opportunity

Kaylon Miller was on the six yard line in the fourth quarter, blocking on a USC run play when he saw King Miller, his running back and twin brother, blow right past him.

“Run, run, go, go!” he remembers shouting as King bumped it outside and crossed the Nebraska goal line for the go-ahead touchdown that would ultimately be the game winner in the Trojans’ 21-17 Big Ten win last Saturday in Lincoln.

When King turned around in the end zone, it was his brother who was the first to greet him; the two brothers shared a moment as their facemasks clashed into each other. Both walk ons. Both finding opportunities to get on the field as redshirt freshmen — and both making the most of those opportunities.

“You owe me a burger,” King remembers Kaylon telling him.

Kaylon has been happy to see his brother succeed — King Miller was pressed into duty last month due to injuries, and he responded with big games against Michigan and Notre Dame — but he continued to wait for his moment. Then in the first quarter against the Cornhuskers, right guard Alani Noa went down with an injury. Kaylon was standing next to USC offensive line coach Zach Hanson, who turned to him.

“This is your opportunity,” Hanson told him. “Let’s go.”

It was Kaylon’s turn.

“Honestly, just a remarkable story that I’ll be able to tell when I’m older,” he said. “Obviously, everybody wants their opportunity to go and play and you just have to be ready when your number’s called on. It just so happened that mine had to be that night.

“I just knew that when I got that opportunity I was gonna make the most of it.”

And make the most of it he did. Despite taking all of his practice reps that week at center, Miller stepped in at guard and didn’t just hold it together — he elevated the o-line in a low-scoring slugfest against a tough Nebraska defense.

Allowing zero pressures on the night, Miller recorded a pass block grade of 88.2, the third-best in the Big Ten last week and the sixth-best among Power Four guards.

“Played awesome. He really did,” Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said. “He was physical, he pass pro’ed well. He was really physical in his pull game, was really sharp assignment-wise, which — I know I’ve mentioned several times — was all the more impressive because he really hadn’t been able to take a lot of practice reps at guard. Thoroughly impressed.”

While Miller still says he feels more confident snapping the ball due to the more compact nature that comes with playing center, he attributes his success at right guard to being able to rely on his teammates. The o-line, especially at guard, is a symbiotic relationship. So much of it is depending on the tackles and center for help (and vice versa), and Miller was 100% confident in his teammates next to him.

Things could’ve gone south with Miller playing for the first time in an intense road environment at Memorial Stadium. The Huskers, and the 86,529 fans in attendance, were dressed in all black. Black balloons were released by a raucous crowd each time Nebraska scored. But in between series, left tackle Elijah Paige — who made his return from a knee injury he suffered in Week 4 against Michigan State — kept Miller’s mind right.

“Just treat it like practice,” Paige said. “Obviously, that’s a pretty hostile environment. It’s one of the best environments out there. So obviously that can get to you, the noise can get to you, everything can get to you. But I kind of just tell him to focus in and act like this is a Tuesday or Wednesday practice.”

As the Trojans prepare to host Northwestern on a short week, Miller’s trying to think too much about what happened the week before; he knows opportunities can be taken away just as quickly as they’re earned. He likes to lean on a saying he tells his twin brother all the time:

“Never look back upon any situation that you’ve ever been in, just look forward because nothing that you did in the past can be taken back. You can only have your eyes in tunnel vision, forward.”

As for the burger that King still owes him?

“I ain’t get him it yet, but I got to,” King said with a laugh. “I don’t know when it is, he gonna keep asking me about it for sure, but I got him one day.”

LONDON — With receiver Puka Nacua out for their game on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, the Rams are counting on Davante Adams, Tutu Atwell and Jordan Whittington.

Adams, a three-time All-Pro in his first season with the Rams, has been targeted 55 times. He has 26 catches for 396 yards and three touchdowns.

Adams and quarterback Matthew Stafford have connected on several dynamic plays, but their timing remains a work in progress.

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Gary Klein reports from Rams practice at Camden Yards in Baltimore as the team prepares for its London game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“It’s not how I drew it up as far as efficiency goes,” Adams said. “I think we both would’ve liked to be a little bit more efficient, but I know for myself over the last few [games], just based off how we started, [there’s been] a little bit of pressing.”

Stafford put the onus on himself.

“There’s been some good ones,” he said. “There’s been some missed ones. I would take the majority of the blame on a lot of those and just give him a better chance on a couple.”

Adams rose to stardom while playing eight seasons with Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers. But that connection also took time, Adams said.

“It definitely didn’t start off the first couple years, let alone the first couple of games the way that we got going,” Adams said. “Not that we have another 10 years to go, but it takes time. It’s not easy.

“Puka and Matthew have been playing together for years now and they have a little better understanding of where one another is going to be, what to expect, and just making it work. It’s been a few where there’s really no excuse for me or him. We just have to put it together.”

Atwell will be back after sitting out last Sunday’s victory over the Baltimore Ravens because of a hamstring injury. Atwell has four catches on nine targets, including one for a long touchdown.

But he said he was not concerned about targets as much as affecting the game in other ways. The speedy threat opens opportunities for Nacua, Adams and others.

“Every opportunity we’ve given him, he’s seized it,” Stafford said. “I don’t see anything different happening. If he gets more opportunities in this game, I have a ton of trust in him.”

The question caused Lakers coach JJ Redick to say he was “not being combative” with his answer.

Asked if the Lakers are missing opportunities to practice more and build on-court chemistry because of their busy six-game preseason slate, Redick was quick to wonder why reporters were so concerned about the situation.

“You guys are really harping on this,” Redick responded.

So, Redick was asked, is it a thing or is it not a thing?

“I’m not being combative right now,” Redick said. “I just want to acknowledge that you guys, like the last four days, like it’s becoming a little bit obsessive with all these questions about opportunities lost. So, I will answer it again. These are the cards that we were dealt. I sure would like everybody to be healthy.”

Making the most out of the situation, the Lakers held off the Golden State Warriors 126-116 Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena despite not playing with LeBron James (sciatica), Luka Doncic and Marcus Smart (Achilles tendinopathy).

Redick said the plan is for Smart to “get two games [in] this week.”

The Lakers have three remaining preseason games: Tuesday at Phoenix, Wednesday at Las Vegas against the Dallas Mavericks and Friday against the visiting Sacramento Kings — four games over a six-day span.

Redick was reminded that the Lakers as an organization have chosen to play six preseason games — the maximum allowed by the NBA.

“It’s something to be discussed I think going forward,” Redick said. “I think it’s awesome. I really do because we got to play in Palm Springs and I think it’s awesome that we get to play in Vegas and I recognize that there’s Lakers fans all over the world that maybe don’t get the chance to see us play.

“You hope that we can find some sort of balance in the future to get more practice time, less travel time. I’m sure at some point we’ll be one of the teams going overseas, so then that adds another scenario.”

Lakers guard Bronny James, front, and Golden State forward Trayce Jackson-Davis battle for a rebound in the first half Sunday of the Lakers’ 126-116 preseason win at Crypto.com Arena.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Redick did say for training camp purposes, practice tends to be more helpful in team building than preseason games.

“I think more practices would be beneficial,” Redick said. “I do think the exposure to a game situation and playing against an opponent is very beneficial. You don’t have a lot of days anymore and to try to cram six games in there [and] four games in six nights, it’s significantly difficult.”

Against the Warriors on Sunday, Austin Reaves (21 points), Dalton Knecht (16), Rui Hachimura (16) and Deandre Ayton (14 points, eight rebounds, five assists) were on top of their games.

For Ayton, who was six for eight from the field and had a blocked shot, his joy came from the fans cheering him on. Sure, it was only a preseason game, but Ayton loved the vibe and the positive energy he felt.

It was Ayton’s first time playing at Crypto.com Arena since he signed a two-year, $16.6-million deal with the Lakers.

“It hit me in the whole arena today just hearing the fans and everybody cheering,” Ayton said. “It was kind of an unusual sound other than boos. … It was everybody showing love and welcoming me to L.A. I played so freely and I had a lot of fun.”

“Wait your turn.”

Those three words are repeated again and again by parents trying to teach their young sons and daughters good manners, whether it’s at the dinner table, the amusement park or the ice cream shop.

So why do parents suddenly forget or ignore their words of wisdom when their kids become teenagers, find themselves in sports competitions, lose out on a starting job or don’t receive the attention they think they deserve and decide to flee rather than “wait your turn.”

At least the Lee family stuck to old-time parenting. Taylor Lee was a huge talent at quarterback after enrolling at Oxnard Pacifica as a freshman. He got to play a little when needed as a freshman and sophomore, but he wasn’t the starter. He stayed and waited his turn and what a reward he’s received.

