Month: September 2026

Let’s get the rose-colored story line out of the way, right away.

The postseason starts Tuesday, and it could be the last we see of Major League Baseball for a long, long time. The owners expect to lock out the players when the collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, and the owners have made their pitch loud and clear: No new agreement without a salary cap, for they believe there can be no true competitive balance without one.

You’ll hear a lot about how the way this postseason sets up, or how it plays out, could impact the bargaining.

Don’t believe a word of it. Nothing that happens this October will be relevant to the new labor agreement.

Come on. The team with the lowest payroll — the Cleveland Guardians — won their division. So competitive balance can’t be completely out of whack, can it?

Cleveland hasn’t won the World Series since 1948. The opponent was the Boston Braves, who subsequently moved to Milwaukee and then Atlanta.

What about the team with the best record in the American League: the Tampa Bay Rays, who beat up on big-market bullies in the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox?

The Rays never have won the World Series.

Well, what about the Milwaukee Brewers? For the second consecutive season, the team in baseball’s smallest market posted baseball’s best record.

The Brewers got swept in last year’s National League Championship Series. They never have won the World Series.

But aren’t the Brewers the best example of a team playing beyond its payroll instead of using it as an excuse?

They got smoked last October by the Dodgers, who won the World Series and then signed Edwin Díaz and Kyle Tucker and traded for Tarik Skubal.

Isn’t that what got everyone agitated? Doesn’t everyone outside L.A. know the Dodgers have destroyed competitive balance, and the owners are trying to fix it?

The owners were ready to fight for more than a year before the Dodgers helped themselves to Díaz, Tucker and Skubal. For years, the commissioner’s office touted baseball’s competitive balance, citing in part how the league championship series and World Series matchups changed almost every year.

After the Dodgers won in 2024, the commissioner’s office redefined competitive balance as how often a small-market team won the World Series, last accomplished by the 2015 Kansas City Royals. The seeds for this winter’s labor war had been planted.

If the Dodgers flop this October, the owners are not going to suddenly back off a salary cap. If, say, the Brewers or Rays win, the owners will say that’s the exception that proves the rule.

There are ways for owners to direct more revenue to small-market teams without the salary cap the players insist they will not accept, and without limiting the definition of success to winning the World Series, which risks devaluing the product among 29 fan bases every year. Whether the owners wish to consider them without the cost certainty that comes with a salary cap will be the story line of the cold winter ahead.

The Dodgers are scheduled to open next season on March 25. Neither owners nor players would have lost any significant revenue by then — ticket sales and broadcasting rights for owners, salaries for players — so a new agreement by then is uncertain at best.

So enjoy the postseason.

So, at least for now, isn’t the postseason tilted toward the Dodgers and Yankees?

Those screams you hear are coming from New York, where Yankees fans are annoyed that their team finished with the second-best record in the AL and still could be eliminated in two or three days. The Yankees finished behind the Rays and received a wild card.

The Yankees lost 13 fewer games than the AL West champion Houston Astros and 10 fewer games than the AL Central champion Guardians, both seeded ahead of them. The Astros are a .500 team, the worst record a division champion has taken into the postseason. The Guardians get a bye, just like the Dodgers.

The Yankees drew the Red Sox, which means painful amounts of national commentary will focus on (1) how the system victimized the Yankees and the Red Sox; and (2) baseball’s most hyped rivalry.

Until baseball realigns its divisions or seeds its playoffs by wins, regardless of division, the Yankees should simply do what Aaron Judge said about how they should respond to criticism of their fundamentally frightening 2024 World Series: “Play better.” And baseball’s best rivalry will be on October display only if the Dodgers and San Diego Padres meet in the NL Championship Series.

Still laughing, though, at sanctimonious Yankees fans believing baseball is somehow unfair to the poor, gutty Yankees.

Can anyone save baseball in 2027?

We should try Pope Leo. He’s a long-suffering Chicago White Sox fan. In his first full year as pope — and after three consecutive 100-loss seasons — the White Sox made the playoffs.

Some fans call it a miracle, a reporter told the pope. Did the pope have anything to do with the turnaround?

He smiled.

“No comment,” he said, then paused.

“Great things happen in Chicago,” he said.

The Cubs made the postseason too. The Cubs and White Sox have shared Chicago since 1901. This is the fourth time both have qualified for postseason play. Deep dish pizza for all, but a World Series in Chicago this fall might truly require divine intervention.

Repeated incidents of organisational failure at the Asian Games have left athletes frustrated, exhausted and disappointed as rain-delayed matches became the latest headache for host nation Japan.

A glitzy opening ceremony did little to overshadow the growing accommodation crisis, logistical gaffes and scheduling issues that have headlined the Games, which opened on September 19 in Aichi-Nagoya.

India’s multiple-Olympic medallist PV Sindhu lamented a badminton schedule that saw her play three matches within 18 hours.

“Three matches in 18 hours. Back at 3am, out again at 8:30am. It took a toll,” Sindhu wrote on social media after her quarterfinal exit on Sunday.

Pakistan’s volleyball team was mistakenly taken to the wrong gymnasium an hour before the start of its preliminary round match, forcing its members to change into their kits on the bus and leaving them without enough time for a warm-up.

“Japan has destroyed the dignity and discipline of the Asian Games,” men’s captain Murad Jehan wrote in a now-deleted video on his Instagram account as the team travelled to their match against Uzbekistan, which they won 3-0. “Really disappointing situation.”

He said athletes would often return from training to find their hotel restaurant closed, leaving them unable to eat. “This situation at Asian Games is not acceptable.”

The South Korean men’s basketball team faced a similar incident when they missed a light practice session hours before their final after their shuttle bus did not show up on time. Team officials said they received no explanation.

It was a repeat of what the men’s football team faced when the bus did not arrive at the team’s hotel. A day earlier, the bus took the athletes to a baseball ground instead of the Mizuho Rugby Stadium, causing a 30-minute delay.

‘Rain has ruined everything’

On Monday, persistent rain became the organisers’ latest headache when it disrupted several competitions, including tennis, surfing and cricket.

Both the men’s cricket quarterfinals between Pakistan-Hong Kong and India-Afghanistan were washed out after the playing field was drenched at Korogi Athletic Park on the outskirts of Nagoya.

With no contingency built into the schedule for rained-off matches, Pakistan and India advanced to the semifinals of the T20 tournament by virtue of their higher rankings.

It was a bitter pill for Afghanistan, who saw the gold medal go to India due to the rankings rule three years ago when their Hangzhou Games final was abandoned due to rain.

“The rain started yesterday, so hard luck for us,” Afghanistan opener Mohammed Akram said.

“We would have been happy to play here with India. Our players are in form.

“But unfortunately the rain has ruined everything.”

