Anton Lundell got a shorthanded goal in the third period and Sam Bennett also scored for the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Panthers, who rebounded from a 7-3 loss against the Ducks to get their first victory on their four-game West Coast road trip.
Marchand has scored a goal in three straight games since returning to the Panthers from a one-game absence to travel to Nova Scotia to support a close friend who lost his daughter to cancer last month. The veteran tied the game late in the first period after taking the puck from Anton Forsberg behind the Kings’ net, and he added his ninth goal of the season in the third.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves.
Anze Kopitar got the first goal of his 20th NHL season and Corey Perry also scored for the Kings, who have lost three of four.
Forsberg stopped 19 shots for the Kings, who have started 1-4-2 at their downtown arena after being the NHL’s best home team last season.
Bennett put the Panthers ahead just 2:06 in, controlling and converting the rebound of Jeff Petry’s long shot.
Kopitar scored on the power play midway through the first, and Perry put the Kings ahead on a breakaway set up by a spectacular long pass from Mikey Anderson.
Reinhardt put the Panthers back ahead in the second, getting to the slot and firing a backhand for his seventh goal.
Lundell scored on a short-handed breakaway in the third after a turnover by Adrian Kempe.
Several members of the back-to-back World Series champion Dodgers were the Kings’ guests at the game, getting multiple loud ovations.
Up next for Kings: at Pittsburgh on Sunday to open a six-game trip.
Republican infighting crescendoed in the aftermath of California voters overwhelmingly approving Democratic-friendly redistricting plan this week that may undercut the GOP’s control of Congress and derail President Trump’s polarizing agenda.
The state GOP chairwoman was urged to resign and former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who championed the creation of the state’s independent redistricting commission, was called “cowardly” by one top GOP leader for not being more involved in the campaign.
Leaders of the Republican-backed committees opposing the ballot measure, known as Proposition 50, were questioned about how they spent nearly $58 million in the special election after such a dismal outcome.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, the once prodigious Republican fundraiser, reportedly vowed earlier in the campaign that he could raise $100 million for the opposition but ended up delivering a small fraction of that amount.
Assemblyman Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), a conservative firebrand, called on state GOP chair Corrin Rankin to step down and faulted other Republican leaders and longtime party operatives for the ballot measure’s failure, calling them “derelict of duty and untrustworthy and incompetent.”
“Unless serious changes are made at the party, the midterms are going to be a complete disaster,” DeMaio said, also faulting the other groups opposing the effort. “We need accountability. There needs to be a reckoning because otherwise the lessons won’t be learned. The old guard needs to go. The old guard has failed us too many times. This is the latest failure.”
Rankin pushed back against the criticism, saying the state party was the most active GOP force in the final stretch of the election. Raising $11 million during the final three weeks of the campaign, the party spent it on mailers, digital ads and text messages, as well as organizing phone banks and precinct walking, she said.
Former Speaker of the House and California Republican Kevin McCarthy speaks to the press at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 19, 2023.
(Samuel Corum / AFP via Getty Images)
“We left it all on the field,” Rankin said Wednesday morning at a Sacramento press conference about a federal lawsuit California Republicans filed arguing that Proposition 50 is unconstitutional. “We were the last man standing … to reach out to Republicans and make sure they turned out.”
Responding to criticism that their effort was disorganized, including opposition campaign mailers being sent to voters who had already cast ballots, Rankin said the party would conduct a post-election review of its efforts. But she added that she was extremely proud of the work her team did in the “rushed special election.”
Barring successful legal challenges, the new California congressional districts enacted under Proposition 50 will go into effect before the 2026 election. The new district maps favor Democratic candidates and were crafted to unseat five Republican incumbents, which could erase Republicans’ narrow edge in the the U.S. House of Representatives.
If Democrats win control of the body, Trump policy agenda will likely be stymied and the president and members of his administration cold face multiple congressional investigations.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California Democrats proposed Proposition 50 in response to Trump urging elected officials in Texas and other GOP-led states to redraw their congressional districts to increase the number of Republicans elected to the House next year.
The new California congressional boundaries voters approved Tuesday could give Democrats the opportunity to pick up five seats in the state’s 52-member congressional delegation.
Proposition 50 will change how California determines the boundaries of congressional districts. The measure asked voters to approve new congressional district lines designed to favor Democrats for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections, overriding the map drawn by the state’s independent redistricting commission.
Some Republicans lamented that Schwarzenegger was not more involved in the election. The movie star championed the creation of the independent commission in 2010, his final year in office. He campaigned for the creation of similar bodies to fight partisan drawing of district lines across the nation after leaving office.
Shawn Steel, one of California’s three representatives on the Republican National Committee, called Schwarzenegger “a cowardly politician.”
“Arnold decided to sit it out,” Steel said. “Arnold just kind of raised the flag and immediately went under the desk.”
Steel said that the former governor failed to follow through on the messages he repeatedly delivered about the importance of independent redistricting.
“He could have had his name on the ballot as a ballot opponent,” Steel said. “He turned it down. So I’d say, with Arnold, just disappointing, but not surprised. That’s his political legacy.”
Schwarzenegger’s team pushed back at this criticism as misinformed.
“We were clear from the beginning that he was not going to be a part of the campaign and was going to speak his mind,” said Daniel Ketchell, a spokesman for the former governor. “His message was very clear and non-partisan. When one campaign couldn’t even criticize gerrymandering in Texas, it was probably hard for voters to believe they actually cared about fairness.”
Schwarzenegger spoke out against Proposition 50 a handful of times during the election, including at an appearance at USC that was turned into a television ad by one of the anti-Proposition 50 committees that appeared to go dark before election day.
On election day, he emailed followers about gut health, electrolytes, protein bars, fitness and conversations to increase happiness. There was no apparent mention of the Tuesday election.
The Democratic-led California Legislature in August voted to place Proposition 50 on the November ballot, costing nearly $300 million, and setting off a sprint to Tuesday’s special election.
The opponents were vastly outspent by the ballot measure’s supporters, who contributed nearly $136 million to various efforts. That financial advantage, combined with Democrats’ overwhelming edge in voter registration in California, were main contributors to the ballot measure’s success. When introduced in August, Proposition 50 had tepid support and its prospects appeared uncertain.
Nearly 64% of the nearly 8.3 million voters who cast ballots supported Proposition 50, while 36% opposed it as of Wednesday night, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.
In addition to the state Republican Party, two main campaign committees opposed Proposition 50, including the one backed by McCarthy. A separate group was funded by more than $32 million from major GOP donor Charles Munger Jr., the son of a billionaire who was Warren Buffet’s right-hand man, and who bankrolled the creation of the independent congressional redistricting commission in 2010.
Representatives of the two committees, who defended their work Tuesday night after the election was called moments after the polls closed, saying they could not overcome the vast financial disadvantage and that the proposition’s supporters must be held to their promises to voters such as pushing for national redistricting reform, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on Wednesday.
