A holiday park offers families affordable February half-term breaks with play area, spa and lake views
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The holiday park has a heated indoor pool(Image: Sykes Holiday Cottages)
February half-term presents a challenge for many families, particularly those still recovering financially from Christmas, whilst eyeing the longer Easter break ahead. British weather during this period is notoriously unpredictable, but that needn’t prevent you from discovering an enjoyable getaway destination that won’t break the bank.
Woodland Lakes holiday park near Thirsk, Yorkshire, boasts numerous attractions for families during the school holidays.
The heated indoor swimming pool proves consistently popular with youngsters eager for a dip, whilst an indoor play area, Pamper Lounge Spa, restaurant and bar complement the tranquil lake vistas and fishing spots, offering ample chances to unwind, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Situated on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors and a brief drive from both the vibrant market town of Thirsk and the historic city of York, it’s described as ‘the perfect retreat for those seeking a break away in a relaxed and picturesque environment’.
Various properties can be booked at the site this February half term, including Cedar lodge.
A four-night stay from February 16 to 20 is priced at £461 for four guests, equating to £28 per person per night through Sykes Holiday Cottages.
South Lakeland Village holds an overall Google rating of 4.3 out of five, with visitors commending the ‘excellent’ pool and ‘good pub food’.
James Shaw, chief commercial officer for Sykes Holiday Cottages, commented: “February half term is the perfect time for a family escape, and with 63% of Brits taking a UK break last year, staying closer to home is more popular than ever.
“Holiday resorts like Woodland Lakes Lodges offer shorter journey times, great value, and onsite activities that keep everyone entertained.”
He went on to say: “We’re also seeing families plan later to secure better deals and work around busy schedules, so there’s still plenty of time to book a last-minute getaway.
“Cedar offers the ideal mix with a heated pool and play area for the kids, spa facilities for parents, and the North Yorkshire Moors right on the doorstep for outdoor adventures.”
To explore further holiday options with Sykes Holiday Cottages, head over to their website. Woodland Lakes holiday park is a Landal site bookable through Sykes, alongside 22 other Landal destinations.
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THE Cotswolds is already a great place to visit, but nearby is a farm that parents are raving about as a great day out,
Millets Farm opened back in 1952, originally as a dairy farm.
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Millets Farm in Oxfordshire has lots of great activities for the familyCredit: MilletsFor example, you can head off on a farm animal walkCredit: Millets
Now, the farm is home to multiple attractions including a play barn, Maize Maze and Farmyard Golf.
The attraction is split into pre-booked activities and no pre-booking required activities.
For example, you could head off on the Millets Animal Walkway, where visitors will see a number of farm animals including goats, chickens, rabbits, horses, birds and alpacas.
The play area also doesn’t need pre-booking and has a mix of swings, slides, climbing frames and more.
There are also token-operated ride-on tractors, diggers and a crane which little ones can go on.
One token costs £1.75, three tokens cost £4.50 and five tokens cost £6.
If the weather isn’t rainy, you can also check out the 10 acre Phoebe Wood, where there are a number of woodland walks.
There are then several activities you have to book ahead for, such as Sprouts Play Barn with a four-lane wavy cow slide, 360 tunnel, a ‘mini Millets farmers market’ with seven soft role-play areas, a sports court and an area for under five-year-olds.
One recent visitor said: “This has to be the best soft play in Oxfordshire, it’s absolutely huge and offers a great variety of activities and play equipment for a wide age range.
“There’s a little baby area at the front, and then lots of fun for bigger kids on the higher levels.”
Another visitor added: “The soft play was the best we have ever been to (and we have been to A LOT).
“Every section was clean, looked brand new and so well thought out.
“It’s huge with four floors and the under fives section is also the biggest I’ve seen.”
Included in the Sprouts admission tickets, you also get access to the outdoor play area which has slides, beams and water play.
There’s also an indoor and outdoor play areaCredit: Millets
A must-watch new documentary series has just hit Netflix and it’s a must-watch for foodies
‘Pulse-racing’ new Netflix series has fans ‘already hitting play’(Image: GETTY)
Netflix has just released a compelling documentary series that follows a globally renowned TV chef as he tackles the most formidable challenge of his professional life.