Typhoon Surigae lashed southern Japan’s Okinawa prefecture on Monday and was projected to track northeast towards central Japan and the Tokyo region by midweek, raising the prospect of strong winds and heavy rain further disrupting the Games.

Typhoon Dujuan hit the Games early in week one, causing equestrian events in Tokyo to be suspended although most competitions were unaffected.

The continental sporting showpiece is mainly based in the city of Nagoya and Aichi prefecture, but Tokyo is also hosting diving events while Osaka is hosting football matches.

The rain saw several tennis matches scrapped on Sunday and caused match delays on Monday.

Fans hoping to catch Filipino headliner Alex Eala’s opening match against Thai opponent Patcharin Cheapchandej were repeatedly frustrated at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Centre.

Eala, the women’s top seed, had her match shifted off centre court amid the scheduling logjam and wrapped it up in 55 minutes with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Patcharin.

Poor wave conditions saw the surfing called off early at the Long Beach venue southeast of Nagoya with medal finals having already been pushed to Tuesday.

India’s Kishore Kumar Anbarasu was able to complete his heat before it was abandoned, beating China’s Ma Wensong to make it into the quarterfinals on the sport’s Asian Games debut.

“It was not the easiest conditions. It was very hard to find the good waves,” Anbarasu said.

Organisers apologise for logistical chaos at ‘sad’ games

Organisers on Saturday apologised for logistical glitches at the Games that left thousands of athletes with cramped housing conditions and undersized beds that forced several countries to house their athletes elsewhere.

Satoshi Murate, secretary-general of the local organising committee, said a late influx of about 2,000 additional athletes and officials had stretched resources.

“There have been mistakes in accommodation and transport for various reasons,” Murate said.

“Whatever the cause, AINAGOC [the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and Asian Para Games Organising Committee] is responsible for providing the service, and I frankly apologise for the mistakes.

“Our staff work every day to identify the causes of each mistake and make sure they don’t happen again. I think you can see that accommodation and transport have improved greatly compared with the early days.”

Organisers chose not to build a traditional athletes village in a bid to save money. Competitors instead are staying in hotels, temporary wooden units and on a cruise ship.

India’s multiple badminton medallist HS Prannoy said that made for a disappointing experience.

“It was sad,” the 34-year-old, who won team bronze, said in a YouTube video published by the Badminton Association of India.

“It never felt like we were playing in an Asian Games, to be honest.”

IF you are thinking about your next trip but can’t decide where, you don’t have to pick one location…

Instead, you could get an Interrail Pass and travel to multiple destinations across up to 33 countries including Spain, Italy and Greece.

And the good news is that there is currently up to 50 per cent off Interrail Passes.

The sale ends September 30 though, so you’ll need to be quick – though even if you buy today or tomorrow, you’ll have 11 months to use your pass.

Different passes allow you to travel on trains as many times as you like across a set amount of time.

Instead of £454, you can spend £227 and get a month youth (for 12 to 27-year-olds) rail pass – meaning you can travel on as many trains as you like across the 33 countries for a month.

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If you are 28-years-old or above, then it will cost you a little more – £303 instead of £606.

You’ll also have to pay extra if you want to reserve seats on trains or if you want a paper Pass instead of a digital Pass.

There are a number of other Passes available as well, depending on how long you want to travel for.

You can choose between a Flexible Pass or Continuous Pass depending on your travel plans.

For example, you could get a four days in a month Pass that allows you to travel on as many trains as you like on each of your four travel days, costing £209 per adult.

You can use your four travel days any time within a month of your Pass’ start date.

Other options include five and seven days within a month and 10 days or 15 days within two months.

These passes cost between £235 and £409 per person.

If you know you are travelling continuously across a time period to a number of different destinations, the Continuous Pass might be better.

The different time options for these Passes include 15 days, 22 days, one month, two months or three months in a row.

These passes range between £303 and £433 per adult.

If you suddenly decide you don’t want the Pass, then you can refund or exchange it within seven days as well.

An alternative approach is to ensure that everyone who is eligible, based on their needs, should get state-funded personal care that is free at the point of use.

This would be provided free regardless of an individual’s means and whether it was received by an elderly person in their own house or a residential care home.

Scotland has implemented such a system.

However, it’s important to note that personal care takes in things like helping frail elderly people wash and dress and go to the toilet.

But it does not include accommodation, food and everyday living costs which are subject to means testing.

The Health Foundation think tank estimates that implementing a Scottish-style system in England would cost £7.5bn a year by 2036.

Like Scotland, Japan and Germany have systems which base entitlement to personal social care mainly on people’s care needs rather than their ability to pay.

Japan and Germany though have a mandatory long-term care insurance system which is funded through contributions from workers and employers.

Both countries also do not usually cover the full cost of personal care so individuals are responsible for some of the expenses.

There were rows aplenty on ABC sitcom Modern Family, but there was an even bigger one behind the scenes and Jesse Tyler Ferguson says the rest of the cast just got used to it

Jesse Tyler Ferguson says the Modern Family set could be an awkward place after admitting a show feud made things difficult.

The long-running hit show starred the likes of Ed O’Neil, Sofia Vergara, Eric Stonestreet, Ariel Winter and Nolan Gould, before ending in 2020 after 11 years. The much-loved programme featured three different but interconnected branches of the same large family living in suburban Los Angeles.

But it seems the feel-good ABC sitcom was hiding a secret – its two creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan didn’t get on at all following a huge fall-out, and it caused uncomfortableness behind the scenes.

Things became so strained that the writers’ room was divided in two, with duties alternating on an episode-by-episode basis between the two brains behind the comedy. Jesse, who played Mitchell Pritchett for more than a decade, says the stars learned to deal with the new direction.

“Basically, we had divorced parents leading the show,” the actor said in an interview with the Independent. “Our creators just decided to go separate ways. I thought it was a big secret that no one really knew about.

“It was like we had a week with this parent, and then a week with that parent. And we all just learnt that that’s how it works.

“It gave the show a really interesting balance that I think a lot of people didn’t even notice was happening – I still can’t believe after 11 seasons that the show was as successful as it was, with that sort of division of power, really.”

The comedy ran for an impressive 250 episodes, and many of its actors have gone on to enjoy a lot of success.

Jesse enjoyed a successful theatre career before joining the cast of Modern Family, where he earned several Emmy nominations alongside his on-screen husband Cameron Tucker.

Aside from the ABC show, he has appeared as a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance from 2011 to 2013 and hosted Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in 2020. He has also landed roles in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and 2023 disaster film Cocaine Bear.

The star also won his first Tony for his performance in the Broadway revival of Take Me Out in 2022.

His on-screen love Cameron Tucker , played by Eric Stonestreet, tied the knot with fiancée Lindsay Schweitzer on his birthday last year.

The longtime couple announced the incredible news in a series of photos shared on Instagram.

