Bowling

The Newport Harbor Lawn Bowling Club is offering free lawn bowling lessons at their upcoming annual open house. The club  invites locals to come find out about the wonderful world of Lawn Bowls on Saturday, May 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Newport Harbor Lawn Bowling Club. The Open House is part of a nationwide event, initiated by the United States Lawn Bowling Association, to promote lawn bowling as a fun activity for all ages. Activities that day  include; free lawn bowling lessons, hot dogs and beverages as well as a coloring contest for kids pre-school through 6th grade.

Newport Coast Drive was briefly closed Wednesday as workers from a local cement truck company did some heavy lifting to clean up their mess from a few weeks ago. After drilling holes in the drum and securing it with slings, a tow truck pulled up the multi-ton cement mixing bowl that had toppled down the Newport Coast hill last month in a crash. California Highway Patrol crews tried to pull up the drum the day of the crash, but didn’t have vehicles big enough to lift it, officials said.

T3 Motion, a Costa Mesa manufacturer of electric vehicles, scored a cameo appearance on national television Sunday, when four of its vehicles were featured in a 60-second Audi ad that aired during the Super Bowl broadcast. The company’s stand-up vehicles appeared in Audi’s “Green Police” spot promoting the A3 TDI, Audi’s new diesel-powered station wagon. “Officers” with the “Green Police” were depicted cracking down on people who displayed unfriendly attitudes toward the environment, such as shopping with plastic bags or using incandescent light bulbs.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Newport Harbor High senior Cecil Whiteside helped the West defeat the East, 30-14, in the 11th annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl at the Alamodome on Saturday. Whiteside, a 6-foot-3, 222-pound linebacker, recorded five tackles, according to an ESPN report. Whiteside, the Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa Player of the Year who has committed to play at UC Berkeley, was the first player from Newport Harbor to earn a spot in the prestigious event. In addition to his Dream Team honor, Whiteside was also named to the All-Sunset League first team for the third straight season.

Newport Harbor High senior Cecil Whiteside is possibly playing in his final high school football game today. It won’t be just any game. The UC Berkeley-bound linebacker is the lone player from Orange County participating in the 11th annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. The game, which will be nationally televised by NBC at 10 a.m., boasts many of the nation’s elite seniors in a West vs. East matchup. Whiteside, the Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa Player of the Year, is the first player from Newport Harbor to earn a spot in the prestigious event.

When they’ve not been practicing at municipal sports fields in Costa Mesa for the 2010 Bowl Championship Series title game, players from the No. 1-ranked University of Alabama football team have sneaked out to local beaches and munched on In-N-Out Burgers, team officials said Tuesday. Thousands of sports journalists, college football fans and the University of Alabama team and support staff are staying in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa this week, gearing up for Thursday’s national championship game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The top-ranked University of Alabama and Texas football teams have been practicing in the area this week for Thursday’s Bowl Championship Series title game at the Rose Bowl. While the Longhorns practiced at UC Irvine, the Crimson Tide squad has been using Orange Coast College’s locker room, weight room, training facility and cardio-lab. It’s practicing across the street on the natural turf of the Farm Sports Complex in anticipation of the Rose Bowl’s natural surface.

When Ned Lyon arrived for the fall semester at Oregon, there was something gnawing at him. Call it regret. But it was something urging him to try the game he left behind at Newport Harbor High. He hated how his final football season with the Sailors ended. They won their last game, but they missed the playoffs after a bizarre process to determine postseason berths among five teams in the Sunset League. White-out bottles were picked out of a wooden bucket and Newport Harbor missed the playoffs.