The voyages of the starship Enterprise will include a 5½-mile stretch in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
The iconic “Star Trek” flagship will be prominently featured on the franchise’s 2026 Rose Parade float, which celebrates the 60th anniversary of the storied sci-fi franchise. The design for the Star Trek 60 “Space for Everybody” entry was revealed on Monday.
In addition to the USS Enterprise and its bridge — where yet-to-be-announced actors will be stationed — the float will feature an homage to Vasquez Rocks, the local landmark where “Star Trek” has filmed, as well as the franchise’s future version of San Francisco, where Starfleet is headquartered. The design also incorporates planets and transporters.
As previously announced, the float’s design is meant to reflect values that “Star Trek” champions: hope, inclusivity, exploration and unity. It was designed by artist John Ramirez and will be built by the team at Artistic Entertainment Services.
The float will also promote the upcoming Paramount+ series “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” which stars Holly Hunter as a starship captain and chancellor leading the academy’s first new crop of cadets in more than 100 years. The show will premiere next year.
The theme for the 2026 Rose Parade is “The Magic in Teamwork,” which is meant to celebrate “the sense of accomplishment in knowing that by working together, we can collectively achieve outcomes so much richer than we can ever experience as individuals,” according to the Tournament of Roses website.
The Rose Parade float will kick off “Star Trek’s” yearlong celebration of its 60th anniversary, which will also include additional new shows, Lego sets and even a cruise.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Europe painted Bethpage Black in blue scores Saturday with exquisite golf that demolished and disheartened the Americans, and proved to be the best response to a New York Ryder Cup crowd that was so hostile extra security was brought in to keep it from getting worse.
When a long, loud and obnoxious day ended, Europe set a record for the largest lead going into Sunday singles under the format that dates to 1979: Europe 11½, USA 4½.
“I didn’t imagine this,” European captain Luke Donald said. “Every time the Americans came at us, we came back. The resiliency and confidence they have is really, truly incredible.”
Rory McIlroy caught the brunt of verbal abuse and at one point turned to the spectators and said, “Shut the (expletive) up.” And then he stuffed his shot to five feet for birdie that closed out the foursomes match for another blue point.
It was like that all day. The louder the crowd, the better Europe played. And barring the greatest comeback — or collapse — in Ryder Cup history, the Europeans will be heading back across the Atlantic Ocean with that precious gold trophy.
“I’m seeing what looks like to be historical putting. They’re making everything,” U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said. “They’re a great team. They’re great players. They’re a tough team to beat.”
The previous record after the four sessions of team play was 11-5. No team has rallied from more than a four-point deficit on the last day. Europe needs to win only three of the 12 singles matches for the outright win.
Scottie Scheffler also made it into the Ryder Cup record book. The world’s No. 1 player is the first to go 0-4 under the current format.
Nothing summed up the week for the Americans quite like the 10th hole in fourballs. Tommy Fleetwood hit a wedge about two feet under the hole. Scheffler followed with a shot that hit the hole and the base of the pin, then caromed into the rough.
But it was far more than one shot. Europe holed putts everywhere, often getting shouted at by the spectators as they lined up the shots. Nothing stopped them.
The Americans had a lead in only three of the 70 holes played in fourballs Saturday afternoon. U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun hit it tight on the 17th and 18th for birdies as he and fellow San Diego State alum Xander Schauffele squeezed out one of only two U.S. points on the day.
The other belonged to Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Young in the opening foursomes match.
The New York fans didn’t turn on the Americans for their performance. They cranked up the noise against Europe, shouting at them in the moments before — but not during — their shots, booing at every turn.
“Look, in between shots, say whatever you want to me,” McIlroy said. “That’s totally fine. Give us the respect to let us hit shots, and give us the same chance that the Americans have.”
New York State police spokesman Beau Duffy said two fans were ejected. The PGA of America said it added security to the McIlroy match and the other three. It also posted a message on the large video boards on “Spectator Etiquette.”
“Attendees consuming alcohol should do so in a responsible manner. Overly intoxicated attendees will be removed from the premises.”
Fans booed when the message was displayed.
McIlroy ultimately got the last laugh. He has won all four of his matches and can become the first European to go 5-0 on the road.