The fresh six-part series launched today (Wednesday, 18th February) is essential viewing this week for food lovers.
Not only will it leave you salivating over Michelin Star-calibre cuisine but it also provides unprecedented access to one of Britain’s most cherished culinary icons.
Being Gordon Ramsay tracks the Kitchen Nightmares star’s latest audacious venture: launching five distinctive dining experiences atop 22 Bishopsgate, amongst London’s loftiest skyscrapers.
Throughout the thrilling behind-the-scenes look at the pioneering food and beverage enterprise, audiences will also discover Gordon’s domestic life with his wife Tana and their six children, reports the Express.
The London-based celebrity, who also maintains properties in Cornwall and Los Angeles, divides his time between treasured moments with his family and the gruelling demands of his career both domestically and internationally.
Admirers of the celebrated chef will experience poignant scenes as Gordon farewells his daughter Tilly to culinary school and reconnects with his youngest children following weeks of separation, alongside touching and frequently amusing exchanges with the chef and his wife as they playfully quarrel during the taxing new undertaking and reflect on their formative years together.
Netflix’s synopsis for the six-episode series guarantees a “pulse-racing” experience as “pressures mount” on the A-list chef.
Audiences will also be moved by his candid conversations about “fame and parental guilt” before Gordon “turns up the heat” in the nail-biting finale.
Get Netflix free with Sky for Bridgerton Season 4
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‘Dearest gentle reader’, as the fourth season of Bridgerton follows second son Benedict love story, there’s a way to watch this fairytale-like season for less.
Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan. This lets customers watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes the new season of Bridgerton.
Within hours of its release, subscribers have already been championing Being Gordon Ramsay as they flock to watch the must-see new docuseries in their thousands.
One fan characterised the series as “Pressure. Passion. Perfection” on X, whilst another shared: “gordon ramsay chaos? i’m already hooked.”
Another posted: “Gordon going all-in on five restaurants at once with £20M of his own cash? This is gonna be absolute chaos… and I’m 100% here for it Already hitting play tonight.”
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“I will be there!” another user vowed, and someone else concurred: “Oh I will be sat!”
The series has also garnered favourable reviews from critics thus far, with The Telegraph labelling it “stressful” yet “surprisingly enjoyable”, adding it “puts the Beckhams to shame”.
Are you craving mouthwatering exclusive insight into the life of Britain’s leading chef? Netflix has certainly delivered this week.
Being Gordon Ramsay is available to stream on Netflix.
MILAN — The U.S. will take the No. 2 seed into the quarterfinals of the men’s hockey tournament of the Milan-Cortina Olympics after beating Germany 5-1 on Sunday to finish group play unbeaten.
The Americans’ opponent in the final eight will be determined in a four-game qualification round Tuesday. Canada, also unbeaten after it thrashed France 10-2 earlier in the day, will take the top seed into the quarterfinals by virtue of its plus-17 goal differential.
The U.S. got two scores Sunday from Auston Matthews and goals from Zach Werenski, Brock Faber and Tage Thompson. Germany’s only score came from Tim Stutzle of the Ottawa Senators, his fourth of the Olympics, with less than nine minutes to play.
The Americans outshot Germany 13-3 during the first 16 minutes, but a combination of poor puck handling and sloppy play in front of the net kept them off the scoreboard until Werenski, a defenseman with the Columbus Blue Jackets, took a pass from Matthews in the center of the right circle, stepped up and drilled a wrister past goalie Maximilian Franzreb nine seconds before the first intermission.
The U.S. thought it had a goal moments earlier when Vegas Golden Knights’ forward Jack Eichel drove the puck from the top of the left circle though a crowd and into the back of the net. But the officials ruled the play had been whistled dead before the shot.
Matthews, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ captain, doubled the advantage 3:25 into the second period, poking the rebound of a Quinn Hughes’ shot by Franzreb for his second power-play goal of the Olympics.
