retire

CHICAGO — We’ve seen these movies before, or at least most of them.

With the NFL’s conference championship games set — the Rams at Seattle following New England at Denver — three of the four possible Super Bowl permutations are rematches.

Rams-Patriots? There have been two of those, at the end of the 2001 and 2018 seasons.

And Seattle has played both combinations, beating the Broncos in the 2013 season and losing to the Patriots a year later.

Of the four possibilities, the only one that hasn’t happened is Rams-Broncos.

There are strong ownership ties binding those two franchises. Among his many sports holdings, Rams owner Stan Kroenke also owns the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. Although he built his empire with real estate and as a developer, he’s married to Ann Walton Kroenke — of the Walmart family — who is a first cousin of Rob Walton, who led the group that purchased the Broncos in 2022.

The Broncos last won the Super Bowl 10 years ago, weeks after the Rams were approved to move back to Los Angeles, and it happened at Levi’s Stadium, site of this year’s game. That was when Peyton Manning won his second ring, with his second franchise, then called it a career.

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Gary Klein breaks down what went right for the Rams in their 20-17 overtime victory against the Chicago Bears in the NFC divisional playoffs at Soldier Field.

There’s a possibility that Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford could follow that blueprint. He’s on his second team, having spent the first part of his career with Detroit, and he already has one ring. But whereas Manning was clearly in the sunset of his storied career, Stafford remains at the top of his game, and likely will be this season’s NFL Most Valuable Player.

Still, Stafford will turn 38 the day before the Super Bowl, and it wouldn’t be much of a curveball if that were his last game, especially if the Rams were to win.

Rams tight end Terrance Ferguson is from Littleton, Colo., a suburb of Denver, and Broncos general manager George Paton is from La Cañada and played football at Loyola High and UCLA.

If the Seahawks were to win the NFC — and oddsmakers have them as 2½-point favorites — they would look to repeat against Denver or atone for that painful loss to New England.

It was at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, remember, that Seattle rolled over Manning and the Broncos, 43-8, behind a smothering defense. Pete Carroll’s team looked unbeatable.

A year later in Arizona, one of the most excruciating moments in Seattle sports history.

With 20 seconds left and the Seahawks a yard away from the go-ahead touchdown, Patriots rookie Malcom Butler picked off a goal-line pass by Russell Wilson. Seattle inexplicably decided to throw instead of handing off to battering ram Marshawn Lynch, who was all but automatic in short-yardage situations.

David Greenwood, one of the best high school basketball players in Southern California history, will have his jersey retired on Friday night during a ceremony at his alma mater, Verbum Dei.

Greenwood, who died on June 8 at the age of 68 after a bout with cancer, teamed with Roy Hamilton to make Verbum Dei one of the best teams during his high school days in the 1970s. He’d go on to be an All-American at UCLA and played 12 years in the NBA. He came back to coach at Verbum Dei.

Verbum Dei is playing Gardena Serra on Friday at 7 p.m. The ceremony will be held at halftime.

Greenwood was the No. 2 pick in the 1979 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. Magic Johnson went No. 1 to the Lakers. He’d win an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons.

He coached Verbum Dei to state championships in 1998 and 1999.

“David was a hero to me,” said Verbum Dei alumnus DeAnthony Langston. “He’s one of the all-time greats in Verbum Dei history.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Record-breaking wicketkeeper-batter to quit the game after the ODI and Test series against India in March.

Alyssa Healy, a mainstay of Australia’s dominant women’s cricket ‍team for 15 ‍years and its current captain, has announced that she will retire from the game after the upcoming multi-format series against India.

“It’s with mixed emotions that the upcoming India series will ‍be my last for Australia,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old wicketkeeper-batter was part of two one-day international (ODI) World Cup triumphs and six successful T20 World ⁠Cup campaigns before taking over as skipper after the retirement of Meg Lanning in ​late 2023.

“I’m still passionate about playing for Australia, but I’ve somewhat lost that competitive edge that’s kept me driven since the start, ‍so the time ⁠feels right to call it a day,” the modern women’s cricket great said.

“I’ll genuinely miss my teammates, singing the team song and walking out to open the batting for Australia.”

Healy made her Australia debut in 2010 and scored 3,563 runs with seven centuries in ODIs and 3,054 with a single hundred in Twenty20s for her country, as well as making 275 dismissals behind the stumps.