Newsom’s committee supporting Proposition 50 had prominent Democrats stumping for the effort, including former President Obama starring in ads supporting the measure.
That’s in stark contrast to the opposition efforts. Trump was largely absent, possibly because he is deeply unpopular among Californians and the president does not like to be associated with losing causes.
Warner Bros. Discovery reported a $148 million loss in the third quarter, hitting a sour note as the company began fielding interest from would-be buyers as Hollywood braces for a transforming deal.
Earnings for the entertainment company that includes HBO, CNN and the Warner Bros. film and TV studios fell short of analyst expectations. A year ago, the company reported profit of $135 million for the third quarter.
Revenue of $9.05 billion declined 6% from the year-ago period. The company swung to a loss of 6 cents a share, compared to last year’s earnings of 5 cents a share.
Still, Chief Executive David Zaslav spent much of Thursday’s call with analysts touting his company’s underlying strengths — while avoided giving details about the company’s sale.
“It’s fair to say that we have an active process underway,” Zaslav said.
Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday reiterated it is forging ahead with previously announced plans to split into two separate entities by next spring. However, the Warner board acknowledged last month that it was also entertaining offers for the entire company — or its parts — after David Ellison’s Paramount expressed its interest with formal bids.
Paramount has made three offers, including a $58 billion in cash and stock for all of Warner Bros. Discovery. That bid would pay Warner stockholders $23.50 a share.
The Ellison family appears determined to win one of Hollywood’s most storied entertainment companies to pair with Paramount, which the Ellisons and RedBird Capital Partners acquired in August.
But Warner Bros. Discovery’s board, including Zaslav, voted unanimously to reject Paramount’s offers and instead opened the auction to other bidders, which is expected to lead to the firm changing hands for the third time in a decade.
Board members are betting the company, which has shown flickers of a turnaround, is worth more than the offers on the table. Despite its rocky third-quarter results, Warner’s stock held its ground in early morning trading at around $22.60 a share.
“Overall we are very bullish,” Zaslav said of the company’s business prospects.
“When you look at our films like ‘Superman,’ ‘Weapons’ and ‘One Battle After Another,’ the global reach of HBO Max and the diversity of our network’s offerings, we’ve managed to bring the best, most treasured traditions of Warner Bros. forward into a new era of entertainment and [a] new media landscape,” he said.
But the company’s results underscored its business challenges.
The studio witnessed a major decline in advertising revenue in the third quarter, reporting $1.41 billion, down 16% from the previous year, which executives attributed to declines in the audience for its domestic linear channels, including CNN, TNT and TLC.
Distribution revenue also took a hit, as the company reported sales of $4.7 billion, a decrease of 4% compared to last year.
Studio revenue increased 24% to $3.3 billion, powered by the success of DC Studios’ “Superman,” horror flick “Weapons” and the latest installment of “The Conjuring.” But even those box office wins couldn’t totally offset shortfalls in other areas of its content business.
Last year, the company was able to sub-license its rights to broadcast the Olympics in Europe, which pushed content revenue to $2.72 billion. But this year, revenue was down 3% to $2.65 billion.
Burbank-based Warner Bros. has had a string of success in theaters, with nine films opening at the top spot globally at the box office. The studio recently surpassed $4 billion in worldwide box office revenue, making it the first studio to do so this year. Warner Bros. last achieved that milestone in 2019.
Zaslav would like to continue with Warner’s break-up plans, which were announced last June.
The move would allow him to stay on to manage a smaller Hollywood-focused entity made up of the Warner Bros. studios, HBO, streaming service HBO Max and the company’s vast library, which includes Harry Potter movies and award-winning television shows such as “The Pitt.”
The company’s large portfolio of cable channels, including HGTV, Food Network and Cartoon Network, would become Discovery Global and operate independently.
Beyond Paramount, Philadelphia-based Comcast, Netflix and Amazon have expressed interest in considering buying parts of the company.
The company said its third quarter loss of $148 million was the result of a $1.3 billion expense, including restructuring costs.
Katie Price modelled leggings in her latest set of social media snapsCredit: Katie Price/Facebook/BackgridThe former glamour model was subject to a slew of negativity when she posted onlineCredit: Katie Price/Facebook/BackgridFans have been concerned about the mum of five’s slimmed-down shape for monthsCredit: Splash
Katie, who has claimed medics are baffled by her slimmed-down frame, was seen posing in all-black attire for a recent photoshoot.
The reality TV star pulled on a snug black zipped tracksuit from brand JYY London, giving her Facebook followers a glimpse from both the front and the rear.
Katie flashed a huge smile as she struck her poses against a brick wall in a garden, and gushed in the image caption: “So comfy it’s unreal.”
KATIE Price’s love for surgery is no secret – here’s the details
1998 – Katie underwent her first breast augmentation taking her from a natural B cup to a C cup. She also had her first liposuction
1999 – Katie had two more boob jobs in the same year, one taking her from a C cup to a D cup, and then up to an F cup
2006 – Katie went under the knife to take her breasts up to a G cup
2007 – Katie had a rhinoplasty and veneers on her teeth
2008 – Katie stunned fans by reducing her breasts from an F cup to a C cup
2011 – Going back to an F cup, Katie also underwent body-contouring treatment and cheek and lip fillers
2014/5 – Following a nasty infection, Katie had her breast implants removed
2016 – Opting for bigger breasts yet again, Katie had another set of implants, along with implants, Botox and lip fillers
2017 – After a disastrous ‘threading’ facelift, Katie also had her veneers replaced. She also had her eighth boob job taking her to a GG cup
2018 – Katie went under the knife yet again for a facelift
2019 – After jetting to Turkey, Katie had a face, eye and eyelid lift, Brazilian bum lift and a tummy tuck
2020 – Katie has her 12th boob job in Belgium to correct botched surgery and a new set of veneers
2021 – In a complete body overhaul, she opts for eye and lip lifts, liposuction under her chin, fat injected into her bum and full body liposuction
2022 – Katie undergoes another brow and eye lift-and undergoes ‘biggest ever’ boob job in Belgium, her 16th in total
2023 – Opting for a second rhinoplasty, Katie also gets a lip lift at the same time as well as new lip filler throughout the year
2024 – Katie has her 17th boob job in Brussels after revealing she wanted to downsize. She performed at Dublin Pride just days later and surgeons warned the lack of recovery posed a risk of infection
HEALTH CONCERNS
Just last month, Katie uploaded a selfie to social media with a concerning caption.
She wrote: “First day off and straight to the doctors to find out what’s happened to my weight.”
She also shared another snap of herself in a pink hoodie and said: “Doctors for bloods to see why I’m losing weight.”
The Celebrity Big Brother winner told her fans on Snapchat at the time: “I’ve been up early at the doctors so she could do some bloods and because my veins are so s*** they had three attempts.
“They could only fill two tubes up, so I’ve got to go back in two weeks.
