Colin Creason’s journey to become the starting quarterback at Los Alamitos High in his senior year has been anything but smooth.
He went to Mater Dei as a freshman. He went to Los Alamitos as a sophomore. He briefly went to Long Beach Poly for two days at the start of his junior year before returning to Los Alamitos, which forced him to sit out all last season.
In his first varsity start on Aug. 15, he guided the Griffins to a 20-12 win over Inglewood. The team has won eight consecutive games under Creason, who has become more comfortable and confident with each game. He has passed for 1,292 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 239 yards and eight touchdowns.
He grew up knowing and playing with most of his Los Alamitos teammates in youth ball. Somehow, someway, he got through all his starts and stops and concluded, “Of course, the grass isn’t always greener.”
His ability to run and pass and stay cool under pressure has been important for the offense, and he’s adopted the attitude of his teammates.
“We’re not scared of anybody,” he said. “This team is so close.”
Santee running back Darnell Miller of Santee has set a City Section record with 502 yards rushing against Jefferson. He had 33 carries and five TDs. The state record is still held by Ronnie Jenkins at 619 yards.
His father, Brandon, was an All-CIF basketball player at Oak Park in 1994. Colin played basketball, baseball and flag football since he was 8 with many of his teammates.
That’s the best way to describe identical twins Liam and Luke Meeker, football players at Mira Costa High.
Liam is the quarterback and Luke the receiver. They’ve been teaming up their whole life.
“Twin telepathy,” they joke.
Their father, George, who was a member of Edison’s surf team during his high school days, taught them to surf when they were 9. Luke claims to be the best, but it’s football where they are making their presence felt.
Both are 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds. Liam can throw and run. Luke can be physical and protective of his brother. They’re loyal and best friends.
“He’s a great quarterback,” Luke said.
“I know where he is on the field,” Liam said.
With Mira Costa returning eight starters on defense and key skill position players such as the Meekers and standout running back AJ McBean, the Mustangs have a chance to be competitive in a tough Bay League that also has Palos Verdes, Inglewood, Leuzinger, Culver City and Lawndale.
Coach Don Morrow, in his 33rd season, likes the togetherness of his players. There’s good leaders, like linebacker/long snapper Jackson Reach, who’s been a standout since his sophomore season.
On Wednesday afternoon, it was a pleasant 77 degrees, with drums, flutes and cymbals being heard around the Manhattan Beach campus as band members practiced. Cheerleaders also worked on their routines. Then football players took the field to continue preparation for an Aug. 29 opener against St. Francis.
Afterward, anyone could take a walk to the beach and surf. The Meekers have been spending summers in Australia, where their mother was born and raised on a farm. They’ve gotten stronger with all the chores they do each summer.
When it comes to surfing, they know the lingo and the fun.
Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman was arrested Friday night on suspicion of a felony weapons charge, according to L.A. County Sheriff Dept. records.
Perryman was arrested by deputies from the South Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station at 9:41 p.m. and booked at shortly after 10 p.m., according to department records. A court hearing in Inglewood has been scheduled for Tuesday.
“We are aware of a matter involving Denzel and are gathering information,” the team said in a statement Saturday.
One of the veterans of the Chargers’ defense, Perryman, 32, had 55 tackles and one sack last season. He returned to the Chargers in 2024 — the team that drafted him in 2015 — after stints with the Las Vegas Raiders and Houston Texans.
Perryman is in training camp looking to keep his starting role next to Daiyan Henley.
Twelve years after a breakup that didn’t stick — and one year shy of the 20th anniversary of its biggest album — My Chemical Romance is on the road this summer playing 2006’s “The Black Parade” from beginning to end.
The tour, which stopped Saturday night at Dodger Stadium for the first of two concerts, doesn’t finally manifest the long-anticipated reunion of one of emo’s most influential bands; My Chem reconvened in 2019 and has been performing, pandemic-related delays aside, fairly consistently since then (including five nights at Inglewood’s Kia Forum in 2022 and two headlining appearances at Las Vegas’ When We Were Young festival).