In the last two games, the junior has thrown 15 touchdown passes for 4-0 Pacifica. He’s passed for 1,356 yards and 22 touchdowns with no interceptions this season. He’s picking up scholarship offers. He’s become an example for his coach, Mike Moon, though who knows how many will learn the lesson.

“For all these kids who transfer around and with not a ton of success, maybe the old-school way of grinding and waiting for your time is best,” he said.

Yes, patience is hard. Passing up an opportunity offered elsewhere is hard. Accepting the decision of a coach is hard. Listening to third parties with agendas speak glowingly of your talent is hard.

As many stories as there are of successful player movements, there’s many others of those who remember the wisdom, of “wait your turn.”

Luke Fahey of Mission Viejo.

(Craig Weston)

The No. 1 quarterback in Southern California, Ohio State-bound Luke Fahey of Mission Viejo, accepted sharing time for two seasons, trading off every other series with his teammate. He and his parents were patient and supportive. This season, on his own, he’s led the Diablos to an unbeaten record and keeps adding to his reputation as a great quarterback with great character.

Years ago, in a different era, Matt Cassel became an NFL starting quarterback without ever starting a game at USC as the backup to Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.

The environment has changed with the introduction of the college transfer portal. No one is saying there’s anything wrong with switching schools while looking for an opportunity when someone’s path is blocked, but there’s also the old-fashioned way of staying and competing, waiting your turn, trying to get better and being ready when opportunity beckons.

It’s the quarterback position, in particular, where athletes and their parents are unwilling to be backups. Only one person gets to start. But the failure to recognize there’s other positions to try (tight end, receiver, defense?) is also a forgotten alternative.

The responsible thing is to never try to take away a dream from a passionate, committed teenager. Let them keep grinding if that’s what they want to do. But sometimes someone has to be the adult in the room, just like when they were four or five and rushing ahead in the line for an ice cream cone and mom or dad says, “Wait your turn.”

There’s proof that option still works.

When he first started spreading the word about Waymond Jordan, Mike Bennett figured the film would speak for itself. The Escambia High coach had been in the South Florida preps scene long enough to know what he was seeing from his new running back.

“Just watching him run the football for the first time, he was amazing,” Bennett said. He figured scholarship offers would roll in soon enough.

Jordan had similar expectations. Since he first picked up football, at 4 years old, he’d always told himself that he’d play at a big school, on the biggest stage. He’d come to Escambia as a senior with that in mind.

But in 2021, four years before Lincoln Riley and USC would see that same star potential, other college coaches, for whatever reason, weren’t paying much mind.

USC running back Waymond Jordan carries the ball during a win over Georgia Southern at the Coliseum on Saturday. Overlooked earlier in his career, Jordan has become a key piece of the Trojans’ offense.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Given where Jordan stands today — the top running back on one of the nation’s top rushing offenses through two weeks of the college football season — plenty of them probably regret that now.

“Every coach in the country, I sent stuff to,” Bennett said. “I mean, everybody. I sent it out to everybody.”

Some smaller schools monitored Jordans’ senior year at Escambia, keeping a close eye as he rushed for 1,225 yards and 12 touchdowns. A few schools said he could walk-on. But none of them extended a scholarship offer. Jordan couldn’t understand why.

Hutchinson Community College, a junior college in Hutchinson, Kan., was one of the only places to give him an opportunity. Hutchinson was a thousand miles from his hometown of Pensacola, and a world away from the major college football he thought he’d be playing. But the staff there knew Escambia well, and they believed in what they saw in Jordan’s tape.

If all went well with junior college, he could still get the Power Four offers he was looking for.

“He believed in himself. And he bet on himself,” said Greg Cross, the Hutchinson running backs coach. “And I would say he bet right.”

Cross figured it was a worthy bet then, before most anyone else. He could see on film that Jordan had a rare instinct for making defenders miss. In the open field, not many people could bring Jordan down on their own either. In some ways, his skillset reminded Cross a little bit of Alvin Kamara, who played the 2014 season at Hutchinson.

“But that wasn’t going to happen for him overnight,” Cross said.

USC’s Waymond Jordan stretches out to score a touchdown against Georgia Southern at the Coliseum on Saturday.

(Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

Jordan was by no means a finished product on arrival at Hutchinson. He hadn’t really learned yet how to take care of his body. He was out of shape. He needed to add muscle and change his diet. Plus, he struggled early on with pass protection.

Then his hamstrings started bothering him.

“I knew it was in the best interest for him to redshirt,” Cross said.

Hutchinson could afford to be patient with him. But it was a tough pill to swallow for Jordan.

“He went through a phase where he was kind of down,” Cross said. “We had a lot of talks. We would talk every day. I just wanted to keep him focused, keep him locked in, keep him motivated.

“So, me and him had a talk about it, and I said, ‘You can either let it get the best of you, or you can stay motivated and work 10 times as hard.’”

It was a formative chat for Jordan. Cross implored him to get serious about taking care of his body. He wanted him in the training room every day. They started tracking his meals. He began using the head coach’s YMCA membership.

From then on, Cross says, “I was grilling him, 24/7.”

He came back that second season looking like an entirely different player. He lost weight. He was stronger and more explosive. He had a full recovery routine.

But his hamstring was still acting up. Then, after appearing in two games as a redshirt freshman, Jordan suffered a minor fracture in his foot.

“It felt, to him, like he couldn’t catch a break,” Cross said.

He wore a boot for a couple of weeks. When he came back, he had to play through pain.

Even still, there were glimpses of what Jordan could be. Late in the season, in a game against No. 2 ranked Iowa Western Community College, Jordan broke out with two fourth-quarter rushing scores, one from 47 yards out, the other from 16, that helped put Iowa Western away. He finished with four carries for 99 yards and two touchdowns.

Hutchinson lost its next game to East Mississippi Community College and fell short of an NJCAA national title in 2023. But for Jordan, everything was trending upward that offseason.

“You really saw him take that next step,” said Drew Dallas, Hutchinson’s head coach. “It was just how quickly he was hitting the hole, how fast and confident he was playing. He’d trimmed down his body fat to hardly any at all. He was just this rocked-up ball of muscle who could see the field really well.”

That spring, as word got around, some smaller schools like Florida Atlantic and Florida International started asking about him.

By the end of that spring, Jordan had the scholarship offers he’d been waiting for.

Cross figured he would take the opportunity and run with it. And he wouldn’t have blamed him for doing so. In fact, he couldn’t remember anyone in his time at Hutchinson turning down an FBS opportunity to return to junior college.

But in Jordan’s case, he believed bigger offers could come.

“He told me that if I stayed, I would be able to come to places like [USC,]” Jordan recalls. “That it would all pay out in the end.”

USC running back Waymond Jordan cuts and changes direction while carrying the ball against Georgia Southern at the Coliseum on Saturday.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Jordan called Cross back with a decision just a few minutes after their conversation.

“When you leaving?” Cross remembers asking him.

“He says no, ‘Coach, I’m gonna stay. I know what I can be.’”

Cross was stunned at the time. Thinking back on that conversation, he laughs.

“He put it all on red, I guess,” he said.

But it took all of one week that season for Jordan’s bet to be vindicated. He rushed for 179 yards and two touchdowns during Hutchinson’s season opener on just 14 carries. That Sunday, Cross got a call from a coach at Michigan State. Was Jordan for real? Because, he said, they were watching closely.

It was “one phone call after another, every week after that,” Cross said. Jordan rushed for 174 yards the following week, then 175 yards and four touchdowns on just nine carries in Week 4. Over a two-week stretch in November, Jordan exploded for 348 yards and four touchdowns, prompting Missouri and Central Florida, two Power Four schools, to offer him scholarships.

He finally had the opportunity he’d been waiting for. So in December, just before the NJCAA playoffs, Jordan committed to Central Florida.

USC didn’t come into the picture until later that month, just as Jordan was named the junior college national player of the year. Other Power Four schools, like North Carolina and Mississippi, were already making their cases to Jordan. But USC had a connection to Cross through Doug Belk, the Trojans’ secondary coach.

USC didn’t necessarily have a need at running back, having already added explosive New Mexico transfer Eli Sanders to its class. But when Anthony Jones, USC’s running backs coach, spoke to Jordan on the phone, he came away convinced that “USC needed this young man.”

“Waymond checked all the boxes that we were looking for,” Jones said.

Hutchinson beat Iowa Western to win the NJCAA national title in spite of Iowa Western’s all-out efforts to bottle up the Blue Dragons’ star running back. Two weeks later, he was on USC’s campus.

As soon as Jordan called him during his visit to L.A., Cross knew he was committing to USC.

Nine months later, the same running back who didn’t have a single Division I offer as a high school senior was bursting out of the USC backfield, weaving through a crowd of defenders on his way into the Coliseum end zone, just like Reggie Bush, Marcus Allen and O.J. Simpson once did.

