MANCHESTER UNITED are one of multiple Premier League clubs interested in Jobe Bellingham, younger brother of Real Madrid star Jude.
Bellingham, 20, followed in his brother’s footsteps when he left newly-promoted Sunderland to join German giants Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
3
Jobe Bellingham has emerged as a target for Manchester UnitedCredit: Getty
3
Bellingham is an England youth internationalCredit: Getty
But now, according to reports from German outlet Bild, the midfielder’s next move could bring him back to the UK.
The highly-rated prospect has struggled to find minutes under manager Niko Kovac after starting in the opening two games of the season.
He has played just 74 minutes in the four league games since those games, and could grow frustrated at the lack of opportunities at the club, having been the main man at Sunderland last season.
These frustrations didn’t take long to boil over, with Jobe’s father Mark Bellingham reportedly storming to the dressing room to confront club officials after the youngster was substituted at half-time in their season opener against St Pauli.
United would pose an interesting option for the Stourbridge native to rekindle his meteoric rise, with their midfield struggles being one of their biggest issues under Ruben Amorim this season.
There is a sense that despite having much left to prove on the biggest stages, Bellingham could make an instant impact at Old Trafford.
However, if game time is the deal-breaker in Dortmund, then tales such as that of the consistently snubbed teenager Kobbie Mainoo could be a warning sign to steer clear.
Bellingham joined the Germans in summer for a fee of £27million, and it is hard to picture the Red Devils getting him for anything less than that.
Jude Bellingham spends quality time with his mother away from the football pitch
Another club interested in the England youth international’s services is reportedly Crystal Palace, who were also interested in him while he was with the Black Cats.
Palace have been excellent this season, sitting four places above United in sixth, despite having European football to contend with.
Sitting in a chair on Thursday night as fans came into SoFi Stadium to watch high school football games between Loyola and Gardena Serra and Leuzinger against Palos Verdes, you can hear the different reactions of first-time visitors as they climbed escalators and stairs to reach their seats.
Many were in awe.
“This is nice.”
“Wow. This stadium is so different.”
“I can’t believe I paid $80 for a high school game.”
The games have been put together by Playbook Events. Teams have to give up revenue they would make from hosting their own games. Parking costs $10 while student and adult tickets range from $29 to $71. Usual student tickets are $10 at home sites.
It’s clear players enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime experience to play in a prestigious NFL stadium that will host the swimming competition at the 2028 Olympic Games. And first-time visitors who’ve never been able attend a concert or NFL game at SoFi because of cost are truly impressed with the seating and experience.
But there’s also some issues that could enhance the experience. One fan suggested better directions on where to park and how to pay for parking, since only credit cards are accepted, and lots of grandparents are not tech savvy on how to purchase tickets online or which entrance to take to find the parking lot. Schools need to provide more specific instructions. Organizers are also requiring fans to sign a waiver when entering, leading to long lines if you don’t arrive early.
The cost for fans can be prohibitive, which means schools need to take that into account when agreeing to play a game at SoFi. The organizers certainly know what they are doing. Games start on time and security is plentiful and helpful for first-time visitors.
Loyola athletic director Chris O’Donnell said, “For this kind of experience, for both teams, it’s really great. I’d do this again in a second.”
The next big game at SoFi Stadium happens Thursday at 5 p.m. when unbeaten Los Alamitos plays Huntington Beach Edison.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Remember when snack choices fueled the most contentious debates around Super Bowl halftime? Cheetos versus Doritos. Hot wings versus garlic knots. And who the hell brought carrot sticks?!
Now Turning Point USA, the far-right organization founded by slain MAGA activist Charlie Kirk, has presented its followers with more tough choices: Who should play at Super Bowl LX’s halftime show?
Never mind that the NFL already announced earlier this month that Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny had landed the spot. Turning Point USA announced Thursday that it would be staging its own counterprogramming in protest of the league’s choice. It’ll be called “The All American Halftime Show” — and it most certainly won’t be in Spanish.
Ever since the NFL announced that Bad Bunny (whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio) would play the Big Game on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, critics have been decrying the decision as an assault on Americanism.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said booking Bad Bunny was “a terrible decision.”
President Trump, who admitted he’d never heard of Bad Bunny before the late September Super Bowl announcement, said the NFL’s booking of the performer was “absolutely ridiculous.”
White House advisor Corey Lewandowski said it was “shameful they’ve decided to pick somebody who seems to hate America so much.”
Yet in comparison with other artists and celebrities who’ve widely criticized the president and his policies, Bad Bunny is not all that political or outspoken. He has, however, expressed concerns about the potential of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detaining fans at his concerts. The artist said last month that he would not book any U.S. dates for his tour over fears that fans would be swept up by ICE. “There was the issue of — like, f— ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” he told i-D magazine.
That was enough to deem Bad Bunny an enemy of the MAGA state and to characterize his Super Bowl show as part of a larger, hostile Latino invasion.
But let’s call it what it is: politicians and their pundits leveraging Hispanophobia for votes, influence and donations. The performer represents a population that’s been targeted by the current administration via unconstitutional sweeps of brown people in American cities, regardless of their immigration status. Bad Bunny is a U.S. citizen, like many of the folks with no criminal records who’ve been detained and even deported. Vilifying the artist and those who look and speak like him has generated votes for the right and deflected from concerns about the fragile economy and skyrocketing cost of living under Trump.
Turning Point advertises its planned counterprogramming as a show “Celebrating Faith, Family, & Freedom” and asking followers to weigh in on music genres they would like to hear at the alternative halftime show. The first option on the ballot? “Anything in English.”
The survey is situated right under a donate button, and another option to click “yes” to approve receiving “recurring automated promotional & fundraising texts from Turning Point.”
Despite the fact that the 79-year-old president had never heard of the wildly popular artist before, Bad Bunny is a three-time Grammy Award winner, a global superstar and has bested Taylor Swift’s Billboard chart numbers in the U.S.
So who does MAGA think it can get to upstage Bad Bunny at its unofficial Super Bowl side show? House Speaker Johnson suggested that “God Bless the USA” singer Lee Greenwood would attract a “broader audience.” But as Variety pointed out, the 1980s country icon boasts fewer than 500,000 Spotify listeners, compared with Bad Bunny’s 80 million.
Turning Point USA appears to be working on that problem. “Performers and event details coming soon,” said a statement on its site.
During his “Saturday Night Live” guest appearance last weekend, Bad Bunny derided the MAGA freakout around his forthcoming Super Bowl show, delivering his monologue in Spanish. He earnestly thanked his fans for acknowledging the contributions of Latinos in the U.S. Then in closing, he switched to English: “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn.”
No word yet if chips, salsa and guacamole will become the next target of performative, fundraising outrage on the right. Make Pretzels Great Again.
Then over in the NFL, the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles were dominated by NFC West rival New York Giants 34-17 on “Thursday Night Football.” And in the NHL, the Flyers lost their season opener 2-1 to the Florida Panthers.
For any other city’s fan base, that might be considered the worst day ever. But believe it or not, Philly fans had to endure a similarly disheartening day nearly 42 years ago, according to sports statistician Greg Harvey.
Cities in history to have their NHL team lose, NFL team lose & MLB team lose in the playoffs & be eliminated all on the same day:
Harvey pointed out on X that Oct. 16, 1983, was the only other time in history that one city’s MLB team team suffered a season-ending loss in the postseason while its NFL and NHL teams lost as well. And that unlucky city was Philadelphia.
That was the day that the Phillies, nicknamed the “Wheeze Kids” that season for all the veteran players on the roster, fell 5-0 to the Baltimore Orioles to lose the World Series four games to one.
Meanwhile, the Eagles were off to a 4-2 start to their season before losing that day to the Dallas Cowboys 37-7. It was the start of a seven-game losing streak for the Eagles, who wound up finishing the season 5-11.
