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Tom Stoppard, dead?

Surely, someone has made a hash of the plot. Yes, he was 88, but the Czech-born, British playwright, the true 20th century heir to Oscar Wilde, would never have arranged things so banally.

“A severe blow to Logic” is how a character describes the death of a philosophy professor in Stoppard’s 1972 play “Jumpers.” But then, as this polymath wag continues, “The truth to us philosophers, Mr. Crouch, is always an interim judgment … Unlike mystery novels, life does not guarantee a denouement; and if it came, how would one know whether to believe it?”

Few people were more agnostically alive than Stoppard, who loved the finer things in life and handsomely earned them with his inexhaustible wit. A man of consummate urbanity who lived like a country squire, he was a sportsman (cricket was his game) and a connoisseur of ideas, which he treated with a cricketer’s agility and vigor.

Stoppard announced himself with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” an absurdist lark that views “Hamlet” from the keyhole perspective of two courtiers jockeying for position in the new regime. The influence of Samuel Beckett was unmistakable in the combination of music hall zaniness and existential ruthlessness that characterized the succession of early plays that merged the Theatre of the Absurd with a souped-up version of Shavian farce.

Simple wasn’t Stoppard‘s style. The Fellini-esque profusion of “Jumpers” includes warring philosophy professors, a retired chanteuse and a chorus of acrobats, set within the frame of murder mystery that owes a debt to the gimlet-eyed social satire of Joe Orton. “Travesties,” Stoppard’s 1974 play, is built on the coincidence that James Joyce, Dadaist Tristan Tzara, and Vladimir Lenin all happened to be in Zurich during World War I — a cultural happenstance that paved the way for a dizzying alternative history, in which art faces off against politics. (Art, no surprise, wins.)

Wordplay, aphorisms and bon mots were Stoppard’s signature. Not since “The Importance of Being Earnest,” a play that Stoppard revered the way a mathematician would regard the world’s most elegant proof, has the English stage experienced such high-flying chat. Yet he acquired a reputation as a dandy, a clever humorist and an intellectual showman, distinctly apolitical and seemingly a man of no convictions.

The latter charge he no doubt would have taken as a compliment. He prided himself on having a mind unstained by certainties. But he was aware of the criticism of his work as intellectually brilliant but emotionally brittle. Virtuosity, in language and dramatic structure, was his great strength. But also perhaps his weakness — a weakness for which many lesser writers would no doubt sell their souls.

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern” and “Travesties were indeed master manipulations of plot and language. They were also breaths of fresh air that won Tony Awards for best play and established Stoppard as a transatlantic force. It would have been perfectly natural for him to continue in this vein, but his writing took a more personal turn in “The Real Thing,” a play about a playwright learning both to write about love and to take in and appreciate its complex reality.

New York Times theater critic Frank Rich called “The Real Thing” “not only Mr. Stoppard’s most moving play, but also the most bracing play that anyone has written about love and marriage in years.” The 1984 Broadway premiere, starring Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close under the direction of Mike Nichols, won Tony Awards for its leads, Nichols’ direction, Christine Baranski’s featured performance and best play. It was Stoppard’s third such honor, and it would not be his last.

But the criticism didn’t end there. (Is it any surprise that in “The Real Inspector Hound,” his 1968 one-act, Stoppard imagined a scenario in which a critic is killed by the play he’s reviewing?) Stoppard’s cleverness, while the source of his fame and prestige, was intimidating to some and off-putting to others. Not everyone goes to the theater to be wowed by verbal pyrotechnics or daredevil plot high jinks. The blinding brilliance of his plays left theatergoers still squinting to see whether his work had much of a heart.

Stoppard ranged freely over a variety of dramatic modes. (It was this ability that made him such a valuable screenwriter and script doctor, earning him not only wealth but also a shared Oscar for the screenplay “Shakespeare in Love.”) But he had no interest in writing character studies. Domestic drama, with its psychological epiphanies and sentimental resolutions, repelled him. But neither was he drawn to the issue-laden work of his more politically minded postwar British playwriting peers, that new breed of dramatist unleashed by John Osborne’s “Look Back in Anger.”

A born entertainer who had no ideology to sell or bourgeois morality to promote, he gravitated to theater as the most exhilarating form of debate. What he called “the felicitous expression of ideas” mattered more to him than academic point-scoring. Language was a theatrical resource that could do more than win arguments.

The comedy of ideas had become self-serious over time. Stoppard was determined to restore its fun without diminishing its substance.

His astonishing erudition encouraged him to tread where few playwrights before him had dared to go. But he was too much of a sensualist to cloister himself in the archives of the British Museum.

When I interviewed Stoppard at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater during rehearsals for his play “The Hard Problem,” he told me that he didn’t think he ever spent more than half an hour on research. He did concede, however, “I’ve spent many, many days of my life reading for pleasure in order to inform myself about something.

How else could he have pulled off “The Coast of Utopia,” a three-play creation centered on 19th century Russian intellectuals, romantics and revolutionaries against decades of geopolitical tumult? This marathon epic earned Stoppard his fourth Tony Award for best play.

“Arcadia,” perhaps his crowning achievement, may not be as sprawling but it’s just as intellectually ambitious. It’s also perhaps his most lyrically affecting.

A literary and biographical mystery play set in an English country estate in two different time zones (one in the age of Lord Byron, the other in the era of contemporary academic sleuths), “Arcadia” owes a debt to A.S. Byatt’s “Possession.” (In her mammoth biography “Tom Stoppard: A Life,” Hermione Lee reports that “Byatt has said that Stoppard told her he ‘pinched’ the plot from her.”) But the way Stoppard incorporates mathematical concepts as rarefied as fractal geometry to explore concepts of order and chaos as the characters hypothesize on the patterns of time is Stoppardian through and through.

Stoppard’s late works are his most personal. “Rock ’N’ Roll,” which he dedicated to Vaclav Havel, explores the rebellious, Dionysian force of popular music, an eternal source of inspiration for him, in a play set partly in Prague during the Communist era. “Leopoldstadt,” which won Stoppard his fifth and last Tony for best play, is the work in which the playwright grapples, from an artistic remove, with the history he was late to discover about what happened to his Jewish family during and after the rise of Hitler.

“The Invention of Love” is one of those Stoppard plays that leaves a critic feeling both rapturous and unsatisfied, a paradoxical state but then what can anyone expect from a play that makes the poet, classicist and closet homosexual A.E. Housman a theatrical protagonist?

No play by Stoppard can be fully appreciated in a single theatrical outing. The dramaturgy is too complex, the intelligence too quick-footed and the language too dazzling for instant assessment. My fear is that the plays are too expansive for the diminished scale of dramatic production today. But Stoppard has left theatrical riches that will entice audiences for generations through their intellectual exuberance, preternatural eloquence and omnivorous delight.