Faber, who plays for he Minnesota Wild, made it 3-0 with less than 2:30 left in the second period, playing the puck off the boards near the blue line and flicking it on goal where Eichel got a stick up in front of Franzreb, distracting the goalie as he reached up unsuccessfully to glove the puck.
Thompson, of the Buffalo Sabres, and Matthews closed out the scoring for the U.S. with goals less than five minutes apart into the final period.
Poor Sylvia Plath has found little rest in the afterlife.
The New Yorker’s Janet Malcolm had choice words for the army of Plath’s biographers. She likened this species of writer to “the professional burglar, breaking into a house, rifling through certain drawers that he has good reason to think contain the jewelry and money, and triumphantly bearing his loot away.”
Plath, the deserted wife of fellow poet Ted Hughes, mother of two young children, died by suicide at age 30, leaving behind a collection of poems that anatomized her mental descent in scorching language that secured a permanent place in American letters. More than 60 years have passed since her death in 1963, yet the literary myth that has taken the name Sylvia Plath lives on.
I confess I’m not impervious to the posthumous allure. When visiting friends who were staying in the Primrose Hill area of London a few years ago, I would pass by the flat that Plath shared with her husband there and stare wonderingly at the town house, adorned with a blue plaque commemorating its former resident.
“Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia,” a new play by Beth Hyland that opened Thursday at the Geffen Playhouse, is set in a different apartment that the couple shared. This cozily claustrophobic home is located in Boston’s historic Beacon Hill district in the period before they had children and were striving anxiously to realize their early promise.
As Sylvia (Marianna Gailus) and Ted (Cillian O’Sullivan) confront the problems that will eventually drive them apart, two contemporary married writers who have taken up residence at the Boston address grapple with many of the same issues (marital discord, competitive egos and mental health woes) as their more famous literary predecessors.
World premieres are risky, and the writing for this one hasn’t yet settled. The play’s split focus, moving between 1958 and the present, is a sign of conceptual ambition. But Hyland struggles to find the pacing and rhythm of her complicated vision.
Sally (Midori Francis), a writer whose first book was a big hit but whose second book is long overdue, and Theo (Noah Keyishian), who just found out he won a major literary prize for his first novel and is now up for a game-changing job at Columbia University, are at different points in their careers. Sally is processing both the shock of a miscarriage and her ambivalence about her marriage.
She’s also worried that her publisher is going to make her pay back the advance for the book about Plath and Hughes that she’s been unable to make any headway on. “I have to finish the draft,” she tells Theo. “If I can’t do that when I’m living in their apartment, I should honestly just kill myself.”
Clearly, Sally is having a hard time holding it together. The precarious state of her mind forces us to question whether Sylvia and Ted are ghosts, hallucinations or literary inventions sprung to life. But these characters are initially presented as objectively real. We meet them before we meet Sally and Theo, and whether they are figments or not, they are unmistakably haunting the new occupant who’s writing about them.
Unfortunately, these illustrious figures are badly written and stiffly played. O’Sullivan can’t keep Ted’s accent straight, and Gailus seems to be offering a Ryan Murphy version of Plath.
Marianna Gailus, left, and Cillian O’Sullivan in “Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia” at Geffen Playhouse.
(Jeff Lorch)
Sally may be struggling to give Sylvia and Ted life on the page, but Hyland is having her own trouble ushering them to the stage. The word “factitious” kept coming to mind. Artificiality might be the point, but it’s not one that gives much pleasure in the theater.
Who wants to sit through a fictitious novelist’s clumsy drafts? The scenes between Sally and Theo are more convincing, but the dynamic between them grinds on snappishly. Theo tries his best to be a sensitive and supportive husband, but Sally can’t seem to get what she needs from him. And as her marriage and literary career fall apart, her psychiatric problems intensify.
Writing in a desperate junk-food-fueled all-nighter, Sally appears to have entered a manic phase. Theo, terrified that she might make another suicide attempt, looks on helplessly. Their small, spare yet tasteful apartment (the work of the collective Studio Bent) turns into a marital pressure cooker as Theo’s fortunes rise and Sally’s self-belief craters.