Yet only now is the group visiting sold-out baseball parks — and without even the loss leader of new music to help drum up interest in its show.
“Thank you for being here tonight,” Gerard Way, My Chem’s 48-year-old frontman, told the crowd of tens of thousands at Saturday’s gig. “This is our first stadium tour, which is a wild thing to say.” To mark the occasion, he pointed out, his younger brother Mikey was playing a bass guitar inscribed with the Dodgers’ logo.
So how did this darkly witty, highly theatrical punk band reach a new peak so deep into its comeback? Certainly it’s benefiting from an overall resurgence of rock after years dominated by pop and hip-hop; My Chem’s Dodger Stadium run coincides this weekend with the return of the once-annual Warped Tour in Long Beach after a six-year dormancy.
Then again, Linkin Park — to name another rock group huge in the early 2000s — recently moved a planned Dodger Stadium date to Inglewood’s much smaller Intuit Dome, presumably as a result of lower-than-expected ticket sales.
The endurance of My Chemical Romance, which formed in New Jersey before eventually relocating to Los Angeles, feels rooted more specifically in its obsession with comic books and in Gerard Way’s frank lyrics about depression and his flexible portrayal of gender and sexuality. (“GERARD WAY TRANSED MY GENDER,” read a homemade-looking T-shirt worn Saturday by one fan.) Looking back now, it’s clear the band’s blend of drama and emotion — of world-building and bloodletting — set a crucial template for a generation or two of subsequent acts, from bands like Twenty One Pilots to rappers like the late Juice Wrld to a gloomy pop singer like Sombr, whose viral hit “Back to Friends” luxuriates in a kind of glamorous misery.
Gerard Way, from left, Mikey Way and Ray Toro perform as My Chemical Romance.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
For much of its audience, My Chem’s proudly sentimental music contains the stuff of identity — one reason thousands showed up to Dodger Stadium wearing elaborate outfits inspired by the band’s detailed iconography.
In 2006, the quadruple-platinum “Black Parade” LP arrived as a concept album about a dying cancer patient; Way and his bandmates dressed in military garb that made them look like members of Satan’s marching band. Nearly two decades later, the wardrobe remained the same as the band muscled through the album’s 14 tracks, though the narrative had transformed into a semi-coherent Trump-era satire of political authoritarianism: My Chemical Romance, in this telling a band from the fictional nation of Draag, was performing for the delectation of the country’s vain and ruthless dictator, who sat stony-faced on a throne near the pitcher’s mound flanked by a pair of soldiers.
The theater of it all was fun — important (if a bit crude), you could even say, given how young much of the band’s audience is and how carefully so many modern pop stars avoid taking political stands that could threaten to alienate some number of their fans. After “Welcome to the Black Parade,” a bearded guy playing a government apparatchik handed out Dodger Dogs to the band and to the dictator; Way waited to find out whether the dictator approved of the hot dog before he decided he liked it too.
Fans react as My Chemical Romance performs.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
Yet what really mattered was how great the songs still are: the deranged rockabilly stomp of “Teenagers,” the Eastern European oom-pah of “Mama,” the eruption of “Welcome to the Black Parade” from fist-pumping glam-rock processional to breakneck thrash-punk tantrum.
Indeed, the better part of Saturday’s show came after the complete “Black Parade” performance when My Chem — the Way brothers along with guitarists Frank Iero and Ray Toro, drummer Jarrod Alexander and keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac — reappeared sans costumes on a smaller secondary stage to “play some jams,” as Gerard Way put it, from elsewhere in the band’s catalog. (Its most recent studio album came out in 2010, though it’s since issued a smattering of archived material.)
Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance performs.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
“I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” was blistering atomic pop, while “Summertime” thrummed with nervy energy; “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)” was as delightfully snotty as its title suggests. The band reached back for what Way called his favorite My Chem song — “Vampires Will Never Hurt You,” from the group’s 2002 debut — and performed, evidently for the first time, a chugging power ballad called “War Beneath the Rain,” which Way recalled cutting in a North Hollywood studio “before the band broke up” as My Chem tried to make a record that never came out.