The Flyers suffered their first loss of that season — 5-4 to the New York Rangers — after starting the year with five straight wins. Months later, they ended up finishing third in the Patrick Division before being swept out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Washington Capitals.
So maybe, just maybe, you might want to take it easy on the Philadelphia sports fans in your life — at least until the next time one or more them does something that makes the rest of us cringe.
And hopefully those fans extend the same courtesy to Kerkering. Maybe he’ll end up being the one person who can tell Santa Claus and the others that Philly fans aren’t all that bad after all.
A fan who spent hundreds of dollars for tickets to what he thought would be one of LeBron James’ final NBA games is looking to recoup the money in small claims court after it turned out “The Second Deicision” teased by the Lakers superstar had nothing to do with his retirement.
Norwalk resident Andrew Garcia filed a claim Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court that states that James owes him $865.66 because of “fraud, deception, misrepresentation, and any and all basis of legal recovery.”
Garcia told The Times that he spent that amount for two tickets to the Lakers’ game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 31, 2026, at Crypto.com Arena , thinking it would be the 40-year-old NBA icon’s final game against the team that drafted him in 2003.
He and other basketball fans were under that impression after James posted Monday on X that he would be announcing “the decision of all decisions” the next day. The post included a video clip teasing “The Second Decision,” a clear reference to 2010’s “The Decision,” in which James famously announced he was going to “take my talents to South Beach” to play for the Miami Heat.
Garcia said he purchased the tickets within 10 minutes of James’ social media post.
“I was like, ‘Holy s—, LeBron is going to retire! We’ve got to get tickets now,’” the 29-year-old Garcia said. “Like, literally, because if he formally makes this announcement, you know, there’s gonna be some significant price changes, right?”
Garcia is a huge fan of the Lakers and James, as well as an avid basketball fan in general, so he thought it would be cool to see the NBA’s all-time leading scorer play for the last time against the team with which he started his career and brought its first title in 2016 after his return from Miami.
“Moments like that, I understand the value,” Garcia said. “There still may be some moderate value [to the tickets], however it’s not the same without him retiring. I remember Kobe’s last year, it was kind of what this would have been, per se, where every ticket was worth a lot. Every game had value. …
“I missed out on that. I was a little bit younger at the time. I obviously wasn’t in a position to where I could just buy tickets unfortunately at that age. I believe I was like 18 or 19 at the time. And that’s one of my biggest regrets as a sports fan. I really wish I could have gotten the Kobe’s last year. So I see this as a potential to kind of make up for what I lost with Kobe.”
But “The Second Decision” ended up having nothing to do with retirement. It was merely a Hennessy ad.
So now Garcia wants his money back.
“There is no circumstance absent him saying he’s gonna retire that I would have bought tickets that far in advance,” Garcia said. “I mean, I buy tickets, but I don’t buy tickets five months’ advance. I’m the kind of person that buys tickets five hours in advance. It was solely, solely, solely based on that. So that’s why I was really thinking, ‘You know what, this might be grounds for a case.’ ”
The Times reached out to an attorney said to be working with James related to the claim but did not receive an immediate response.
In light of everything that has happened this week, though, Garcia said he’d still be willing to pay the same amount of money to see James play during his eventual retirement tour.
“Of course,” Garcia said. “I would probably spend more, because life is all about memories and experiences.”
Natalia Bryant has made her debut as a creative director with a short film that features a subject matter with which she’s very familiar.
The 70-second piece is called “Forever Iconic: Purple and Gold Always,” and it’s all about the worldwide impact of the Lakers — something Bryant has experienced throughout her life as the oldest daughter of one of the Lakers’ great icons, Kobe Bryant.
The film, posted online Wednesday by the Lakers, is a fast-paced tribute to the team and its fans. It features a number of celebrity cameos — Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani takes batting practice wearing a Lakers cap; current Lakers star Luka Doncic yells “Kobe!” as he shoots a towel into a hamper; fashion designer Jeff Hamilton creates a number of Lakers jackets; actor Brenda Song obsessively watches and cheers for the team on her computer; Lakers legend Magic Johnson declares, “It’s Showtime, baby!”
Mixed in are shots of regular fans paying tribute to the team in their own ways.
“This project was an amazing, collaborative environment with such creative people and we all came together to try and portray the Lakers’ impact, not only in L.A. but around the world,” Natalia Bryant said in a statement released by the Lakers. “Everyone has their own connection to the Lakers. I hope those who already love this team watch this project and remember what that pride feels like. And if you’re not a Lakers fan yet, I hope you watch this, and it makes you want to be.”
Natalia Bryant’s first short film as a creative director is “Forever Iconic: Purple and Gold Always.”
(Los Angeles Lakers)
Bryant, who graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in May, included some famous Lakers clips, such as LeBron James arguing, “It’s our ball, ain’t it?” and her father hitting a buzzer-beating shot against the Phoenix Suns during the 2006 playoffs.
“Such an honor to be apart of this project!” Bryant wrote on Instagram. “Thank you @lakers for having me join as creative director💛lakers family forever”
Lakers controlling owner and president Jeanie Buss also posted the video on Instagram.
“Cheers to the millions of fans around the world who make the Lakers the most popular team in the NBA!!” Buss wrote. “You are the best fans in the league. Congratulations and huge thanks to the amazing @nataliabryant who helped bring this film to life for her creative director debut.”
Lakers superfan Song also posted a number of photos related to the project on Instagram, including one of herself with Bryant.
If you want to watch every Dodgers game in 2026, you’ll likely need access to all of these outlets: SportsNet LA, Fox, ESPN, NBC, Peacock and Apple TV.
That is not, shall we say, fan-friendly.
Baseball’s holy grail is this: One place to watch your team, and every team, wherever you are. One price. No blackouts. No need to decide whether to pay up for a subscription to an outlet you may never watch after the game ends.
Rob Manfred, baseball’s commissioner, does not need to persuade fans about this. He does need to persuade the owners of all 30 teams about this.
Since Manfred would like to have this “All the Teams, All The Time” outlet up and running in 2029, he needs to start lining up votes among the owners. Manfred has talked about this goal for years, and I asked him if he can say this is really going to happen.
“I think that there is a lot of acceptance within the industry that, given what’s happened within the media environment, we need to be more national,” Manfred told me before the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies met Monday at Citizens Bank Park.
“The idea of centralizing, and getting more games available on national platforms, is really appealing to people. Now, we’ve got some cards to play, still. But I remain optimistic that it can happen.”
So does Stan Kasten, the president of the Dodgers.
“We are supportive of the notion of all fans anywhere being able to watch any game, and doing away with blackouts,” Kasten said. “That takes a lot of steps, and every team has a different situation.
“We have a long way to go, but the goal is an admirable one, one I think all fans will benefit from, and that is what is most important.”
This all sounds lovely so far. But the Dodgers are not about to unconditionally surrender what fans outside Los Angeles consider their greatest competitive advantage: money, and lots of it.
The Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers are on course to meet in the National League Championship Series. The Brewers make about $35 million in local television revenue this year, according to Sports Business Journal.
The Dodgers make about 10 times that much in rights fees this year from Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum — and that annual rights fee will top $500 million by the end of the Charter contract in 2038. And there’s more: the Dodgers also own SportsNet LA.
If the 30 teams pooled their broadcast rights, Manfred believes they could generate interest not only from traditional outlets but from streamers such as Apple, Peacock, Paramount and Netflix. League officials believe the exclusivity of one package would generate more collective revenue than the combination of 30 individual team deals.
In theory, then, the Brewers would get significantly more than $35 million per year if the teams split the pot evenly. The Dodgers would get less, and probably much less. So would Manfred just lean on the Dodgers to go along for the good of the game?
“I don’t think you can make a change like this based on people saying this is for the good of the game,” Manfred said. “I think you make a change like this by people realizing who the buyers are, what they want to buy, and by packaging up a set of changes that make it kind of closer to an economic wash.”