Before the shoe Eric was known for his role as Ronnie Litre on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He has also appeared in films like 2011’s Bad Teacher and 2013’s Identity Thief.

Since the show, Stonestreet has portrayed Magnus Antas on Disney+’s The Santa Clauses and also took up a hosting role on the Fox competition series Domino Masters.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

WASHINGTON — President Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy weapons from the United States, the U.S. ambassador to China said.

David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and expose U.S. technology to a potential foe. Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Sunday” days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, didn’t specify when the offer was made.

Perdue said Sunday that Trump, a Republican, was downplaying longstanding U.S. arms sales to Taiwan — which have drawn protest from Beijing for years — by couching it as just one of many sales Washington makes around the world — and even asking Xi if he’d be in the market for U.S. weaponry.

Bream had cited concerns from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over delayed aid packages and weapons orders to Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that seeks to defend itself from China’s threat to invade the island. Bream asked if the U.S. is denying arms to Taiwan to appease the Chinese president, who visited Trump last week.

Perdue pushed back on the suggestion, stating that Trump “is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and has sold it plenty of weapons. Perdue also said Trump and Xi continue to talk about future U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

“But President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” Perdue said. “He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point.”

The U.S. is bound by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. While not recognizing Taiwan as a country, the U.S. is the island’s strongest informal backer and arms provider. But multiple U.S. leaders have left ambiguous whether they would commit military force to defend the U.S. ally should China invade.

China has pressed Washington to halt the arms sales, most prominently during a previous summit in May between Trump and Xi in Beijing. After that meeting, the United States paused the sale of a record-breaking $14 billion package — and Trump described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.

In their private talks at the White House last week, Xi pressed Trump to oppose Taiwan independence, according to Chinese state media.

In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not confirm Perdue’s remarks when asked about the matter on Monday. But he told reporters that China has always strengthened its national defense capabilities based on its needs and is committed to maintaining world peace and stability.

Finley writes for the Associated Press.

Australia-born Jasmin Strange is one of four potential debutants in England’s 23-strong squad for the World Cup.

Sydney Roosters second-row forward Strange, who is set to play in Sunday’s NRLW Grand Final against Brisbane Broncos, has committed herself to England, for whom she qualifies through her mother Adele.

The 23-year-old is the daughter of Roosters women’s head coach John Strange, who played for Featherstone in the 1990s.

Strange is joined by three uncapped players – Leeds Rhinos’ Connie Boyd, Hope Millard of Canterbury Bulldogs, and Wigan Warriors’ Lucie Sams.

In addition to Strange and Millard, whose father Shane was a forward for Widnes, Leeds and Wigan, three other NRLW players have made the squad – including dual code international Fran Goldthorp, who last played rugby league for her country at the most recent World Cup in 2022.

Newcastle Knights’ Georgia Roche and Hollie-Mae Dodd of Canberra Raiders have also been included.

Strange’s inclusion as a heritage player – one who qualifies through parentage – comes after eligibility rules were relaxed this year.

An International Rugby League ruling means that players can now represent more than one of the three tier one nations – Australia, New Zealand and England.

That led to speculation that head coach Stu Barrow might call on more heritage players with NRLW experience – such as Roosters playmaker Jocelyn Kelleher, Bulldogs half-back Tayla Preston and Wests Tigers full-back Caitlin Turnbull.

But Barrow has said he wants to give homegrown players an opportunity to develop.

All three Woman of Steel nominees – Jenna Foubister, Eva Hunter and Megan Williams – have been selected, along with six of their Wigan team-mates. Grand Final winners York Valkyrie have one player in the squad in forward Liv Wood.

Loose forward Jodie Cunningham, who will retire after the World Cup, is selected along with St Helens team-mate Vicky Whitfield, who will be competing at her fourth World Cup.

Barrow said: “Narrowing our squad from 40 players to a final 23 has involved some difficult decisions, but we believe we have the right balance of experience and youth to compete on the world stage.

“It’s also an exciting moment for the programme with the inclusion of Australian-based heritage players for the first time.”

This year’s men’s, women’s and wheelchair World Cups will run concurrently, with England competing in all three. The wheelchair squad was announced last week, while the men’s squad will be confirmed on 5 October.

The tournaments are being staged largely in Australia, with Papua New Guinea’s men and women each playing two pool matches in their own country, and their New Zealand counterparts playing one.

England face three group matches – beginning in Perth against Wales on 17 October and Australia on 24 October, before facing Samoa in Wollongong on 30 October.

The top two sides in England’s four-team group will go through to the semi-finals on 7 and 8 November, with the final on 15 November.

Israel’s national security minister declares ‘we are the owners of the place in Al-Aqsa’ during heavily guarded incursion.

Hundreds of Israelis led by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under police protection.

The Jerusalem governorate on Monday said Israeli forces closed intersections and streets surrounding the Old City that lead to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which Jews refer to as the Temple Mount, in occupied East Jerusalem on the third day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

It said the Israelis danced in circles and sang inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque during the raid, noting that 900 people entered the compound in the morning.

“We are the owners of the place in Al-Aqsa and in the prisons, and we have turned the lives of terrorist prisoners into hell,” Ben-Gvir said.

“The people of Israel are on the path to absolute victory, and today we pray in Al-Aqsa, which is the most important place for the Jewish people.”

Monday’s intrusion came as Israeli authorities forced dozens of Palestinian shopkeepers to close their businesses and residents to remain inside their homes in areas near the mosque to allow Jewish prayers during Sukkot.

“Dozens of Palestinian owners of shops, cafes and restaurants in the Cotton Merchants Market in Jerusalem’s Old City were forced to close them during the Jewish Sukkot holiday to make way for Jewish prayers in the market,” the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said in a statement.

‘Playing with fire’

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh described the incursion as “playing with fire and a dangerous provocation to the feelings of Muslims around the world”.

He also warned that Israel was seeking to ignite a “religious war” in the region.

Since 2003, Israeli police have allowed groups of Israelis to make daily incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, except on Fridays and Saturdays.

Israel often imposes restrictions on Palestinian worshippers. It prevented Eid al-Fitr prayers at Al-Aqsa this year, allowing only 10,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, home to 3.3 million people, into one of Islam’s holiest sites for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan.

IF you haven’t started planning your holidays for next summer yet, well you’re in luck as easyJet has just announced 18 new routes.

Whether you want to head off to a popular city break destination or explore somewhere you would have never considered, the major budget airline is launching routes to several countries.

For example, if you love visiting Spain there will be six new routes to the country including the airline’s first-ever flights to Girona.

Often dubbed the Immortal City due to its long history of being attacked and defended over the centuries, Girona is the perfect spot for Game of Thrones fans as it was used for filming the series.