The group closed, as it often does, with its old hit “Helena,” a bleak yet turbo-charged meditation on what the living owe the dead, and as he belted the chorus, Way dropped to his knees in an apparent mix of exhaustion, despair, gratitude — maybe a bit of befuddlement too. He was leaving no feeling unfelt.
When it comes to special teams, Mira Costa’s football team has a dream group ready to handle punting, kicking, long snapping and holding.
The senior trio of punter Jackson Shevin, kicker Nico Talbott and long snapper Jackson Reach is an impressive group.
Shevin, who’s also the holder on PATs and field goals, averaged 38 yards on punts last season. Talbott waited his time to handle kicking duties on junior varsity and being the backup. He has performed well at the Chris Sailer kicking camps. Reach is an elite long snapper and terrific linebacker.
Shevin also says he’s ready to pass or run if coach Don Morrow calls for any fake punts or fake field goals.
“It’s pretty cool,” Morrow said of his special teams trio. Morrow is entering his 33rd season at Mira Costa and No. 37 overall and thinks special teams is pretty important for a football program.
With two of the three named Jackson and being from Manhattan Beach, you can imagine the trust and fun they have playing on the same team.
Mira Costa is one of a talented group of teams in the Bay League joining Palos Verdes, Inglewood, Leuzinger and Culver City, all of whom could be title contenders depending on what division they are placed in.
Mira Costa returns top quarterback Liam Meeker and top running back AJ McBean. But they know if they need a punt or a field goal, the “Three Amigos” are ready.
The Department of Homeland Security said border patrol agents will provide security for Saturday’s FIFA Club World Cup opener between Inter Miami and Egyptian club Al Ahly at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
“Let the games begin,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “The first FIFA Club World Cup games start on June 14 in Miami, FL at the Hard Rock Stadium. CBP will be suited and booted ready to provide security for the first round of games.”
The post has since been deleted. But it included a reference to “the first round of games,” suggesting immigration agents were not limiting their presence to the opening match. The monthlong 32-team tournament includes six first-round games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, beginning with Sunday’s match between Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain and Spain’s Atlético Madrid.
CBP agents, who operate under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security, do not primarily provide security at stadiums the same way local police or private security firms do, but they are often involved in security operations in the lead-up to major events, monitoring airspace or assisting with rapid response to emergencies. ICE officers, who also operate under the DHS umbrella, are primarily tasked with identifying and arresting individuals who violate U.S. immigration law.
So the possibility that federal immigration officials will be on-site at a major international soccer match less than a year before the World Cup returns to the U.S. figures to inflame an already tense situation.
“FIFA is working in collaboration with the stadium authorities and relevant government government agencies — be it local, federal and state — to implement a detailed safety and security plan for the stadiums involved in the Club World Cup,” said a FIFA source familiar with the situation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Three other international matches will also be played in Southern California during the next five days in Inglewood and Carson, but officials at both those stadiums said federal agents will not be present.
The CONCACAF Gold Cup will also kick off Saturday with Mexico playing the Dominican Republic at SoFi Stadium, but officials there said they have not changed their normal security procedures. A Gold Cup doubleheader involving Panama, Guadeloupe, Jamaica and Guatemala will follow at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson on June 16 and a stadium spokesperson said they will also be using their regular protocols, in addition to providing a public protest area on the stadium grounds.
The civil unrest in Southern California was sparked by masked ICE officers executing immigration raids across the region. The ensuing protests led the Trump administration to send thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of U.S. Marines into city streets over the objections of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local elected officials.
No one at SoFi Stadium would speak on the record about security preparations for Saturday’s CONCACAF Gold Cup opener featuring Mexico, which is expected to draw a crowd of more than 50,000. But one official with knowledge of the situation said the stadium is following “normal procedures” and “ICE is not part of those protocols.”
SoFi Stadium’s security and crowd management duties have traditionally been handled by local law enforcement authorities and Contemporary Services Corp., a private security company whose yellow- and blue-clad workers have become ubiquitous at sports and entertainments across the country.