“And I’ve got to have my stitches out then because they looked at my little stab wound that I did.”
Her frail frame has been a cause of concern for her fans over the last few months, with many of her loyal followers taking to the comments section of her pictures to share their worries.
FAMILY CLAP BACK
Her fans aren’t the only ones who have shared their concerns as the former glamour model’s family have also said their piece.
In August, while filming the first episode of her new podcast, The Katie Price show, she was joined by her sister Sophie.
On the episode, Katie, who recently showed off her newest surgery, asked her dad: “What are you looking at?” to which he replied: “Look how thin them legs are, terrible they are, my hand can go round them.”
She replied: “They’re obsessed with my weight,” as Sophie chimed in: “You are thin.”
Katie was heard insisting: “I am happy,” as her dad retorted: “No it’s not right, it’s probably that vaping crap.”
Katie has claimed medics are baffled about her recent weight lossCredit: GettyShe was recently whisked to hospital and underwent blood testsCredit: GettyThe TV star has spoken openly about her new shape – and insisted it isn’t down to vapingCredit: Getty
Just when it seemed the Washington Commanders’ night couldn’t get much worse, it actually got much, much worse.
With his team trailing the Seattle Seahawks by 31 points midway through the fourth quarter Sunday night, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels suffered a gruesome injury to his non-throwing arm that will likely keep him off the field for several weeks.
After Washington’s 38-14 loss, coach Dan Quinn had little information on his second-year quarterback, saying only that Daniels had a “left arm injury” and that he hoped to provide an update in the morning.
Multiple media outlets are reporting that Daniels dislocated his elbow and will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury.
A former star at Cajon High, Daniels won the Heisman Trophy at Louisiana State in 2023 and was selected at No. 2 overall by the Commanders in the 2024 NFL draft. He immediately took the league by storm, earning Pro Bowl and offensive rookie of the year honors while leading Washington to an unlikely appearance in the NFC championship game.
Season 2 has been a disappointment. Going into this weekend, Daniels had already missed three games with knee and hamstring injuries and the Commanders had struggled to a 3-5 record.
Then came Sunday night. Down by four scores in the fourth quarter, Washington drove to the Seattle 2-yard-line and was looking to make a slight dent in the deficit when disaster struck. On second-and-goal with 7:39 remaining in the game, Daniels faked a handoff and scrambled to his right before being spun down by Seattle’s Drake Thomas for a 2-yard loss.
As he was being taken to the ground, Daniels put out his left arm to brace himself. His elbow bent the wrong way. Commanders guard Sam Cosmi called the scene “gut-wrenching.”
“I didn’t see what happened exactly. I just heard a pause and I kind of put my head down and prayed for him,” Cosmi said. “You just don’t want to see that happen.”
A similar scene took place nearly 13 years ago for Washington, when another rising young star at quarterback, Robert Griffin III, re-injured his knee during a home game against the Seahawks. His career was never the same afterward.
Griffin was one of several people who took to social media Sunday night to comment on the matter. He seemed to speak for the majority of them when he wrote on X, “WHY WAS JAYDEN DANIELS EVEN STILL IN THE GAME?!?!?!”
“The Seattle Seahawks had the game won,” a visbly distraught Griffin said in a video also posted to X. “I understand you want to play to the end, but with the injuries that he’s already had this year, and the injuries he had last year, why is he in the game? Doesn’t make sense.”
Griffin, who currently works as a college football analyst on Fox Sports, added: “You can’t say a knee and a hamstring leads to an elbow injury like that. It was a freak accident, freak play. But I can’t help but feel for Jayden Daniels. Man, I can’t help but feel for Washington Commanders fans. Just a demoralizing blow, man.”
Asked by reporters after the game whether any consideration was given to removing Daniels before that series, Quinn seemed to indicate that the plays being called didn’t seem to present a high injury risk.
“Obviously in hindsight, you don’t want to think that way, where injury could take place,” Quinn said. “Obviously, we’re more concerned in that spot to run and hand off and not have reads to go, but just the end result, obviously I’m bummed.”
Later in the news conference, in response to a similar question, Quinn gave a similar answer.
“Yeah, obviously, I’m just gutted by this, bummed,” Quinn said. “The one that he was on injured is usually a runner or throwing the flats, not a scramble. So it wasn’t a designed read or play into that spot. If we run it 50 times, it’s either hand off or throw, say, 50 times. So it’s a bummer, man, in a big way.”
Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota has led the Commanders to a 1-2 record starting in place of Daniels this season.
Gemma transformed into Glinda from Wicked for HalloweenCredit: InstagramShe looked stunning in a bright purple, bedazzled ball gownCredit: InstagramGemma showed off the gorgeous new look on her social mediaCredit: Instagram
“We’re doing a look today for Halloween,” Gemma explained, revealing her sparkling, bedazzled, bright purple ball gown.
Wearing a matching tiara and clutching a magic wand, she sang, “Popular, I’m going to be popular. I love, love, love Wicked.
“Like beyond. I’m obsessed.
“I know the premiere is coming to London, but for Halloween, I thought I’d do Glinda.
She started the NHS-approved Mounjaro weight loss jabs in November 2024.
Gemma previously told The Sun: “For me, taking the jab is more about helping me not to fixate on food, so I actually only eat once a day now and don’t snack.
“I used to fascinate about food all day, but now it’s not a major player in my life anymore, I’ve forgotten all about it.
“If I get a bit hungry, I’ll have something to eat, but it’s just about making smarter choices.
“The jabs aren’t for everyone but it’s a life changing drug for some people if it’s taken correctly and not abused. It has helped me a lot.”
Gemma has been open and honest about her weight lossCredit: InstagramShe started using NHS approved fat jabs last NovemberCredit: GettyShe has now dropped from a size 26 to a size 20Credit: GettyGemma told The Sun that fat jabs have changed her lifeCredit: Getty
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“Bread of Angels,” Patti Smith’s mesmerizing new memoir, only deepens the mystery of who this iconic artist is and where her singular vision originated. I’ve long been struck by her magnetism on stage, her fearless approach to her craft, and the stark beauty of her words on the page, including the National Book Award-winning “Just Kids.” She has a preternatural belief in her own instincts and a boundless curiosity that, taken together, help explain the extraordinarily rich life and oeuvre she’s constructed. This transcendent — and at times terrifying — account of that evolution enriches that understanding. And yet, Smith’s persona remains veiled — sphinx-like — an ethereal presence whose journey to fame was fueled by her questing spirit and later detoured by tragedy.
Like Jeanette Walls’ classic, “The Glass Castle,” Smith’s saga begins with a hard-scrabble childhood she relates as if narrating a Dickensian fairy tale. In the first four years of her life, her family relocated 11 times, moving in with relatives after evictions, or into rat-infested Philadelphia tenements. Smith’s mother was a waitress who also took in ironing. Her father was a factory worker, a World War II veteran scarred by his experience abroad. They shared their love of poetry, books and classical music with their daughter, who was reading Yeats by kindergarten.