Whatever chances the Americans had might have ended on the final hole of the final match. Patrick Cantlay holed a few more big putts to keep them in the game, and a win on the 18th hole would have cut the deficit to five points.
Matt Fitzpatrick hit out of a bunker to two feet. Tyrrell Hatton, a last-minute sub for Viktor Hovland and his sore neck, hit wedge that nicked his teammate’s ball. It was another example of Europe’s superior play.
Cantlay’s shot spun back against the thick collar of the rough, and Sam Burns could only manage a shot to about 20 feet. Both missed. The throaty cheers of “Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole” returned, and the few American fans who stuck around that long were on their way home.
It got a little testy inside the ropes, too.
Fleetwood and Rose had a three-up lead on the 15th over Scheffler and DeChambeau. Rose was first to putt from about 15 feet. But he felt DeChambeau’s caddie was in his space as he was lining up his putt and he told him so.
Rose made the putt, and DeChambeau matched him from 12 feet. DeChambeau barked at them going to the 16th tee and soon the caddies were involved.
There was warm handshakes a hole later when Europe won.
“I didn’t feel like that space was being honored,” Rose said. “I made my feelings known — asked him to move, maybe not as politely as I could have done, but in the scenario, it’s coming down the stretch. We both have a lot on our minds and it’s intense out there.
“I said to them, ‘If I should have done it a different way, I apologize.’ But other than that, I had to step up and hit a huge putt with a lot going on.”
Bradley was asked what message he would give to his team to keep hopes alive, and the New England native pointed to the Patriots’ stunning comeback against the Atlanta Falcons in 2017.
“Twenty-eight to three. I was at that Super Bowl,” Bradley said. “I watched it. What a cool thing to have witnessed live in person.”
The way this Ryder Cup has played out, 11½ to 4 ½ feels much bigger.
While some flag football teams have been playing for weeks, one of the City Section’s expected top teams, Birmingham, finally debuts on Wednesday at Arleta.
Coach Jim Rose has only two seniors on his team and has been working to get his players familiar with new rules, from punting to the defense getting to be only one yard away from the line of scrimmage before hiking the ball.
Bella Gonzalez, a second baseman on the softball team, will handle quarterbacking duties early while waiting for the No. 1 quarterback to recover from a knee injury.
Rose is particularly excited about freshman Ellie St. Hubert, a safety and receiver. “She is really good,” Rose said.
Banning is the defending City Open Division champion. Birmingham won the first title in 2023.
“We always think we’re going to be one of the top teams,” Rose said. “Athletically we’re better than last season.”
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Noel Gallagher scanned the audience at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night and pointed down at a fan in the front row. “Young lady, what’s your name?” he asked, tilting his head to try to catch the answer. “I can’t really hear you, but this next song is for you.” As he spoke, a camera found a woman wearing an Oasis T-shirt openly weeping — openly sobbing — and sent her image to the giant video screens flanking the stage. “She’s been in tears all night, this girl,” Gallagher added, “which I hope is not a review of the f— gig.”
Not far from it, in fact: Since launching its reunion tour in early July, Oasis — the swaggering British rock band formed in the early 1990s by Gallagher on guitar and his younger brother Liam on lead vocals — has been traveling the world inspiring great outpourings of emotion wherever it goes. On social media, memes have proliferated equating the catharsis to be had at an Oasis concert to a form of therapy; more than one observer has suggested that gathering with tens of thousands of people to sing along with the Gallaghers’ songs might turn out to be the cure for the male loneliness epidemic.
Along with the blockbuster ticket sales and the pop-up merch stores, this nightly purification ritual has positioned Oasis Live ’25 — the band’s first run of shows in more than a decade and a half — as this year’s version of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. Which of course some tour was destined to be: At a moment of encroaching technological alienation, humans are naturally searching out opportunities for real-world connection (which is one reason why thousands paid money last month to sit in a movie theater and watch Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” for the second — or fifth, or 12th — time with other humans).
Oasis performs Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.