The Mexican team was originally slated to stay in a downtown hotel ahead of the match in Inglewood, but it moved to Long Beach because of security concerns.
Asked about the presence of ICE agents at Saturday’s Club World Cup match at Hard Rock Stadium, where last year’s Copa América final was delayed more than an hour by fans rushing the entrances, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he did not see a problem with it despite the fact it figures to depress attendance for a game that was already struggling to sell tickets.
“We are very attentive on any security question,” Infantino said. “Of course, the most important [thing] for us is to guarantee security for all the fans who come to the games. This is our priority. This is the priority of all the authorities who are here.
“And we want everyone who comes to the games to pass a good moment.”
Vanessa Agabo-Davalos has spent hours watching the dystopian drama “Squid Game” on Netflix. But nothing could prepare the 21-year-old college student for seeing one of the show’s actors walk the red carpet a few feet in front of her.
She found herself starstruck in the presence of Kang Ae-sim, who portrays Geum-ja (Player 149) on the South Korean thriller. All the more so when they snapped a photo together.
“You forget everything. You forget how to talk — it’s just like ‘Wow, I saw you on TV,’” said Agabo-Davalos, who traveled an hour from the Inland Empire and can’t wait to see the final season this month. “I feel like it’s a dream come true for the ones that really enjoyed these shows.”
She was among the more than 9,500 Netflix fans who gathered Saturday at the Kia Forum in Inglewood for Netflix‘s Tudum live event, an hours-long extravaganza meant to hype up audiences for upcoming series, movies and returning franchises.
People traveled from all over the world to celebrate their love for shows including “Squid Game,” Addams Family series “Wednesday” and sci-fi show “Stranger Things.”
During Netflix’s variety-show like program onstage at the famed venue, the company showed off how its computer animated version of Tony Tony Chopper, a toddler-sized reindeer-boy character in the live action pirate series “One Piece,” would appear in the upcoming season.
Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro unveiled a new teaser trailer for his November Netflix movie, “Frankenstein,” starring Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth, who both appeared onstage with the filmmaker. Fans also saw the first six minutes of the first episode of Season 2 of “Wednesday,” which will be released in August.
The event, named after the sound that plays before a Netflix program begins (“tuh-dum”), was part of Netflix’s ongoing effort to harness the enthusiasm its viewers have for its most popular programs and inspire them to keep streaming.
“It is about celebrating fans and giving something back to them,” Netflix’s Chief Marketing Officer Marian Lee told The Times after the event. “Of course it is also about promoting … we have a huge slate coming up.”
Netflix hosted the first Tudum event in 2020 in São Paulo, which came from the company’s Brazil team, which had an idea for an event that rewarded the streamer’s fans of young adult shows. That later led to Tudum evolving into different formats including festivals and livestreams, events that were more like a fan convention.
In 2023, Netflix held Tudum again in São Paulo, drawing more than 35,000 attendees and more than 78 million views through Netflix’s social channels.
But Saturday’s festivities in Inglewood took Netflix brand promotion to a new level.
It was the first time Tudum was livestreamed directly on Netflix, rather than on YouTube or social media outlets. The event played like a roughly two-hour live variety show, featuring “ask me anything” segments, as well as performances from music artists including Lady Gaga, who appears in the next season of “Wednesday.”
Xavier Woods, left, and Kofi Kingston attend Netflix Tudum 2025: The Live Event at the Kia Forum on Saturday in Inglewood.
(Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix)
There was plenty of cross promotion of Netflix content during the show, as WWE wrestlers talked about why people should tune into their weekly live show on the platform, while also speaking about their love for “One Piece,” based on manga.
Tudum host Sofia Carson touted her upcoming Netflix movie, “My Oxford Year,” which also stars Corey Mylchreest, known for portraying King George III in Georgian era romance series “Queen Charlotte” from the “Bridgerton” universe. Sesame Street‘s Cookie Monster also made an appearance with actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who star in the new Netflix movie “The RIP.”