The route will take off from Liverpool on March 28 and operate twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Though, if you are based closer to London flights to Girona will also take off from Gatwick starting on June 3, operating three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

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Fancy somewhere else in Spain? Liverpool will gain a new route to Murcia from March 29, taking off twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.

Alternatively, if you are based in Scotland, Aberdeen will gain flights to Barcelona from March 31, taking off on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The same airport will also launch flights to Majorca from May 3, on Thursdays and Sundays.

Or with a 700-year-old historic quarter, you can travel to Bilbao from Edinburgh starting March 30 with flights operating on Tuesdays and Sundays.

Away from Spain, there will be three new routes flying to France from next summer as well.

Found on the island of Corsica, with sprawling Mediterranean beaches and scenic coastal walks, you could head to Ajaccio from London Gatwick, starting on June 30.

Alternatively, from Bristol Airport, head to Montpellier from July 1 or if you are based near Manchester, flights to Bastia launch on June 29.

Each of these routes will operate twice a week.

If enjoying delicious pasta in Italy is more your thing, there is a new route launching between Birmingham and Milan Malpensa from March 29 operating twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.

Edinburgh will also gain flights to the ‘eternal city’ of Rome from March 30, with flights departing on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

For somewhere a little different you can head to Montenegro from Edinburgh, with flights heading to Tivat from March 29.

There will be flights between Birmingham and Tivat too, beginning on May 3.

Both routes will operate twice weekly.

When in Tivat, explore the marina backed by mountains and home to the Tivat Submarine, which is a decommissioned Heroj P-821 submarine that is part of the Maritime Heritage Museum.

If you happen to live in or near the Scottish capital, you can fly to Hamburg in Germany as well from March 29.

And Bristol will add flights to Burgas in Bulgaria from May 28.

Back in the north, from Newcastle you could head to Larnaca, Cyprus, and enjoy soft,sandy beaches from March 31, operating weekly on Wednesdays.

And if you want to live out your Mamma Mia dreams, there are two new routes to Greece launching including flights from London Southend to Rhodes starting on April 27 and operating twice a week as well as flights between London Luton and Thessaloniki starting on May 1, with weekly Saturday flights.

LONG before Hollywood relied on CGI, making The Mummy meant dragging a crew into the depths of the Sahara Desert – and paying a brutal price for it.

From near-fatal accidents to deadly wildlife, the set was plagued with so much off-screen drama that crew claimed the ancient pharaohs had put a curse on production.

Despite the chaos, the film became a smash hit that helped launch the careers of its charismatic leads, Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.

It also proved so popular that it led to two direct sequels and a hit spin-off over the next nine years.

Now, 25 years after it debuted, the beloved film is back for a fourth installment – scheduled for release in October next year – with Brendan and Rachel back at the helm.

New photos show librarian-turned-action heroine Evelyn O’Connell, played by Rachel, in character, looking as glamorous as ever at the age of 56.

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However, here are seven near-disaster stories from the original set that prove The Mummy filming was as perilous as its plot…

Brendan Fraser’s near-fatal noose

When the heroic character of Rick O’Connell is nearly executed at the start of the film, the horror wasn’t entirely just acting. 

Brendan Fraser stood on his tiptoes with a tight, real noose around his neck for a close-up shot.

When a stuntman pulled the tension a fraction too far, it instantly cut off Brendan’s airway, knocking him out cold.

He blacked out, and woke up to the stunt coordinator slapping his face back to reality. 

The crew’s comforting reaction? “Welcome to the club – the same thing happened to Mel Gibson on Braveheart.”

Oscar nominee Brendan said on the Kelly Clarkson Show: “I was standing on my toes like this with the rope and you only got so far to go. 

“Stephen [Sommers, the director] ran over and he said, ‘Hey, it doesn’t really look like you’re choking. Can you sell it?’

“And then the next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways and there was gravel in my teeth.” 

Venomous snakes

Filming in the Moroccan desert meant sharing space with some of the world’s deadliest creepy-crawlies. 

Scorpions, venomous spiders, and deadly snakes routinely slithered into tents and boots.

The danger was so severe that production kept medical helicopters on 24/7 standby, airlifting multiple victims out of the Sahara to rush them to anti-venom treatment before it was too late.

While he avoided getting bitten, Brendan shared to Entertainment Weekly: “They sent a memo out describing a type of snake. I think it had yellow dots on it. 

“They said, ‘If you see this kind of snake, do not go near it. Because if it bites you, at best, they’ll amputate your limb.’

“Anyway, there I was, pissing down a rock, and I look down and there’s the yellow-dot snake. I was like ‘f***!’ I just ran for it.”

Kidnap Insurance

Shooting near volatile border zones in Erfoud, Morocco, came with its own political challenges. 

Universal Pictures was so terrified of their stars being targeted that they took out kidnap-and-ransom insurance policies on the lead actors. 

Brendan explained: “[Producer] Jim Jacks said, ‘I took out million-dollar kidnapping insurance policies on you.’ We were like, ‘So, basically, you put a bounty on our head?’ He’s like, ‘That’s one way of looking at it.’”

On top of that, the King of Morocco provided military protection, leaving the cast to perform their scenes surrounded by soldiers carrying loaded assault rifles.

Brendan Fraser’s broken bones

Playing the action hero came at a staggering physical cost for Brendan, who insisted on doing his own stunts. 

By the time the franchise wrapped, he had sustained multiple injuries including a torn spinal disc and a cracked rib, which led to numerous surgeries over several years.  

He told Vogue: “By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China, I was put together with tape and ice – just, like, really nerdy and fetishistic about ice packs. I was building an exoskeleton for myself daily.”

Speaking about the long-term impact of his stunts on his body, he told The Telegraph: “I was doing stunts that were getting more and more demanding, and my body was just giving out… I was trying to fulfill expectations that I thought were required of me, but eventually, you hit a wall.”

Dehydration measures

The film was shot in the grueling, scorching heat of the Sahara Desert, which meant extra care had to be given for the cast and crew’s wellbeing.

To combat the threat of extreme dehydration and heatstroke, the production’s medical team provided a special, foul-tasting electrolyte rehydration drink.

Every cast and crew member was required to consume this concoction every two hours to prevent fainting, severe heat sickness, and collapse.

Apocalyptic sandstorms 

If the heat and wildlife weren’t enough, mother nature repeatedly tried to hinder filming.

The lost city of Hamunaptra was constructed inside a dormant volcanic crater, which proved challenging.

The desert weather frequently interrupted production, with unpredictable dust storms sweeping through the Sahara location, shutting down filming and forcing cast and crew to seek shelter. 

Kevin O’Connor, who played Beni Gabor, told EW: “You’d see one little black cloud and you’d think, ‘What is this?’ 

“This little black cloud would turn into a sandstorm that was blinding and threw the camera equipment around. It was insane.”