Smith, who was born in 1946, was often bed-ridden as a young girl, afflicted with tuberculosis and scarlet fever, along with all the usual childhood ailments. She writes: “Mine was a Proustian childhood, one of intermittent quarantine and convalescence.” When she contracted Asian flu, the virus paralyzed her with “a vise cluster of migraines.” She credits a boxed set of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” recordings her mother bought with tip money for her return to health.
As a 3-year-old, Smith recalls grilling her mother during evening prayers, posing metaphysical questions about Jesus and the soul, immersing herself in Bible study and later joining her mother as a Jehovah’s Witness. She didn’t confine herself to a single religious discipline, though. For example, while still a young child, she saw the movie “Lost Horizons” and became entranced by Tibet and the teachings of Buddhism — “an awareness of the interconnectedness of all things.” While “this seemed beautiful,” she writes, “it nonetheless troubled me.”
There is a romantic quality even to the deprivations Smith chronicles, an effect heightened by what she chooses to highlight or withhold. With little money for toys, she and her siblings entertained themselves using the knobs on a dresser as instruments on a ship, sailing on faraway seas. She and her younger siblings regularly set out with their mother to the nearby railroad tracks, where they harvested leftover lumps of coal to fuel their pot-bellied stove — the apartment’s sole source of heat. Under the floorboards of her closet, Smith conceals “glittering refuse I had scavenged from trash bins, fragments of costume jewelry, rosary beads,” along with a blue toothbrush she’s invested with magical powers.
Their apartment building overlooks a trash-strewn area dubbed “the Patch,” which is bordered by “the Rat House.” There, Smith proclaims herself general of the neighborhood’s Buddy Gang, fearlessly fending off bullies twice her size, while at school, she was viewed as odd by her teachers, “like something out of Hans Christian Andersen.”
Within this urban setting, Smith often paused to marvel at nature. Taking a short cut on the long walk to school, she stumbles on a pond in a wooded area. A snapping turtle emerges and settles a few feet away. “He was massive,” she recalls, “with ancient eyes, surely a king.”
It’s impossible to know if Smith was really this self-possessed and ruminative as a child or if nostalgia has altered her perspective. What’s undeniable, though, is that her extraordinary artist’s eye and soulful nature emerged at an age when the rest of us were still content to simply play in our sandboxes. She recollects fishing Vogue magazines out of trash cans around age 6 and feeling “a deep affinity” with the images on their pages. She’s immersed in Yeats and Irish folk tales while being bored at school reading “Fun With Dick and Jane.” On her first visit to an art museum, viewing Picasso’s work produces an epiphany: She was born to be an artist. A decade later, she boards a bus bound for New York City.
At this point, about a third of the way into the book, we enter the vortex that is Patti Smith’s talent and ambition on fire. The pace of the memoir accelerates. An alchemy infuses each chance encounter. Opportunities abound. Everywhere she turns there are talented photographers, poets, playwrights and musicians encouraging and supporting her. She writes poetry and finds a soulmate in Robert Mapplethorpe. She meets Sam Shepard, who features her poem in a play he’s writing. She meets William Burroughs, performs a reading with Allen Ginsberg. She forms a musical partnership with Lenny Kaye, and begins performing her poetry, with the 19th century French poet Arthur Rimbaud as her spiritual inspiration.
Smith’s story unfolds as a bohemian fairy tale. Luck is with her, bolstered by a fierce conviction in her own bespoke vision. “There was no plan, no design,” she writes of that time, “just an organic upheaval that took me from the written to the spoken word.” Bob Dylan becomes a mentor. Her fame grows enormous with the 1975 release of “Horses” and the international touring that followed, yet she retains the bearing of an ascetic. She writes: “We hadn’t made our record to garner fame and fortune. We made it for the art rats known and unknown, the marginalized, the shunned, the disowned.”
Smith’s rock star trajectory is diverted by her love affair with Fred Sonic Smith, for whom she ditches her career at its height, against the advice of many of those closest to her. But as with every decision she’s ever made, she can’t be dissuaded. In this intimate portion of the book, we receive glimpses of two passionate artists hibernating, in love. They marry, have two children, and cultivate an eccentric version of domestic bliss. But harsh reality intervenes and the losses begin to accumulate. One after the other, Smith loses the men she loves most — Robert, then Fred, then her beloved brother, Todd. These losses haunt the memoir; she grapples with them by returning to the stage with a fierce new hunger.
The book’s final pages reveal Smith continuing to grieve, mourning the loss of other loved ones — her parents, Susan Sontag, Sam Shepard. I wish I could simply reprint those pages here — they moved me deeply. At 78, she reflects on the process of “shedding” — which she describes as one of life’s most difficult tasks. “We plunge back into the abyss we labored to exit and find ourselves within another turn of the wheel,” she writes. “And then having found the fortitude to do so, we begin the excruciating yet exquisite process of letting go.”
“All must fall away,” she concludes. “The precious bits of cloth folded away in a small trunk like an abandoned trousseau, the books of my life, the medals in their cases.” What will she retain? “But I will keep my wedding ring,” she writes, “and my children’s love.”
Haber is a writer, editor and publishing strategist. She was director of Oprah’s Book Club and books editor for O, the Oprah Magazine.
NEW YORK — Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball was fined $35,000 by the NBA on Thursday for making an obscene gesture on Tuesday night.
Ball was assessed a technical foul for making the gesture with 4:02 to play in the fourth quarter of a 144-117 loss to Miami. He finished the game with 20 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
Ball leads the Hornets in all three categories through their first four games with averages of 26.3 points, 9.5 assists and 8.3 rebounds.
Charlotte hosts the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.
Was Edgardo Henriquez the best option to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the seventh inning with two outs and runners on the corners?
Maybe, maybe not.
And that was the problem.
The problem was that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t have a choice that was clearly better than to place the game in the hands of a hard-throwing but unreliable 23-year-old rookie.
Henriquez walked Guerrero on a 99.9-mph fastball that sailed into the opposite batter’s box, evading the grasp of catcher Will Smith and allowing Addison Barger to score.
A manageable two-run deficit was now three and about to become four.
The Dodgers were on their way to a 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night, the Game 5 result placing them at a three-games-to-two deficit in this World Series.
For Roberts, that seventh inning didn’t represent a manager’s nightmare. That was a manager’s night terror.
What else could Roberts do?
Stick with starting pitcher Blake Snell? Snell had already pitched to Guerrero three times and his pitch count was at 116.
Use closer Roki Sasaki as a fireman? He’s their only dependable reliever and Roberts wasn’t about to use him in a non-elimination game in which his team was down.
Turn to last year’s postseason hero Blake …? Never mind, that question isn’t even worth being asked in its entirety.
“It’s hard because you can only push a starter so much,” Roberts said. “I thought Blake emptied the tank.”