Hyland captures the parallels between the two couples. Her Ted is a patriarchal monster, controlling, moody and sexually malignant. Theo is far more psychologically evolved, but he has his own blind spots that provoke Sally, who’s more emancipated than Sylvia but less professionally assured and just as unstable.
The times are vastly different, but the balance of power between these married writers remains precarious. There might be a fascinating play here, but the amorphous scenes that Hyland provides lack a dramatic through line.
As the play flounders, director Jo Bonney casts about for solutions. A playful ghost story that has Sylvia entering and exiting through the refrigerator takes a bloody turn. As Sally spirals, the set turns crimson. This detour into horror is only temporary, but there’s no clear destination in sight.
The unstoppable force of Sally’s resentment and the immovable object of Theo’s perseverance are not an ideal dramatic combination. Francis bravely doesn’t soften Sally’s prickly nature, but she doesn’t give us much reason to sympathize with her character either. Keyishian’s gentle Theo is so solicitous that Sally’s abrasiveness begins to feel abusive, not to say theatrically off-putting. Perhaps that too is intentional. But just as there’s a difference between depicting chaos and depicting chaotically, there’s a difference between presenting theatergoers with a realistic image of mental illness and driving an audience nuts.
Ted is a cartoon creep with an Oxbridge hauteur, but Theo’s shortcomings may be too subtly rendered for a play that cries out for more definition. (Even his betrayal, involving the use of private marital material for literary purposes, seems equivocal.)
Hyland can’t resolve her shapeless play, so she has Sally talk her way into the future in a rambling monologue that’s a complete cop-out.
Sylvia warned Sally that if she tried to write about her, she would do everything in her power to stop her. The ghost of Plath, however, has nothing to worry about. “Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia” conks out on its own.
‘Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia’
Where: Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., L.A.
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Mar. 8
Powell’s parents are Lucy – one of John’s four children – and Meirion, from Caerphilly, who left Wales for Australia in 2003.
The family would return to these shores to visit their many relatives, with Powell remembering how “dadcu” – Welsh for grandfather – “didn’t stress about anything”.
“I have many memories with him,” Powell said. “But the memories I have are not of the rugby legend Barry John. He was dadcu to all of us.
“He would throw sweets at us in his flat overlooking Llandaff fields. He would tell stories. He was so calm and relaxed and funny.”
When Powell was tasked with doing a school project on a family member, John was the obvious choice.
As a result she rang him for information on his legendary career in which he played for Llanelli, Cardiff, Wales and the British and Irish Lions.
“He was so animated – he would bring up the matches and I could visualise everything. He was such a great storyteller,” she said.
“You could tell he had so much pride for Wales. But he wouldn’t say ‘I did this, I was so amazing’, he praised everyone.
“He said [Sir] Gareth [Edwards] and JPR [Williams] were great players to play with. He would talk about the joy of playing as opposed to what he did.”
Bangladesh have requested that Pakistan end their planned boycott of their T20 World Cup match against India, opening the door for the fixture to be played on 15 February as scheduled.
The match, the biggest and most lucrative in cricket, has been in doubt since the Pakistan government advised its team not to take the field against their long-time rivals.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that initial decision was made to “support” Bangladesh, who had a request for their matches to be moved out of India rejected and subsequently pulled out of the tournament.
“We are deeply moved by Pakistan’s efforts to go above and beyond in supporting Bangladesh during this period. Long may our brotherhood flourish,” he added.
The match is scheduled to take place in the city of Colombo in Sri Lanka, the co-hosts for the tournament with India.
Pakistan will forfeit the points from the group-stage match should it not be played but the team’s absence from the tournament would also have longer-term consequences for cricket.
It could lead to disputes over the ICC’s current rights deals and continued uncertainty would likely impact future agreements, with the current TV deals set to run out after the 2027 World Cup.
Many of the smaller cricketing nations rely on the money distributed by the ICC, so any cut in revenue would likely hit such countries hardest.
“Following my short visit to Pakistan yesterday and given the forthcoming outcomes of our discussions, I request Pakistan to play the ICC T20 World Cup game on 15 February against India for the benefit of the entire cricket ecosystem,” Islam said.