“I don’t think another studio can pull this off in the way that we did,” Lee said. “Fandoms can be unique and distinct. They’re putting all those fans in a room together, WWE fans next to [mystery movie] ‘Knives Out’ fans next to Lady Gaga fans for ‘Wednesday.’ That’s an incredible achievement. That is something only Netflix can do.”
To some people, Tudum is a page borrowed from Walt Disney Co., which hosts the biennial D23 fan convention in Anaheim, pulling together disparate fandoms (Disney princesses, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars) to converge in the same place. It raises the question: Does Netflix, a streaming service that produces shows from just about every genre for just about every kind of audience, have fans in the same way that Disney does?
Over the years, Netflix has expanded its live events and in-person experiences to keep viewers engaged. Those have included “Bridgerton” balls, Netflix-themed eateries and retail stores selling merch based on “Stranger Things” and other shows.
Lee declined to say how much Netflix spent on the event. Some fans bought tickets, ranging from $25 to $75, while others said they scored free tickets. Netflix said tickets sold out in about a week.
Netflix doesn’t have iconic animated characters like Mickey Mouse or storied franchises like “Star Wars” or Marvel. But Netflix’s strategy is to have something for everyone, and because of that, people are reluctant to quit it, industry observers say, even as economic anxieties run rampant.
“That is the competitive advantage of Netflix,” said Larry Vincent, a marketing professor at USC Marshall School of Business. “It really has become the big tent of streaming. They’ve invested pretty significantly to develop a stockpile of content.”
The streamer said last year it had more than 301 million subscribers globally. On Saturday, the attendees reflected that expansive audience.
Netflix Tudum 2025: The Live Event at the Kia Forum on Saturday in Inglewood.
(Adam Rose/Netflix)
Fans dressed up as their favorite characters from Netflix shows. People wore black dresses similar to Wednesday’s attire, straw hats in support of “One Piece” and green tracksuits like the ones players wear in the deadly “Squid Game.”
When Cookie Monster appeared behind a DJ booth on the “N” shaped red carpet to sing “‘C’ is for Cookie,” adults in “Squid Game” tracksuits joined in the chorus.
“It’s all-encompassing and global and passionate,” Tudum host Carson, known for starring in Netflix movies including “Carry-On” and “Purple Hearts,” said in an interview after the event ended. “It is truly extraordinary to feel the love from every single part of the world — it crosses languages, it crosses cultures.”
Shaheidi Jimenez, 21, came to the Netflix event as a fan of “Wednesday” and “Squid Game.” She hadn’t watched “Stranger Things,” but seeing the screaming fans for the show’s actors on the red carpet made her more curious about the sci-fi series.
“When I see the cast, it makes me want to watch it now,” Jimenez said. “I’m familiar with them more. It makes me want to watch the show and probably get into it.”
The rock band Foo Fighters has let go of drummer Josh Freese, according to a note from the veteran percussionist.
“The Foo Fighters called me Monday night to let me know they’ve decided ‘to go in a different direction with their drummer,’” Freese wrote on Instagram. “No reason was given. … Regardless, I enjoyed the past two years with them, both on and off stage, and I support whatever they feel is best for the band. In my 40 years of drumming professionally, I’ve never been let go from a band, so while I’m not angry — just a bit shocked and disappointed. But as most of you know I’ve always worked freelance and bounced between bands so, I’m fine.”
“Stay tuned for my ‘Top 10 possible reasons Josh got booted from the Foo Fighters’ list,” he joked.
A representative for the band confirmed the departure but declined to comment.
Freese is a session veteran who first came to prominence in the SoCal punk band the Vandals, and later went on to play in Guns N’ Roses, A Perfect Circle and Devo before joining Foo Fighters in 2023. He won the high-profile job after the death of beloved Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.
The band previously celebrated Hawkins in a moving tribute concert in 2022, which included Hawkins’ then-16-year-old son Shane drumming in his dad’s place on “My Hero.” More recently, singer Dave Grohl appeared with his former Nirvana bandmate, bassist Krist Novoselic, to perform at the FireAid benefit concert in Inglewood this year.
The group has not announced a new drummer. Its next scheduled performance is in Singapore on Oct. 4.