The Dodgers somehow concealed their piñata of a bullpen in the three previous rounds of the postseason, but that bullpen is now catching up with them.
Reversing their series deficit will almost certainly require some of their starters to pitch in unfamiliar roles over the next two games, including Shohei Ohtani as an opener on three days’ rest in a potential Game 7.
Snell figures to be a candidate to also pitch in Game 7, perhaps as a middle reliever. Tyler Glasnow is expected to be available out of the bullpen in at least one of the two remaining games.
Besides Sasaki, the relievers can’t be trusted.
In each of the team’s three losses in this series, the games turned when the starting pitcher was removed with men on base. In all three instances, the bullpen made a mess of the game, allowing the inherited runners to score.
“You look at the three games that we lost, it spiraled on us with guys on base,” Roberts said. “Guys got to be better.”
They can’t.
This reality makes the bullpen’s heroic performance in the 18-inning victory in Game 3 all the more miraculous. The Dodgers are fortunate this series isn’t already over.
The construction of this particular bullpen has to be one of the greatest front-office blunders in franchise history, as it could cost the team a World Series in a season in which it has Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and a billion-dollar rotation.
How did this happen?
Start with Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates. The Dodgers committed a combined $85 million to the two relievers and neither of them is even on the roster.
Look at the injured list. Brusdar Graterol missed the entire season with shoulder problems. Evan Phillips underwent Tommy John surgery.
Finally, examine what the Dodgers didn’t do at the trade deadline. Everyone — and by everyone, I mean everyone except Andrew Friedman’s front office — knew they were in desperate need of bullpen help. Counting on some internal solutions working out, the only reliever they acquired was Brock Stewart. The notoriously brittle Stewart went down with a shoulder injury and didn’t pitch in the postseason.
What the Dodgers did was the baseball equivalent of building a breathtaking mansion but forgetting to install any toilets.
Now, the entire residence stinks, the Dodgers one loss away from losing a World Series that should be theirs.
USC had lost four of five, its season already all but lost, when Lincoln Riley made a bold move early last November that would have lasting ripple effects. He benched starting quarterback Miller Moss, in favor of backup Jayden Maiava, whose big arm and mobility gave the Trojans’ offense a different, more dynamic look.
The sudden switch made for a tense two weeks leading up to last season’s meeting with Nebraska. Not everyone in the locker room, you see, was thrilled with Moss’ removal.
But the move paid dividends in the end. Maiava injected life into the offense, USC returned from its bye and won three of its last four to finish the season. More critically, Riley found his quarterback of the future.
“The way that Jayden handled both when he wasn’t the starter, then when he was, I think set the stage for the player he has started to become and what he means to this program and this team right now,” Riley said this week. “He handled it with class both ways, and that makes a huge difference.”
USC starting quarterback Jayden Maiava throws a pass against Notre Dame at Notre Dame Stadium on Oct. 18.
(Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
A season later, USC is once again searching for answers coming out of its second bye, with Nebraska looming in November. Though, none of the questions this time concern the quarterback, who has been one of the best in the Big Ten. Nor are they as easy to solve as plugging in one player.
USC’s defensive front was just steamrolled for over 300 yards by Notre Dame’s run game. The offensive line is still dealing with nagging injuries. And the Trojans own rushing attack left a lot to be desired in their last outing.
Nevertheless, USC is 5-2, still within conceivable reach of the College Football Playoff conversation. The Trojans should be favored in four of their final five games, the lone exception being a trip to Eugene in late November. You don’t have to squint too hard to see a potential path to the Playoff … assuming USC can iron out its issues, first. That’s more encouraging than the circumstances were at this time last year.
“We’re still in a good place,” tight end Walker Lyons said. “We still control our destiny where we’re at right now.”
That’s been the message since USC left South Bend in bitter defeat. But control could slip through their hands in a hurry if Riley can’t right the ship this week on the road at Nebraska. A single loss, especially one outside of Oregon, would all but sink those hopes.
“I think we’ve learned a lot about ourselves with some of these really good matchups we’ve had as of late,” Riley said. “We know what we’ve gotta do. It’s very clear to us. Now we’ve just got to do a great job of it.”
That part hasn’t been so easy for USC as it unraveled down the stretch in each of its last three seasons. The Trojans are 6-11 in October and November since winning seven of eight during that stretch of Riley’s first campaign.
Adding a hostile road environment to that equation this week only makes matters more complicated. The Trojans haven’t won a true road game in October or November outside of Los Angeles since Oct. 28, 2023.
Nor do they seem to have pinned down precisely what’s ailing their defense at the moment. A week after one of USC’s best defensive performances of the season in a win over Michigan, the Trojans suddenly had major errors in execution, leading the Irish to rack up 306 rushing yards, the most allowed by a D’Anton Lynn-led defense. Lynn, the Trojans’ second-year coordinator, called the mistakes “extremely” frustrating.
But like Riley, he’s confident a week away will have done USC’s defense well.
“At the end of the day, when we’re on the same page, we know we can be a good defense,” Lynn said. “But we have to be on the same page and trust that the guy next to us is going to do his job, and we don’t have to overcompensate for anything.”
Notre Dame’s Jadarian Price (24) carries the ball and pulls away from USC’s Bishop Fitzgerald (19) on Oct. 18 in South Bend, Ind.
(Paul Beaty / Associated Press)
That trust comes much easier now for Maiava, after a full year as USC’s starting quarterback. Though, Nebraska and its top-rated pass defense won’t make it easy, per se. The Huskers are giving up a mere 127 yards passing per game through seven games.
It all makes for a test that the Trojans can’t afford to fail, one where its quarterback will be critical.
“Keep your head down, keep fighting,” Maiava said. “Just stay in it no matter what. We had this bye and we got to rest up a little bit which is great. But we need to be that beast every single day.”
Injury update
Left tackle Elijah Paige and center Kilian O’Connor both dressed for practice on Tuesday, but Riley expressed some doubt that USC would have its full starting offensive line available in time for Saturday’s game.
“We’re better,” Riley said, “but we’re not at a point where I’m like, ‘Yeah those guys are ready to go.’ We’re just not to that point yet.”
Louisiana State fired coach Brian Kelly during the fourth season of a 10-year contract worth about $100 million, athletic director Scott Woodward announced Sunday night.
The move comes on the heels of Saturday night’s 49-25 loss to No. 3 Texas A&M in Tiger Stadium — a second straight loss, and third in four games for LSU (5-3, 2-3 Southeastern Conference).
“When Coach Kelly arrived at LSU four years ago, we had high hopes that he would lead us to multiple SEC and national championships during his time in Baton Rouge,” Woodward said. “Ultimately, the success at the level that LSU demands simply did not materialize.”
Associate head coach Frank Wilson, who also serves as a running backs coach, has been tapped as the interim head coach for the remainder of the 2025 season.
Kelly was hired away from Notre Dame when his predecessor, Ed Orgeron, stepped down following the 2021 regular season.