While stopping short of confirming the match will go ahead, the ICC released a statement on Monday evening confirming Bangladesh will not be sanctioned for their boycott.
It also said Bangladesh will host an ICC event between 2028 and the start of the 2031 World Cup.
“The ICC, PCB and BCB, along with other members, remain committed to continued dialogue, cooperation and constructive engagement in the best interests of the sport,” a statement said.
“All stakeholders acknowledge that the spirit of this understanding is to protect the integrity of the game and preserve unity within the cricket fraternity.”
There were no details on what event Bangladesh would host. All men’s events have been confirmed up until 2031, with Bangladesh already scheduled to co-host the 2031 World Cup with India.
The hosts of women’s tournaments have been chosen up to 2027, while the ICC also holds Under-19 World Cups.
The Rams, who last year were designated the home team for the first NFL game in Australia, will play the NFC West-rival San Francisco 49ers, the league announced Thursday during “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN. Australian actor and conservationist Robert Irwin, son of the late Steve Irwin of “Crocodile Hunter” fame made the announcement.
The NFL has not announced a date for the game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but it almost certainly will be in the first week because of the 19-hour time difference and the length of travel for both teams.
“As we make history with the NFL and bring the first regular season game to Australia, we are pleased to take our annual matchup against our NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers to the MCG,” said Rams president Kevin Demoff in a statement. “Since we first secured marketing rights to the country in 2021 and more recently since the announcement of this game last year, we have seen tremendous excitement for our team from fans both in Australia and also across the world. We look forward to spending this offseason continuing to deepen our connection with the Melbourne community leading up to the game this fall.”
As part of the process for International Series games, the NFL allows designated home teams to protect two of its scheduled home games from being played abroad.
With the game against the 49ers, which annually draws tens of thousands of 49ers fans, being played in Australia, the Rams’ home opponents at SoFi Stadium next season will be the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and the Chargers.
As part of the NFL’s Global Markets Program, the Rams in the last decade were granted rights in Mexico, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Since returning to Los Angeles in 2016, the Rams have played four International Series games, all in London, including a victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars last October.
In 2026, in addition to the game in Australia, the NFL has confirmed three games in London and one each in Rio de Janeiro, Munich, Madrid and Paris.
“You buy a player for a lot of money and he is not able to play for a rule I don’t understand. Hopefully they can change it,” he added.
City’s other January signing, winger Antoine Semenyo, arrived at the club from Bournemouth four days prior to their trip to the north east for the first leg against Newcastle, in which he scored.
“Antoine arrived before the first [game] so could play. And now it’s the final. Why should he [Guehi] not play? Why not? We pay his salary, he is our player,” Guardiola added.
“I said to the club, they have to ask, definitely. I don’t understand the reason why he cannot play in the final in March, when I have been here for a long time.
“The rules to buy a player depends on Fifa, Uefa, the Premier League who say, OK the transfer window is open, when you buy a player you have to play, no? It’s logic. Of course we are going to try to ask [for] him to play. Pure logic.
Asked what he thought the answer will be from the EFL, City’s Spanish boss, added: “No. But we will try.”
City have already benefited from one rule change this season that allowed players to play for two teams in the same competition, instead of being cup tied.
That allowed Semenyo and Max Alleyne to feature in the semi-final matches, despite appearing for Bournemouth and Watford respectively in previous rounds.
One glowing 10/10 review of the picture stated: “One of the finest plays in history is turned into a cinematic masterpiece.”
The reviewer praised The Crucible for featuring an “absolutely brilliant and cathartically heartbreaking performance” from one of its leading actors. They continued, describing how the star “delivers one of the finest examples of acting genius I’ve ever had the privilege of experiencing”.
Another 8/10 assessment declared: “I am not someone to randomly give out a perfect score for a movie… And I also happen to be a very critical person of most films. With that being said, The Crucible completely blows me away with its virtually flawless cinematic achievements!”
One 9/10 critique called the picture “just fantastic” and rooted in “possibly the greatest play ever written”.