(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
Yet I’m not sure I’d have called that it would be an old rock group with three guitarists that would get it done, never mind this old rock group in particular: The first of two dates at the Rose Bowl, Saturday’s sold-out show came 31 years after Oasis almost broke up for the first time following a chaotic 1994 gig at the Whisky a Go Go where the famously combative Gallaghers — having mistaken crystal meth for cocaine, as the story goes — nearly came to blows; Oasis’ long-promised breakup finally took in 2009, after which the brothers spent years trading savage insults in the press (and anywhere else they could do it).
How exactly Noel, now 58, and Liam, 52, managed to come back together hasn’t yet been told; one suspects that sufficiently humongous bags of cash had something to do with it. On the road, the Gallaghers are accompanied by Oasis’ original guitarist, Paul Arthurs (known delightfully as Bonehead), along with Gem Archer on guitar, Andy Bell on bass, Joey Waronker on drums and Christian Madden on keyboards. At the Rose Bowl, celebrities in attendance included Paul McCartney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Billie Eilish, Metallica’s James Hetfield, Laufey and MGK — a varied list of names that tells you something about the broad appeal of classic Oasis songs like “Wonderwall,” “Roll With It,” “Some Might Say,” “Champagne Supernova” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” the last of which was the tune Noel dedicated to the woman shedding tears of joy in the front row.
Liam Gallagher, left, and Noel Gallagher at the Rose Bowl.
(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
The songs indeed were the thing on Saturday. Oasis sounded great, with those three guitars snarling and shimmering over sturdy grooves that mapped a middle ground among punk, glam and late-Beatles balladry; Liam’s voice was somehow both brawny and sweet as he reached for the high notes with a kind of taunting effortlessness. And the brothers engaged in a bit of lovable stage business, as when Liam — looking superb as always in his signature shades and anorak — balanced a tambourine on his head and offered gnomic shout-outs to Woody Woodpecker and to the sword swallowers in the audience.
But this was the least showy pop show I’ve seen in years; Oasis’ comeback is as much about the crowd as it is about the band — as much about the people singing along with the music as it is about the people making it. Song after song took the imperative mood: “Acquiesce,” “Bring It On Down,” “Fade Away,” “Stand By Me,” “Cast No Shadow,” “Slide Away” — each a command happily obeyed until the next one was issued forth, each abstract enough in its emotional specifics to satisfy whatever need it might meet. (“Someday you will find me / Caught beneath the landslide / In a Champagne supernova in the sky” still makes gloriously little sense.)
Because they’d done so much to bring the audience together, you couldn’t help by the end of the concert to long for a glimpse of a little brotherly love between the Gallaghers. They obliged during the finale, Liam circling Noel then clapping him on the back as the last chords of “Champagne Supernova” rang out and fireworks filled the sky with smoky light. It wasn’t much, and it was more than enough.
Sept. 4 (UPI) — Several leaders from the tech sector will travel to the White House on Thursday for the fist event in the newly renovated Rose Garden.
Guests expected to attend include Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI founder Sam Altman, among more than two dozen other prominent tech and business guests.
Venture capitalist David Sacks, who has served as the White House czar on AI and cryptocurrency, will also be in attendance.
According to a press release, First Lady Melania Trump will host a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education, at which she will speak, alongside Task Force members and leaders from the private AI technology sphere.
President Donald Trump will then lead an event in the Rose Garden with the guests, which will be the first such happening there since it was renovated under the direction of the Trumps.
“The Rose Garden Club at the White House is the hottest place to be in Washington, or perhaps the world,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement to The Hill.
“The president looks forward to welcoming top business, political, and tech leaders for this dinner and the many dinners to come on the new, beautiful Rose Garden patio,” he added.
Those in attendance will see changes to the Rose Garden such as pavement over the former grassy space, with umbrella-shaded tables set in similar fashion to patio arrangements found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.
One top tech leader not on the guest list is Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who served as an advisor to Trump and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The most densely packed section inside the Rose Bowl on Saturday was filled with fans wearing the colors of the visiting team.
Swathed in red and white, they crammed into one corner of the century-old stadium for what amounted to a nightlong celebration.
Fans cheering for the home team were more subdued and scattered throughout a stadium that seemed about one-third full, outnumbered by empty seats, visiting fans and those massive blue-and-gold tarps covering most of each end zone. Deliberately or not, Fox cameras inside the stadium showed those watching from home only wide shots filled with graphics that obscured the paltry crowd.