He has gone 34-14 with the Tigers, even taking LSU to the 2022 SEC title game. But LSU did not qualify for the College Football Playoff in his first three seasons, and was virtually eliminated from contention with its loss to the Aggies.
The playoff was expanded from four to 12 teams for the 2024 season.
“I will not compromise in our pursuit of excellence and we will not lower our standards,” said Woodward, an LSU graduate who was hired to his current post in 2019, the same year the Tigers won their last national title under Orgeron.
Orgeron left after not posting a winning record during his final two seasons.
While Kelly did not coach LSU to a playoff berth, he oversaw quarterback Jayden Daniels’ development into a Heisman Trophy winner in 2023.
“I am confident in our ability to bring to Baton Rouge an outstanding leader, teacher and coach, who fits our culture and community and who embraces the excellence that we demand,” Woodward said.
LSU could have to pay Kelly tens of millions not to coach, but the precise figure was unclear on Sunday night.
“We will continue to negotiate his separation and will work toward a path that is better for both parties,” Woodward said.
TAMPA, Fla. — Jake Guentzel and Anthony Cirelli each scored twice and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Ducks 4-3 on Saturday to break a four-game skid.
Nikita Kucherov had an assist for his 1,000th career point as Tampa Bay got its first home win of the season. Victor Hedman registered his 800th career point and Brandon Hagel picked up career point No. 300.
Jonas Johansson finished with 37 saves for Tampa Bay, which ended an 0-2-2 stretch with just its second win of the season (2-4-2)
Troy Terry, Jacob Trouba and Ryan Poehling scored for Anaheim, which lost in regulation for the first time in four games. Lukas Dostal finished with 29 saves.
Cirelli scored the tiebreaking goal on the power play with his second of the night with 3:15 left in the third period with a quick shot from the low slot.
Guentzel and Cirelli scored 2:01 apart in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Guentzel directed Brayden Point’s pass in off his skate with 7:41 left on a play Kucherov got his 1,000th point.
Cirelli made it a two-goal lead as he pounced on a rebound with 5:40 remaining. Hedman and Hagel each hit their milestones on the goal.
Poehling and Terry scored 59 seconds apart to tie it 3-3 at 8:10 of the third.
Guentzel opened the scoring for the Lightning 9:10 into the first period as a rebound found his stick in the low slot.
Anaheim tied it at 4:42 of the second after an offensive zone faceoff win landed on the stick of Trouba for a slap shot off the inside of the near post and in.
Premier League holders Liverpool’s title defence continues to stutter as Brentford’s recovery persists.
Published On 25 Oct 202525 Oct 2025
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Champions Liverpool suffered a fourth successive Premier League defeat as they lost 3-2 at Brentford to continue their miserable run of form in London.
Arne Slot’s stumbling side fell behind after five minutes on Saturday when Dango Ouattara volleyed in following a long throw, and Kevin Schade went through to make it 2-0 in the 45th.
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Milos Kerkez replied for the visitors in first-half stoppage time with his first Liverpool goal from Conor Bradley’s cross.
Liverpool’s expected second-half siege never really materialised, however, and Igor Thiago restored Brentford’s two-goal advantage from the penalty spot on the hour mark.
Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool hope with a clinical finish in the 89th minute, but they had left it too late.
It is the first time since 2021 that Liverpool have lost four successive league games, with three of those matches being in London after defeats at Crystal Palace and Chelsea.
They are now sixth in the table on 15 points, four points behind leaders Arsenal, who could extend that margin on Sunday when they host Crystal Palace.
Brentford’s second win in a row moved them up to 10th place, two points behind Liverpool.
Brentford fans taunt Liverpool manager Slot
The home fans took delight in taunting Liverpool manager Arne Slot with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning”, and while the Dutchman need not worry about that, the sense of his side’s title defence wilting was palpable.
They looked fragile at the back and were often out-muscled by Brentford. Doubts about Salah’s lack of impact will also continue, despite him slamming home a fine late goal to end a more than a month-long scoreless run in the Premier League.
Brentford’s threat from long throws could not have escaped Slot’s attention, but his side were caught cold by the tactic on a chilly night in southwest London.
Michael Kayode wound up a long delivery into the box, and when Kristoffer Ajer flicked it on, Ouattara reacted superbly to hook his volley past Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Liverpool responded with chances for Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo, but they were not convincing and were undone again as halftime loomed. Mikkel Damsgaard’s superb long pass sent Schade away, and he kept his composure to beat Mamardashvili.
Kerkez fired home from close range in the fifth minute of stoppage time, despite fierce Brentford protests about an infringement.
Brentford earned a penalty when Virgil van Dijk clipped Ouattara’s foot on the edge of the area, and after a long VAR check, referee Tim Robinson awarded a spot-kick, and Thiago coolly slotted his shot down the middle.
Salah’s instant control and finish set up a chaotic period of stoppage time that took the game into its 100th minute, but Brentford held on for a thoroughly deserved three points.
KATIE Price showed off some worrying bumps on her forehead after revealing concerns about her health and weight loss.
The 47-year-old mum-of-five took toSnapchat to share a close-up selfie of her forehead where she pointed to the series of “humps” that protruded from her skin.
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Katie Price showed several bumps on her foreheadCredit: InstagramThe bumps come after her unexplained weight lossCredit: SplashKatie also had a major facelift done in AugustCredit: Louis Wood
“I’ve got HUMPS on my forehead,” Katie captioned the post.
The selfie, which she also shared to her Instagram Stories, showed several bumps from her eyebrows up to the middle part of her forehead, with the biggest bump in the centre.
On her Snapchat, Katie posted a video of her ‘before’ getting the botox, where there was a number of black marker dots on her forehead, presumably injection points for the botox.
“I’ve gone from this,” she said in the first video and it quickly changed to the next Snapchat where she spoke about the bumps on her skin.
“At the moment, it looks like I’ve got humps on my face, my ‘lovely lady lumps’,” Katie said referring to the Black Eyed Peas song, My Humps, which she had playing over the video.
Bumps are a common reaction to Botox and could occur because of a reaction to the needle or allergic reaction to the Botox itself.
TheCelebrityBig Brotherwinner told her fans on Snapchat at the time: “I’ve been up early at the doctors so she could do some bloods and because my veins are so s*** they had three attempts.
“They could only fill two tubes up, so I’ve got to go back in two weeks.
“And I’ve got to have my stitches out then because they looked at my little stab wound that I did.”
Her boyfriend, JJ Slater, worried that Katie might be running herself into the ground.
“It’s not an easy thing to sit back and watch your partner running themselves into the ground health-wise.”
They added this concern was a consensus among the star’s wider family and said: “JJ and Katie’s family think she is putting way too much pressure on herself.
“She’s been constantly on the move with tour shows, but isn’t right mentally or physically – something she knows deep down.”