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A particular performance was labelled “outstanding”, whilst another cast member made an “indelible impression thanks to their “marvellous acting”. The critic concluded by calling the film a “work of cinematic genius”.Yet another viewer awarded maximum marks, writing: “Not just a dynamic character study, but a study of madness”. One enthusiastic 7/10 review praised the production as an “excellent adaptation”, adding: “There is nothing I like better than a good play for the stage, even when it is on screen. “.
Released in 1996, The Crucible draws from Arthur Miller’s acclaimed 1953 stage play of the same title.
Taking place during the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts Bay between 1692 and 1693, Miller crafted the work as a pointed commentary on the political persecution characteristic of McCarthyism in the mid-1950s.
The narrative centres on a community of Puritan settlers thrown into chaos following rumours of dark magic after local minister Samuel Parris (portrayed by Bruce Davison) discovers his daughter collapsed and unresponsive in the forest.
The incident follows her participation with several other young women in attempting to perform incantations alongside an enslaved woman.
As news of the events circulates, allegations of sorcery spread like wildfire throughout the settlement, prompting residents to turn against one another based on mere suspicion rather than proof.
The young women begin pointing fingers at fellow townspeople, resulting in numerous trials, including that of John Proctor (Daniel Day-Lewis), who previously engaged in an illicit relationship with Abigail Williams (Winona Ryder).
The production boasted a stellar ensemble, featuring Joan Allen, Paul Scofield, Peter Vaughn, Frances Conroy, and Jeffrey Jones amongst its ranks.
Upon its 1996 debut, the picture garnered multiple accolades, including a Best Actress recognition for Allen and a Best Adapted Screenplay acknowledgement for playwright Miller himself. Furthermore, the production earned nominations for BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Satellite Awards, and the Berlin Film Festival.
The Crucible (1996) is streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV for a fee now.
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If you want to see what a top 15-year-old girls’ soccer player looks like, go watch freshman Mia Rizo of St. Genevieve.
She has scored 19 goals and contributed six assists for the Valiants while earning universal respect for her play.
“Mia is a crafty midfielder with great vision,” coach Marlon Archey said. “She has a nose for the goal that is remarkable for a freshman playing at the varsity level.”
She has participated at the U.S. Soccer Talent Camp and continues to climb the ranks of young players.
St. Genevieve is 13-3-3 overall and 4-2-3 in the Del Rey League. The Valiants play Paraclete on Tuesday for second place in the league.
“Mia has an impeccable soccer IQ at such a young age,” Archey said. “She’s a coach’s dream.”
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
Rojas, who turns 37 next month, will not represent his native Venezuela because of difficulty obtaining insurance. The versatile World Series star expressed regret that he cannot play in an Instagram story that included a photo of himself with the Venezuelan flag draped over his shoulders.
“Today I am very sad,” he wrote in Spanish. “A real pity to not be able to represent my country and wear that flag on my chest. On this occasion, age wasn’t just a number.”
Insurance was required to guarantee his $5.5-million salary in case he missed Dodgers games because of injuries incurred during the WBC, which will take place March 5-17 in Tokyo, Miami, Houston and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Rojas’ situation is similar to that of Clayton Kershaw ahead of the 2023 WBC. The pitcher was disappointed that he couldn’t play for Team USA because his injury history made obtaining insurance impossible. The Dodgers declined to waive his insurance requirement and assume financial risk in case Kershaw got hurt during the tournament.
“I’m frustrated,” Kershaw said at the time. “They should make it easy for guys that want to play to play.”
Insurance coverage protects teams from having to pay a player for time missed because of an injury stemming from the WBC, which requires participants to undergo entrance and exit physicals to document injury information.
Players can be deemed uninsurable for several reasons, a source told The Times in 2023. Included are players who finished the previous season on the injured list or spent considerable time on the injured list. Also uninsurable are players diagnosed with a “chronic condition.”
Rojas, who has said this will be his last major league season as a player, has sustained a succession of lower-body injuries in recent years. The 12-year veteran utility infielder began his career with the Dodgers in 2014 then played for the Miami Marlins for eight years before rejoining the Dodgers in 2023.
He will always be remembered by Dodgers fans for his game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2025 World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The baseball Rojas struck sold for $156,000 at auction.