Lakers star LeBron James will miss Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans as he manages a right foot injury, the team announced.

The Lakers (14-4) are playing the first of two games in as many nights at home. They host the Phoenix Suns on Monday, which will be the team’s third game in four days after a win over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.

Playing in just his fourth game of the season, James played 34 minutes in the 129-119 win, scoring 13 points with seven assists. He missed the beginning of the season for the first time in his 23-year NBA career because of right sciatica that sidelined him for 14 games.

Despite James’ limited time, the Lakers have still thrived behind Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Doncic leads the NBA in scoring with 35.1 points per game. The dynamic duo combined for 72 points in Friday’s win, led by 38 points on 12-for-15 shooting from Reaves. The Lakers guard scored 31 points in the team’s first matchup against the Pelicans, a 118-104 win on Nov. 15 in New Orleans.

The Pelicans (3-17) have the worst record in the Western Conference. The Lakers need James for the tougher matchup against the Suns (12-9) on Monday before playing in Toronto on Thursday, the first game of a three-game East Coast road trip.

The Lakers will also be without guard Marcus Smart (back spasms) for the second consecutive game.

Tom Stoppard, frequently hailed as the greatest British playwright of this generation, had both a remarkable life and a remarkable career.

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1937, his family fled to Singapore when the Nazis invaded. When Japan threatened their new home, his mother took him and his brother to India. His father stayed behind in Singapore but died when the ship he was aboard was sunk. His mother later married a British officer and the family relocated to England, where young Stoppard took his stepfather’s surname and “put on Englishness like a coat,” he later said.

Stoppard quickly became known for his clever, witty and intellectually curious work, earning three Olivier Awards, five Tony Awards and an Oscar (for “Shakespeare in Love”). He was even knighted in 1997 by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to theater.

Starting with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” in 1966, through his final full-length play “Leopoldstadt” in 2020, Stoppard crafted a body of work that would be the envy of most countries, let alone one writer.

Below are some of Stoppard most important plays, with observations from Times critics:

The 2022 Broadway production of “Leopoldstadt” in a family scene from 1924.

(Joan Marcus)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966)

After working as a journalist, Stoppard had a breakthrough when this absurdist romp debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe. Times theater critic Charles McNulty reviewed a 2013 production at the Old Globe’s Shakespeare Festival in San Diego, describing it as a “metapharcical romp (to coin a genre), in which ‘Hamlet’ is glimpsed through the oblique perspective of the prince’s twin buddies, sent to spy on him by Gertrude and Claudius in that Elsinore castle of murder, adultery and occult intrigue. … Stoppard’s fertile wit keeps this three-act drama pulsing along without too much strain. A subtle pathos, along with the playwright’s verbal sophistication, prevents the play from degenerating into a collegiate vaudeville.” In 1990, Stoppard himself directed a film version starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth.

Jumpers (1972)

This satire set in an alternative universe in which British astronauts land on the moon and “Radical Liberals” have taken over the nation’s government, premiered at London’s Old Vic starring Michael Hordern and Diana Rigg. Two years later, Times theater critic Dan Sullivan reviewed an American Conservatory Theater production of it in San Francisco. “Stoppard’s new play can’t be hung with one of those preprinted tags that theater critics carry in their pockets for easy labeling,” he wrote. “You might call it a Metaphysical Spoof With Acrobatic Prelude, or you might not. The only general thing you can say about it is that it’s very bright and very funny, and sometimes rather touching.”

Travesties (1974)

The Royal Shakespeare Company staged the first production at the Aldwych Theatre in London, starring John Wood, John Hurt, Tom Bell and Frank Windsor. Stoppard was fascinated with the idea that James Joyce, Vladimir Lenin and Dadadist poet Tristan Tzara were all living in Zurich in 1917. He placed these zeitgeist figures in the orbit of a more humble historical figure named Henry Carr, who figured into Joyce’s “Ulysses.” The Times’ Sullivan took in the 1975 New York production, calling it “dazzling” and wondered if Broadway audiences would be able to keep up with it. “Like Stoppard’s last play ‘Jumpers’ (which didn’t do very well here), this is a vaudeville show where the language does tricks as well as the actors,” wrote Sullivan. “And to do the tricks as well as ‘Travesties,’ John Wood [as Carr], a playwright’s language has got to be pretty accomplished.”

The Real Thing (1982)

Felicity Kendal and Roger Rees originated the lead roles in Stoppard’s very personal examination of love and marriage, truth and honesty. The playwright significantly reworked the script for its Broadway run, starring Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons directed by Mike Nichols, to great success. Linda Purl and Michael Gross assumed the roles for the 1986 L.A. production at the Doolittle Theatre. ”Without spoiling its surprises, the reviewer can say that not every scene in ‘The Real Thing’ is what it seems to be, including the first one,” wrote Sullivan. “Stoppard’s characters are theater people, professional makers of scenes, and some of these scenes get swept into the play. … ‘The Real Thing’ has wit, surprise and characters you care about. … If you like plays written in full sentences, you’ll like ‘The Real Thing.’

Arcadia (1993)

Moving between the 19th century and the present, Stoddard balanced tragedy and comedy with a healthy dose of science and mathematics. The play opened at the Royal National Theatre in London directed by Trevor Nunn with a cast including Rufus Sewell, Felicity Kendal, Bill Nighy and Emma Fielding. Two years later, in New York, Nunn directed a new cast that included Billy Crudup, Blair Brown, Victor Garber as Bernard, Robert Sean Leonard, Jennifer Dundas and Paul Giamatti in his Broadway debut. “‘Arcadia’ is a great play not because it seamlessly meshes serious ideas and the intense pleasure of a literary detective story,” wrote Times critic Laurie Winer, reviewing director Robert Egan’s 1997 Mark Taper Forum production. “It is a great play because, by the end, Tom Stoppard touches ineffability, just as his heroine touches genius.”

The Invention of Love (1997)

For this portrait of poet A. E. Housman, Stoppard once again turned to historical figures for his cast. The play premiered at the Royal National Theatre, London, with Housman played as an old man by John Wood and as a young man by Paul Rhys. It was directed by Richard Eyre. The play opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre in 2001, directed by Jack O’Brien. “Stoppard has written an essentially undramatic dreamscape,” wrote Times critic Michael Phillips.” The recently deceased Housman (Richard Easton), about to cross the River Styx, assesses his recessive life and great unrequited love for the athlete Moses Jackson (David Harbour), a fellow Oxford man. En route, the elder Housman runs into his younger self (Robert Sean Leonard). There’s a long scene near the end of Act 1 shared by the two Housmans. As they discuss the niceties and textual flaws of the classics they love as much as life itself, Stoppard’s playfulness is tinged with rue; the older man cannot prevent the younger’s heartbreak to come.”