Published on
28/09/2026 – 12:25 GMT+2

Brussels and Beijing are fighting over quotas that would limit Chinese imports to the EU market, as the Europeans seek to rebalance their trade relationship with China, Euronews has learned.

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Both started intense negotiations last June over EU and Chinese access to each other’s markets, with an October deadline set by the European Commission to reach “tanglible” results. However, China is pushing hard against the EU’s attempts to protect its market.

According to one person familiar with the matter, the Commission, which is negotiating on behalf of the 27 EU countries on trade issues, wants China to accept quotas on specific products.

However, it is unclear how China would accept and respect such quotas.

Trade defence mechanisms delayed

According to media reports, so-called “voluntary export restrictions” have been pushed by the Commission for electric vehicles. But Beijing’s trade minister rejected them in a statement earlier this month.

If China accepted such a system of restrictions, it would mean that it voluntarily limits its exports to the EU on the basis of a deal negotiated with the Commission, sparing the EU from adopting defensive trade measures that might be seen as an aggressive move by China.

Technical negotiations are in their final stretch as the October deadline is approaching.

Director General of DG Trade at the Commission, Ditte Juul Jørgensen, travelled to China last week for two days of heated discussions, and EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is due to be in Beijing on 8 and 9 October for political talks, ahead of a key meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

To give negotiations a chance, the Commission has delayed the adoption of trade defence mechanisms aiming to protect the EU chemical industry, according to another person familiar with the matter. The chemical industry is one of the sectors most threatened by Chinese competition in the EU.

However, the threat also targets other sectors, making the rebalancing of the trade relationship “existential” for the Europeans, EU Industry and Trade Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné told Euronews last week.

According to the Commission, the EU already lost 250,000 industrial jobs last year, particularly concentrated in energy-intensive sectors and automotive supply chains.

SACRAMENTO — What’s so wrong about requiring every Californian to show a government ID before they’re allowed to vote? That’s what Proposition 39 backers ask. And it’s a fair question.

Here are some valid answers:

• It would make California’s already notoriously slow vote count even more pokey.
• It would be an added hassle for citizens attempting to exercise their voting right.
• It would cost taxpayers a bundle, perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
• It’s another solution by politicians to a problem that really doesn’t exist.

Practically everyone, regardless of political affiliation, must understand by now that there simply is no evidence of widespread — significant, meaningful — voter cheating in California or anywhere else in America. This despite conspiracy-theorists’ fruitless searching and President Trump’s lies about “rigged” elections.

It’s my belief that the main reason Republicans placed Proposition 39 on the California ballot was to boost GOP voter turnout in the Nov. 3 election. And recent independent polling shows that the measure does appeal strongly to Republicans — but not Democrats, who are united in opposition.

The proposition appears to be headed for defeat, largely because Democratic voters in this deep blue state equate it with the discredited president. Trump has turned into poison for Republican candidates in competitive races and any cause that reminds people of him.

That’s why the Proposition 39 campaign last week released a new major TV ad that essentially asks voters to ignore the president.

This is how conservative consultant Jon Fleischman summarized the ad’s message to Democrats in his blog: “You can hate Trump and still back Voter ID.”

Proposition 39 would mainly do two things:

• Require voters to show some government-issued identification each time they vote in person, such as a driver’s license or passport. Don’t have one? The state would issue a free ID card to any voter who asked.
• Californians who cast mail ballots — more than 80% of voters — would be required to write the last four digits of a government ID number on the return envelope. The number would be determined when initially registering to vote.

The measure also would impose some basically noncontroversial mandates that make sense separately. It would require election officials to maintain accurate voter registration files, weeding out people who have moved or died and verifying citizenship. But counties already do that pretty well.

The contrived bogeyman for election fraud scaremongers is the undocumented immigrant community. But these people, living on the edge and hiding from the government, aren’t going to risk deportation by trying to vote in an election they couldn’t care less about. And political candidates aren’t going to waste their time and money on them. Their targets are the large numbers of apathetic legal voters who sit out elections.

Currently, Californians must provide identification when registering and swear under penalty of perjury — a felony — that they are U.S. citizens. And they must record their signatures when registering and scribble it on the back of the ballot envelope when voting by mail.

Requiring me to add a four-digit number on the back of my “absentee” ballot envelope means I’d have to register all over again to record the PIN. And then remember it every election. A pointless pain.

Assemblyman Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), a conservative firebrand, instigated and authored Proposition 39. “I do believe that voter fraud is a real problem. Absolutely,” he told me.

But he said the proposition has two main goals: 1, to clean up voter files and make sure ballots are properly validated and counted. 2, to increase public confidence in the voting process. “We have a perception problem,” he says. “Voters have low trust” in the election system.

Republicans mistrust a lot; Democrats not so much.

A California poll released last week by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies showed that 84% of Republican voters had a “major concern” about voter fraud. Only 21% of Democrats did.

Can anyone doubt who’s driving the Republicans’ anxiety? The bellicose president. “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating,” Trump has reiterated. “It’s terrible what’s going on.”

This from the hypocrite who mails in his ballots.

Fortunately, Proposition 39’s crafters left mail ballots pretty much alone, except for requiring a nuisance PIN on the ballot envelope.

That “absolutely” will slow down vote counting, says Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz), who heads the Assembly Elections Committee and was the longtime chief elections official of Santa Cruz County. Under Proposition 39, officials not only would need to check voters’ signatures against those on file, but also their PINs.

And voting in person would drag while people dug for an ID and an official checked it, Pellerin says. Some people are bound to be denied their voting right by mistake, she asserts.

Tony Quinn, formerly a GOP redistricting consultant and a longtime political analyst, points out that a disproportionately high portion of in-person voters are Republicans. Proposition 39 is “imposing a burden on them,” he says. “I don’t think the authors realize who’s voting in person these days. They sense illegal aliens.”

The UC institute poll showed Proposition 39 being supported by 39% of likely voters and opposed by 52%. It was backed by 92% of Republicans, but Democrats were 80% against. And they outnumber Republicans by nearly 2-to-1 in California.

The proposition also trailed in a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California: 43% yes, 55% no.

In the PPIC poll, Republicans said 39 was by far the most interesting proposition on the ballot.

Trump’s influence? Among the paltry 27% of voters who approve of his job performance, 88% support Proposition 39. But of the 72% who disapprove of the president, 73% oppose the measure.

Trump is toxic.

Proposition 39 is more government regulation for no good reason.

What else you should be reading

The must-read: Tax the rich? California voters are divided, according to new poll
Law & Order: Ballot seizure by Riverside County sheriff was ‘unlawful,’ California Supreme Court rules
The L.A. Times Special: High cost of living tops voter concerns, Becerra remains front-runner in governor’s race, new poll shows

Until next week,
George Skelton

—
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Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. League play begins this week in high school football for the best of the best. That means get ready for some great matchups in the Trinity League, the Mission League, the Alpha League, the Marine League and many others.