By late in the third quarter, the only suspense remaining in UCLA’s 43-10 blowout loss to Utah was waiting for the announced attendance. Reporters in the press box were given a figure of 35,032, which seemed inflated given so many empty seats below them.
It was.
The scan count, a tally of people actually inside the facility, was 27,785, according to athletic officials.
Creative accounting is the norm in college football given there are no standardized practices for attendance reporting. The Big Ten and other conferences leave it up to individual schools to devise their own formulas.
UCLA defines its announced attendance as tickets distributed — including freebies — plus non-ticketed and credentialed individuals such as players, coaches, staff, vendors, cheerleaders, band members, performers and even media. Across town, USC’s announced attendance includes only tickets distributed, according to an athletic department spokesperson, which was 62,841 for the season opener against Missouri State.
In recent seasons, UCLA’s announced attendance was sometimes more than double the scan count, according to figures obtained by The Times through a public records request.
For UCLA’s home opener against Bowling Green on a sweltering September day in 2022, the announced attendance was 27,143, a record low for the team since moving to the Rose Bowl before the 1982 season.
The actual attendance was much lower. UCLA’s scan count, which represented people who entered the stadium (including the aforementioned non-ticketed and credentialed individuals) was 12,383 — 14,760 fewer than the announced attendance. The scan count for the next game, against Alabama State, was just a smidgen higher at 14,093.
Those longing for an on-campus stadium could quip that UCLA might as well hold some games at Drake Stadium given the track facility holds 11,700 and could probably accommodate several thousand more with temporary bleachers placed opposite the permanent grandstands.
Empty seats aren’t just a game day buzzkill given their correlation to lost revenue.
“Since we are now in the era of NIL and revenue sharing, where cash is king,” said David Carter, an adjunct professor of sports business at USC, “every school hoping to play competitive big-time football needs to generate as much revenue and excitement around its program as possible. But since empty seats don’t buy beer or foam fingers, let alone merchandise and parking, any and all other forms of revenue are needed to offset these chronic game day losses in revenue.”
Declining revenue is especially troublesome at a school whose athletic department has run in the red for six consecutive fiscal years. The Bruins brought in $11.6 million in football ticket revenue during the most recent fiscal year, down nearly half from the $20 million they generated in 2014 when the team averaged a record 76,650 fans at the Rose Bowl under coach Jim Mora. But one athletic official said the school in 2025 could come close to matching the $5.5 million it generated in season ticket revenue a year ago.
Low attendance is a deepening concern. UCLA’s five worst home season-attendance figures since moving to the Rose Bowl in 1982 have come over the last five seasons not interrupted by COVID-19, including 46,805 last season. That figure ranked 16th among the 18 Big Ten Conference teams, ahead of only Maryland and Northwestern, which was playing at a temporary lakeside stadium seating just 12,023.
Recent attendance numbers remind some longtime observers of the small crowds for UCLA games in the late 1970s at the Coliseum, which was part of the reason for the team’s move to Pasadena. During their final decade of calling the Coliseum home, the Bruins topped 50,000 fans only six times for games not involving rival USC.
“Now, disappointingly, it would appear that the same attendance challenges that UCLA football faced at the Coliseum in the 1970s are repeating themselves at the Rose Bowl,” said John Sandbrook, a former UCLA assistant chancellor under chancellor Chuck Young and one of the primary power brokers in the school’s switch to the Rose Bowl.
Attendance woes are hardly confined to UCLA. Sixty-one of 134 Football Bowl Subdivision teams experienced a year-over-year decline in attendance last season, according to D1ticker.com.
UCLA faces several unique challenges, particularly early each season. Its stadium resides 26 miles from campus and students don’t start classes until late September. Other explanations for low turnouts have included late start times such as the 8 p.m. kickoff against Utah, lackluster nonconference opponents and triple-digit heat for some September games.
Quarterback Nico Iamaleava said he appreciated those who did show up Saturday, including a throng of friends and family from his hometown Long Beach.
“Fan base came out and showed their support, man,” Iamaleava said. “You know, it felt great going out there and playing in front of them. Obviously, we got to do our part and, you know, get them a win and make them enjoy the game.”