Katie’s health woes come amid more personal drama as her ex-husband Kieran Hayler was charged with raping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
The former stripper will appear at Crawley Magistrates Court on November 19.
TORONTO — The Dodgers played 162 games in 193 days during the regular season. Then they played 10 more times in 18 days in the first three rounds of the playoffs.
It was a grind that gave way to a routine as comfortable as an old shoe.
That routine was upended when the Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, giving them a week off before the start of the World Series, the team’s longest break since February. And the Dodgers looked anything but rested and refreshed in Friday’s 11-4 shellacking by the Toronto Blue Jays, which left them trailing a postseason series for the first time since last fall’s NLDS.
“I’m pretty sure the guys kind of felt the velocity a little bit more,” said Miguel Rojas, one of just a handful of Dodgers who spoke to the media after the loss. “But there’s nothing that we can do. That’s not going to be an excuse for us to underperform.”
It may not be an excuse. But it could be an omen.
This World Series is the fifth in which a team that swept its best-of-seven LCS, as the Dodgers did, faced a team that needed to go seven games to win its series, as Toronto did. The team that swept and got the break lost each of the four previous World Series, winning just two of 18 games.
Dodger manager Dave Roberts dismissed that history Friday.
“I really don’t think the week layoff had anything to do with tonight,” he said. “We were rested. I thought we were in a good spot. We had a 2-0 lead. So I don’t think that had anything to do with it.”
Blake Snell, the pitcher who gave up that lead, brushed off the break as well.
“There’s no excuses. I need to be better,” said Snell, who went 10 days between starts, his longest break since coming off the injured list in August. “I don’t care if it’s a month off. Find a way to be ready.”
He wasn’t against the Blue Jays. After averaging 16 pitches an inning in 14 previous starts, he needed 29 to get through the first inning Friday. And after giving up two runs and six hits in 21 innings this postseason, he gave up five runs and eight hits in just five-plus innings in Toronto, with two of those runs coming on Dalton Varsho’s fourth-inning home run, the only homer Snell has conceded to a left-handed hitter this year.
Emmet Sheehan, who followed Snell to the mound, hadn’t pitched in two weeks. He had his worst outing of the year, facing four batters and watching three of them score.
“I felt good going into the game. I felt the same as I have been,” he said. “I thought I made some good pitches, and they made some really good swings.
“It’s not a good feeling.”
A prolonged break can affect pitchers more than hitters because after throwing with a slightly fatigued arm all season, they suddenly feel fresh and strong and their pitches lose some of their movement.
“You don’t want to feel too good. You feel too good, you try to throw too hard because you feel good. And it doesn’t go where you want it,” said Will Klein, who mopped up for the Dodgers, pitching a scoreless eighth inning. “[The ball] doesn’t go where you want it to because you’re used to pitching a little down, like 90 or 95%. You’re never really at 100.
‘There’s such a thing [as] too fresh.”
Klein’s last appearance in a big-league game was a month ago; since then he’s been working out at the Dodgers’ facility in Arizona. He said the team tried to keep the rest of their pitchers in their familiar routine with bullpen sessions or simulated games, but it’s not the same as throwing in high-leverage situations against opposing hitters in a World Series game before 44,353 fans, as Snell, Sheehan and Klein had to do Friday.
And the history shows the Dodgers aren’t the first team who have been broken by the break.
But they had less than 24 hours to wait for Game 2, which means they’re back into the comfortable — if exhausting — routine that got them to the World Series in the first place.
“There’s another one tomorrow,” Klein said. “We can’t go and unlose today, as much as we’d like to. Thinking about today isn’t going to help you win tomorrow.”
Even playing in their raucous Rogers Centre north of the border in the opener Friday, the cute little Toronto Blue Jays were supposed to be a far inferior team, eh?
Uhhhh…
For baseball’s burgeoning dynasty, there suddenly looms disaster. For the dominating Dodgers, this is now a World Serious.
The Blue Jays didn’t just win Game 1, they hammered the Dodgers into a maple-leafy pulp, 11-4, battering their ace and bruising their ego and sending a message.
It was delivered in the ninth inning, when the fans rained a chant down on Shohei Ohtani, who spurned the Blue Jays in his free agent sweepstakes two years ago and whose two-run homer meant nothing Friday night.
“We don’t need you… we don’t need you.”
When the game ended shortly and mercifully thereafter, another unspoken message had been sent.
You know where you can stick your broom…
Truly, the only thing getting swept in this series is the Dodgers’ aura of invincibility, as the Blue Jays did exactly what they needed to do by hitting them precisely where it hurts.
Welcome to the postseason, Dodger bullpen.
Now get lost.
Wearing down ace Blake Snell for 29 pitches in the first inning and 100 pitches by the sixth, the pesky Blue Jays hitter loaded the bases with none out when Snell left the game for the maligned and recently ignored Dodger relievers.
Rather predictably, all Hortons broke loose.
Emmet Sheehan lasted four hitters and allowed three baserunners. Ernie Clement singled in a run, Nathan Lukes walked to force in a run and Andrés Giménez singled in a run, and have you ever heard of any of those guys?
Enter Anthony Banda, and exit an Addison Barger fly ball into the right-field stands for the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history. Add an ensuing single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a home run from Alejandro Kirk and you pretty much get the picture.
The Dodgers gave up nine runs in the sixth inning, more than twice as many runs as they gave up in the entire four-game National League Championship Series win against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Worse yet, they allowed, for the first time this postseason, some doubt.
Did the seven days off since the NLCS sweep ruin their timing as brief October vacations have done to Dodger teams in the past? After all, this is the fifth time in World Series history a team coming off a sweep played a team that was stretched to seven games, and in the previous four times, the team that was stretched won the series.
The Dodgers will roll out another ace, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in Game 2 Saturday. He pitched a complete game in his last start, so maybe there’s no cause to worry.
Or maybe the Blue Jays just gave them 11 good reasons to worry.
After all, Toronto began the game as a heavy underdog, and for three good reasons, but none of their fears were realized.
They were starting Trey Yesavage, a rookie pitcher who began the season in the Class-A Florida State League pitching for the Dunedin Blue Jays in front of 328 fans against the Jupiter Hammerheads. The 22-year-old was the second-youngest starting pitcher in World Series opener history. He had made just six total major-league starts, and just last week was shelled for five runs in four innings by the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS.
”I don’t want to be out there on the mound thinking too much because for me, I’m at best when I’m just black dead out there and not thinking at all,” he said before the game.
He indeed seemed clueless, but he survived three walks and four hits in four innings by yielding just two runs.
Second, the Jays were starting Bo Bichette at second base even though he had not played the position in six years and never in the major league. The team’s standout shortstop, had also not played anywhere in 47 days since he was sidelined with a sprained knee.
“Yeah, it’s crazy,” said Bichette.
You know what’s crazier? He singled, walked, turned a double play, and made a great stop-and-throw on a grounder before being removed for a pinch-runner in the sixth
Third, the Blue Jays were also starting an outfield trio known only to family and close friends. Kudos to all those who had Myles Straw, Daulton Varsho and Davis Schneider on your bingo card.