As he scored his first touchdown as a Trojan, Jordan looked up into the stands and saw his family.

He’d waited four sometimes-frustrating years for that moment.

“His patience, his perseverance really built him into something a lot bigger and better,” Dallas said.

“I think that’s as big of a part of his journey as anything.”

Andrew Rodriguez first picked up a golf club when he was 3. Now that he’s an 18-year-old senior at La Serna High, golf has become his passion.

He’s heading to New York to compete in the championship event of Steph Curry’s UNDERRATED Golf Tour in the Curry Cup on Sept. 10-12.

UNDERRATED Golf was created to provide equity, access and opportunities to athletes from every community. Rodriguez earned his spot in the final with a second-place finish at the Pete Dye Course at French Lick, Ind.

He helped La Serna win the Southern Section Division 1 title last spring and has committed to Long Beach State.

He said the UNDERRATED Tour has been especially helpful for his family in saving money for travel and course expenses.

“It’s definitely been a big sacrifice for them,” he said. “It’s a huge help to myself and my family. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

He’s excited about his senior year at La Serna.

“I have a bunch of buddies I’ve been playing with since I was little,” he said. “We’re making memorable moments with each other. I love competing as a team with my friends.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

The biggest company on The Motley Fool’s updated list of the largest utility companies is in the United States. However, it is more than just a regulated electric utility, and that sets it apart from many of its U.S. peers that have made the list of largest utility companies.

And those differences are why NextEra Energy (NEE -0.54%) could be a huge long-term investment opportunity for growth investors, income investors, and (no shock) growth and income investors. Here’s what you need to know.

What does NextEra Energy do?

NextEra Energy is two businesses in one. The core of the company is its regulated electricity operations in Florida. The Sunshine State has long benefited from in-migration, as people seek out warmer weather, lower taxes, and a comfortable retirement. The company’s Florida Power & Light operation is one of the largest regulated utilities in the United States.

Image source: Getty Images.

Being regulated gives NextEra a monopoly in the areas it serves. In exchange for that monopoly, it has to have its rates and capital investment plans approved by the government.

The usual outcome is slow and steady growth over time, as regulators try to balance customer costs, reliability, and investor returns. All in all, this is a solid, slow, and steady growth foundation for NextEra.

Most utility businesses stop there. NextEra, however, has used this foundation to build one of the world’s largest solar and wind power businesses. It is a clean-energy giant, taking advantage of the world’s shift away from power based on dirtier carbon fuels and toward cleaner and renewable sources of energy. This is NextEra’s growth engine and will likely remain so for years to come.

One very big reason is that electricity demand is shifting into high gear. Between 2000 and 2020, demand increased 9%. Between 2020 and 2040, it is expected to expand by as much as 55%.

Driving that will be artificial intelligence and data centers, where demand is expected to increase 300% over a decade. And electric vehicles are expected to push another 9,000% in demand through 2050. All in, electricity is projected to grow from 21% of end power use to 32% of end use by 2050.

NextEra is positioned well on both sides of the equation

What’s exciting about NextEra Energy is that it isn’t just in the right place at the right time in one business. It is in the right place at the right time in two businesses.

Demand increases are going to push utility growth into a higher gear, helping the company’s Florida-based regulated operations. And the broader shift toward clean energy will also be a big boost to the company’s solar and wind operation. In many cases, it isn’t just more environmentally friendly to install clean energy than to build a power plant, it is also quicker and more cost effective.

This is where things start to get interesting. The average U.S. utility has a dividend yield of a little less than 2.7%. NextEra Energy’s yield is roughly 3%. In this respect, it looks like the stock is on sale right now and providing a yield well above the market on top of that.

But NextEra Energy is also growing its business by itself, in addition to outside forces. In the second quarter of 2025, revenue jumped 10% year over year, with earnings rising a little over 9%. That’s pretty impressive for a utility, since they are normally considered boring, slow growth investments.

And there’s likely more to come, highlighting that the clean energy business has 30 gigawatts worth of power projects in its backlog. Six gigawatts of that total are directly tied to technology companies and data centers.

On the dividend front, NextEra has increased its annual payout for over three decades. And the annualized growth rate over the past decade was a huge 10% a year. Management is currently projecting 10% dividend growth through at least 2026. So not only is this a high-yield story and a growth story, but it is also an attractive dividend growth story, too.

NextEra is the biggest utility and a big investment opportunity

If you are a dividend lover, a dividend growth lover, a growth lover, or a value lover, NextEra Energy will probably look attractive to you. That’s a huge amount of investment ground being covered by the world’s largest utility. And it highlights why you might just want to buy this industry giant today to take advantage of what looks like a huge long-term opportunity in the utility sector.

SACRAMENTO — California’s push to redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats faced early opposition Tuesday during legislative hearings, a preview of the obstacles ahead for Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies as they try to convince voters to back the effort.

California Democrats entered the redistricting fray after Republicans in Texas moved to reconfigure their political districts to increase by five the number of GOP members of Congress after the 2026 midterm elections, a move that could sway the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections.

The proposed map of new districts in California that could go before voters in November could cost as many as five Golden State Republicans their seats in Congress.

In Sacramento, Republicans criticized Democrats for trying to scrap the independent redistricting process approved by voters in 2010, a change designed to remove self-serving politics and partisan game-playing. GOP lawmakers argued that the public and legislators had little time to review the maps of the proposed congressional districts and questioned who crafted the new districts and bankrolled the effort.

In an attempt to slow down the push by Democrats, California Republicans filed an emergency petition at the California Supreme Court, arguing that Democrats violated the state Constitution by rushing the bills through the legislature.

The state Constitution requires lawmakers to introduce non-budget bills 30 days before they are voted on, unless the Legislature waives that rule by a three-fourths majority vote. The bills were introduced Monday through a common process known as “gut and amend,” where lawmakers strip out the language from an older pending bill and replace it with a new proposal.

The lawsuit said that without the Supreme Court’s intervention, the state could enact “significant new legislation that the public has only seen for, at most, a few days,” according to the lawsuit filed by GOP state Sens. Tony Strickland of Huntington Beach and Suzette Martinez Valladares of Acton and Assemblymembers Tri Ta of Westminster and Kathryn Sanchez of Trabuco Canyon.

Democrats bristled at the questions about their actions, including grilling by reporters and Republicans about who had drawn the proposed congressional districts that the party wants to put before voters.

“When I go to a restaurant, I don’t need to meet the chef,” said Assembly Elections Committee chair Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz).

Democrats unveiled their campaign to suspend the independent redistricting commission’s work Thursday, proposed maps of the redrawn districts were submitted to state legislative leaders Friday, and the three bills were introduced in the legislature Monday.

If passed by a two-thirds vote in both bodies of the legislature and signed by Newsom this week, as expected, the measure will be on the ballot on Nov. 4.

On Tuesday, lawmakers listened to hours of testimony and debate, frequently engaging in testy exchanges.

After heated arguing and interrupting during an Assembly Elections Committee hearing, Pellerin admonished Assemblymembers Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) and David Tangipa (R-Clovis).

“I would like you both to give me a little time and respect,” Pellerin said near the end of a hearing that lasted about five hours.

Tangipa and the committee’s vice chair, Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo (R-Tulare), repeatedly questioned witnesses about issues that the GOP is likely to continue to raise: the speed with which the legislation is being pushed through, the cost of the special election, the limited opportunity for public comment on the maps, who drew the proposed new districts and who is funding the effort.

Tangipa voiced concerns that legislators had too little time to review the legislation.

“That’s insanity, and that’s heartbreaking to the rest of Californians,” Tangipa said. “How can you say you actually care about the people of California?

Berman dismissed the criticism, saying the bill was five pages long.

In a Senate elections committee hearing, State Sen. Steve Choi (R-Irvine), the only Republican on the panel, repeatedly pressed Democrats about how the maps had been drawn before they were presented.

Tom Willis, Newsom’s campaign counsel who appeared as a witness to support the redistricting bills, said the map was “publicly submitted, and then the legislature reviewed it carefully and made sure that it was legally compliant.”

But, Choi asked, who drew the maps in the first place? Willis said he couldn’t answer, because he “wasn’t a part of that process.”

In response to questions about why California should change their independent redistricting ethos to respond to potential moves by Texas, state Sen. Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) was blunt.

“This is a partisan gerrymander,” she said, to counter the impacts of Trump administration policy decisions, from healthcare cuts to immigration raids, that are disproportionately impacting Californians. “That’s what we’re talking about here.”

Her comments prompted a GOP operative who is aiding the opposition campaign to the ballot measure to say, “It made me salivate.”