Meaning cash-neutral for teams like the Dodgers — and the New York teams, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs — still reeling in big bucks amid the collapse of regional sports networks outside large markets?
“Yeah, and there are a whole lot of ways to get there,” Manfred said.
He did not lay out his menu of options, but the first one is clear. Collective bargaining negotiations are scheduled to start next year, with the growing likelihood of a lockout after the 2026 season.
If owners can push through a salary cap — a cap that the players’ union insists will remain — then small-market owners could be guaranteed players would receive a guaranteed but limited percentage of league revenue. That cost certainty, coupled with the potential of increased revenue from a 30-team broadcast package, probably would win over small-market owners.
And that could be critical, because those owners currently make a fair amount of money from revenue sharing, under which teams are assessed a percentage of such money as ticket sales, concession sales and local media revenue. That money is pooled and shared equally for now, but Manfred could offer the Dodgers and other financial behemoths a chance to keep more of — or all of — that money for themselves.
The league also could offer to buy out SportsNet LA and other such channels, meaning more money for the Dodgers. And, although the Dodgers under current ownership do not appear interested in a salary cap, a cap would decrease player spending and thus increase team profits.
A wild card: With Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Hyeseong Kim on their roster, the Dodgers could ask for greater revenue from international broadcast rights, which are now shared equally among teams.
Those are a lot of balls for Manfred to juggle. Kasten adamantly declined to say what might work for the Dodgers.
“You’re delving into areas that are way too premature for me to discuss, other than for me to tell you we agree with the goal,” he said. “The goal is a good one, and we hope baseball can get there.”
Dolly Parton’s younger sister is calling on fans “to be prayer warriors and pray with me” as the beloved pop culture icon takes a break from the spotlight for her health.
Freida Parton penned her public plea for support on Facebook, writing on Tuesday that she had been “up all night praying for my sister, Dolly.” Freida is one of the “Jolene” singer’s 11 siblings.
“Many of you know she hasn’t been feeling her best lately,” she added, asking that the “world that loves her” lend its support. “She’s strong, she’s loved and with all the prayers being lifted for her, I know in my heart she’s going to be just fine.”
She concluded her post: “Godspeed, my sissy Dolly. We all love you!”
Freida publicly expressed concern for her sister a week after she called off numerous upcoming concerts in Las Vegas to address her health. The “9 to 5” star announced on social media she would delay six concerts at Caesars Palace scheduled for December.
“As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures,” Parton, 79, said in a statement posted to her Instagram and X accounts. “As I joked with them, it must be for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!”
Parton did not share additional information about her condition at the time. A representative for the entertainer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, Parton also missed the announcement of a new Dollywood attraction as she was recovering from a kidney stone. In a video about her absence, she explained the “little problem,” noting the kidney stone had led to an infection and that it was doctor’s orders to stay put. She reassured fans she was at the reveal event in spirit.
Parton has also put writing new music on the back burner following the death of her husband in March. Carl Dean, who was married to the “I Will Always Love You” hitmaker for almost 60 years, died at age 82. She opened up about grieving the loss in a July episode of Khloé Kardashian’s “Khloé in Wonder Land” podcast.
“Several things I’ve wanted to start, but I can’t do it. I will later, but I’m just coming up with such wonderful, beautiful ideas,” Parton said. “But I think I won’t finish it. I can’t do it right now, because I got so many other things and I can’t afford the luxury of getting that emotional right now.”
Taylor Swift is “shockingly” offended by the idea that “The Life of a Showgirl” could be — given her recent engagement to Travis Kelce — her final album.
“It is not the last album. That’s not why people get married,” the singer told BBC Radio 2 on Monday.
“They love to panic sometimes,” she said, talking about conspiracy theorists in the Swifty-verse, “but it’s like, I love the person I am with because he loves what I do and he loves how much I am fulfilled by making art and making music.”
Rumors started to make their rounds after the couple announced their engagement in August through a joint Instagram post. Fans speculated that after she said “I do,” she would have children and move on from music — or so BBC host Scott Mills had informed his guest.
Wait, mothers can’t have careers? Swift called that a “shockingly offensive thing to say.”
Weeks earlier, the Grammy-winning singer announced the impending arrival of her 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” on her now-fiancé’s podcast hosted along with brother Jason Kelce. Since the release last week, the rumors grew louder and louder, with some fans predicting this album would be it for the pop artist.
To which Swift pushed back:
“That’s the coolest thing about Travis, he is so passionate about what he does that me being passionate about what I do, it connects us,” Swift said.
Their passions in life aren’t so different, according to the singer.
“We both, as a living, as a job, as a passion, perform for 3½ hours in NFL stadiums,” the showgirl said. “We both do 3½-hour shows to entertain people.”
When she’s touring, she gets a dressing room, Swift said, but when he’s playing in the same space, they call it a locker room.
“It’s a very similar thing and we’re both competitive in fun ways, not in ways that eat away at us,” she added.
Over the weekend, while Kelce prepared for the Kansas City Chiefs’ “Monday Night Football” game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the future Mrs. Tight End released “Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” in theaters. The experience earned $33 million over the weekend, topping the box office, according to Box Office Mojo.
The music video for the album’s opening track, “The Fate of Ophelia,” premiered along with the release-party movie. Swift wrote and directed it.
“[The music video] is very, like, big and glitzy and it’s so fun and it’s supposed to be like the day in the life of a showgirl,” she said.
Multitasking has become a norm for the “Cruel Summer” singer, who juggled her last tour with the recording of the album.
Swift said she flew to Sweden on multiple occasions during the Eras Tour to record the album. Her loyal inner circle did not leak any information.
“My friends don’t rat, they do not rat and you can tell by the amount of stories about me that are out there that are absolutely not true,” she said.
OK, Swifties, you can breathe now. You can stop looking for clues into whether this is it for Tay-tay’s music career. Shake it off until her next release.
Only Taylor Swift could compel hundreds of Angelenos to spend their Saturday morning at a listening party film screening for an album they’ve already heard.
“The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” which hit theaters this weekend for a limited three-day run, features the debut of the Swift-directed “The Fate of Ophelia” music video, behind-the-scenes footage and notes from Swift about the inspiration for each of the songs on her new record, “The Life of a Showgirl.” The 89-minute companion film opened to an estimated $15.8 million on Friday and is projected to gross more than $30 million over the weekend.
The box office success comes as no surprise, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” brought in $96 million in 2023 in its first four days in theaters and became the highest-grossing concert film of all time. Hitting 21 countries in 21 months, the Eras Tour itself earned more than $2 billion in revenue, the first music tour to ever hit that milestone.
Even as “Showgirl” seems destined to become Swift’s most divisive album yet — with critics and fans alike split in their reactions — the Taylormania was palpable Saturday morning at AMC Century City, which that day screened “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” 21 times across three screens.
Madison Story, 34, made sure to catch the film at the luxury Dolby Cinema, calling “Showgirl” Swift’s “most cinematic album yet.”
“When I was listening to it, I just pictured Nora Ephron movies,” Story said. In true rom-com fashion, the longtime Swiftie wore a Lover cardigan. Others sported various Swift tour merch, sequined scarves and showgirl-inspired attire.
Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” is advertised outside of AMC Century City 15, which is screening “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
As theatergoers took their seats during the prelude to the show, Swift’s “Reputation” opener “Ready for It?” played over a slideshow of “Showgirl” promo photos. At 10 a.m. on the dot, the screen went dark, then switched to an Eras Tour-style countdown clock — set to 12 seconds, for Swift’s 12th studio album (which, naturally, also features 12 songs).
When Swift finally graced the screen to introduce the program, audience members were mesmerized. Hardly anyone made a peep.
“I’m Taylor, the official hypothetical showgirl in question,” Swift said, telling the crowd that in making the movie that’s not quite a movie, she was, as always, “trying to surprise you guys.”