League play begins

Coach Carson Palmer of Santa Margarita will try to help his team win a Trinity League title.

(Craig Weston)

St. John Bosco’s Koa Malau’ulu looks to pass while pressured against Bishop Gorman.

(Ian Maule/ LA Times)

It’s time for a dose of reality. Lots of teams are off to great starts with nonleague schedules designed to get them enough early wins to be able to get an at-large playoff berth in case they stumble in league play.

League play begins, so some of the unbeaten teams are about to be no longer unbeaten.

Santa Margarita was the best team in the state in 2025, but the Eagles didn’t win the Trinity League. St. John Bosco was the champion, and with league play beginning Friday, both schools have ambitions to finish on top.

Santa Margarita (5-0) plays Mater De (3-2) in its opener at Saddleback College and St. John Bosco (4-1) hosts JSerra (4-1). The other league game is Servite (3-2) facing Orange Lutheran (3-2) at Orange Coast College.

What’s different this season is that any of the six Trinity teams look capable of winning on a given night. But some of the teams are about to be strengthened by the addition of sit-out period transfer students that become eligible effective Monday.

The Mission League is all about which team will finish second to unbeaten Sierra Canyon (5-0). A good Friday opener has Chaminade (5-0) hosting Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (5-0).

The new Alpha League will feature weekly battles with Mission Viejo, San Clemente, Edison, Yorba Linda, Los Alamitos and San Juan Hills. The likely title decider on Oct. 16 has Mission Viejo at San Clemente.

Harvard-Westlake has started 5-0, but the Wolverines receive their first major test with a Del Rey League opener against Salesian on Friday.

In the City Section, Birmingham, which has won every West Valley League title since 2018, faces unbeaten Cleveland on Friday at home in a West Valley League opener. San Pedro and Banning have their annual Marine League rivalry game Friday at Banning.

Marshall takes a 5-0 record into the start of Northern League play at Franklin.

Freedom day arrives

It’s freedom day on Monday for Southern Section football players who have been sitting out the first half of the season after transferring without moving.

St. John Bosco can’t wait to insert offensive tackle Elisha Mueller, a transfer from Servite and one of the top prospects from the Class of 2028. Also becoming available is sophomore defensive back Kingston Fatu, a transfer from Tustin who will help a secondary that has been struggling in trying to deny big plays.

Santa Margarita adds 6-foot-3, 285-pound sophomore transfer Karras Vandermade, a defensive lineman. Servite has six players who could compete for major roles, with four on defense that will add much needed depth. Orange Lutheran gains 6-5 tight end Hudson Ploog and linebacker Jamaal Fay, who started for two years at Leuzinger. JSerra adds 6-7, 315-pound offensive lineman Wyatt Martin.

Other schools are also about to be strengthened. Unbeaten Sierra Canyon adds physical wingback/linebacker Fletcher Thomas. Unbeaten Chaminade, hoping to challenge the Trailblazers in the Mission League, picks up sophomore receiver Champ Ross and junior cornerback Jayden Woods.

Long Beach Poly fans will get their first look at Mater Dei transfer Trevor Scott, a sophomore quarterback. Quarterback Daniel Mielke becomes eligible at Chino Hills. Corona Centennial gains Brody Black, an offensive lineman from Servite. San Clemente picks up receiver Titus King, a speedster from Santa Margarita. Amir Morton, a junior running back who transferred from Sierra Canyon, is expected to provide immediate help for Crespi.

Cornerback Tadd Mitchell, a Montana commit, joins Oxnard Pacifica along with lineman Miguel Macias Santiago.

Matix Frithsmith demonstrated his versatility in Hart’s 34-17 Foothill League win over Saugus. He rushed for 218 yards and four touchdowns, including a 91-yard run. Here’s the report.

Corona Centennial traveled to Northern California to take on De La Salle and what a game it was. De La Salle won 35-32 behind Duece Jones-Drew, who rushed for 211 yards. Here’s the report.

Centennial has lost three close games to Santa Margarita, Mater Dei and De La Salle. As soon the Huskies get back to full strength with the return of standout safety/kicker Jaden Walk-Green and others, beware.

Cleveland High running back Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi gives the thumbs-up after the Cavaliers defeated Crenshaw on the road.

(Joel Beers / For The Times)

Cleveland pulled off the upset of the week in going on the road to improve to 5-0 and beat Crenshaw. Here’s the report.

Also here’s a look at how 34-year-old Cleveland head coach Mario Guzman came up with one of the biggest wins in school history.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The TImes.

Here’s top individual performances from the past week.

Here’s the the Week 6 schedule.

Midseason report

Receiver Andrew Cordero (left) and quarterback Jeremy Mellalieu have led Chaminade to a 5-0 start.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

It’s midseason in high school football, so it’s a good time to check who has lived up to expectations or come out of nowhere to be a major contributor.

Here’s a look.

Is CIF powerless?

When a coach takes his team out of state and plays two players who are listed on the Southern Section transfer portal as not being cleared to play and are also missing from the team’s MaxPreps roster to possibly prevent others from knowing who’s playing, is a two-game coach suspension adequate punishment?

That’s the scenario involving Inglewood football coach Mil’von James, who missed two games after the Southern Section alerted the school that James played two ineligible players during a game in Texas last month. Since Inglewood lost, forcing the school to forfeit was moot. James returned to coaching the team on Friday and told the Daily Breeze that it was an “administrative decision” for him to sit out two games.

The Southern Section has no power to discipline James, but schools and districts are expected to impose appropriate punishment for violating CIF rules.

Here’s a look at what’s at stake.

Oxnard quarterback Ryanna Harris has scored 33 touchdowns and thrown for 13 more in 16 games.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

JSerra is 19-0 with few teams being able to give the Lions much competition these days.

Here’s a look at this week’s top 10 flag football rankings by The Times.

Huntington Beach won its own tournament championship.

Los Angeles Wilson is off to a 9-1 start and could be the favorite in the City Section. Wilson at defending City Section Open Division champion Marshall on Monday is a big Northern League opener.

Carson is 8-3 and has handed the only loss to Wilson.

Girls golf

Santa Margarita keeps producing low scores in girls golf.

The defending Southern Section Division 1 champions are stronger than ever. The team is 6-0 and 3-0 in the Trinity League.

All-female officiating crew

An all-female officiating crew for Orange County game on Thursday: Kristi Wilson (left, head linesman), Sarita Stamps (back judge), Mary Margaret Montgomery (referee), MaryAnne Menlove (umpire), Nina Berbiglia (line judge).

(Orange County Officials Assn.)

An all-female officiating crew is set to become a first for the Orange County Football Officials Assn. when they work a Thursday game between La Quinta and Garden Grove Santiago on Thursday night at Garden Grove High.