California Common Cause, an ardent supporter of independent redistricting, initially signaled openness to revisiting the state’s independent redistricting rules because they would not “call for unilateral political disarmament in the face of authoritarianism.”

But on Tuesday, the group announced its opposition to a state Senate bill.

“it would create significant rollbacks in voter protections,” the group said in a statement, arguing that the legislation would result in reduced in-person voting, less opportunities for underrepresented communities to cast ballots and dampens opportunities for public input. “These changes to the Elections Code … would hinder full voter participation, with likely disproportionate harm falling to already underrepresented Californians.”

Rob Manfred normally does what many fans consider an annoyingly effective job of keeping Major League Baseball’s strategic plans out of the public square.

So maybe the MLB commissioner was caught in an unguarded moment, staring down at a diamond from the ESPN “Sunday Night Baseball” booth in the cozy confines of Williamsport, Pa., and the Little League World Series.

Or maybe his comments were calculated. Either way, he spoke freely about how expanding from the current 30 teams could create an ideal chance to reset the way teams are aligned in divisions and leagues.

Manfred was asked on air for a window into the future. Expansion, realignment, both?

“The first two topics are related, in my mind,” he replied. “I think if we expand, it provides us with an opportunity to geographically realign. I think we could save a lot of wear and tear on our players in terms of travel. And I think our postseason format would be even more appealing for entities like ESPN, because you’d be playing out of the East and out of the West.”

Taking that thinking to an extreme would put the Dodgers and Angels in a division with, say, the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Las Vegas Athletics and Seattle Mariners.

Would that collection — let’s call it the Pacific Division — be part of the American or National League? Maybe neither. Instead, geographic realignment could result in Eastern and Western Conferences similar to the NBA.

Pushback from traditionalists might be vigorous. Call them leagues, call them conferences, geographical realignment would make for some strange bedfellows.

Former MLB player and current MLB Network analyst Cameron Maybin posted on X that making sure the divisions are balanced is more important than geography.

“Manfred’s realignment talk isn’t just about moving teams around, it tilts playoff balance,” Maybin said on X. “Some divisions get watered down others overloaded and rivalries that drive October story lines we love, vanish. Baseball needs competitive integrity not manufactured shakeups.”

Yet Manfred makes a persuasive argument that grouping teams by geographic location would have its benefits.

“That 10 o’clock time slot where we sometimes get lost in Anaheim would be two West Coast teams,” he said. “Then that 10 o’clock spot that’s a problem for us becomes an opportunity for our West Coast audience. I think the owners realize there is a demand for Major League Baseball in a lot of great cities, and we have an opportunity to do something good around that expansion process.”

Manfred said in February that he’d like expansion to be approved by 2029, his last year as commissioner. MLB hasn’t expanded since the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays were added in 1998.

Expansion teams “won’t be playing by the time I’m done, but I would like the process along and [locations] selected,” Manfred said.

Several cities are courting MLB for a franchise, and the league is reported to be leaning toward Nashville and Salt Lake City as favorites. Portland, Orlando, San Antonio and Charlotte are other possibilities.

The Times’ Bill Shaikin has pointed out that geographical realignment would be tied to schedule reform that could help kindle rivalries and encourage fans to visit opposing ballparks that are within driving distance.

The future home of the Rays is in flux, and that decision likely will precede MLB choosing expansion cities, even after the recent news that Florida developer Patrick Zalupski has agreed to pay $1.7 billion for the team.

Zalupski’s team of investors reportedly prefers to keep the Rays near Tampa. If that becomes gospel, MLB can turn its attention to choosing where new teams would call home.

And soon afterward, if Manfred’s vision comes to fruition, geographical realignment would follow, and the Southern California Freeway Series could become just another series between divisional rivals.

Between now and October, the Dodgers will be evaluating their increasingly healthy pitching staff, trying to identify the best 13 arms for their World Series push.

And for now, they remain hopeful that rookie right-hander Roki Sasaki could be part of that mix; writing an unexpected end to what once seemed like a lost 2025 campaign.

After being one of the biggest stories of the Dodgers’ offseason this winter, Sasaki has become more of an afterthought in the eight months since.

Back in January, the Dodgers’ acquisition of the Japanese phenom felt like a coup. The 23-year-old right-hander was billed as a future star in the making. He came advertised with a 100-mph fastball, devastating splitter and seemingly limitless potential as an ace-caliber pitcher. Most of all, he was a bargain addition financially, requiring only a $6.5-million signing bonus (for six years of team control) after making a rare early career jump from Japan.

The reality, to this point, has been nowhere near the expectation.

At the start of the season, Sasaki made eight underwhelming starts — with wild command and declining fastball velocity contributing to a 4.72 ERA — before being sidelined by a shoulder impingement.

Since then, he has sat on the injured list and largely faded into the background. An important piece of the Dodgers’ long-term plans, sure. But a wild card, at best, to contribute to their World Series defense this fall.

Lately, however, the narrative has started to shift again.

Over the last month, Sasaki has finally started progressing in a throwing program, twice facing hitters in recent live batting practice sessions. He has another three-inning simulated game scheduled for Friday, after which he could go out on a minor-league rehab assignment.

And after his early-season struggles to locate pitches or reach triple-digit velocities, the Dodgers have been encouraged with the changes he has made to his delivery and pitch mix. In a bullpen session Tuesday, Sasaki hit 96 mph with his four-seam fastball while also showcasing a two-seamer he has added during his time injured.

“I’m expecting to see pounding of the strike zone, conviction behind the throws, and just a better performer,” manager Dave Roberts said of Sasaki, who could rejoin the active roster near the end of August.

“At the end of the day, I just think that Roki has got to believe that his stuff plays here, which we all believe it does.”

The team’s title chances, of course, don’t exactly hinge on Sasaki. If their current rotation stays healthy, they should have more than enough starting pitching depth to navigate another deep October run.

But getting Sasaki back would provide some welcome pitching insurance.

He could also be a candidate to eventually shift to the bullpen, with Roberts leaving open the possibility of using him as a hard-throwing reliever come the end of the season (even though they intend to stretch him out to six innings as starter for now).

“We’re gonna take the 13 best pitchers [into the playoffs],” Roberts said. “If Roki is a part of that in some capacity, then that would be great. And if he’s not, then he won’t be.”

For much of the summer, it seemed like a long shot the Dodgers would be having such conversations about Sasaki at this point.

For all the hype that accompanied his arrival, the results made him look like more a long-term project.

In his eight early-season starts, his fastball averaged only 96 mph, and was punished by opposing hitters for its flat, relatively easy-to-hit shape. His slider was a work-in-progress, leaving him without a reliable third pitch.

His go-to splitter did induce the occasional awkward swing from opponents, and garnered much praise from teammates. But Sasaki failed to consistently use it to generate chase out of the strike zone.

As a result, he pitched from behind in the count too often (evidenced by his 24-to-22 strikeout-to-walk ratio). He seemingly lacked confidence to attack opposing hitters over the plate (and gave up six home runs in just 34 ⅓ innings when he did). And once he went down with his shoulder injury (which was similar to one that had bothered him during his Japanese career), the early stages of his rehab did not go smoothly, with Sasaki requiring a pain-relieving injection in June almost two months after initially going on the IL.

Since then, though, Sasaki has finally turned a corner.

He told reporters Tuesday that he now has “no pain” and is feeling “better about being able to throw harder” upon his return.

He has used his recent ramp-up as an opportunity to reset his mechanics, and clean up an arm path that Dodgers personnel believed was affected by his shoulder problems at the start of the season.

“What we saw early on is probably not indicative of what everybody expects and has seen from him in the past when he’s been 100%,” pitching coach Mark Prior said.

While out injured, Sasaki has also had an opportunity to sit back and watch big-league games up close, something Roberts and Prior insisted would be beneficial for a young pitcher who came to the majors with only 394 career innings over four seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league.

“He’s down there in that [dugout] stairwell when we’re at home pretty much all nine innings,” Prior said. “You can’t not learn by just watching and at least having some experience … I think he understands now the importance of, ‘I’ve got to be ahead. I’ve got to attack the strike zone.’ He doesn’t necessarily need it to be executed precisely, but it’s got to be in the strike zone. You can’t be living behind in counts.”

There may be no bigger sign of growth than Sasaki’s embrace of the two-seam fastball.

Before he got hurt, it was a pitch that people within the organization thought could help keep hitters off his diminished four-seam heater. Prior said that, before Sasaki was shut down, the coaching staff had initiated a conversation about adding it to his repotoire.

“Clearly, everybody would love a fast, high-riding four-seam,” Prior said. “But even that being said, these [hitters] have gotten a lot better and know how to attack those things. So just giving them different looks and stuff to lean into and keeping the righties honest, just gives him some flexibilities and some options.”