The Coast of Utopia (2002)

This trilogy of plays, “Voyage,” “Shipwreck” and “Salvage,” zeroed in on philosophical debates in 19th century Russia. They premiered at the National Theatre’s Olivier auditorium in repertory, directed by Nunn. The plays debuted on Broadway, directed by Jack O’Brien, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center in 2006. “A nearly eight-hour drama about the Russian intelligentsia that received mixed reviews when it premiered in London in 2002, ‘The Coast of Utopia’ isn’t for the theatrical faint of heart,” cautioned Times critic McNulty. “Stamina is a prerequisite for the company and audience alike. … Stoppard’s play enacts a moment in history when thinkers and writers set out to redirect the future. Ideologies were conceived and pressed immediately into service, sometimes at the expense of the individual lives they were theoretically meant to serve. [It] dramatizes both the ebb and flow of conditional life and the hunger for unconditional solutions to its woes.”

Rock ‘n’ Roll (2006)

Stoppard looked to his Czech roots with this drama, connecting the Prague Spring of 1968 with the Velvet Revolution of 1989 through music. The play premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, once again directed by Nunn and featuring Rufus Sewell, Brian Cox and Sinéad Cusack. The cast moved to Broadway in 2007. “You might want to arrive a bit early and study the timelines in the lobby, which detail Czechoslovakia’s turbulent political history from 1968 to 1990 and key events in the rock music scene during that era,” wrote reviewer F. Kathleen Foley of Open Fist’s 2010 production. “Read them carefully. Otherwise your head just may explode at some point during this Los Angeles premiere, which presupposes an intimate familiarity with Czech history, the early rock scene and, oh, did we mention Sapphic poetry? It’s all a bit ostentatious and difficult to follow — but even at his most intellectually prolix, Stoppard is flat-out brilliant, arguably our greatest living playwright.”

Leopoldstadt (2020)

The final play of Stoppard’s brilliant career was sparked by the playwright learning of the plight of his Jewish ancestors upon his mother’s death in 1996. It debuted at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End, but was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and debuted on Broadway in 2022 starring Davis Krumholtz with Patrick Marber directing. The play “unfolds as a series of oil paintings magicked into life,” wrote Times critic McNulty. “The play, which features a cast of 38 actors, moves from turn-of-the-century Vienna, where Freud, Mahler and Schnitzler are the talk of the town, to 1924, when the scars of World War I are clearly visible. Performed without intermission, the action ominously leaps to 1938, as the Nazis are ransacking the homes of Jewish citizens. The play concludes in 1955, when three family survivors reunite to piece together the fates of their murdered relatives. … It’s not just that the work mirrors aspects of his personal history. It’s also the virtuosic way that he conjures the shifting cultural zeitgeist of Vienna in the first half of the 20th century through stylized conversation alone.”

You can find audio dramas by L.A. Theatre Works of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” “The Real Thing” and “Arcadia” on Spotify.

Many of the films Stoppard wrote or co-wrote are available for streaming, including “Brazil” (1985),” Turner Classic Movies, and for rent on Apple TV and Prime Video; “The Russia House” (1990), for rent on Prime Video; “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” (1990), for rent on various platforms; “Empire of the Sun” (1987), for rent on various platforms; and “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), Paramount+ and Kanopy, and for rent on various platforms.

Stoppard is also certainly a playwright whose work is a joy to read. Most of these plays can be found at your local public library or favorite bookstore.

Junior cornerback Ayden Celis recovered a fumble at San Fernando’s 22-yard line with 1:27 remaining and the second-seeded Tigers held on to beat No. 1-seeded Cleveland 21-14 at Birmingham High.

It was the ninth City title for San Fernando (11-3) and its first since 2017.

Melvin Pineda plowed into the end zone on fourth and goal from the one-yard line to end San Fernando’s first drive and, after teammate Brandan Marshall recovered a fumble at the Tigers’ 46, Pineda capped the ensuing possession with another one-yard touchdown, his sixth of the playoffs, to make it 14-0.

Cleveland marched to San Fernando’s eight-yard line late in the second quarter but a 25-yard field-goal attempt by Samael Cerritos hit the left upright.

Oluwafemi Okeola intercepted an overthrown pass at the San Fernando 46 early in the third quarter and nine plays later quarterback Domenik Fuentes scored on a three-yard keeper to pull the top-seeded Cavaliers within eight.

Three runs by Brandon Maldonado gained 37 yards to set up Fuentes’ one-yard plunge and a two-point conversion run by Joseph Hurtado that tied the score, 14-14, with 9:33 left.

San Fernando responded with a 75-yard drive, regaining the lead on a two-yard run by Andrew Newchurch, his 16th touchdown of the season, and a clutch extra point by Isaac Ortega with 4:36 remaining in the game.

“It was probably my last [high school] football game and we got the win,” Newchurch said. “The play was overload left and it was wide open. We’re proud to add to the school legacy — we hadn’t won City in a long time.”

The Tigers lost to eventual-champion Chatsworth in the first round of the Division II playoffs last season.

Cleveland (5-9) was seeking its first City title.

Nico Iamalealva is probably going to have a chance to go down in cross-town rivalry lore.

Barring a setback, UCLA’s quarterback is expected to play against USC on Saturday afternoon when the teams meet at the Coliseum, according to one person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to discuss it publicly because of the sensitivity of health matters.

After being limited by neck spasms earlier in the week, Iamaleava was a full participant in practice on Thursday and Friday. If he continues to feel good in warm-ups, he’ll start the game for the Bruins (3-8 overall, 3-5 Big Ten) against the No. 17 Trojans (8-3, 6-2).

Iamaleava has sustained one injury after another in recent weeks. After missing the Bruins’ game against Ohio State because of a concussion, he returned to play against Washington the following week. Late in the game against the Huskies, Iamaleava absorbed a crunching hit and departed with neck spasms, forcing backup Luke Duncan to replace him.

Iamaleava has unquestionably become the Bruins’ top player since transferring from Tennessee, completing 63.5% of his passes for 1,728 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s also the team’s leading rusher with 641 yards and four touchdowns in 101 carries.

The Bruins are also expected to have tight end Hudson Habermehl back after he was cleared out of concussion protocol. But tight end Jack Pedersen (high ankle), wide receiver Rico Flores Jr. (calf) and running back Jaivian Thomas (unspecified injury) are considered doubtful.

Cornerback Rodrick Pleasant will not play after undergoing surgery this week to repair a shoulder injury.