Varsho homered. Enough said.
“I think that there’s a lot of firsts for a lot of these guys… I think that players are going to feel certain things that they haven’t felt before,” said Jays manager John Schneider beforehand.
Afterward, that applied to the suddenly shaken Dodgers.
When Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts was asked Friday afternoon about the pressure his team felt, he said, “None. None whatsoever.”
If you want to see a player whose impact is growing, go watch South Gate junior quarterback Michael Gonzalez. He’s listed as 5 feet 9 on the Rams’ roster, but what an arm he has and he can run, too.
He passed for 273 yards last week in a loss to Garfield. He has passed for 1,999 yards and 22 touchdowns in eight games. He’s also scored six touchdowns.
Receiver Nicholas Fonseca, another junior, has 52 receptions for 1,027 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was the City Section Division II player of the year last season.
South Gate is 5-3, with the duo leading the way. The Rams’ passing attack could set them apart for the Division I playoffs.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Imagine losing your home and belongings to a wildfire, then losing your best friend when he was killed by a suspected driver under the influence, all happening within months of each other.
Max Meier, a star defensive tackle for Loyola High who has committed to Stanford, dealt with that kind of awful adversity this year, losing his family home in the Palisades fire, then losing classmate Braun Levi in May when he was hit by a car while walking on a Manhattan Beach street.
To hear Meier’s response and wisdom while dealing with two tragedies offers hope for the future.
“I think in this life, everyone has demons in the closet,” Meier said. “Everyone has bad things that happen But we realize in these moments, as horrible as they are, losing your things in a fire, they’re replaceable, but losing someone who was like an older brother, can’t replace that. He’s somebody I’ll be be chasing to live like he did. As a teenager it was tough, but you learn about life and how every day you have to give it your all. I’ve actually started to live my life more fully and started to live every day the best I can.”
Stanford-bound defensive lineman Max Meier of Loyola is the guest on Friday Night Live on Thursday at 5 p.m. via X. Here’s a clip talking about losing his house to the Palisades fire and losing good friend Braun Levi to a DUI driver. pic.twitter.com/QAa9flbe0f
As a football player, at 6 feet 5 and 250 pounds, Meier is enjoying his best season as a senior with 9 1/2 sacks, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Loyola lost close to a dozen players who abandoned the program one by one in the offseason. They gave up, thinking the Cubs were not going to be good or leaving because they disliked something. Those who stayed had to place their trust in themselves.
“There’s no better motivator knowing every single person left and you’re the ones left,” he said. “This summer, we’re like, ‘There’s 10 games left and you’re either going to give up or let’s show everyone what we got and why they wrote us off.’ We have some problems. Every team does. We’re really motivated to show what we can do.”
Playing at SoFi Stadium on Oct 19 and coming away with a 13-10 upset victory over Gardena Serra was a moment Meier and his teammates will cherish. The Cubs lost to Bishop Amat 30-14 on Friday night and are 4-4 and 1-2 in the Mission League.
“Warming up under all those seats is just ridiculous,” he said. “I thought it was the most awesome thing. That turf was super fast. You could hear things super loud and it gave you an idea what a college stadium might feel like, I thought it was the best experience all time. It was a thing on my bucket list. Getting a sack at SoFi never thought of something I want to do, but I did it. It was cool.”
Since Meier lost his home, he was eligible to switch schools this year and play immediately. His two sisters graduated from Palisades. He has friends at Palisades. But he was never leaving Loyola.
“After the fires, I realized how special it is,” he said. “All that’s left in my closet is from Loyola. They’re the most amazing people to me.”
So understand what you’re getting each time you face Loyola this season — a team dedicated to each other and having each other’s backs. And in Meier, the Cubs have someone who’s going to represent Loyola values for years to come.
“Breathing on this earth is a humble thing,” Meier said.
The Chargers had the look. All-gold uniforms. Retro logos. Powder-blue end zones with script from the nostalgic days of Dan Fouts and Don Coryell.
But their defense?
As dead as disco when it counted most.
Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, the NFL’s leading rusher, trampled the Chargers on Sunday with touchdowns of 23, eight and 19 yards in a 38-24 victory at SoFi Stadium.
It was just another Sunday for Taylor, who came into Week 7 leading the league in rushing yards and touchdowns, and averaged 5.9 yards per carry against a Chargers defense that had been respectable to this point. That defense allowed an average of 20.8 points in the six previous games.
That helped open the passing lanes for Colts quarterback Daniel Jones, who threw a pair of touchdowns and again made an early-season case for Comeback Player of the Year after his career had seemingly flamed out with the New York Giants.
It was the second trip to Los Angeles in four weeks for the Colts, who lost to the Rams here in Week 4. They got better on both sides of the ball but couldn’t fully atone for their ineffectiveness in the first half.
The Chargers, whose distinctive look was a nod to the 1970s, were sleepwalking in the first half before coming to life in the second.
Justin Herbert kept the home team somewhat in the game with three touchdown passes after halftime but found himself trying to dig out of a deep hole all day.
The Chargers actually outgained the Colts, 445 yards to 401, and held the ball for nine minutes longer, but Indianapolis was more efficient with its possessions, better in the red zone, and took advantage of its opportunities.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert slides while scrambling during the second half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Herbert saw two of his passes intercepted in the first half. The first was batted high in the air at the line of scrimmage and plucked by 314-pound defensive tackle Grover Stewart. The second pick came in the red zone, when safety Nick Cross slipped in front of Quentin Johnston in the end zone to intercept an eight-yard pass.
The Chargers, who trailed at halftime, 23-3, clawed their way back into the game with touchdown passes to Johnston, Keenan Allen and Oronde Gadsden II.
Such a rollercoaster of a season for the Chargers, who ran the table against the AFC West in the first three weeks, then lost back-to-back games to the Giants and Washington Commanders, before rebounding with a come-from-behind win at Miami.
There’s not much bounce-back time after Sunday’s loss as the Chargers play host to Minnesota on Thursday night.
The Chargers can take solace in that no one is running away with the division. Kansas City stomped Las Vegas on Sunday, 31-0, but the Chiefs aren’t as dominant as in recent years. And Denver lost to the Chargers on the road and still looks to be finding its way.
Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin breaks up a pass intended for Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey in the end zone during the fourth quarter Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Against the Colts, the troubles began early for the Chargers. After the home team’s first snap, Chargers left tackle Austin Deculus lay face down on the turf. He was the team’s fourth player to line up as Herbert’s blindside protector.
It was an ankle injury that felled Deculus — he wound up returning in the second quarter with a bulky brace — and the Chargers turned to the lightly experienced Foster Sarell, who suddenly held one of the most important positions on the field.
Just more offensive line insanity for the Chargers, who have cycled through six tackles so far. Their line was once considered an area of strength.