“I hope you guys have a blast. I hope you sing along,” she said.
Despite Swift’s invitation, and the help of lyric displays for each “Showgirl” track, the crowd was surprisingly quiet throughout the screening aside from a few rounds of applause and occasional laughter at Swift’s trademark awkward-girl charisma. (“My bread is actually a music video star!” was a crowd-pleaser.)
“I feel like her quirkiness has been the same since she did [her] debut [album], and it’s neat to see that that has lasted through all the different iterations and eras,” said moviegoer Kelley Sheets, 30.
Sheets and her friends Sarah Borland, 29, and Ariana Diaz, 30, were taken aback by the quiet atmosphere in the auditorium, especially compared to “The Eras Tour” movie.” They suspected the album might be too fresh for people to feel comfortable singing and dancing along.
Attendees’ low energy may have also been a symptom of the morning showtime. Still, their delight was clear from their wide smiles and intermittent head bobbing, most pronounced during the ear-catching “Opalite” chorus.
As expected, some of Swift’s more questionable lyrics — many of which were exponentially funnier as clean versions — garnered some chuckles, and “Actually Romantic,” an alleged Charli XCX diss track, notably concluded without applause. But claps were generous for Swift’s closer, which saw the artist sincerely thanking her fans for being her muse.
“This album was completely inspired by the most incredible time of my life that was so exciting, because you made the Eras Tour what it was,” Swift said.
“The way that that tour felt, the way that it just kind of lit up my whole life, was such a through line of making this music,” she said. “So thank you for being that unknowing inspiration behind the scenes. I was internalizing all of that love and putting it into that record.”
During Swift’s album rollouts more than a decade ago, she hosted listening parties she dubbed “secret sessions.” At these intimate gatherings, the singer gave select fans a sneak peek at her new music, explaining the inspiration for each track and even playing some songs live.
Nick Eittreim, 28, was always jealous of the fans who got to attend those parties. With “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” he said, “It’s like I’m finally invited to that ‘secret session.’”
Rachel Birnam, 30, said while the “secret sessions” were “such a special thing, it’s nice that this is accessible to everybody.”
Taylor Swift fans Nick Eittreim and Melissa Roberts, both 28, arrive for “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” at AMC Century City 15 on Saturday.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Anthony Cendejas, a manager at AMC Century City, said the theater has been noticeably busier with the release of “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.”
“More people than usual are dressing up,” Cendejas said, adding that many theatergoers have followed up their AMC visits with a stop at “The Life of a Showgirl” TikTok fan activation, running until Oct. 9 in the Westfield Century City Atrium. The immersive experience allows visitors to take photos and videos on a series of sets replicating those in “The Fate of Ophelia” music video.
Jamie Phillips and her daughters Rowan, 11, and Finley, 12, visited the TikTok activation Saturday afternoon. The trio also brought the biggest Swiftie in their family, their Saint Bernard named Lincoln, along with them. In their family photos, Lincoln wore a feather boa to match Rowan and Finley’s.
Jamie Phillips, left, takes a photo of her daughters Finley, 12, center, and Rowan, 11, with their dog Lincoln at a TikTok fan activation for Taylor Swift’s new album.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
When the Phillips family heard “The Life of a Showgirl” for the first time, Jamie Phillips said, “All of us were pleasantly surprised.”
“Usually it takes me, particularly with her albums, a lot of listens to be like, ‘OK, it’s OK,’” she said. But this one they loved on the first go-around.
The trio hadn’t yet made it to “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” but they hoped to squeeze it in Sunday along with a “Gilmore Girls” anniversary event at the Grove.
In the meantime, they couldn’t wait to get back home, where their “Showgirl” merch was waiting for them.
The problem with betting on a sure thing over and over is that eventually your luck will probably run out.
“Saturday Night Live” has bet multiple times on Bad Bunny, an incredibly charismatic performer who was all over the show’s 50th anniversary specials earlier this year and who was an excellent host and musical guest in late 2023.
For the “SNL” 51st season premiere, Bad Bunny’s streak as a perfect go-to personality for the show has ended with an episode that was bafflingly weak, with dated sketches and writing that didn’t cater to the host’s strength as the show’s done in the past. Even appearances from Jon Hamm, “One Battle After Another” actor Benicio del Toro and Huntr/x, the trio of singers from the wildly popular “KPop Demon Hunters,” barely moved the needle on an episode that couldn’t find its footing until “Weekend Update” and then quickly lost momentum again afterward.
The host fared a little better in two late sketches, one about an amorous principal (Ashley Padilla) disciplining a student (Marcello Hernández), and an homage to “El Chavo del Ocho” that wasn’t very funny, but was at least a pretty accurate recreation of the Mexican sitcom.
We’ve seen Bad Bunny soar on “SNL” when the material is built around his charm and abilities. This time, the writers shoehorned him into multiple sloppy sketches (“Jeopardy,” in particular, felt half-baked) that could have been written for any guest host. He deserved better.
Musical guest Doja Cat performed “AAHH MEN!” and “Gorgeous.” She didn’t appear in any sketches.
In the season’s first cold open, “SNL” relied again on the premise of a sketch getting going — in this case Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) berating U.S. military generals — and then being interrupted by a President Trump (James Austin Johnson) monologue. Given all the new cast members, Jost was a surprise to carry the first part, in which he complained as Hegseth, “our military is gay as Hell!” Hegseth said the military must be a place where there are “no fug-ups, no fatties, no facial hair, no body hair. Just hot shredded hairless men who are definitely not gay!” When Trump appeared, he said, “‘SNL’ 51 — off to a rough start. Seventeen new cast members and they got the ‘Update’ guy doing the cold open.” His meta commentary included references to the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival (Jost claimed he wasn’t invited), and a bad joke about Saudi Arabia that drew groans: “We like the Saudis because they like to saw-deez journalists in half.” Mikey Day appeared briefly as FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and before Trump concluded, he made the “SNL” crew, whom he claimed as Trump voters, promise to “keep an eye on Marcello for me.”
In his monologue, Bad Bunny said the reason he wasn’t serving as musical guest like the last time he hosted was that he needed to rest. He showed footage from one of his concerts, including a shot of Hamm dancing along. Hamm was shown in the audience wearing the same tropical outfit. As for the Super Bowl controversy, the host deftly addressed it by showing a spliced together Fox News clip with hosts saying, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician and he should be the next president.” Then, in Spanish, he thanked Latino fans in particular who’ve supported him and said that no one can erase their contributions to the United States. “If you didn’t understand what I said, you have four months to learn,” he concluded.
Best sketch of the night: ChatGPTío might take unexpected pictures of you
ChatGPT might be too nice and sycophantic; what if it were more like a Latino uncle who’s honest to a fault with you? In this mock commercial for OpenAI hosted by Chloe Fineman, Hernández and Bad Bunny play AI characters within ChatGPT who give loud advice and sometimes call in the middle of the night to ask about Smash Mouth. How do you make vegan banana bread? “You don’t!” Was Jesus really God? “Yes.” It doesn’t quite work as a concept if you think too much about it, but Hernández makes a meal yet again out of playing a Latino elder with strong opinions.
Also good: Huntr/x keep it ‘Golden’ for a superfan
While it wasn’t the best showcase for Bad Bunny, who struggled with line deliveries, this sketch about a “Kpop Demon Hunters” fan had a surprise appearance by the singers from the animated movie’s soundtrack, who performed part of their hit “Golden” and had some strangely funny dialogue, such as the reveals that one of the brunch companions is on the Epstein list (for flying JetBlue through his island) and another was the writer of the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle Jeans commercial. It also featured Bowen Yang as “Demon Hunters” villain Jinu singing “Soda Pop,” another fun surprise.