The hope is that it will help Sasaki be more competitive when he returns, and complement the rest of his highly-touted arsenal.

That, when coupled with improved health and refined mechanics, will trigger a late-season resurgence capable of making him an option for the postseason roster.

“My every intention is to get back on the major league mound and pitch again,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton. “With that being said, I do need to fight for the opportunity too. I don’t think that I’ll just be given the opportunity right away.”

For Chargers rookie Tre’ Harris, the opportunity to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, proved to be an eye-opening experience — a moment of validation for his budding NFL career.

“Being able to go to the Hall of Fame, seeing all of the busts, all the players and the history of the game, just tells you, ‘You made it to the NFL,’” Harris said.

Getting the chance to play in the Chargers’ 34-7 win over the Detroit Lions in the Hall of Fame Game fulfilled a childhood dream for the Lafayette, La., native. But the Hall of Fame week experience left him with a clearer understanding of what it takes to be a legend in the sport.

“Being able to see all those players, those legends who’ve done it at the very pinnacle of the game — it really shows how much work you have to put in to be as good as them, or even really sniff their sneakers,” Harris said.

His path to greatness began quietly: zero catches on just one target against the Lions. Still, offensive coordinator Greg Roman said Harris looked comfortable in the passing game despite limited opportunities.

Harris has turned heads in camp with his sharp route running and big-play potential. Motivated to prove what he can offer an offense desperate for receiving weapons to support Justin Herbert, the second-round pick is focused on two things: learning plays and speed.

“[I’m] making sure that I’m comfortable in this playbook and I’m playing fast,” Harris said. “We want to play fast and be decisive. … Whenever I go out there, that’s really the main goal. … I’m not really worried about what the defense is doing — just worried about, how can I get myself open?”

Despite starting camp a few days later than other rookies because of a contract holdout, Harris is competing for a starting role in the wake of Mike Williams’ sudden retirement.

Harris, who agreed to a $7.8-million deal with the Chargers, said the only thing that bothered him about his holdout was missing time with his teammates.

Over the first few months, Harris has leaned heavily on the support of rookie receiver and roommate KeAndre Lambert-Smith. The two have built a bond since first meeting at the NFL scouting combine in February.

Chargers wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, right, celebrates with wide receiver Tre’ Harris after making a touchdown catch against the Lions in the Hall of Fame Game on Thursday.

(Nick Cammett / Getty Images)

That bond has sparked an iron-sharpening-iron dynamic, with both standing out in camp so far. Harris has impressed, but Lambert-Smith has emerged as a hidden gem, consistently making downfield grabs and winning one-on-one battles with crisp route running.

“It’s almost like college in a way, just having that guy you’re always with,” Harris said. “It’s been good to bounce ideas off, and we always talk to each other about the practice, game, everyday life.”

Harris also has embraced a subtle, but meaningful change in his life. He recently added an apostrophe to his first name, now stylized as “Tre’.” The update reflects family and cultural history, he said.

Harris’ father, who spent a decade working offshore in Brazil, learned to speak some Portuguese during that time. Harris was born Cleveland Harris III, but his father shortened the name to tres — Portuguese for “three.” Somewhere along the way, the “s” was dropped, and “Tre’” came to be.

With the Chargers set to open the regular season in São Paulo, Brazil, Harris said his dad is already making plans, telling him he has “some friends back there who are super excited to see me play.”

If we are going to make an overview of what is going on now through the lens of the so-called dangerous opportunity, we can list some challenges and opportunities that Iran and China both face through this tension. I will try to name challenges and opportunities.

Challenges

The first challenge is that the United States of America is in a big competition and rivalry against China, which is the main actor trying to compete against the Western order. The US tries to create a “burned land” within the Middle East by using the major strategy of balkanization. In this strategy, the United States attempts to create a weak, failed, chaotic space for China throughout the region to actually block any attempts to initiate the Belt and Road Initiative and land corridors from China to the western part of the world. You can see a clear idea of balkanization throughout the region, and of course, we can see this example in Syria. The main role that Israel and the United States try to duplicate in different parts of the region may be seen in Yemen, Iraq, and even Afghanistan. The challenge is that we will have a burnt land in the Middle East that actually makes it impossible to follow initiatives like the Belt and Road.

The second challenge could be an energy crisis in the Middle East. We know that China tries its best to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran to secure regional security and stability, and of course, energy stability within the Middle East and at the global scale. This crisis and tension, which Israel initiated through unprovoked actions, could lead to a worldwide energy crisis because Iran and Tehran have mentioned multiple times that there are different options available for Iran to affect the whole region if there is more tension or further attacks from any foreign actors, especially the United States or Israel.

The third challenge we can name is the corridor blockade or dead-end. We can name different initiatives and corridors made and created by the United States, such as I2U2, Quad, AUKUS, and of course IMEC, as initiatives to create a kind of blockade for China through maritime corridors. If the United States and Israel follow through with their goals in the current tension, there would be a kind of corridor blockade from the East to the West.

Another challenge we can name is about the Abraham Accords. China and Beijing should understand that this kind of alliance is not really just about Palestine or normalization with the Zionist regime; it is a big alliance and outsourcing of the regional order from Washington to Tel Aviv. In this regional order, which is totally supported and facilitated by Washington, the Middle East—or better said, Southwest Asia—would be a total ally of the United States. This could strongly affect the national interests of Beijing.

Last but not least, a challenge after the current tension between Iran and Israel is the possibility of initiating the next big conflict. Currently, we have two big open wounds from previous years: the Ukraine crisis and Palestine. The result and balance of power around these two hot zones will create a balance of power around a third hot zone, which is Taiwan. Therefore, the outcomes of Ukraine and Palestine will directly affect the Taiwan situation in the upcoming months and years.

Opportunities

The Chinese letter for crisis shows us that there is an opportunity in this kind of crisis. If we can name them:

The first opportunity is that supporting policy, especially for the nations of the region and the Global South, is simply being on the right side of history. Every actor who supports Palestine gains favorability within nations, especially in the Global South. As you can see, Iran has gained much soft power within the current tension with Israel in the region. This is a real comeback from the Arab Spring for Iran’s image in the eyes of the Middle Eastern people. Actually, China may understand that in the region there is a deep real desire to resist Israel. Every actor who stands against the operations of Israel will gain and has gained much favorability in the region and even the world. This is the big, big side of the resistance idea.

The second opportunity during this kind of conflict is that Iran can show and test its military capability against the Western alliances. It is not a clear and accurate vision if you consider the current situation and tension as a simple war between Tehran and Tel Aviv. Tehran, in the current 12-day war, stands and fights against Washington, the whole NATO, and some regional actors. Iran has not only avoided defeat in this situation but also tried to push the whole Israel and Western alliances to a ceasefire point.

The third opportunity is the chance and moment for almost all old actors in the region to shift their ideas towards a strong region without the US. It seems that even countries like Saudi Arabia and other regional states are thinking about a region without the presence of the United States. The good news is that if Iran and its allies can play a good role during the conflict and upcoming tension, there could be a regional order emerging from the regional actors, and there would be no vacuum of power.

The next opportunity I want to mention, after the experience of this war, is really important for Beijing nowadays and the current situation of the international order. China could not find any other strategy or reliable partner within the region with the capability of military, social soft power, enormous energy resources, and favorable geography other than Iran.

Conclusion

It seems that the fundamental strategy of the United States during the Trump administration for the Middle East, called “peace through strength,” is just a choice between two options: surrender or war. Surrender would mean a regional order controlled by Tel Aviv. Iran, as it seems, is trying to prepare itself for full-scale war. As mentioned in the early stage of this note, during the tension, this is a period of rebalancing of actors’ powers. Therefore, the ability and will of order-writers like China to play a role in this conflict will determine the upcoming role of this actor in the new world order.

Luke Fahey looked right, then passed left. He looked left, then passed right. Defensive backs told to read a quarterback’s eyes might have trouble with Fahey, Mission Viejo High’s senior quarterback and Ohio State commit whose instincts, strong arm and decision-making are separating him from others in the class of 2026.

Then there’s something called character. For the last two years, he agreed to share playing time with Draiden Trudeau. Others might have bailed. Not Fahey.

“I feel God has a plan for everybody,” he said. “That was my journey. Of course, everyone wants to be a full-time starter, but that was a good thing for me. There was a lot of adversity during those two years. I learned so much from Drai, and he pushed me to be an even better quarterback and better leader.”

Anyone watching Fahey on Saturday at Edison’s Battle of the Beach seven-on-seven passing tournament were getting a glimpse of a 6-foot-1 quarterback in an obvious comfort zone calling his own plays and showing chemistry with a new group of receivers (returner Vance Spafford was missing because of illness). It’s no wonder that Ohio State and coach Ryan Day identified him as a recruiting priority.