This will mark the second WBC in a row that Rojas has missed. He was on Venezuela’s 2023 roster but withdrew after fellow infielder Gavin Lux tore his ACL during spring training, increasing Rojas’ role with the Dodgers.
Hernández has elected not to play for the Dominican Republic while Pages and Ibáñez — who signed a one-year, $1.2-million contract with the Dodgers this offseason — won’t suit up for Cuba. It is unclear whether insurance concerns were factors in their decisions.
However, Houston Astros stars Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa were forced to withdraw because of their inability to obtain insurance. Altuve would have played for Venezuela and Correa for Puerto Rico.
Dodgers who plan to play in the WBC include World Series heroes Will Smith of Team USA and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Team Japan. Shohei Ohtani announced in November that he would play for Japan, although the two-way superstar has not decided whether he will pitch.
Smith will be a teammate of Kershaw, who because he retired from the Dodgers doesn’t need insurance now to participate in the WBC. In fact, he’s gone from needing insurance to being insurance.
“I just want to be the insurance policy,” Kershaw told MLB Network. “If anybody needs a breather, or if they need me to pitch back-to-back-to-back, or if they don’t need me to pitch at all, I’m just there to be there. I just want to be a part of this group.
“I learned a long time ago, you just want to be a part of great things.”
Another figure from Fallout’s past has made their Prime Video series debut
Fallout returns in season two trailer from Prime Video
*Warning – this article contains spoilers for Fallout season 2 and in particular episode 7*
Another iconic actor who previously starred in the Fallout franchise has returned to the series for Prime Video ‘s live-action adaptation.
The show’s second season has seen a drastic increase in the number of Easter Eggs and references from the original games. In particular there has been a number of links to one of the most popular titles, Fallout New Vegas.
This includes some of the show’s biggest guest stars that have appeared. Some of them have a huge connection to the original series.
Fans have already enjoyed seeing the appearance of Ron Perlman. While he has served as the narrator for the games since the original title released, in the series he plays the super mutant who saves the Ghoul from turning feral and succumbing to his injuries.
Now, the latest episode released earlier this morning (January 28) at the new time of 2am has featured another. But who do they play in the series and what is their connection? Here’s all you need to know.
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Who does Clancy Brown play in Fallout?
Episode seven sees Cooper Howard continue to struggle in his covert battle against Vault-Tec and figuring out what is the best thing to do. He is still in Las Vegas with his wife after discovering she is there to sell cold fusion, a technology capable of infinite energy.
We have already witnessed Cooper and Barb extract the cold fusion from Hank’s neck. It is done in the same way Dr. Siggi Wilzig, smuggled it out from the Enclave in season one, which was why Lucy had to keep hold of his head on her initial journey.
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In a previous scene, Cooper has already agreed to an exchange with Representative Diane Welch, a congresswoman for the district of Glendale. While he somewhat trusts she is on the right side, he still doesn’t want to hand over the cold fusion directly to her.
So instead he agrees to give it to the President of the United States, who in the story is the last person to hold the position before the bombs fell. He is played by none other than Clancy Brown.
Brown lent his voice to the very first Fallout game back in 1997. In the game, he played the role of Rhombus, who was the head paladin and head knight of the Lost Hills chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel.
The actor has a stellar career and is also recognised for his roles in movies such as The Shawshank Redemption as well as Starship Troopers. There is also his voice work aside from Fallout.
He played Dr Neo Cortex in the Crash Bandicoot games and has also been the voice of Mr Krab in SpongeBob SquarePants since 1999.
Late in the mess that was the Rams’ final game of the season, Sean McVay was seen frustratingly burying his face in his play card.
That couldn’t hide the truth.
The Rams’ 31-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in the NFC championship game must be draped on the deflated shoulders of the Rams’ resident genius.
As blasphemous as it sounds when referencing one of the greatest coaches in Los Angeles sports history, this one was on McVay.
A day after his 40th birthday, McVay coached like he was no longer the child prodigy, but instead an aging leader who leaves himself open to second-guessing.