‘Weekend Update’ winner: Expect someone to make They K. Rowling shirts after this
New cast member Kam Patterson made his debut in a segment begging “SNL” to let him use the N-word (“I’m a stand-up comedian from Florida, saying that word is what I do!”). But it was Yang in prosthetics as Dobby the House Elf from “Harry Potter” who won the night despite a hilarious wardrobe malfunction — his rag outfit kept coming off at the shoulder. Dobby begins by defending J.K. Rowling’s views on transgender people, but ends up questioning the author’s views and freeing himself in the process with his possession of a They K. Rowling T-shirt. It’s a good thing Yang didn’t leave “SNL” as was rumored because this episode badly needed him.
Taylor Swift has a lot to be happy about — including a ring she says she could watch “like it’s a TV.”
The “Bejeweled” pop star hit “The Graham Norton Show” Friday to promote her new album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” and the host swiftly congratulated her on the “new bit of finger jewelry.”
“He really crushed it when it came to surprising me,” Swift said of fiancé Travis Kelce’s marriage proposal. “He went all out. 10 out of 10.”
The “Norton Show” appearance marks the first time the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has addressed this new chapter of her love story with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end on TV. In August, the high-profile couple announced they were engaged with a joint Instagram post that looked straight out of an enchanted garden.
According to Swift, the viral photos were not staged. While the couple were recording an episode of Kelce’s podcast, “New Heights,” the three-time Super Bowl champion was having his backyard transformed for the romantic occasion. (Kelce’s father, Ed, let it slip shortly after the announcement that the proposal had happened at Travis’ home in Lee’s Summit, Mo.) Among the added greenery were a few strategically placed hedges where Swift’s tour photographer could capture the proposal unnoticed.
“It’s really fun that we actually have the exact moment” when he proposed, Swift said.
Television is not the only place where Swift has been unable to stop gushing about her fiancé.
Fans have been meticulously dissecting the lyrics on all of the tracks on Swift’s latest album and there are plenty of nods to Kelce. The most explicit, according to Swifties and Swiftologists, is “Wood,” which is being described as her horniest and most openly sexual song to date.
Times pop music critic Mikael Wood describes the song as “a kind of kiddie-disco number that … exults in the erotic thrill of a guy brandishing ‘new heights of manhood,’” pointing out the reference to Kelce’s podcast. Among the other lyrics that are causing a frenzy among fans include references to a “Redwood tree,” how “his love was thе key that opened [her] thighs” and “a hard rock [being] on the way.”
Clearly, Swift is just as giddy about her upcoming nuptials as Kelce.
Rory McIlroy hadn’t even left the practice range last Friday morning when a small section of fans at the Ryder Cup started a profane chant aimed at his image on a video screen at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.
The verbal abuse and other inappropriate behavior directed toward McIlroy and his European teammates worsened as the weekend went on. At one point Saturday a cup of beer sailed out of the crowd and hit the brim of a hat worn by McIlroy’s wife, Erica Stoll, who was walking next to her husband.
The poor treatment didn’t prevent Team Europe from claiming a 15-13 win over the U.S. Afterward, McIlroy told reporters, “What happened here this week is not acceptable” and “I think golf should be held to a higher standard than than what was was seen out there this week.”
Derek Sprague, chief executive of PGA of America, told the Athletic this week that he had apologized to McIlroy and Stoll in an email.
Comedian Heather McMahan, who served as a morning emcee on the first two days of the Ryder Cup, also apologized this week for participating in a profane chant toward McIlroy.
And on Thursday — several days after he had seemingly trivialized the boorish fan behavior at the Ryder Cup by likening it to that of attendees at youth soccer games — PGA of America president Don Rea Jr. finally apologized in an email to the organization’s 30,000-plus members.
PGA of America president Don Rea Jr. speaks during a news conference at the PGA Championship in May.
(Matt York / Associated Press)
“Let me begin with what we must own. While the competition was spirited — especially with the U.S. team’s rally on Sunday afternoon — some fan behavior clearly crossed the line,” Rea wrote in the email, which was viewed by the Associated Press. “It was disrespectful, inappropriate, and not representative of who we are as the PGA of America or as PGA of America golf professionals. We condemn that behavior unequivocally.”
It was a different tone from the one Rea took Sunday when the BBC asked him about the unruly behavior of fans.
“Well, you’ve got 50,000 people here that are really excited, and heck, you could go to a youth soccer game and get some people who say the wrong things,” Rea said. “We tell the fans, booing at somebody doesn’t make them play worse. Typically, it makes them play better. And when our American players have to control the crowds, that distracts them from playing. So our message today to everybody who’s out here is, cheer on the Americans like never before, because that’ll always get them to play better and get them out of crowd control and let them perform.”
Asked specifically about the verbal abuse directed toward McIlroy, Rea said: “You know, it happens when we’re over in Rome on the other side. And Rory understands. I thought he handled the press conference just amazingly. But yeah, things like that are going to happen. And I don’t know what was said, but all I know is golf is the engine of good.”
Sprague, who took over as PGA of America’s chief executive in January, told the Athletic on Wednesday that he had apologized to McIlroy’s manager that morning and asked him to pass along a message to the five-time major champion and his wife.
“I sent a long email to share with Rory and Erica and just told him that we will do better in the future,” Sprague said. “I’m the CEO now. I don’t condone this type of behavior. This is not good for the game of golf. It’s not good for the Ryder Cup. It’s not good for any of the professional athletes, and we will do better.”
Heather McMahan arrives at the 76th Emmy Awards on Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater.
(Jae C. Hong / Invision / Associated Press)
In video footage from the first tee Saturday morning, McMahan appeared to be taking part in a profane chant aimed at McIlroy. That night, the PGA of America released a statement saying McMahan had apologized to McIlroy and Team Europe and had stepped down from her first-tee hosting duties.
McMahan addressed the situation Wednesday on her “Absolutely Not” podcast, saying she did not start the chant, as some outlets have reported, and said it only once before realizing it wasn’t something she wanted to take part in.
“I will take full responsibility and sincerely apologize to Rory, Team Europe for saying that,” McMahan said. “It was so foolish of me. I did not start the chant. I would just like that narrative to get out there. I did not start it, but any way that I had participated in that, even just saying it once, was so foolish and silly of me.
“And as soon as it came out and they started chanting, I was just like, ‘Oh, the energy just shifted.’ It went from us trying to be fun and funny … to immediately just was negative and felt really kind of toxic. So as soon as I said that I was like, ‘I don’t want any part of this.’”
Martin Jarmond is not a particularly popular figure these days.
Some fans frustrated by UCLA’s winless football team are expected to wear “Fire Jarmond” shirts in blue and gold to Saturday’s game at the Rose Bowl against Penn State. One group has organized an airplane banner to fly over the stadium before the game, with a similar message directed at the beleaguered Bruins athletic director.
The list of grievances is a lengthy one, leading a group of nearly a dozen high-level donors to reach out to The Times about what they allege is a pattern of rampant dysfunction inside the athletic department that goes well beyond the surprise hiring and speedy dismissal of football coach DeShaun Foster on Sept. 14 after only 15 games.
Among other things, the donors also questioned Jarmond’s name, image and likeness strategy, high spending despite years of running up massive athletic department deficits and failure to fire coach Chip Kelly amid subpar results.
“What’s happening now feels like watching a trainwreck in slow motion,” said Scott Tretsky, a donor and season ticket-holder for more than two decades. “What we’re seeing isn’t just a rough patch. It’s institutional apathy. And if the administration doesn’t care, why should fans and recruits?
“This isn’t a casual fan speaking. I rarely miss a game. I’ve invested time, money, and emotion for decades, and right now, it feels like the people running the show don’t share that same investment. This program could thrive. It has the history, the fan base, the resources. But it needs leadership with courage and a real plan. Right now, we have neither.”
One misstep made a donor question whether operations inside Jarmond’s athletic department were even worse than they appeared on a surface level.
Ten days before a group of donors departed for a trip to watch UCLA’s football team play Utah in 2023, an email outlining the itinerary was sent with an unexpected attachment — a database revealing personal information and spending habits of the athletic department’s biggest supporters.