“It was a big decision,” Fahey said. “For me, it was a no-brainer. It was a dream of mine to be at a place like that since I was a little kid. I told myself when I got the opportunity I’d take full advantage of it and maximize my opportunity. The coaches are amazing, the people there are even better. One thing that stood out they showed me a picture of their practice. I think 18 of 22 were in the NFL or got drafted. It speaks volumes to their program and my goal is to be a draft pick one day and make it to the NFL.”

Despite missing Spafford and star defensive back Jeron Jones, the Diablos went 7-0 and defeated Mission Hills in the final. The toughest game was a 26-25 win over Cathedral in the semifinals on a winning touchdown catch by Davonte Curtis. It’s been quite a summer for Mission Viejo, which also won its own passing tournament by beating Mater Dei in the final.

As the summer passing season nears conclusion and official football practice begins at the end of this month, Saturday’s Battle at the Beach is always a good opportunity to see teams and players making progress.

First-year Santa Margarita head coach Carson Palmer.

(Craig Weston)

Santa Margarita, under new coach Carson Palmer and new quarterback Trace Johnson, a transfer from Florida, will have lots of weapons this fall. The Eagles defeated Long Beach Millikan in the championship game of the Silver Division.

Brothers Trent and Grant Mosley will be key receivers for Santa Margarita.

(Craig Weston)

USC commit Trent Mosley, who didn’t play because of an injury, said of the new coaching staff, “It’s real good. I’m excited for the season.” His brother Grant, is an impressive sophomore receiver. The best opening game of the 11-man season will be Mission Viejo playing Santa Margarita on Aug. 22.

St. John Bosco junior safety Isala Wily-Ava is part of a secondary filled with talent.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

St. John Bosco clearly is one of most talented teams in regard to skill-position players, sending in wave after wave of top defensive backs and receivers. The Braves were young at those positions last season, so all it’s going to take is strong line play to combine with the skill-position talent to make another run at Trinity League rival Mater Dei. After going 4-0 in the morning session, the Braves lost to Mission Hills in the quarterfinals.

Dylan Brown (left) celebrates an interception with quarterback Koa Smith-Mayall of JSerra.

(Craig Weston)

JSerra, which lost starting quarterback Ryan Hopkins to Mater Dei, has a capable replacement in junior Koa Smith-Mayall, who missed all of last season recovering from a knee injury. He’s only 5 feet 10 but has a powerful arm and considers himself a dual threat quarterback.

“I guess everyone outside of JSerra thought we’d be in trouble, but I knew I’d be ready,” he said.

Cathedral made it to the semifinals behind quarterback Jaden Jefferson, who will be aided by an improved offensive line this fall.

One of the most impressive quarterbacks was Troy Huhn of Mission Hills, a Penn State commit who got his team in the final with a win over Corona del Mar, which was a surprise team behind quarterback Brady Annett and receiver Dorsett Stecker.

Finally, let’s not end the summer without knowing the answer to the question: Why did Fahey stay for four years at Mission Viejo?

“It speaks to what my dad and mom have preached to me since I was a little kid,” he said. “That you can’t up and leave. Loyalty is one of the biggest things in my family. I’m going to stay true to those who stay true to me.”

Says Mission Viejo coach Chad Johnson of Fahey’s fortitude: “Amazing.”

In other tournaments on Saturday, Tustin defeated Bishop Amat in the final of the Clash in the Canyons tournament in Azusa. Mira Costa won the Culver City tournament. San Juan Hills won the Ocean View tournament over Downey. Quarterback Timmy Herr didn’t throw an interception in two games and relied on receivers Luke Frith, Ryan Matheson and Dean Kolasinski.

As rules change for girls seven-on-seven flag football in California with the implementation of a first national rule book, there’s good news to report from Orange Lutheran, which won the first Southern Section championship last season.

Quarterback Makena Cook, injured during the girls’ soccer season, should be ready to go this fall. Cook, whose ability to throw spirals with precision and length helped make her the No. 1 quarterback in the state, will need to adjust to a major rule change that allows defenses to start from just one yard away from the ball instead of seven yards.

That is expected to lead to fewer points scored, quarterbacks forced to release the ball quicker and fewer long passes. It also creates the opportunity for coaches to deploy more sophisticated defenses, such as deciding how many defenders to rush and mixing up their coverages.

Shielding the quarterback long enough to give them time to throw will be the big challenge. Blocking and screening is illegal, so teams need to figure out ways to disguise plays or trick defenses long enough to create opportunities for big plays.

There’s lots of discussions happening in the Sherman family. Kristen is head coach for Orange Lutheran’s flag football team. Her husband, Rod, is head coach for the Lancers’ 11-man team. Film night isn’t “Top Gun: Maverick.”

“In the Sherman house, we’ve been watching a lot of film for boys and girls,” Rod said.

There should be no problem creating interest in finding players. The City Section is up to 85 flag football teams and growing. Chaminade and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame are adding teams in the Southern Section, with Harvard-Westlake set for next year when it opens its new River Park athletic complex.

With the Chargers and Rams providing support and the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 having a flag football competition, the sport is set for major growth.

Cook became one of the stars last season and still has two more years of eligibility, making her the early face of excellence at the quarterback position in Southern California.

Game 81. The halfway point of the season arrived at Angel Stadium — and the Angels, albeit squarely in contention at .500, were dealing with a bit of organizational uncertainty.

Angels general manager Perry Minasian announced before Friday’s game that manager Ron Washington would remain on medical leave for the rest of the season because of an undisclosed health issue.

Bench coach Ray Montgomery took over on June 20 as the acting — now interim — manager as the Angels entered Friday winners in seven of their last 10 games.

The Angels are in a much better spot than 2024. This time last season, after game 81, they were 11 games under .500 — squarely out of the postseason hunt.

Friday, however, even after losing 15-9 in a three-hour, 11-minute slog of a series opener against the Washington Nationals (34-48), the Angels (40-41) still are just two games out of the third American League wild-card spot.

In a game where the Angels and Nationals combined for 24 runs and 30 hits — with the 19 hits and 15 runs given up by the Angels’ pitching staff representing season-worst marks — what ultimately separated the teams was the Angels’ inability to come through with runners on base.

In the sixth and seventh innings — down one and two runs, respectively — the Angels had opportunities to take the lead or tie the score with runners in scoring position, but failed to capitalize. From there, the Nationals’ lead grew, with Hunter Strickland giving up four runs in the ninth as part of a 10-run barrage against the bullpen.

“It kind of just felt like an off-night tonight all the way up and down,” Montgomery said. “Those guys have been asked to do a lot over the last few weeks, and they’ve responded. So tonight wasn’t the night.”

Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery, second from left, waits on the mound with catcher Logan O’Hoppe during a pitching change in the fifth inning Friday.

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)

In the early innings, the Angels had plenty of opportunities against Nationals starting pitcher Jake Irvin, who struggled against the heart of the lineup.

Jo Adell struck a 92-mph fastball high and away to right field for a solo home run — his 18th overall and 11th in June — in the second. An inning later, Nolan Schanuel and Taylor Ward received hanging breaking balls — a high curveball and slider, respectively — and pulled the ball for short-porch home runs.

“The idea is that if we’re hunting the pitches that we want to do damage with pitcher to pitcher, we’ll avoid the chase and kind of be able to get better pitches to hit,” Adell said, who has helped the Angels post four or more walks in the last four games. “You know, our thing is, you’re only as good of a hitter as the pitches that you get.”

Three home runs in three innings helped the Angels build a three-run lead. Across 4 ⅓ innings of work against Irvin, the Angels’ lineup continued to click. They tallied nine runs (eight earned to Irvin) on nine hits — just enough for an early lead as José Soriano trudged through his worst outing of the season.

Soriano couldn’t get out of the fifth against the Nationals. The shutdown pitching he had featured in his last three starts — giving up just two runs across 20 ⅔ innings — looked like a distant memory. The right-hander struck out four and walked two, while giving up eight earned runs and nine hits.

“I mean, that’s not what we would have expected, given what he did in his last three outings and what we talked about a little bit yesterday,” Montgomery said. “Just wasn’t sharp, didn’t feel crisp from the get go.”

Added Soriano in Spanish through team interpreter Manny Del Campo: “I feel a little bit upset because of my performance tonight. … I feel upset because I wasn’t able to help win tonight.”

Angels shortstop Zach Neto (shoulder) returned to action, striking out in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter.

Before the game, Neto said that he’d likely be able to hit before throwing — something he’s yet to do — after jamming his shoulder on a stolen base attempt Tuesday.

“He proved to me, proved to the medical staff, proved to everybody else he was capable of coming in,” Montgomery said. “We thought it was a good time to give it a shot right there.”

