What Up, Long Beach?!

We were at the 2025 Dirtbags Leadoff Dinner last Friday at the Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach to celebrate the start of the season and talk to new coach TJ Bruce, his mentor and old coach Mike Weathers, emcee John Rami and PGA Tour golfer John Mallinger who is helping with the Dirtbags Collective.

We caught up with Wilson and St. Anthony coaches and players at the CIF Southern Section Championship Luncheon to talk about playing for titles on Saturday.

The Terry Donahue Memorial California Showcase has been the official sponsor of football coverage here at The562 and on the podcast we’re talking about how high school football players can take advantage of this opportunity to continue their academic and athletic careers in college.

We’re previewing the five Long Beach high school football games on Friday for Millikan, Long Beach Poly, Lakewood, Wilson and St. Anthony.

There are many rule changes for the NCAA and its member schools that will impact college athletics for years to come. It’s unclear if that makes life easier or harder for mid-major universities without football programs, and that’s what we sat down and talked to Long Beach State athletic director Bobby Smitheran about last week.

We’re breaking down the Long Beach Poly and Millikan football game coming up Friday night by talking about the players and matchups we’re excited to see.

We sit down with Long Beach State men’s basketball guard Ramel Lloyd Jr. and his dad Ramel “Rock” Lloyd Sr.

 

Ramel Lloyd Jr. transferred in from Nebraska where the 6’6” 210-pound guard sat out last season with a serious knee injury. He is also the son of Ramel “Rock” Lloyd Sr. who was All-Big West for LBSU in 2001. Lloyd Sr. is one of only 10 Beach players to score 600 points in a season, and he ranks eighth in career scoring with 1,527 career points.

We sat down with Long Beach State Athletic Director Bobby Smitheran to talk about NIL collectives, fixing the Walter Pyramid roof and much more.

We sat down with new Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball coach TJ Bruce to talk about his journey back to the Beach before his introductory press conference on Friday.

We sat down with Long Beach State men's basketball coach Chris Acker to talk about building his roster with exciting transfers who have local ties.