On some occasions, UCLA’s attendance figures have closely reflected the number of people in the stadium, including high-interest games such as Colorado coach Deion Sanders’ appearance in 2023. For that game, the announced attendance (71,343) only slightly exceeded the scan count (68,615).
The rivalry game also gets fans to show up. The announced attendance of 59,473 last season for USC’s 19-13 victory at the Rose Bowl wasn’t far off from the scan count of 51,588.
See all those empty seats? There were fewer than 13,000 fans in attendance to see quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, right, and wide receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala celebrate a touchdown against Bowling Green in 2022.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Still, as traditions go, creative accounting might predate the eight-clap. Similar to fudging practices known to be widespread at other schools, UCLA officials have been known to embellish attendance figures, sometimes rounding far enough past the next thousand not to strain credulity, according to two people familiar with operations who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Additionally, according to a former university administrator who observed the practice, a member of the athletic department staff would show a slip of paper with a suggested attendance figure for basketball games at Pauley Pavilion in the 1960s and 1970s to athletic director J.D. Morgan, who would either nod or take a pen and change the number to one more to his liking. That practice continued under subsequent athletic director Peter Dalis, the administrator said.
While declining to comment for this story, current athletic administrators have acknowledged the challenge of drawing fans in an increasingly crowded sports landscape that now includes two local NFL teams. Among other ventures, UCLA has created a new fan zone outside the stadium that can be enjoyed without purchasing a ticket and will hold a concert on the north side of the stadium the day of the Penn State game early next month.
While there’s no promotion like winning, as the saying goes, there also may be no salvaging the situation for the Bruins’ next home game. UCLA will face New Mexico on Sept. 12 for a Friday evening kickoff that will force fans to fight weekday traffic to see their favorite team face an opponent from the Mountain West Conference.
Brave souls who look around and hear the announced attendance might experience inflation on the rise once more.
Karl Dorrell acknowledged not knowing where to stand on the sideline while losing his first game to Colorado in 2003?
Manual Arts High blew UCLA out, 74-0, in the program’s first game in 1919?
Regardless of your choice, what happened Saturday night at the Rose Bowl was awful. Putrid. Dreadful.
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UCLA’s 43-10 setback against Utah — the Bruins’ most lopsided loss in a season opener since they absorbed a 38-3 thrashing by top-ranked Oklahoma in 1986 — came largely as a result of losing the battle on both lines of scrimmage.
The offensive line couldn’t help the run game produce anything of note on the way to 37 yards from its three running backs.
The defense looked lost from the first snap. There was no containment of Utes quarterback Devon Dampier, who often saw more open field in front of him than closing defenders.
Quarterback Nico Iamaleava, appearing overly amped in his UCLA debut, overthrew several receivers on the way to completing only half of his passes but showed flashes of why his arrival was such a big deal. His slippery runs and perfect touch on a 19-yard touchdown pass to running back Anthony Woods were a possible harbinger of far greater success.
The big hope is that the Bruins accelerate their rebound from a year ago. Remember, UCLA looked equally pitiful in its home opener against Indiana last season (a 42-13 drubbing) as part of a 1-5 start, only to turn things around and nearly make a bowl game.
Defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe moved players around until he found the right combination, putting Oluwafemi Oladejo at edge rusher and inserting linebacker Carson Schwesinger into the starting lineup on the way to one of the greatest individual seasons in school history.
But is there enough talent on this team to spark a turnaround? These guys looked slow-footed and couldn’t tackle very well. Finding a capable edge rusher or two must be a top priority.
For UCLA to have any meaningful success this season, it’s going to have to pile up wins against the soft patch of its schedule that starts next weekend. A road game against Nevada Las Vegas (2-0, albeit with victories over Sam Houston and Idaho State) will be followed by a home game against New Mexico (0-1) and the Big Ten opener on the road against Northwestern (0-1).
Was the Bruins’ opener just a bad night against a good team or an omen? We’ll know soon enough.
Joey and Dante watch
Former Bruin Joey Aguilar had a nice game against Syracuse on Saturday.
(Mike Stewart / Associated Press)
Compounding UCLA’s misery was the success that two former Bruins quarterbacks enjoyed in their season openers.