The Angels will try to even the series Saturday with right-hander Kyle Hendricks (5-6, 4.83 earned-run average) on the mound.

If only! On June 18, 2014, the airwaves and the internet lit up in collective awe at one of the greatest athletic feats in modern history. Clayton Kershaw recorded 15 strikeouts in a 107-pitch no-hitter that many consider the best single-game pitching performance of all time. The asterisk of this epic Dodgers game was the one error in the seventh inning that prevented its official recognition as a “perfect game”: When the Rockies’ Corey Dickerson tapped the ball toward the mound, Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez botched a throw to first base, and Dickerson made it to second.

If only Ramirez had made the play at first! If only coach Don Mattingly hadn’t substituted the ailing Ramirez one inning prior! Los Angeles was one bruised right finger away from celebrating perfection.

Baseball has a celebrated history of quantifying value. No professional sport embraces numbers and statistics in the way baseball does. Statisticians are as much a part of the game as the dirt, chalk and grass. Although baseball has been collecting data since the late 1800s, the empiric statistical analysis that is part of our game today dates back to 1977 with the introduction of sabermetrics.

It’s critical to the game: How else are we to determine success when the majority of what we see is failure? The best hitters in baseball are those who only fail less than 70% of the time; in other words, have a batting average over .300. These perennial all-stars will experience the dissatisfaction and humility of an out in 7 out of every 10 plate appearances. In what other profession can you fail 70% of the time and be considered one of the greats? Consider the mental strength required to accept failure as part of the game and the focus to view each at-bat as an opportunity to fail a little bit less.

We need a similar kind of thinking in life to quantify value in our failure rates.

A “perfect game” is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a team pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. It’s so rare because failure — by pitchers as well as batters — is expected as a matter of course. Francis Thomas Vincent Jr., the eighth commissioner of MLB, is quoted as saying: “Baseball teaches us, or has taught most of us, how to deal with failure. We learn at a very young age that failure is the norm in baseball and, precisely because we have failed, we hold in high regard those who fail less often — those who hit safely in one out of three chances and become star players. I also find it fascinating that baseball, alone in sport, considers errors to be part of the game, part of its rigorous truth.”

On June 19, 2014, the fans and commentators of baseball praised in dramatic fashion Kershaw’s dominant no-hitter, but with a subtle tone of confusion and denial of the ugly blemish recorded across the team’s box score: 0-0-1. Zero runs. Zero hits. One error. One base runner. An imperfect game. If only!

The collective hope for perfection is understandable. Most people are afraid to fail.

Parades aren’t held for the runner-up. Grades aren’t given just for trying. Job promotions aren’t offered for making mistakes. Placing perfection on a pedestal relieves the collective anxiety — but prohibits the opportunity — of accepting failure as an integral part of life. For an individual, failure is an opportunity to grow and become a better person. For a business, failure is an opportunity to pivot and redefine success. The opposite of perfection is not failure. It is accepting the opportunity to learn from transgressions. Winston Churchill once quipped, “The maxim, ‘Nothing prevails but perfection,’ may be spelled P-A-R-A-L-Y-S-I-S.”

Almost to the day, 75 years before Kershaw’s no-hitter, the world of sports witnessed the catastrophic reality of paralysis. In June 1939, after a week of extensive testing at the Mayo Clinic, Lou Gehrig announced to the world that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This announcement happened to fall on his 36th birthday. This represented the end of Gehrig’s illustrious baseball career. But 75 years later, what is remembered about this man is not his career batting average of .340, seven-time All-Star appearances, six-time World Series championships, winning of the Triple Crown or two-time league MVP. Sabermetrics could not possibly explain Gehrig’s value to the sport. What endures is what no statistic can capture: his grace. His humility. His courage in the face of loss. What is remembered and honored is his response to the ultimate “failure”: a failure of upper and lower motor neurons to make necessary connections that ultimately leads to rapidly progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. In defiance to an illness that is uniformly fatal, Gehrig paid homage to his teammates, professional members of the MLB and its fans by proclaiming himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”

Similarly, sabermetrics misses the true greatness of Kershaw’s no-hitter. What could never be displayed in statistics or numbers was Kershaw’s response to the error. After Ramirez’s throwing error, his hat lay at the base of Kershaw’s pitching mound. As I watched from the stands, I could not hear what Kershaw said to Ramirez as he picked it up, dusted off and handed the hat back to his humiliated teammate. But his body language appeared unbelievably humble, accepting and supportive, as if to recognize the lesson of baseball, which is that errors are a celebrated part of the game. To dwell on errors and think “if only” leads to disappointment and blame, but to accept and embrace imperfections with a positive and optimistic attitude defines the ultimate success.

If only we could all be that perfect.

Josh Diamond is a physician in private practice in Los Angeles and a lifelong Dodgers fan. Some of his earliest memories are of attending games with his father; he now shares his love of the Dodgers with his son.

Sophie Williams’ decade-long dance career has taken her across the globe, from the English National Ballet in London to the Royal New Zealand Ballet and the Texas Ballet Theater, where she’s currently a member of the corps de ballet.

Yet she can count on one hand the number of works she’s performed by a female choreographer.

So when Williams started her own nonprofit ballet company, Pointeworks, in 2023, she knew she wanted to spotlight women, whether choreographers, dancers, costume designers or composers.

“Whenever there is an opportunity, I will utilize the platform to try and bring balance within the ballet world, which most of us haven’t seen in our careers,” Williams, Pointeworks’ artistic director, told The Times.

From its inception, Pointeworks has strived to fill in gaps. Williams was inspired to start the company as a way to provide work for professional dancers during their unpaid summer layoffs. With a lack of opportunities and an abundance of talent in the ballet world, Williams decided to create a group that performs during the off-season.

“[Pointeworks] is a very artist-forward company. It’s creating opportunities for the dancers — giving them new works, collaborations, things that can elevate their careers outside of their structured company season, and be able to provide them a platform during that time as well,” Williams said. “And also for audiences who don’t get to see ballet during the summer because companies are off, they get to see Pointeworks.”

Pointeworks debuted last June with a sold-out performance at the 500-seat Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in Williams’ hometown of San Diego. This year, the company expanded to the East Coast with three shows at New York City’s Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater in March. After a successful return to San Diego last week, the group is preparing for its first Orange County show Friday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Before the Irvine show, Pointeworks will host its first mentorship program for local students who intend to pursue a professional dance career. Selected dancers will participate in a Pointeworks class on Friday and be paired with a mentor from the company who will continue to guide them over the next year. As of Wednesday, seven students had applied and been accepted, according to marketing and outreach coordinator AvaRose Dillon.

Sisters Claire, Nicole and Emma Von Enck rehearse for their performance of “Chasing Shadows” with Pointeworks.

(Raquel Beauchamp)

Williams received more than 400 applications from choreographers for this season overall, she said. While her goal is to highlight female creatives, anyone is welcome to submit ideas.

Among the pieces commissioned for the New York shows was Laine Habony’s “Chasing Shadows,” choreographed for sisters Claire, Emma and Nicole Von Enck — who had never performed together professionally. Nicole, the eldest sister and Williams’ colleague at Texas Ballet Theater, leapt at the opportunity to collaborate with her siblings, who both dance for New York City Ballet.

Habony, also from New York City Ballet, wanted the project to be accompanied by an original score. So she enlisted Welsh composer Katie Jenkins, whom she met at Revolve Dance Project in Providence, R.I., last summer. The duo later recruited pianist and recent Juilliard graduate Joshua Mhoon to play the live score.

For the Irvine show,Williams, Paige Nyman and Adeline Melcher, all from Texas Ballet Theater, will perform the piece. This will mark the first time that Williams will dance to a composition by a female composer, she said.

“[‘Chasing Shadows’] is just very unique in the sense that it’s a female composer behind the music and a female voice behind the choreography, female costume designer behind what we’re wearing, female lighting designer behind what’s going on the stage,” Nyman said. “It’s just an entirely sisterhood piece.”

In addition to “Chasing Shadows,” the Irvine program includes new commissions from choreographers Reka Gyulai and Heather Nichols; DaYoung Jung’s “It’s Deep, It’s Dark,” which debuted in New York; and Christopher Wheeldon’s “Carousel,” a 2002 pas de deux set to music from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical of the same name.

“I think it gives a variety to the audience by commissioning new works, contemporary works, new classical works, but also putting in iconic classics — and ‘Carousel’ is one of those,” Williams said.

Dance careers don’t last forever, so it’s important to take advantage of every moment, Williams said. That’s why she’s passionate about maximizing opportunities both on and offstage.

Sisters Claire, Nicole and Emma Von Enck perform together for the first time professionally.