Included in the spreadsheet sent to several dozen donors was the home address, email address and phone numbers of Bruins football legend Troy Aikman. Separate columns included the lifetime giving and annual Wooden Athletic Fund contributions of more than 200 top donors such as sports executive Casey Wasserman, ice cream magnate Justin Woolverton and philanthropist Wallis Annenberg, with each donor assigned a priority number based on their level of generosity.
UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond stands alongside UCLA football coach DeShaun Foster during his introductory news conference.
(Damian Dovarganes/AP)
The donor, who did not want to his name published because of the sensitivity of the data in the spreadsheet, told The Times he spoke with others who were equally incredulous about receiving such revealing information in the email from an associate athletic director for fundraising who is no longer employed by UCLA.
There was no apology or further communication besides a follow-up email from the associate athletic director sent 26 minutes after the first one, simply recalling the message. A UCLA athletic department spokesperson declined to comment about the incident other than to say the employee involved in the unauthorized distribution of information and his direct supervisor no longer worked for the university.
“I would assume with something like this where they knew what happened, they should just do something like say, ‘I’m so sorry, this was an internal working file, we’re doing everything we can’ to rectify it. Just something,” the donor who received the information said. “If I wanted to pitch something to Troy Aikman, I have the information to do it with.”
Soon after Jarmond and another athletic department staffer were informed that The Times was writing about Jarmond’s stewardship of the athletic department, five donors called to speak on Jarmond’s behalf. They cited financial constraints that prevented the athletic director from firing Kelly, Foster’s hiring as his attempt to make the best of a bad situation and a belief that Jarmond could help raise the resources needed to hire a far more successful replacement.
Other donors have already decided they are giving up on big giving.
As a result of his unhappiness with the way the athletic department is being run, one donor who was close to joining the 1919 Society that recognizes those who have given at least $1 million said he had abandoned that endeavor.
Part of his dissatisfaction is rooted in a dinner conversation with Jarmond at a Tucson steakhouse before UCLA played Arizona in October 2021. Asked to share his favorite UCLA sports moment, the donor said it was the football team’s having won three Rose Bowls and a Fiesta Bowl while he was a student in the early to mid-1980s.
According to the donor and two others at the table, Jarmond called the donor’s expectations unrealistic and said that historically, UCLA had won an average of seven to eight games a year, suggesting those should be the expectations going forward.
Asked about the exchange, Jarmond said that “without getting into specifics of my conversations with any one individual, my intended message whenever this subject arises is that dynasties in college football are increasingly rare. In today’s environment, with the implementation of revenue-sharing, NIL and the transfer portal, it’s harder than ever to sustain success at the highest level. But that doesn’t mean it’s not the goal. Competing for championships is and always has been core to our mission.”
Several donors questioned the commitment to NIL within Jarmond’s athletic department.
After one donor made a second large NIL contribution, he said, he was chided by one high-ranking athletics official who told him that his money would have been better spent going to the Wooden Athletic Fund that supports the entire department. Donors have criticized Jarmond for not getting Kelly to do more work to support the football team’s NIL efforts, leading to the team lagging far behind its conference counterparts, and was also slow to publicly recognize and support Men of Westwood, the collective spearheading UCLA’s NIL endeavors.
Several donors said UCLA has misunderstood NIL from the start, using small initiatives such as Westwood Exchange as a substitute for helping the Bruins stay more competitive with other schools that understood that pay-for-play was an accepted practice. Once revenue sharing started this summer, allowing the school to pay athletes directly, UCLA further de-emphasized the importance of having a robust NIL program even though it’s widely believed that the new model will eventually resemble the old one.
Jarmond pointed to UCLA’s partnering with NIL agency Article 41 to enhance athletes’ personal brands and social media presence as evidence of the school’s commitment to being on the forefront of the NIL space.
“We’re gonna provide whoever the next [football] coach is with the resources and a financial investment that we haven’t done before, quite frankly,” Jarmond said.
UCLA teams have won six NCAA championships under Jarmond’s watch and posted more conference titles last season than any other Big Ten team. The move to the Big Ten is also expected to provide additional revenue to help stabilize the athletic department’s finances, which required a university bailout and drew a sharp rebuke from the executive board of the school’s academic senate after running $219.55 million in the red over the last six fiscal years.
Jim Bendat, a men’s basketball season ticket-holder and longtime fan, said the athletic director faced some unique challenges that constrained his success with the football program.
“I have some sympathy for Jarmond,” Bendat said. “Money had to be an issue when he arguably should have fired Kelly immediately after the ‘23 season. Then the timing of Kelly’s departure put Jarmond in a nearly impossible situation. Basketball, baseball, softball and Olympic sports are doing fine. Is it fair to give credit for those successes only to the coaches and players, but blame only Jarmond for football failures? I don’t think that’s fair at all.
“Because football is the cash cow, that’s the big focus. I say give this AD another chance to get this right. It will be the biggest hire he will ever make, and he has to get it right this time.”
Criticisms of Jarmond, however, are growing louder and have been brewing for years.
Past concerns have involved a lack of communication when UCLA abruptly pulled out of the 2021 Holiday Bowl over COVID-19 concerns only a few hours before the scheduled kickoff. North Carolina State coach Dave Doeren blasted the Bruins for a lack of transparency about their roster situation that prevented the Wolfpack from having a backup plan, saying, “We felt lied to, to be honest.”
Jarmond said he was prioritizing the health and safety of the players and the Bruins had every intention of playing had they been able to do so responsibly.
Only a month later, Jarmond faced backlash for being slow to wade into a controversy involving a racial slur used by a member of the women’s gymnastics team. Jarmond met with the team only after Margzetta Frazier and Norah Flatley tweeted to request his help, and Frazier later described a statement that Jarmond released about the situation as “discouraging” based on the athletic department’s response to the scandal being “performative.”
Foster’s quick flameout after a little more than one season has led to a new opening inside the athletic department while leading a growing contingent of donors and fans to demand one more. A petition to have Jarmond resign or be removed has collected more than 1,400 signatures and a mobile billboard truck circulated Westwood last week with messages such as “UCLA Football Deserves Better Fire AD Martin Jarmond” and “$7 Million Buyout for UCLA’s AD? Failure Never Paid So Well.”
According to the terms of the contract extension he signed in May 2024 — at a time when UCLA was transitioning from outgoing chancellor Gene Block to successor Julio Frenk — Jarmond, 45, would be owed roughly $7.1 million, or the full amount of his remaining contract that runs through June 30, 2029, if he was terminated without cause.
“No single person has done more to damage the legacy and potential of UCLA football than Martin Jarmond,” said Ryan Bernard, one of the organizers of the mobile billboard truck. “From his inability to fire Chip Kelly to his unjustifiable, lazy hire of a recently departed running backs coach as head coach, Jarmond’s performance has been abysmal.”
The Dodgers shouldn’t be here battling baseball’s junior varsity, and they know it, and they’re intent on pounding and pitching their way out of this embarrassing situation as quickly as possible.
October came a day early to Chavez Ravine Tuesday and the shouldn’t-be-here Dodgers welcomed it with their annoyance, tying a club postseason record with five homers and dismantling the Reds 10-5 in the opener of a three-game wild-card series that should be mercifully completed by midweek.
The Dodgers finished 10 games ahead of the Reds in the standings, and won five out of six during the regular season, and only got lumped with the pretenders when their bullpen fell apart and they blew a chance at having the week off.
If the Dodgers had taken care of business they would have finished with one of the two best records in the National League and would have drawn a first-round bye as they did the previous three seasons. But, no, they finished behind Milwaukee and Philadelphia and so, even though they claimed the National League West title for the 12th time in 13 years, they were forced into a three-games-at-home wild card round.
Hello, Reds.
Good-bye, Reds.