For as long as most of us can remember, the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions have played games on Thanksgiving Day. But why?

Let’s start with the Lions. They have played every Thanksgiving since 1934, with the exception of 1939-44, despite the fact they haven’t been a good team most of those years. The Lions played their first season in Detroit in 1934 (before that, they were the Portsmouth Spartans). They struggled their first year in Detroit, as most sports fans there loved baseball’s Detroit Tigers and didn’t come out in droves to watch the Lions. So Lions owner George A. Richards had an idea: Why not play on Thanksgiving?

Richards also owned radio station WJR, which was one of the biggest stations in the country at that time. Richards had a lot of clout in the broadcasting world, and convinced NBC to air the game nationwide. The NFL champion Chicago Bears came to town, and the Lions sold out the 26,000-seat University of Detroit field for the first time. Richards kept the tradition going the next two years, and the NFL kept scheduling them on Thanksgiving when they resumed playing on that date after World War II ended. Richards sold the team in 1940 and died in 1951, but the tradition he started continues today when the Lions play the Green Bay Packers.

The Cowboys first played on Thanksgiving in 1966. They came into the league in 1960 and, as hard as it is to believe now, struggled to draw fans because they were pretty bad those first few years. General manager Tex Schramm basically begged the NFL to schedule them for a Thanksgiving game in 1966, thinking it might get them a popularity boost in Dallas and also nationwide since the game would be televised.

It worked. A Dallas-record 80,259 tickets were sold as the Cowboys defeated the Cleveland Browns 26-14. Some Cowboys fans point to that game as the beginning of Dallas becoming “America’s team.” They have missed playing on Thanksgiving only in 1975 and 1977, when NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle opted for the St. Louis Cardinals instead.

The games with the Cardinals proved to be losers in the ratings, so Rozelle asked the Cowboys if they would play again in 1978.

“It was a dud in St. Louis,” Schramm told the Chicago Tribune in 1998. “Pete asked if we’d take it back. I said only if we get it permanently. It’s something you have to build as a tradition. He said, ‘It’s yours forever.’ ”

Dallas takes on the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday.

Bitter rivals India and Pakistan will face off in Group A at next year’s 20-team competition.

Archrivals India and Pakistan will clash in a politically-charged Twenty20 World Cup match in Colombo on February 15, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said as it announced the draw on Tuesday.

The 20-team tournament will be played across eight venues – five in India and three in Sri Lanka – between February 7 and March 8, the ICC said in a statement.

Pakistan will play all their games in Sri Lanka because of their soured political relations with India.

The March 8 final is scheduled for the western Indian city of Ahmedabad but would be moved to Colombo if Pakistan reach it.

A military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May overshadowed the subsequent Asia Cup 2025 in which India refused to accept the winners’ trophy from Asian Cricket Council chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is Pakistan’s interior minister.

The teams in the tournament have been divided into five groups of four, with the top two advancing to the Super Eight phase. The top four in that will qualify for the semifinals.

Defending champions India will begin their Group A campaign against the United States in Mumbai on February 7.

Sri Lanka and Australia are in Group B, which also includes Ireland, Zimbabwe and Oman.

England and West Indies, both twice winners, will face first-timers Italy and Asian sides Bangladesh and Nepal in Group C.

New Zealand, South Africa, Afghanistan, Canada and the United Arab Emirates make up Group D.

Shohei Ohtani will once again represent Team Japan in next year’s World Baseball Classic.

Whether or not he pitches in the international tournament, however, remains unclear.

On Monday, Ohtani announced on Instagram he is planning to participate in the WBC for the second time in his career.

In the 2023 WBC, he won tournament MVP with a .435 batting average and 1.86 pitching ERA, helping Japan to that year’s title. He punctuated the event with his memorable strikeout of Mike Trout for the final out in the championship game.

“I’m happy to play again representing Japan,” Ohtani wrote in Japanese on Monday.

The question now is whether Ohtani will pitch in the event, which takes place in March, just five months removed from his heavy postseason workload during the Dodgers’ run to a second-consecutive World Series title.

At this point, no decision on that front has seemingly been made.

After spending the first half of the 2025 season limited only to designated hitting duties while completing his recovery from a 2023 Tommy John procedure, the 31-year-old Ohtani resumed his two-way role over the second half, making 14 pitching starts for the Dodgers from June to September while increasing his workload one inning at a time.

By the postseason, he was fully built up for full-length starts, and went on to throw 20⅓ innings over four playoff outings — including a 2⅓ inning appearance on shortened three days’ rest in Game 7 of the World Series.

Oftentimes, pitchers who are that heavily taxed during a deep playoff run will consider sitting out a WBC the following year because of the early ramp-up required to throw in the tournament takes place during spring training.

However, the WBC is of supreme importance in the Japanese baseball community; more significant even than the World Series. And Ohtani is the face of the county’s iconic Samurai Japan national team, which will be trying to win its fourth WBC title.

Shohei Ohtani celebrates with his teammates after striking out Mike Trout to secure Japan’s World Baseball Classic championship win over the United States in 2023.

(Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press)

Ohtani is expected to hit in the event, coming off a career-high 55-homer season that helped him earn a third-consecutive MVP Award and the fourth of his MLB career.

But there remains no indication about whether he will pitch, nor if such a decision has been made between him and the Dodgers (who can’t block Ohtani from participating in the event, but could request he either not pitch or follow strict usage rules given he missed the first half of last season on the mound).

It is unlikely that decision will be made until closer to the tournament.

The Dodgers’ two other Japanese pitchers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, face a similar dynamic leading into next year’s WBC.

Yamamoto made 30 starts in the 2025 regular season, the most of his MLB or Japanese career, then threw 37⅓ more innings in six outings during the playoffs — including his heroic back-to-back victories in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series.

Sasaki missed most of his rookie MLB season with a shoulder injury, but returned late in the year and became the team’s de facto closer in the playoffs. Next year, he is slated to return to the starting rotation.

Like Ohtani, they are both key cogs in the Dodgers’ 2026 pitching plans, which, as manager Dave Roberts alluded to during a promotional tour in Japan last week, could make the WBC something of a potential complication.

“We’ll support them,” Roberts told the Japanese media. “But I do think that the pitching, it’s a lot on the body, the arm. The rest will be beneficial for next year, for our season. But we understand how important the WBC is for these individual players and for the country of Japan.”

The Dodgers could choose to block Sasaki’s participation in the WBC, since he spent much of last year on the 60-day injured list, but have not yet given any indication about whether they would do so.

The club can’t do the same with Yamamoto, but could still try advocating for him to be used more conservatively in the tournament coming off his especially burdensome October performance.

For now, at least, what is known is that Ohtani will participate in some capacity.