(Nathan Carlson)

In October, Williams hired interns to help with administrative tasks. Among them was Dillon, Pointeworks’ marketing coordinator and a corps de ballet member at Texas Ballet Theater. This month, she began dancing with Pointeworks as well.

“I want to make sure that Pointeworks is for the dancers first,” Williams said. “So by having dancer perspectives in just every angle — whether that’s marketing, administration, development — if you know what it is to be a dancer and you have been a dancer, I think that it’s a lot more cohesive, putting those interests first.”

In addition to dancing professionally, Dillon takes online classes at Texas Tech University, where she studies public relations and strategic communications.

“I feel like [Pointeworks has] been the perfect supplement to my education, because I’m taking classes on how to write press releases and then I’m writing press releases for Pointeworks,” Dillon said. “I could have never comprehended such a perfect opportunity to align with my goals as an artist and future arts leader and an arts advocate.”

While Dillon is just starting her career, Pointeworks also provides opportunities for more seasoned dancers. For instance, retired dancer Christian Griggs-Drane — previously with the Royal New Zealand Ballet — is the company’s development and fundraising coordinator.

Three years after retiring as a ballerina, Jung continues to work as a choreographer, rehearsal director and dance educator. She and Williams met at Oklahoma City Ballet about nine years ago and reconnected at last year’s National Choreographers Initiative in Irvine.

Even though Jung created “It’s Deep, It’s Dark” with her dancers in just 10 days, she said she appreciated the opportunity to work with such a professional, open-minded group of individuals.

“[Pointeworks] is not just about giving artists a platform. It’s about reshaping the dance landscape, ensuring women’s voices are heard and their vision brought to life,” Jung said. “I feel like I could really take risks, experiment and develop my own artistic language without the limitation in traditional structure. And I think Pointeworks was perfect at it, that I could really explore myself as an artist and as a choreographer.”

June 13 (UPI) — There was once a popular Korean television program titled The Accidental Adult. First aired in 2013 and continuing for a decade until 2023, the talk show resonated deeply with audiences. It offered insights and wisdom for those who found themselves thrust into adulthood unprepared — becoming grown-ups before truly acquiring the qualities expected of one.

A similar phenomenon is now unfolding in South Korean politics.

As of now, it appears highly likely that Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul will accompany President Lee Jae-myung to the upcoming G7 Summit in Canada from Sunday to Tuesday. The situation is noteworthy because Cho was appointed by former President Yoon Suk-yeol.

If this scenario materializes, it will present a rare pairing of a progressive president with a conservative foreign minister on the global stage. This awkward and somewhat pitiable arrangement reflects the peculiar nature of the most recent presidential election.

Due to the snap election, Lee took office without the usual transition period or a fully formed Cabinet. This has forced him to represent the nation at a major diplomatic summit — his first international appearance as president– without his own diplomatic team in place. In this context, he must rely on the foreign policy personnel of the previous administration.

Typically, the National Security Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lead the coordination of a president’s diplomatic agenda. However, aside from appointing a national security adviser and a few aides, Lee has yet to complete key appointments.

Even if a new foreign minister were named immediately, the time needed for confirmation hearings and legislative approval would be insufficient before the summit. As a result, Lee has little choice but to include Cho in his delegation, despite the awkward optics.

A similar scenario could repeat itself if decides to attend the NATO Summit in the Netherlands on June 24 to 25. In effect, what we are witnessing is an “accidental left-right cohabitation.”

This is likely an uncomfortable arrangement for both the president and the foreign minister. During his first Cabinet meeting, Lee reportedly acknowledged the awkwardness and nonetheless urged ministers from the previous administration to do their best during their remaining time. The situation is unprecedented in modern Korean political history.

Meanwhile, the G7 Summit presents a formidable series of diplomatic challenges for the new president. While multilateral meetings may be easier to navigate, bilateral or trilateral encounters — such as with U.S. President Donald Trump or Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba — will be significantly more sensitive. There is a real possibility of impromptu summits among South Korea, the United States and Japan. Given Trump’s unpredictable style, such developments cannot be ruled out.

Especially pressing are the looming trade negotiations between South Korea and the United States. The Trump administration has already announced a 25% reciprocal tariff on Korean goods, currently suspended until July 8.

The G7 also could become a forum where the United States suddenly raises issues such as South Korea’s financial contribution to U.S. military deployments. After waiting six months during South Korea’s leadership vacuum, Washington may seize this summit as the moment to assert its agenda. If mishandled, what should be an opportunity could devolve into a diplomatic crisis.

In such circumstances, the role of the foreign minister is indispensable. Beyond preparing agendas and policy positions, it is the minister’s task to smooth introductions between leaders meeting for the first time and to conduct the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that often determines the success of high-level meetings.

Lee lacks experience on the global stage, and a disorganized diplomatic team would only amplify the risk of missteps. Fortunately, Cho already has met with his G7 counterparts several times while preparing for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Foreign Ministers’ Conference in Gyeongju this fall.

These prior engagements put him in a favorable position to support the president effectively. Though the left-right pairing may be accidental, it could turn out to be a strategic advantage — both for national interests and for the president himself.

Let us return, then, to The Accidental Adult. That show depicted individuals who matured into responsible adults through trial and reflection, often having entered adulthood without prior preparation.

In the same spirit, the G7 Summit could become a proving ground for national integration. This rare political cohabitation — between a progressive president and a conservative minister — could offer a tangible demonstration of overcoming ideological division.

Lee was elected on a promise to unify a society deeply divided along ideological lines. Though he has spoken frequently of integration, he has yet to present a concrete roadmap. As a result, some in the conservative camp have dismissed his rhetoric as mere lip service or mocked it as an attempt at “three-branch unification” of the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

However, if the president and his conservative foreign minister can demonstrate meaningful cooperation at the G7, those criticisms could be swiftly silenced. The prospect of genuine political reconciliation — and with it, national progress — would become significantly more plausible.

There is precedent for this approach. President Abraham Lincoln famously appointed political rivals to his Cabinet, including William Seward as Secretary of State and Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War — choices that helped him lead the Union to victory in the Civil War. Likewise, France has a long tradition of “cohabitation,” in which presidents from one political camp work with prime ministers from another to maintain national stability.

If Cho performs well at the G7, there is little reason to exclude him — or other capable members of the previous administration — from future government roles. If someone is highly experienced and capable, appointing them regardless of political affiliation would serve the national interest.

Even if not as foreign minister, they could still be included somewhere within the foreign policy team, helping to pass on the diplomatic experience of the previous administration to the new one — as a model of inclusion and cooperative governance. If this left-right cohabitation came about out of necessity, if it yields benefits, there’s no reason to reject it outright.

This moment also intersects with Lee’s announcement of a new “Public Recommendation System,” which invites citizens to recommend candidates for key public posts, including ministers and heads of public institutions. Promoted as the “first step in exercising popular sovereignty,” the initiative’s credibility will hinge on whether it includes outstanding individuals from across the political spectrum –not just the ruling party’s loyalists.

The unexpected cohabitation at the G7 could serve as an early test of this inclusive, collaborative vision. Korea’s winner-takes-all political culture must be replaced with a new ethos of sharing power and responsibility. And perhaps this accidental alliance between a progressive president and a conservative minister could plant the seeds of a more inclusive, cooperative democracy.

Nohsok Choi is the former chief editor of the Kyunghyang Shinmun and former Paris correspondent. He currently serves as president of the Kyunghyang Shinmun Alumni Association, president of the Korean Media & Culture Forum and CEO of YouTube channel One World TV.

NIGEL Farage will offer young people the chance to take up trades such as welding and robotics as part of his re-industrialisation plans.

The Reform UK leader will accuse Labour of forgetting their heartlands by offering a bright future to youths if they gain power.

Farage has vowed to set up regional technical colleges in Wales teaching plumbing, electrical trades and industrial automation in a careers blitz if they win power there next year.

The intervention is part of a major drive to win next year’s elections there as he blames Labour’s “twenty-six years of failure” on a visit there today.

The move comes as the party chief vows to abandon the government’s Net Zero drive if he reaches power by re-opening coal mines.

The party chief intends to give the green light to digging for British coal rather than importing it to help make home-grown steel.

Ministers have set out their plans for not granting any more coal licences insisting that phasing out is crucial to tackling climate change.

But during a major speech today, he will talk about how Wales produced 60 million tons of coal exporting half of it.

He will also hail the country’s heritage, he will address Port Talbot steelworks which were once the largest steel plant in Europe.

The party chief will use a major speech in the Principality setting out his plans to re-industrialise the country in areas betrayed by Labour.

He will take aim at Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘year of failure” since coming to power and saying the game is up for blaming the Tories for the woes of Wales.

Mr Farage will also highlight how de-industrialisation there means GDP per head is £10,000 less than the UK.

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