The Dodgers will sweep this series with a win in Game 2 Wednesday, and considering they’re sending ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound, a victory seems likely. In any event, there’s no way the Reds are winning two straight at rollicking Dodger Stadium, so book your attention to Philadelphia this weekend for the beginning of the five-game division series against the Phillies.
The only way the Reds made it this far was because the New York Mets lost in Miami on the final day of the season. And if Tuesday was any indication, there’s no way the Reds are getting out of here alive.
The Dodgers knocked them backward on the game’s fifth pitch with a scorching home run by Shohei Ohtani against Reds ace Hunter Greene, the second consecutive year Ohtani has started the Dodgers postseason with a longball.
The Dodgers knocked them flat two innings later with four runs on homers by last season’s playoff heroes Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman.
The game was over within its first hour, and the Dodgers were just getting started.
Hernández later added a second home run and, oh yeah, so did Ohtani, and neither qualified as the game’s hero.
That title belonged to starter Blake Snell, who fooled the Reds into quick swings, wild swings, silly swings, and just four hits with nine strikeouts in seven innings. Perhaps just as important, he lasted 91 pitches, allowing Dodger Manager Dave Roberts to stay out the dreaded bullpen as long as humanely possible.
Of course, Roberts had to eventually crack that left-field door, and disaster very nearly occurred when three Dodger relievers accounted for four walks that led to three eighth-inning runs. But Jack Dreyer managed to get two outs with the bases loaded and Blake Treinen finished the game by allowing just a bloop single in the ninth.
It turns out, even the weakest part of this Dodger team was enough to eventually quiet the visitors, who shouldn’t be here too much longer.
It’s almost as if the Reds were intimidated even before the game began, as the Dodgers buried them in their thickest pregame brine.
Ice Cube was on the video board screaming that it’s time for Dodger baseball. Mariachi Joe Kelly was on the mound delighting the roaring crowd with a ceremonial first pitch that appropriately bounced. Keith Williams Jr. was bringing the chills with his usual falsetto-laden national anthem.
Jason Alexander was on the video board begging the fans to cheer louder… wait a minute. Jason Alexander? Didn’t his Seinfeld character work for the New York Yankees? What was he doing in the heart of Dodgerland? No wonder the fans were ignoring him.
Alexander’s appearance was the only mistake on a night that gave hope that the Dodgers’ late-season steam — they finished 9-2 and led the league in scoring in the final weeks — could carry them far past this miserable little first-round dalliance.
“Momentum is real,” Roberts said, later adding, “I think that whether it’s the Rangers find their way into the postseason to then win the World Series or some team finishing hot and remaining hot or in a particular game, I do believe in a postseason game, momentum is real.”
As usual at Chavez Ravine, that momentum built as the game went along, rare empty seats in the stands but full-throated scream from the fans, yet another reason the Dodgers blew it by not getting home-field advantage in later rounds.
“I do love being at home because a lot of times that’s what perpetuates it, the home crowd, the energy,” said Roberts.
But, seriously, about that bullpen…
Before the game, Dodgers baseball boss Andrew Friedman bravely faced the question of his bullpen, a mess that he created with poor winter signings and unwise midseason inactivity.
Not surprisingly, he defended his guys.
“They’ve had stretches of good, they’ve had some stretches where it’s been really tough and challenging,” he acknowledged. “At the end of the day, as we’re working through it the last couple of weeks, it’s not a talent issue.”
In other words, they’re competent relievers just going through a bad, awful, horrible, season-altering stretch?
“Relievers, kind of like place kickers, are tightrope walkers,” Friedman said. “It’s what they do for a living. They do well, people forget about them. They don’t do well and they’re in the ire of everything. So it’s tough.”
Friedman said it’s a matter of confidence, which is understandable when a group gets hammered all season like these guys.
“And when the confidence is wavering, the execution is off,” Friedman said. “When the execution is off, you get behind and you come in zone and you’re just more likely to take on damage. So it’s kind of that imperfect storm in a lot of ways.”
Storm, is right. What kind of bullpen fools around with an eight-run lead, as the Dodgers reliever did Tuesday night when threatening to ruin everything?
The bullpen survived, but for how long? This series may soon be over, but Philadelphia awaits. This first step into October was an impressive one. It will also be the easiest one.
After making a cameoduring Shakira and Jennifer Lopez’s2020 halftime show in Miami, Bad Bunny will return to the Super Bowl stage next year — this time, as the headlining act.
The 2026 Super Bowl LX will take place Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. The Puerto Rican hitmaker’s performance is expected to be the first fully Spanish-language performance on the stage, and he’s the first Latino man to headline.
The announcement came after Bad Bunny, full name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, said he would not tour his latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” to the continental U.S. due to the ongoing threat of ICE arresting his concertgoers. “There was the issue of — like, f— ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” he told i-D magazine.
Instead, the Grammy-winning artist’s No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí (I Don’t Want to Leave Here) residency — which took place at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan — broughtan estimated $733 million to Puerto Rico as600,000-plus tourists came to the island for his concert.
As an unincorporated territory of the United States, Puerto Rico still has an ICE presence. In June 2025, Benito posted footageon his Instagram stories of an ICE raid in progress in Carolina, showcasing agents arresting alleged undocumented immigrants.
Yet since announcing his Super Bowl halftime show, the singer hasn’t voiced concerns about ICE. His post on X, which strays from his previous remarks on avoiding the States as a stance against ICE, reads: “I’ve been thinking about it these days, and after discussing it with my team, I think I’ll do just one date in the United States.”
As Santa Clara County is a sanctuary jurisdiction, Lina Baroudi, an immigration attorney in San Jose, believes local law enforcement is unlikely to cooperate with ICE. “Federal agents can operate independently. Sanctuary laws don’t prevent them from entering public spaces or executing federal warrants,” she says.
Between January and July in the Bay Area, ICE made 2,640 arrests— a 123% increase compared with 2024. “By June 2025, around 60% of ICE daily arrests in California were of people without criminal charges or convictions,” Baroudi says. The agency has historically had an increased presence in cities hosting the Super Bowl. ICE will likely be prohibited from operating inside the stadium, but ICE can operate in public spaces such as the parking lot, where fans may gather to hear the performance.
And yet, given the Trump administration’s hostility toward immigrants and Spanish speakers in the U.S., it feels especially poignant that the country’s biggest sporting event of the year will showcase a performance sung entirely in Spanish.
“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” Bad Bunny said in a statement. “It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown… this is for my people, my culture and our history. Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el HALFTIME SHOW DEL SUPER BOWL.”
The NFL has made a concerted effort over the years to globalize American football, with a special focus on building a fan base in Latin America; it recently enlisted Colombian pop starKarol G to perform at a halftime show in Brazil. Given that the Latine buying power in the U.S. is estimated at $3.6 trillion, tapping Bad Bunny as the headliner is a strategic move toward the league’s international expansion.
Year after year, since 2022, artists have broken the record for the highest viewership during a Super Bowl halftime show. During the 2025 Super Bowl, Kendrick Lamar drew the largest audience ever, with 133.5 million people tuning in for his performance, surpassing the actual game’s viewership.
While the Bad Bunny halftime show has the potential to break viewership records, bring in new audiences and educate viewers on the Puerto Rico he loves — it also poses a potential security risk for his Latine fans in attendance, who deserve solidarity and increased institutional support.
Dolly Parton announced Sunday that she would be delaying six concerts at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas that were slated for December due to “health challenges.”
In a message posted on social media, the country superstar shared that she’s been dealing with some health issues and her doctors have advised her to undergo some procedures to manage it, though she did not provide specifics. The concerts were set for Dec. 4 through 13.
“I want the fans and the public to hear directly from me that, unfortunately, I will need to postpone my upcoming Las Vegas concerts,” the 79-year-old singer and songwriter wrote in a cheeky statement posted to her Instagram and X accounts. “As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures. “As I joked with them, it must be for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon.”