But whether he, or his Japanese Dodgers teammates, will pitch in the tournament will remain a subplot as the offseason progresses.

Nico Iamaleava is back.

The UCLA quarterback who sat out last weekend’s game against Ohio State because of a concussion has been cleared to play against Washington on Saturday at the Rose Bowl, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of health matters. Iamaleava was released from concussion protocol on Monday night.

The return of the Bruins’ best player should significantly enhance an offense that unveiled a conservative game plan against the Buckeyes under backup quarterback Luke Duncan.

UCLA’s offensive line will also be back at full strength with the expected return of guard Garrett DiGiorgio and tackle Reuben Unije from injuries. DiGiorgio missed the game against the Buckeyes because of back spasms and Unije departed the game with a lower-body injury.

Iamaleava has been far and away the Bruins’ top offensive weapon this season after transferring from Tennessee. He’s completed 63.7% of his passes for 1,659 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions while also emerging as the team’s leading rusher with 474 yards and four touchdowns in 96 carries.

Iamaleava’s refusal to slide or run out of bounds might have contributed to his concussion because he’s repeatedly taken big hits as a result of his fearlessness. He absorbed several punishing hits against Nebraska earlier this month before developing concussion symptoms over the next week, forcing him to miss the game against Ohio State.

Duncan played admirably in Iamaleava’s absence, completing 16 of 23 passes for 154 yards and one touchdown without an interception. He appeared more comfortable as the game progressed amid play calls that increasingly allowed him to throw the ball farther downfield.

Now Duncan will happily cede his spot to Iamaleava as the Bruins (3-7 overall, 3-4 Big Ten) try to break a three-game losing streak with a victory over the Huskies (7-3, 4-3).

The women’s national soccer team will return to Carson in 2026 for the first time in nearly two years for its annual January training camp, U.S. Soccer will announce Thursday.

The 10-day camp will run from Jan. 17-27 and will conclude with two international matches. The first, on Jan. 24 against Paraguay, will be played at Dignity Health Sports Park and will include a tribute to two-time World Cup champion Christen Press, who announced her retirement this fall.

The venue and opponent for the second match on Jan. 27 has not been finalized.

“January camp is a vitally important part of our yearly schedule, especially with 2026 being a year that will host World Cup qualifying,” USWNT coach Emma Hayes said in a statement. “We don’t get many training days together during any given year, so there is a high value in getting a whole week of training as well as two matches.

“I was pleased with the progress we made as a team in 2025, but we still have a ways to go to get to where we want to be heading into the CONCACAF W Championship in the fall.”

Press, who was born and raised in Palos Verdes Estates, about 10 miles from Dignity Health Sports Park, scored 64 goals for the USWNT, ninth-most in team history. She helped the U.S. to back-to-back Women’s World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019 and played the final four years of her professional club career for her hometown Angel City FC.

The first 2,000 fans through the gates on Jan. 24 will receive a commemorative Christen Press bobblehead.

No venue has played host to more USWNT matches than Dignity Health Sports Park which, under various names, has been the site of 21 games for the U.S., dating to 2003, soon after the stadium opened. The U.S. went 20 games unbeaten at the venue (19 wins and one tie) before losing its most recent match there, a 2-0 upset to Mexico on Feb. 26, 2024, in the CONCACAF W Gold Cup, a tournament the U.S. would go on
win.

The USWNT was scheduled to hold its January training camp in Carson last year, but the deadly Southern California wildfires forced U.S. Soccer to move the camp to Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Presale tickets for the January matches will be available for purchase from 10 a.m. PST Friday through 8 a.m. PST Monday.

Tickets for both matches will go on sale to the public on Tuesday at 10 a.m. PST.

WITH rain and snow battering the UK, trying to keep the kids busy can be tricky.

Thankfully there are some amazing indoor play attractions to go to – including one that claims to be one of the biggest in Europe.

The Playhive is found at Stockeld Park in North Yorkshire, which is one of the biggest indoor playgrounds.

Having opened in 2022 after a multi-million pound project, it has since won a number of awards including being named the best in the country.

Earlier this year it has won an Association of Indoor Play award for the second year running.

The website states it is a “journey through four interconnected worlds of space, air, the jungle, and sea”.

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Inside is everything from massive spaceships – with rocket walkways, ladders and nets – to planes and submarines.

Jungle-themed climbing walls and under-the-sea play areas are also part of the attraction.

There are even toddler-friendly areas too although parents must leave buggies outside.

The attraction is open from 9:30am to 5:30pm.

Ticket allow a 90-minute session start from £13.50, or pay £23.50 to allow access to the full Adventure Park.

There is also the Playhive Pizzeria for when kids get hungry, serving hot snacks and drinks.

Previous parents have raved about the attraction.

One said: “Playhive is a magical indoor play area, unlike anywhere we have visited before. Not a usual softplay.”

Another said: “The indoor Playhive is out of this world, and truly outstanding. The outdoor areas and the beautiful Enchanted Forest are a really wonderful and magical experience for little ones.”

And there are loads of other exciting Christmas attractions in the rest of Stockeld Park.

This includes ice skating and light trails, both ticketed events.

Or there is the huge The Christmas Adventure, where kids can meet Santa and watch live theatre shows.

There are also onsite food and drink areas, such as the Woodland Cafe and Gretel’s Cabin.

When the weather is better, there are also mazes and huge outdoor playgrounds to explore.

The nearest cities to Stockeld Park are Leeds and York, both around a 40 minute drive.

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In the mean time, here are some other indoor attractions to explore in the UK.

And here is one of the newest indoor attractions in the UK.

When you’re a sportswriter covering high school sports in Southern California since the 1970s, you meet lots of sports families who come and go.

It’s going to be the end of an era for one of my favorite families, the Kymans. Bernie was the patriarch. He coached and was athletic director at so many high schools he could have worn a different mascot shirt every day for weeks. He was at Daniel Murphy, Los Angeles, St. Bonaventure, Moorpark, Chaminade (twice), Bishop Alemany, Littlerock, Cal Lutheran and Pierce College (twice).

His son, Coley, became a star in football and volleyball at Reseda in the 1980s, then the starting quarterback at Cal State Northridge and a Hall of Fame volleyball player for the Matadors. Coley’s wife, Michelle, won a national championship playing for UCLA’s women’s volleyball team. They had two sons, Jake and Brayden.

Jake helped Santa Margarita win a Southern Section Division 1 basketball championship in 2019, then spent three years at UCLA before transferring to Eastern Washington.

The last of the Kymans is Brayden, a 6-foot-7 senior at Santa Margarita and a Washington State commit who will get to play on Saturday for the first time where his father, mother and brother once played — UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. Santa Margarita faces Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in a 7 p.m. basketball game as part of a daylong showcase.