McVay has rarely deserved criticism in his nine successful seasons here. But in the wake of an afternoon at Seattle’s deafening Lumen Field that should have propelled the Rams to the Super Bowl, this is one of those times.
A confusing final possession of the first half. Another special teams miscue. A bad decision to pass up a field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter.
It all added up to negatively impact a game the Rams could have won, and should have won.
“I love this team and I wasn’t ready to stop working with them,” McVay said. “This was a special year, it’s hard to fathom that it’s over.”
It shouldn’t be over. The Rams gained 479 yards against the league’s top-rated defense. They only committed four penalties. The offense didn’t have a turnover. Matthew Stafford was brilliant, 374 yards, three touchdowns, countless big throws.
The Rams were great, but during the biggest moments, they got goofy, and basically handed the Super Bowl invitation to the Seahawks on a grass-stained platter.
What was McVay thinking?
Rams coach Sean McVay watches from the sideline during the fourth quarter of a 31-27 loss to the Seahawks in the NFC championship game Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Begin with the Rams’ possession at the end of the first half, after they scored a touchdown to take a 13-10 lead and their running game was rolling and they had a chance to capitalize on their momentum.
But instead of continuing to pound the ball and at least run down the clock, they threw twice in three plays, both incompletions, and had to punt after just 39 seconds, thus giving the ball back to the Seahawks with 54 seconds remaining in the half. Sure enough, the Seahawks then went 74 yards in 34 seconds, highlighted by a 42-yard pass from reborn Sam Darnold to Jaxon Smith-Njigba against Kam Curl and ending with a 14-yard touchdown pass to an uncovered Smith-Njigba to give them a 17-13 halftime lead.
The strategy by McVay was so flawed, it was actually criticized by Tom Brady on Fox, and Brady rarely criticizes anybody.
“The finality of all of it, I didn’t really expect this,” McVay said. “We had our chances … a couple of critical errors that ended up costing us. … I’m pretty numb.”
The next mistake occurred at the start of the second half with — surprise, surprise — more special teams struggles. This time it was Xavier Smith muffing a punt and Dareke Young recovering on the Rams’ 17-yard line. On the next play, Darnold hit former UCLA star Jake Bobo for a touchdown pass ahead of Quentin Lake to give the Seahawks a 24-13 lead.
“It was costly,” McVay said. “That was a tough one.”
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Gary Klein breaks down what went wrong for the Rams in their 31-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC championship game at Lumen Field.
Special teams have haunted McVay for a couple of years. They were so bad earlier this season that he dumped the coordinator. It didn’t matter. They still stink. Coaches always talk about the three phases of the game. McVay clearly doesn’t have a handle on this third phase.
Even with all this, the Rams were driving in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead or at least make a dent in a four-point deficit when another decision went bad.
The Rams had rolled 84 yards in 14 plays and were facing fourth and four at the Seattle six-yard line. There was 4:59 left in the game. That was plenty of time to kick the field goal, take the points, then lean on the defense to stop mistake-prone Darnold long enough to drive back downfield for the winning field goal.
But, no. McVay decided to go for it, and Stafford ended up throwing a pass to a blanketed Terrance Ferguson, the ball fell incomplete, and the Seahawks held the ball until the last 25 seconds.
Take the points! C’mon man, take the points!
If the Rams were within a field goal of winning, the pressure on the Seahawks would have been enormously heightened and the momentum of the ensuing drive would have felt entirely different and even if the Rams still only got the ball back with 25 seconds left and no timeouts … that’s long enough for a field-goal drive.
Rams coach Sean McVay, right, shakes hands with Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald after the Rams’ 31-27 loss in the NFC championship game Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Granted, winning this game was a tough task. The Rams were trying to become only the sixth team to win three consecutive road playoff games. But they seemed up to the challenge and seemed destined to win … until they didn’t.
“A lot of resolve, a lot of resilience from our group, we just came up short,” McVay said.
The Rams will be back. Stafford has given no indication that he’s retiring, Puka Nacua isn’t going anywhere, the heart of the young defense returns and, of course, McVay is back.
One assumes his numbness will eventually disappear. One trusts it will be replaced by some of that resolve and resilience.