She holds the record for most dismissals (126) in women’s T20 international cricket.

As a mark of ​her status in Australia, Healy was never defined by her ‌relationship with her uncle, Australia wicketkeeping great Ian, nor her husband, paceman Mitchell Starc.

Healy had already announced her retirement from T20 internationals and will play her last ‌matches for Australia in three ODIs and a single Test against India in February and March.

Women’s cricket has come on in leaps and bounds during Healy’s career, but despite having missed only two Tests for Australia since her debut in January 2011, her final match will be only her 11th in the longest format of the game.

Taking over as full-time Australian captain in 2023 from Meg Lanning, Healy famously led the side to a historic 16-0 whitewash of England.

‘Helped drive women’s cricket’

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led the tributes after her announcement.

“Alyssa Healy is a true legend of Australian cricket. As ‌a batter, keeper and captain she has been one of the brightest stars in a golden era,” he said in ‌a statement.

“Yet Alyssa’s impact and example off the field ⁠has been every bit as important. She has helped drive and grow women’s cricket and inspired a new generation along the way.”

She is regarded as arguably one of the most destructive batters and finest wicketkeepers in world cricket.

“Alyssa is one of the all-time greats of the game and has made an immeasurable contribution both on and off the field over her 15-year career,” said Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg.

“On behalf of Australian cricket, I’d like to thank Alyssa and congratulate her on an incredible career that has inspired so many and changed the game for the better.”

Tributes also poured in from cricket fans and experts on social media.

“[Healy] will go down as an all-time great and one of the most important ambassadors in women’s cricket,” wrote sports journalist Annesha Ghosh.

Healy had a brief stint as a commentator and analyst during the recent men’s Ashes series. Her analysis and insight into the game became an instant hit with fans, who praised her expertise and articulate manner of speaking on the game.

Some fans went on to rate her as the best commentator of the series, ahead of men’s cricket greats and highly experienced commentators.

Alongside Steve Smith, Khawaja is one of two remaining members of the Australia team beaten by England in their last series win in this country in 2010-11.

Khawaja has made 6,206 Test runs at an average of 43.39, with 16 hundreds.

He needs 30 runs in his final Test to go above Mike Hussey into 14th on Australia’s all-time run-scorers list, just behind the great Donald Bradman in 13th.

Khawaja played the last of his 40 one-day internationals in July 2019, having scored 1,554 runs at 42. He played in nine T20 internationals, scoring 241 runs at 26.77.

Now playing domestically for Queensland, Khawaja will end his career on the ground that was his home when he first played professional cricket for New South Wales in 2008.

Often in and out of the Australia team across his Test career, he found a home at the top of the order during the previous home Ashes in 2021-22.

However, his place came under scrutiny during this series after he suffered back spasms in the first Test that prevented him from opening.

Travis Head took Khawaja’s place in the second innings and made a swashbuckling century to lead Australia to an eight-wicket win.

Khawaja subsequently missed the second Test with the back problem and was due to be left out of the third, only to receive a late call-up when Steve Smith fell ill.

He made scores of 82 and 40 in Adelaide to retain his place in the fourth Test.

After the Ashes Australia will not play another Test until August, by which time Khawaja will be almost 40.

Australia lead the current Ashes series 3-1. The final Test starts on Sunday (23:30 GMT, Saturday).

Three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen says Peter Wright should retire following his emphatic defeat in the second round of the PDC World Darts Championship.

Two-time world champion Wright won just two legs and averaged below 80 as he was surprisingly beaten by debutant Arno Merk on Tuesday.

Van Gerwen said he was “not surprised by his performance” given the Scotsman’s inconsistent recent record and added that “it’s time for him to retire anyway”.

The 36-year-old Dutchman beat William O’Connor to reach the third round at Alexandra Palace.

Wright, who became world champion in 2020 and 2022, has not made it past the quarter-finals of any televised ranking tournament in the past two years.

The 55-year-old last won a European Tour event in 2024 and a Players Championship in 2022.

Wright was not selected for the 2025 Premier League Darts season and failed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts for the first time since 2012.

The Dutchman’s comments follow Wright’s recent suggestion that Van Gerwen’s “vision is probably going”., external