“Once I saw it on the schedule, I was really grateful and super excited,” Brayden said. “My brother played there, my parents played there. It’s kind of a full circle moment.”

His grandfather died in 2019 at the age of 78. Brayden said he learned plenty from a man who always believed in character and commitment.

“He taught me a lot and my dad, which was passed down to me — working hard and staying focused on what you want to do in life,” he said.

His parents both played professionally in volleyball, so they’ve been good role models and sounding boards for what to expect in the college journey.

“They always give me the best advice, whether it’s about recovery or a game,” he said. “They support me.”

Santa Margarita returns four starters this season and began the season as the No. 2-ranked team in the Southland by The Times. Kyman has already accomplished something few other top players are doing these days — staying from freshman season through senior season.

“It’s gone by super fast,” he said. “I remember yesterday I was a freshman. I’m grateful for the experience to be here all four years. I know that’s not as common now.”

After Brayden graduates, his parents are moving to Montana. It allows them to drive some five hours to his games in Pullman, Wash., while enjoy being away from big-city life. Just don’t expect Brayden to hang out in Montana. He makes it clear he’s a California boy for life.

“I think it’s crazy,” he said. “I’ve lived in the same house [in Aliso Vijeo] my whole life. I’m going to visit for a few days but not a whole week.”

He can also visit his brother, Jake, who’s living in Austin, Texas, and is a filmmaker. Brayden wants to keep playing basketball for as long as he can, then become a coach or trainer.

It’s been wonderful to see the Kymans make their mark in Southern California sports history.

Day session Saturday at Pauley Pavilion

Servite vs. Loyola, 9:30 a.m.

Orange Lutheran vs. St. Francis, 11 a.m.

Crean Lutheran vs. Campbell Hall, 12:30 p.m.

Mater Dei vs. Crespi, 2 p.m.

Night Session

JSerra vs. Sierra Canyon, 5:30 p.m.

Santa Margarita vs. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 7 p.m.

St. John Bosco vs. Harvard-Westlake, 8:30 p.m.

The shiny new Optus Stadium replaces the famous WACA – or Western Australian Cricket Association Ground – as the premier Test venue in Perth and will host the first Test of the 2025-26 series.

Perth has hosted plenty of memorable Ashes moments, with metal bats, blistering centuries and rare England wins all featuring in our quiz.

Shortly before Monday afternoon’s City Section Division I quarterfinal football game between host Eagle Rock and Dorsey was set to begin in the pouring rain, referee Patrick Riley ruled the middle of the grass field unsafe.

City Section Commissioner Vicky Lagos was in attendance and acted quickly to get the contest, scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., moved to an alternate site, which turned out to be Contreras Learning Complex — seven and a half miles away in downtown Los Angeles. When all was said and done, Dorsey moved on to the semifinals after a dominant 26-0 shutout.

“When the referees ruled the field unplayable we immediately called Sotomayor and Contreras because they have turf fields and are the closest in proximity to Eagle Rock,” Lagos said. “We had to arrange busing and we’re thankful to the officials — it was the same crew that was going to do the game Friday. If we couldn’t find a facility [today] then we would’ve had to play the game tomorrow.”

The game was supposed to be played Friday night along with the full slate of City Section contests, but it was postponed until Monday afternoon after a transformer problem left the school without power.

Dorsey wide receiver Stafon Johnson runs with the ball during a City Section Division I playoff win over Eagle Rock on Monday night.

(Craig Weston)

“We were told at 3:45 that we weren’t going to be able to play,” said Dorsey coach Stafon Johnson, a Dorsey alum who played at USC from 2006-09. My main concern at that point was whichever team wins would have a short turnaround for the next game.”

When the game finally kicked off at 6:45 p.m. the rain was still pouring. Eleventh-seeded Dorsey controlled the tempo from the start, marching 65 yards in five plays on its first possession, which ended on a five-yard run by Mahkai McCluster.

Nathan Schiebler fumbled on the second play of Eagle Rock’s first possession and defensive lineman Draysean Mixson recovered for Dorsey at the Eagles’ 47. Jamell Edmond capped the Dons’ ensuing drive with an 11-yard sweep and Deuce Johnson caught the two-point conversion pass to make it 14-0 late in the first quarter.

“We were ready to get down and dirty in the mud,” Dorsey quarterback Elijah McDaniel said after rushing for 120 yards and engineering all four of his team’s scoring drives. “We wanted to play [at Eagle Rock]. We wanted to play Friday even but the longer we had to wait the more time it gave us to prepare.”

Liam Pasten, one of the best passers in the City, completed only three of seven attempts for 22 yards in the first half and finished seven for 24 for 53 yards. Even as the rain subsided in the second half, the third-seeded Eagles (8-4) could not get their offense on track.

“I had 100% attendance at practice Saturday in the rain,” Johnson said. “This is the first time all year we’ve been fully loaded. This is Jamell’s first game back and he made a significant impact. That team averages over 40 points a game and we give them full credit. We just wanted to play … we didn’t care where it was.”

Edmond finished with 87 yards in 10 carries.

De Anthony Young-Jones scored on a two-yard run to increase the lead to 20-0 late in the third quarter and Jaziel Hernandez-Cruz closed the scoring with a one-yard run with 3:48 left in the fourth quarter. The 11th-seeded Dons (7-5) will be on the road again in the semifinals against No. 2 South Gate, a game that has been pushed back to Saturday.

Eagle Rock players did not get a chance to play one last time at Don Mengel Field. In February, construction is scheduled to begin on the school’s new synthetic turf field, eight-lane rubber track and scoreboard.

BOSTON — Jaylen Brown scored 33 points and had 13 rebounds, Payton Pritchard added 30 points and the Boston Celtics held off the Clippers for a 121-118 victory on Sunday.

Derrick White scored 22 points with nine assists and seven rebounds, and Neemias Queta chipped in with 14 points and nine boards for Boston.

Playing for the first time since beating Memphis by 37 points at home Wednesday, the Celtics nearly blew a 24-point, third-quarter lead but never trailed en route to their second straight victory.

Coming off his 82nd career triple-double with 41 points in a double-overtime victory at Dallas on Friday, James Harden scored 32 of his 37 points in the second half to lead the Clippers. Ivica Zubac added 16 points and 12 boards.

Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. was injured in a collision with Brown in the second quarter and didn’t return.

Brown’s arm struck Jones’ leg. Jones grabbed his knee as he fell to the floor and was rolling in pain before slowly getting up and being helped to the locker room, barely putting any weight on the leg. Brown was whistled for a foul on the play.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue comforts forward Derrick Jones Jr., who holds his knee after he was injured in the game against the host Celtics on Sunday.

