ll be writing as sports editor of the Daily Trojan, a position I have been so honored to be in and one I’ll cherish forever. 10 times out of 10 I’d do this again. It inclined me to reflect and take a look back at some fun, maybe repetitive, takes on Los Angeles sports. 

I’ve written 12 columns total as sports editor. As a die-hard Lakers fan, I’m proud to say only two columns were about the Purple and Gold. For this, I am a proud man because, well, I could write a column about the Lakers every day. 

The same number (two) have been about the Clippers, which is, hah, two more than I would have wanted to do. OK, but listen, listen, the Clippers are a fun team to follow, just not in L.A., alright? It’s a Dodgers/Lakers town, and maybe the Rams can sneak in there soon. Unfortunately for the Clippers, it’d be a smarter business decision to move somewhere else. 

Anyways, now that I’ve got that slander out of the way, the rest of my columns were strictly USC Athletics, something I felt was necessary to cover. See, at the Daily Trojan, there are columns on all sorts of topics — esports (my personal favorite), K-pop (second favorite), satire and advice. 

For me to stand out, I felt keeping it USC-specific would be fun. That’s what I strived to do. Plus, if you watched USC football in 2021, you would not struggle to find something to write a column about. 

There were some I loved more than others — my take on USC basketball winning the Pac-12 stands out — and some I wish I never wrote — writing that former quarterback Kedon Slovis would be the team MVP last year and not projected top-10 wide receiver Drake London. 

There were some that never saw the light of day too. 

Before it was announced that quarterback Jaxson Dart tore his meniscus and would be out indefinitely, I wrote an “Anthony on LA” calling for Dart to start over Slovis. While in the middle of production, though, we got the news. I sadly wrote a brief about the injury and scrapped that column. 

There was also the column about calling for USC to fire Clay Helton before they actually did. It would’ve been fun, I know it. There was also another asking USC to reevaluate basketball Head Coach Andy Enfield’s tenure with the Trojans. But, I came around to my senses and realized that’d be stupid. 

Being a sports editor is a lot of work; however, it’s extremely rewarding. 

There’s something about working on a product that is being cut rapidly across the country due to technology that makes it all worthwhile. There’s something about watching the growth of certain writers over the course of the semester that is amazing. And of course, there’s something about the fancy title of “sports editor” at a newspaper that is so respected among my peers.  

But — I’m nothing special, nor is my column. Any of you can be here with the right drive and dedication. And for that, I’m excited to see the future of this section.

Don’t you worry though this isn’t the end. Like the 38th Governor of California said: I’ll be back. 

Anthony Gharib is a junior writing about all things Los Angeles sports. His column, “Anthony on LA,” runs every other Monday. He is also the sports editor.