Notes . . .

There’s trouble brewing at Van Nuys High, where the baseball coach has been removed for building an unauthorized batting cage during the summer. Also the softball field had a protective fence demolished earlier this week that was a safety measure to protect fans and dugouts could be next demolished. Here’s the report.

Here’s the latest Southern Section girls volleyball rankings….

El Camino Real’s boys’ soccer team, going for a third straight City Section championship, has three players committed to Cal State Northridge. Here’s the report….

In girls’ tennis, Corona del Mar defeated Portola in a rematch of last year’s Division 1 final. Here’s a report….

Orange Lutheran baseball player Evan Dugdale has committed to Oklahoma….

Junior catcher Jordan Lindsay of Birmingham has committed to Wake Forrest….

Junior pitcher Eli Martinez of Aquinas has committed to UC Santa Barbara….

Jaylen Maroney of Edison has committed to Sacramento State for women’s soccer….

Junior pitcher Julian Pardinas of La Mirada has committed to UCLA….

Junior pitcher Jayden Singer of Calabasas has committed to USC….

Junior outfielder/pitcher Noah Esquival of South Hills has committed to St. Mary’s….

Left-handed pitcher Charlie Hoye of Palos Verdes has committed to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo….

Standout guard Davey Smith from Windward has committed to San Diego State….

Shooting guard Jeremiah Profit from Rancho Christian has committed to Northwestern….

Junior softball player Bailey Holder from Long Beach Poly has committed to Washington….

Junior slapper Makayla Encinas of Chino Hills has committed to UCLA….

Devon Richardson is the new basketball coach at Sun Valley Poly, replacing Joe Wyatt, who’s now the coach at North Hollywood. He was an assistant coach at L.A. Valley College and former head coach at Blair….

Joe Heinz, the commissioner of the CIF San Diego Section, has died. He was 56….

The Southern Section has announced its playoff schedule for fall sports. Here’s the link.…

Southern Section schools are required to pick a 14-day dead period each summer that all their sports teams have to follow. Now there’s a proposal to allow basketball players participate in CIF-approved recruiting events known as Section 7 and CaliLive. It will be voted on next year by the Southern Section Council….

Sophomore quarterback Marcus Washington of Cajon has committed to Kentucky….

Offensive lineman Kaden Franco of St. John Bosco has committed to Brown….

From the archives: Vernon Adams

Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. in 2014.

(Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

After being a star quarterback at Bishop Alemany, Vernon Adams went on to play quarterback at Eastern Washington and Oregon and has made a strong career in the Canadian Football League. They season playing for the Calgary Stampeders, he has passed for 3,261 yards and 27 touchdowns.

He’s 33 and has been playing in Canada since 2016.

Here’s a story from 2010 about his talent against Crespi.

Here’s a story from 2014 when he was putting up big numbers for Eastern Washington.

Recommendations

From Frontofficesports, a story on how private equity can be helpful for youth sports.

From San Gabriel Valley Tribune, a story looking at USC-bound Gavin Williams of Damien.

From The Times, a look at Orange junior quarterback Star Thomas III.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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A fatal house fire that killed a mother and her three children was caused by a lithium-ion battery, the fire service has said.

Elisha Brabin, 36, and her children, Leo, 16, Ellis, eight, and Prudence, seven, died after a blaze “spread rapidly” inside a house on Stone Square in Bootle, Merseyside, in the early hours of 22 September.

Following an investigation with Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) said the fire was caused by an electrical event linked to a lithium-ion battery, which are used in e-bikes and e-scooters.

Kev Johnson, of MFRS, said: “This tragedy highlights the very real risks posed by lithium-ion batteries, which we confirmed as the source of the fire.”

Six fire engines were at the scene at the height of the blaze at the semi-detached property, at 03:45 BST last Tuesday.

MFRS said four people “showing no signs of life” had been found in an upstairs bedroom.

A fifth casualty was taken to hospital suffering from burns.

“This is a devastating incident, and our thoughts are very much with the family and friends of the mother and children who lost their lives and those who were injured,” said Johnson, head of prevention at the fire service.

He commended the efforts of staff and NWAS colleagues “who made every effort to provide a different outcome”.

“Sadly this was not the case due to the speed and intensity of the fire”.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, external, X, external, and Instagram, external. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.

“Crunch, crunch.”

If the above sounds familiar, then you might already be a Wholigan — someone who routinely listens to the long-running celebrity podcast “Who? Weekly.” Part of the fun of listening to the thrice-weekly show (one being for Patreon members), aside from its hosts contextualizing a dizzying array of tabloid headlines, is learning its lexicon. For example, “Crunch, Crunch” spoofs a bit of sponsored content the pop singer Bebe Rexha did for Lay’s Potato Chips in 2019. Other popular phrases unique to the Who-verse: “Good form, Bella Thorne.” “Scar-Jo Yummy Pop.”

Launched in 2016 by pop culture journalists Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber, “Who? Weekly” eagerly mines the growing world of lower-tier celebrity, with the two hosts categorizing trending names under two main umbrellas: the fame-hungry “Whos” (influencers, reality stars, a pre-royal Meghan Markle) and the instantly recognizable, likely critically acclaimed “Thems” (Tom Cruise, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé). Rounding out the paradigm are the “Nahs,” or folks who aren’t well known enough to claim “Who” status.

“We came of age reading all the [gossip] bloggers, from Perez Hilton to Liz Smith,” Weber tells The Times of why she and Finger originally started “Who? Weekly,” which technically began as a newsletter before it morphed into a podcast.

Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger have co-written the newly released book, “I Want to Be Famous: When Everybody and Nobody Is a Celebrity.”

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

Finger also cites influence from “Oh No They Didn’t,” a 2000s-era LiveJournal page that aggregated celebrity headlines and invited users to comment (kind of like a proto-Subreddit). “You read the story just as you read the comments, which were integral to the story,” Finger says. “All of the inside jokes, the additional commentary. That’s what ‘Who? Weekly’ has become, especially in our Patreon Discord. [Listeners] are always chiming in and creating their own language and extensions of the ‘Who? Weekly’ universe.”

That universe is about to expand again: In conjunction with the pod turning 10 this year, Weber and Finger are releasing a new book, “I Want to Be Famous: When Everybody and Nobody Is a Celebrity,” which looks at fame and celebrity through a historical lens while also exploring how the line between Whos and Thems got that much blurrier in the social media age. “I feel like we were always barreling towards a book,” Weber says. “Both of us are trained journalists. We were always kind of like, ‘When are we going to put our money where our mouth is?’”

To demonstrate how the binary is evolving into a spectrum, Weber and Finger revisit juicy pop cultural anecdotes (remember when Courtney Love threw her compact at Madonna at the VMAs? Or when Ariana Grande dated Pete Davidson? Or when Katy Perry flew into space on the Blue Origin?) while blanketing every chapter with an elucidation of why, no matter what decade we’re in, society just can never get enough gossip.