Parton said she needs time to “get show ready” to be back on stage and put on a performance that fans “deserve to see.” She also tried to ease any concern that her situation is serious. “Don’t worry about me quittin’ the business because God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet,” she continued. “But, I believe He is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures in life.”
“I love you and thank you for understanding,” she signed the note. Earlier this year, Parton’s husband Carl Dean died at 82. The pair were married for nearly 60 years.
Tickets purchased for the original dates will be honored when rescheduled dates are announced. Refunds are also available.
Calabasas High senior Elie Samouhi, who considers himself a music producer, performer and writer of songs, got to do his own two-minute concert in front of fans on Friday night before the Los Alamitos-Calabasas football game.
He played the national anthem on his electric guitar. And it was good.
Like a coach trying to give his student confidence, Samouhi’s teacher kept telling him before he began, “You got this.”
You could see how much he enjoyed the spotlight during the rendition.
Samouhi said he’s been playing guitar since he was 5. He’s 18 and hopes to attend USC or NYU.
It was another positive experience during high school sports competition.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
The first time Angel “Angel Baby” Rodriguez heard Art Laboe on the radio, he was 13, in his father’s garage in the City of Industry. Laboe was introducing “Nite Owl” (1955) by Tony Allen and the Champs. “His voice caught me first,” Rodriguez told me, “that very distinctive tone, and then I heard the listeners calling in. The rawness of connecting with a listener, of spinning the record, it was something.”
Rodriguez became a DJ himself, in the mold of Laboe, at first playing records for Radio Aztlan, the late-slot Friday program at KUCR in Riverside. “I didn’t sleep on a Friday night for over 20 years, from my 20s into my 40s,” he told me. Now he hosts “The Art Laboe Love Zone,” keeping alive his hero’s legacy — three hours of live radio, emanating five nights a week from a studio in Palm Springs, that bring “the music to someone,” in Angel Baby’s words.
I am one of those someones. I was a teenager when I first started listening to Laboe in the 1970s. I spent nights with him on the radio for the rest of his life, until he died Oct. 7, 2022. By then I’d already discovered Rodriguez, who took over the Laboe tribute broadcast in 2023, with his own old school “radio voice” and an oldies playlist suitable for dance parties, house parties, long-haul travel and anyone burning the candle at both ends.
Now, with algorithms curating Spotify and Sirius, with fewer live DJ voices anywhere, terrestrial American radio is said to be dying. But not Art Laboe’s voice.
The most beloved man I’ve ever met, hands down, was Laboe. He stood just over 5 feet but commanded theaters filled with thousands of people, standing onstage in shimmering sapphire or gold lamé suits, while four generations of fans screamed his name.
Born to an Armenian family in Utah, Laboe was always fascinated with radios and broadcasting. At the age of 9, he took a bus, alone, to Los Angeles to see his older sister, and eventually moved to California, attending Stanford, serving in the Navy and becoming a DJ on KRLA, the oldies station. His 1950s live music revues, at the El Monte Legion Stadium, were the first integrated dance concerts in California. He DJ’d on live radio continuously for 79 years, and emceed legendary music revues almost that long.
If Laboe didn’t invent the song dedication, he perfected it. Starting in 1943 on KSAN in San Francisco, Laboe read out dedications to loved ones sent to him by letter from wives missing husbands in World War II, and then later from call-ins sending songs to a lover lying next to them in bed, or sitting alone in the dark, separated by migrant labor, military service, a prison sentence or work.
DJ Angel Rodriguez, who carries on a tribute to Art Laboe, and a longtime fan, Proxie Aguirre, 82.
(Oscar Aguila for The Times)
Laboe’s resonant voice echoed through the Riverside neighborhoods where I grew up, from passing cars and open windows, a staple of la cultura in particular — the Chicano culture of lowriders, Pendletons and khakis. Even now, my neighbor Lydia Orta, 75, talks about going to his concerts in El Monte when she was 9, with her grandmother, while her son Johnny, 45, plays archived Laboe broadcasts through speakers in their yard.
On Aug. 9, at the Farmhouse Collective in Riverside, more than 500 Laboe fans from all over the Southland gathered to celebrate the man, two days after what would have been his 100th birthday. Onstage, Rodriguez, hosted in his own signature style — no gold lamé, but a fedora, black sunglasses and a white guayabera shirt. His handle, Angel Baby, derives from the iconic song of the same name recorded in 1960 by Rosie and the Originals, when Rosie Hamlin was just 15 years old, still a student at Mission Bay High School in San Diego, writing poetry about her boyfriend. Rodriguez is the Prince of Oldies now — Laboe is still the King — keeping la cultura, with its intense devotion to music and community, alive.
At the concert, I met Mary Silva, 73, who drove in with her daughter. “I grew up in East L.A.,” she told me, “and there were 14 siblings before I came. … We listened to Art Laboe in Florence. I still listen every night, on 104.7.” Her favorite song? “‘Tell It Like It Is,’ ‘cause I always tell it like it is.” The classic is by Aaron Neville.
Just at the stage edge were Elizabeth Rivas, 72, from San Bernardino, and her grandchildren Rene Velaquez, 34, and Raymond Velasquez, 16. Rivas has listened to Laboe and now Rodriguez for decades, and her favorite song is “Tonight,” by Sly, Slick and Wicked. Granddaughter Rene said, “She taught us to listen.” Rene’s pick was another by Sly, Slick and Wicked: “Confessin’ a Feeling.”
Near them was Henry Sanchez, 54, from my old neighborhood in Riverside, who grew up listening to Laboe on 99.1. His favorite? Brenton Wood’s “Take a Chance.” And Sal Gomez, 49, also from Riverside, loves Wood’s “Baby You Got It,” which he remembered from KRLA.
Onstage, Rodriguez — introduced by Joanna Morones, Laboe’s longtime radio producer — took the microphone and said, “Gracias a Dios that I am honored to be sitting in Art’s chair five nights a week, taking phone calls and dedications from all the listeners. It gives me chills to sit there.”
When Sly, Slick and Wicked took the stage, resplendent in three-piece suits and fedoras, their dance moves crisp and perfect, the lead singer told the crowd, “Art Laboe used to say ‘Confessin’ a Feeling’ was his most requested song at night, and for 50 years you all have kept us singing.” The audience joined in: “Baby, my love is real.” Time passes, love changes, but the song remains the same.
And yet these big gatherings are not where I hear the devotion. It threads through the dark, tracing the melancholy of separation and the intimacy of the night, as the voices of Angel Baby and Art Laboe come through radio speakers.
The Monday after the celebration, I listened from 9 p.m. to midnight, as always. At least eight terrestrial radio stations carry “The Art Laboe Love Zone,” and thousands of fans stream it in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and overseas.
Rodriguez, who drives the 110-mile round trip from Riverside to Palm Springs each weeknight after working as the head street sign maker for Riverside County, had gone through snail mail and DMs on Instagram and Facebook, collecting the dedications he’d read. Morones had chosen the recordings of Laboe for the night. From out of the past, Laboe spoke to a woman who wanted him to blow a kiss through the radio to a man far away.
Rodriguez read a letter from Papa Lito, from Wilmington, now in Delano. And then a dedication from Proxie Aguirre, who’d made an appearance at the birthday celebration. Aguirre is 83 now, a Laboe fan since she was 15. She was pictured on the cover of a Laboe compilation album, eyes sparkling, forever young. She was driven from Venice to Riverside by her sister-in-law.
“This is from the all-new Proxie, for her husband of 35 years, Eddie,” Angel Baby’s dulcet voice intoned. “She says, ‘Eddie, I love you mucho.’”
Then: “Let’s drop the needle on the record, baby bubba.”
Susan Straight’s 10th novel, “Sacrament,” will be published in October. It features a lowrider funeral in San Bernardino and a nurse who sings like Mary Wells.