(Robert F. Bukaty / Associated Press)

The 28-year-old Jones has started all 13 games this season and entered averaging 10.9 points.

With Jones out, the Clippers rallied. They made it 119-118 on Harden’s three with two seconds left, but Pritchard was fouled and hit two free throws.

Harden had an open look at a potential tying three-pointer, but it hit off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

After the Clippers sliced it to 90-85 at the end of the third, Brown scored 11 of Boston’s initial 16 points in the final quarter to keep the Celtics in control, mixing a three-pointer with a conventional three-point play and a couple of mid-range jumpers.

Boston had opened it to 76-52 midway into the third behind two three-pointers from Pritchard, who was eight of 13 overall on three-point attempts.

The Clippers closed it to 90-85 with a 12-4 run that was capped by Harden’s left-wing three with 2.4 seconds left.

The Clippers play a Philadelphia on Monday, the third of a seven-game road trip.

They were battered, they were bruised, they were soaking wet and covered in stereotypes.

They’re not tough enough. They’re not resilient enough. They’re not Big Ten-enough.

Late in the second quarter Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum, a USC football team fighting for a playoff berth was crumbling beneath the weight of its worst national perception.

It was wilting under the weather and the weight of a team from Iowa.

Then, with big swings from a deep strength that few thought a Lincoln Riley team possessed, everything changed.

It’s raining wins, hallelujah.

Trailing 21-7, the Trojans got muddy and chilly and just plain mean, winning the line of scrimmage, winning the battle of skill, and eventually winning the game 26-21.

Yeah, afterward, that was Riley dancing in a downpour.

And, yes, USC is still in the national championship hunt, needing wins in its final two games at Oregon and against UCLA to qualify for the College Football Playoff.

Few will believe they can beat sixth-ranked and one-loss Oregon in Eugene. But then again, few believed they would survive Iowa after the Hawkeyes took that big second-quarter lead.

During the last 10 years, Iowa had an 83-5 record when leading by eight points or more. Translated, this is a program that knows how to protect a lead, and the Trojans were seemingly cooked.

But Makai Lemon made 153 yards worth of spectacular catches, King Miller ran for 83 bruising clock-killing yards, Jahkeem Stewart made a game-changing interception, Jayden Maiava held it together with a touchdown pass and no turnovers, and the game essentially appropriately ended with USC just being stronger.

On a fourth-down pass in the final minute, Kennedy Urlacher shoved Kaden Wetjen out of bounds as he was making a grab deep in Trojan territory.

No catch, game over, and in the end, the Trojans were as hearty as that section of fans that witnessed the game shirtless.

The afternoon started with groundskeepers drying the field with leaf blowers, the first rainy game at the Coliseum in nine years.

USC coach Lincoln Riley celebrates with wide receiver Prince Strachan during the second half of a 26-21 comeback win over Iowa at the Coliseum on Saturday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

But for USC under Riley, it felt the same, a late-season game requiring the sort of grimy toughness that his Trojans had yet to show.

Blew five fourth-quarter leads last season. Blew four of their last five games two seasons ago. Blew the Pac-12 championship game and a shot at the playoffs three seasons ago.

It looked like they were going to blow it again.

Iowa took the opening kickoff and drove 69 yards in seven plays in a bruising drive punctuated by a fourth-down, two-yard touchdown pass from Mark Gronowski to Dayton Howard in the back of the end zone.

Yes, the FBS’s 133rd ranked passing offense — out of 136 teams — had just scored on a pass play.

And Iowa was just getting started.

After stopping the Trojans’ Miller on a fourth-down run around just inside Iowa territory — a terrible Riley call against the nation’s best fourth-down defense — the Hawkeyes drove 45 yards in nine plays to score on a Gronowski one-yard push to take a 14-0 lead.

The Trojans came back while finally finding their groove, driving 74 yards on 11 plays featuring a leaping catch by Ja’Kobi Lane and ending with a one-yard touchdown run out of the wildcat formation by Bryan Jackson.

So USC had the momentum? Not so fast.

USC defensive tackle Jide Abasiri holds up the ball while celebrating with cornerback Decarlos Nicholson during the second half of the Trojans’ win Saturday over Iowa.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Iowa took the possession and pounded and pounded and nine plays and 75 yards later scored on a five-yard, trick-play pass from receiver Reece Vander Zee to Gronowski.

That gave Iowa a 21-7 lead that was shortened only by a Ryon Sayeri 40-yard field goal after a dropped pass and penalty stopped the Trojans.

USC took the ball at the start of the third quarter and seemed to be destined for a touchdown after a leaping sideline catch by Lemon. But a holding call against Lane ruined a long run by Miller, two failed pass plays stalled the drive, and the Trojans had to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Sayeri to close the gap to 21-13.

After the Trojans defense stiffened, the offense went back on a roll, using another leaping grab by Lemon — this one for 35 yards — to set up a 12-yard TD pass between three defenders to Lemon. Maiava overthrew Lemon on the two-point conversion attempt, but this time, the Trojans didn’t blow the momentum.

On Iowa’s next possession, with 1:52 left in the period, the powerful freshman Stewart grabbed a deflected pass for an interception to give the Trojans the ball on the Iowa 40-yard line.

From there, Maiava drove them 40 yards in six plays on a possession that was assisted by a pass interference penalty and gave them an eventual 26-21 lead after Jackson’s one-yard touchdown run.

It was a lead they never lost.

It is a season that still matters.

Foden and Bellingham have been used in wide positions for England in the past, but Tuchel’s selections suggest Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, who is on loan at Barcelona, and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka are his first choices on the left and right flank respectively, with Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon, Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze and West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen next in line.

So can Bellingham, Foden and Kane play together?

Gareth Southgate certainly thought so.

Bellingham, Foden and Kane started all of England’s seven games at Euro 2024 in Germany, where Southgate’s side lost to Spain in the final.

In the 16 games the trio have played alongside each other, England have won 10, drawn three and lost three, scoring 36 times and conceding 14. Of those 36 goals, Kane scored 14, Bellingham three and Foden two.

However, since Tuchel came in, the only time all three have played together was in the opening 74 minutes of his first game. Foden was substituted at 1-0 in a 2-0 win over Albania.

Tuchel is not the first England manager to have to juggle his side around to fit the best players in, with Sven-Goran Eriksson constantly trying to find the right balance in midfield.

Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes won the Champions League during their careers in central midfield for Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United respectively from the late 1990s to early 2010s.

They are regarded as three of England’s best midfielders, with Gerrard winning 114 caps, Lampard 106 and Scholes 66. However, they played in the same England side only eight times, with Scholes often moved to the left to accommodate Gerrard and Lampard in the middle.