Meanwhile, unlike the podcast, “I Want to Be Famous” gives the hosts ample room to go deeper into the cultural framework of modern celebrity than they normally have time for. Each week, Weber and Finger dedicate one episode to unpacking a prepared list of Who-y headlines, and a follow-up episode, titled “Who’s There?,” is dedicated to listener calls. Which is to say, Weber and Finger usually spend more time explaining and trading jokes about what each micro-celeb is known for rather than how celebrity itself has evolved.

Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger are celebrating the 10th year of their podcast “Who? Weekly.”

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

“The pod is on the surface funny, [but] if you are a real fan, you’re like, ‘Oh, there’s actually some interesting stuff beneath the funny,’” Finger says. “We wanted this book to be the opposite, where it’s actually outwardly interesting and smart, and then inwardly funny when it can be.”

The writers’ tone might lean more academic within “I Want To Be Famous,” but longtime fans of the pod will recognize dozens of niche names, stories and extremely online subjects that were at one point or another discussed on the show. The authors present their grand theory of Whos and Thems by opening with the story of how former Who Meghan Markle shot to Them-dom after marrying Prince Harry. Other chapters observe what happens when Thems date or marry Whos. There’s a history of how celebrities say sorry (where there were once press releases there are now Notes app apologies) and a conversation about how nepo babies fit into the framework. As the book moves across history and demonstrates how the internet has completely upended the binary, they also show what hasn’t changed about the way fans relate to their favorites. “What we want most in a celebrity is authenticity,” Weber theorizes.

For Weber and Finger, the chance to tie the disparate threads they discuss on “Who? Weekly” was a major incentive to work on their book. “I kept being like, ‘Is this the first time anyone’s ever written about this in a book?’” Weber says with a laugh. “Because some of it was so stupid — these references to fandoms and Club Chalamet and niche things that are newer … I’m like, ‘Oh my God, are we doing this thing where now people have to read about Club Chalamet in 100 years?’ Obviously that would be incredible.”

“There’s a temporality to our show that is not the case with this book, which is very exciting,” Finger adds. “Because our show kind of exists to go in one ear and out the other. And I say that because it goes in one of our ears and out the other too, as the creators.”

Woven into the conversations around Whos, Thems, Thems behaving like Whos (see: brand deals), and Whos aspiring to be Thems is the authors’ palpable anxiety about the decaying role of entertainment journalism in an age in which celebrities can simply promote themselves via social media — or host their own podcasts. The authors are also painfully aware that most audiences have less of an appetite for reading, period. A chapter titled “The 2010s Killed the Cover Star” looks back what is thought to be the greatest piece of celebrity journalism ever written (Gay Talese’s 1966 Esquire classic, “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold”) and contrasts it with today’s style of uncritical, PR-friendly celebrity Q&As that boast nothingburger headlines that don’t tell us much of anything.

Conversations about media and journalism itself run through the podcast too, and that’s by design. “Sometimes we go so niche that it’s like, ‘Are we just making a podcast for our friends that work in media?’ And sometimes the answer is yes,” Weber says. “We can only speak from our experience. … But the most shocking thing about ‘Who? Weekly’ is that [media discourse] is actually quite interesting for lots of people.”

Finger adds, “Our past in media and our abundance of friendships with people who are still in media is like a crucial part of our show. It’s an industry we respect so much, you know, and we’re obsessed with the way it evolves. If we didn’t have that background, I don’t think the show would exist the way it does at this current moment.”

Even with a massive archive of episodes and no plans to stop, Weber and Finger are thrilled to have cemented their legacy with a book that could (and really should) be taught in media and communications classes. “Bobby and I both obviously love celebrities,” Weber says. “But we love media more.”

Brodsky is an L.A. culture and music writer. Her biography of Stevie Nicks, “Lessons & Lace,” published by Penguin Random House, is out now.

HALLOWEEN is just around the corner, and Butlin’s has announced some very exciting things coming to the park this autumn.

All three resorts –  Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness – will be transformed in time for the spooky season.

Returning this year are the Spooktober breaks, which will turn the fairgrounds into ‘Scaregrounds’.

New this year is Skyline Gang Monster Mash Up, a Halloween-themed show where guests in the audience will vote for which member is scariest.

There will also be the Eerily Silent Disco and pumpkin carving as well.

Spooktober four-night breaks start from just £39 when staying on October 5 at Skegness.

GO ALL IN

The cheapest all-inclusive deals in the UK you’ve never heard of – from £28pp

DEAD CHEAP

Top UK holiday parks for Halloween fun at October half term from £2.75pp a night

Based on four people sharing a two-bedroom Comfort Room, this works out to £10pp, or just £2.50 each, per night.

All breaks come with access to the Splash Waterworld waterpark, as well as Skypark playgrounds and all live entertainment.

The holiday resort has also revealed what to expect from their October half term breaks too.

It will be the last time to see The Masked Singer Live, which ends later this year.

And they will also include firework displays as well.

October half term breaks start from £49 based on four people, or from £13pp.

Mike Godolphin, Entertainment Director at Butlin’s said: “With autumn well and truly upon us, our teams are busy transforming all three resorts for Spooktober.

“As the Home of Entertainment, next month is one of our favourite moments in the Butlin’s calendar, and we want families to feel the Halloween atmosphere from the moment they arrive on their holiday. 

“There’s a brilliant energy across the resorts during this time of the year and we can’t wait to welcome the tens of thousands of guests visiting us this October.” 

Earlier this month, Butlin’s announced eight new shows launching at the parks next year as well.

This includes Britain’s Got Talent and DreamWorks’ Madagascar musical.

Also new this year at self-serve bars across the parks, which are the first of their kind in Europe.

On Friday night at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, there was a gathering of coaching royalty on the Hart sideline. Mike Herrington (Hart), Jon Mack (St. Bonaventure) and Kevin Rooney (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame) were providing support to Hawks coach Jake Goossen.

Combined, the three head coaches have won 20 Southern Section championships, with Herrington at nine, Mack at seven and Rooney at four. Goossen played for Rooney at Notre Dame, became friends with Mack, who helped him at Hueneme, and is grateful for Herrington and his brother, Rick, former Hart head coaches.

“It’s great to have support of three great coaches,” Goossen said. “I don’t think any other coach has that kind of support.”

Herrington and Rooney are in the California High School Football Hall of Fame with each winning more than 300 games in their career.

When Goossen went upstairs at halftime to the locker room in a game against Saugus on Friday, Mack was running up the stairs with him telling him to use more power rushing plays.

Hart defeated Saugus 34-17. Asked what would have happened if his team had lost, Goossen joked, “They would have claimed they didn’t know me.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.