SANTA CLARA — This is not a one-off.

This is no hot streak or a flash in the pan.

So don’t look away. Pay attention.

Otherwise, risk missing the master class that Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is conducting this season.

One that has the 17th-year pro squarely in the conversation for his first NFL most valuable player award.

“I see those people say stuff like that,” Stafford said Sunday after passing for four touchdowns in the Rams’ 42-26 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium, “and all I can think about is like I’m just lucky to have unbelievable teammates.”

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Gary Klein breaks down what went right for the Rams in their 42-26 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Stafford, 37, is playing as if he were in the middle, not near the end, of a possible Hall of Fame career.

On Sunday he tossed touchdown passes to receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams and tight ends Davis Allen and Colby Parkinson as the Rams avenged an overtime loss to the 49ers in Week 5 and improved to 7-2.

How efficient has Stafford played this season?

He has passed for a league-leading 25 touchdowns.

With only two interceptions.

“He can walk on water right now,” Nacua said.

In the last three games, Stafford has passed for 13 touchdowns. His second touchdown pass Sunday, to Allen, was the 400th of his career.

Stafford’s name already fills the NFL record book. He is among the top 10 in several passing categories. But he never has been this efficient for this long.

Stafford has not had a pass intercepted in the last six games, the longest such stretch of his career.

“It looks like the game is really in slow motion to him right now,” coach Sean McVay said.

Rams players (from left) Puka Nacua, Matthew Stafford, Jordan Whittington and Davante Adams celebrate in the third quarter of a 42-26 win over the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday.

(Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

Stafford’s recent run of excellence is on par with other awe-inspiring Los Angeles sports icons.

He has been as dominant as the UCLA fast break and full court press from the 1970s. Clayton Kershaw’s 12-to-6 curveball. Freddie Freeman’s walk-off homer swing.

This is a Wayne Gretzky assist. A Nolan Ryan no-hitter.

A Reggie Bush breakaway run. A Serena Williams backhand winner. A Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sky hook, a Magic Johnson no-look pass, a Kobe Bryant game-winning three. A Lisa Leslie low-post move. A Candace Parker dunk.

A Jim Murray or Bill Plaschke column.

A fill-in-the-blank run of excellence.

Overblown? Perhaps. The NFL is a humbling league. Stafford’s recent run could end next Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks at SoFi Stadium.

So enjoy it in real time. Follow Stafford’s lead.

“I have fun out there,” he said when asked about what Nacua described as Stafford’s ‘shimmy shake’ touchdown celebration. “I lose my mind when we score touchdowns.”

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford smiles while being interviewed after the Rams’ win over the 49ers on Sunday.

(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

That’s how defensive coordinators must feel when Stafford completes one of his patented no-look passes.

Adams played eight seasons in Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers. He knows what an MVP looks like.

“It’s looked like MVP play to me all year,” Adams said, pointing to a Week 2 game against the Tennessee Titans, when Stafford shook off an interception and led the Rams to victory. “Just to rally a team and continue to lead at a high level when things don’t go your way, I think that’s what really shows what an MVP is like.”

Stafford’s success harks to 2021, when he passed for 41 touchdowns and led the Rams to a Super Bowl title. He is on pace for an even more impressive statistical finish.

“The heater that he’s on, it’s elevating everybody else’s play,” Nacua said, “and we’re continuing to jump on that bandwagon with him and let him take us as far as he can.”

If Stafford continues his stellar play the Rams could find themselves right back here at Levi’s Stadium.

For Super Bowl LX.

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As a 12th-year pro, Davante Adams knows the value of rest during a bye week. So before the Rams played the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Oct. 19, Adams looked forward to days off that awaited.

Then Adams, flashing his three-time All-Pro form, caught three touchdown passes.

Was there any part of him that did not want a break?

“Oh, hell yeah,” Adams said this week, noting that he told coach Sean McVay, “‘I wish we could keep rolling at this point.’”

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Gary Klein breaks down what to expect from the Rams on Sunday when they face the New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium.

So did McVay.

“He’s like, ‘Man, I don’t want to have a week off,’” McVay recalled. “I said, ‘Hey, just enjoy it.’”

Adams, rested and ready after spending part of last week in Mexico with family, intends to pick up where he left off two weeks ago when the Rams play host to the New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium.

The game will mark the return of fellow star receiver Puka Nacua, who sat out against the Jaguars because of an ankle injury suffered Oct. 12 against the Baltimore Ravens.

But the Rams will be without speedy receiver Tutu Atwell, who will be sidelined for at least four games on injured reserve because of a hamstring injury.

McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford showed against the Jaguars that the Rams’ weapons go beyond Nacua and Adams. Four tight ends — Tyler Higbee, Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen and rookie Terrance Ferguson — were among the 10 players who caught passes in the 35-7 victory that improved the Rams record to 5-2.

“The more people we can get involved in the game, the better we are,” said Stafford, who has passed for 17 touchdowns, with only two interceptions. “We have a couple of extremely talented players, quite a few that are difference-makers in this league. When we can spread the ball around and make everybody defend all the guys, all the eligibles, every blade of grass, that’s when we’re at our best.”

The Rams signed Adams aiming to capitalize on his experience and playmaking, his elite separation skills and the threat he poses near the goal line.

Stafford, 37, and Adams, 32, combined for a few highlight-reel plays in the first six games. But they acknowledged in the week leading up to the game against the Jaguars that they were still working to get completely in sync.

They found their rhythm against the Jaguars.

Adams made dynamic catches from inside the two-yard line for all of his touchdowns.

Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said the Rams “absolutely” envisioned those kinds of plays when they pursued Adams, who has 109 career touchdown catches, the most among active players.

“There’s a reason he has over a hundred touchdowns,” LaFleur said, adding, “It’s not shocking.”

Did the Rams find something they can build on?

“Yeah, we’ll see what the red-zone targets look like this week and then we’ll be able to fully tell you,” Adams said, chuckling. “But definitely it’s not a secret that I’ve been able to make plays in the red zone.

“I think a lot of it was just getting on the same page, us feeling each other out and coming up with a good plan. The coaches did that and we were able to connect.

“I think the more you make plays, the more you build that confidence and then you stop straining and pressing to make plays and you just be yourself and go out there and be natural.”

Adams has 31 catches for 431 yards and six touchdowns.

With Stafford and Adams continuing to solidify their connection, the offense is poised to remain productive as the Rams drive toward a playoff spot.

“Me being who I am and Matthew being who he is and just having the team that we do, my expectations are really high and standards are really high for what I should bring and what this team should be able to do,” Adams said. “I’m definitely not satisfied with what we’ve done, but happy with where we are.”