Joey Aguilar, briefly a Bruin in the spring before transferring to Tennessee as part of the so-called trade for Iamaleava, starred in his Volunteers debut. Joey Football, as he’s been known since his gunslinger days at Appalachian State, looked like a gamer Saturday during Tennessee’s 45-26 victory over Syracuse, throwing for 247 yards and three touchdowns.
Dante Moore, who looked so spectacular early in the 2023 season at UCLA before throwing a pick-six in three consecutive games and losing his starting job to Ethan Garbers on the way to the transfer portal, returned to a starring role during Oregon’s 59-13 victory over Montana State. Moore completed 18 of 23 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.
It’s important to note that Aguilar and Moore thrived against far lesser competition than Iamaleava faced in the Utes, a possible College Football Playoff contender. Iamaleava also projects as the best of the bunch in terms of NFL upside and could eventually lead UCLA to a renaissance in what’s likely to be his only season as a Bruin.
Perhaps the overriding takeaway after one week is that Iamaleava doesn’t have nearly the supporting cast that he enjoyed last season at Tennessee. The big question: Can he make something worthwhile out of what he has to work with and will others step up to help him?
New fan loyalty program
Airlines, hotels and even local coffee shops have loyalty programs, so why not college sports?
In an effort to strengthen the connection between UCLA and its fans while generating additional revenue, the Bruins athletic department last week announced the creation of the Blue & Gold Society, a loyalty program in partnership with sports marketing agency Two Circles.
Daniel Cruz, UCLA’s deputy athletic director and chief revenue officer, said he wanted to find a new way to connect with fans both inside and outside of Southern California.
“For our fans in New York or the Midwest,” Cruz told The Times, “how do they get access to different things that are cool and memorable and have that connection to the school and contribute directly to the student-athlete so that we can continue to support them and continue driving this program to winning?”
Fans who join the Blue & Gold Society will have access to limited-edition merchandise, behind-the-the scenes tours and specially curated game-day experiences, among other perks. Among the items that fans could secure are surplus jerseys or maybe a piece of the old Pauley Pavilion floor. Experiences could include getting to watch a select team practice.
The program has three tiers with a corresponding level of benefits. The signature tier (priced at $39.99 per month, or available at a discounted annual price) provides a welcome pack, exclusive video and editorial content, an annual merchandise box, quarterly sweepstakes opportunities and an Olympic sports card good for admission to every UCLA sporting event besides football and men’s basketball.
The premium tier ($59.99 per month) comes with enhanced benefits, including two merchandise boxes per year, two tickets to a UCLA sporting event and behind-the-scenes tour of Pauley Pavilion. Those who splurge for the elite tier ($99.99 per month) will receive four merchandise boxes per year, four tickets to two UCLA sporting events and behind-the-scenes tours of both Pauley Pavilion and the Wasserman Football Center, among other benefits.
UCLA is the third college to launch a fan loyalty program in collaboration with Two Circles, joining Kentucky and Colorado.
“It’s not just going to a game or buying a piece of merchandise; it’s really, truly like an immersive experience for the fan,” said Nick Garner, executive vice president for Two Circles. “We want them to know that by joining the Blue & Gold Society, you will have the opportunity to do something that you couldn’t otherwise.”
Cruz said the venture could be instructive in letting UCLA know where fan strongholds exist outside of Los Angeles.
“It could maybe help one day dictate, like, OK, we have a massive fan base in this state,” Cruz said, “why don’t we try to play a game there or do something special there when we do play a team in that region, so I’m pretty excited about that.”
Heard on campus
Delays in the completion of UCLA’s new football practice fields outside the Wasserman Center, which have forced the Bruins to use Drake Stadium and the intramural fields, were twofold, according to an athletic department spokesperson.
The new grass and artificial turf fields were not completed before the season because of extended approval and bid processes after the project was submitted for campus approval in August 2024. Once construction started in July, the schedule for completion has remained on the expected timeline.
The Bruins could start using their new practice fields as soon as the last week of September. The estimated cost of the project is $2.9 million.
A blue-and-golden anniversary
There was another season debut at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
The UCLA Alumni Band, entering its 50th anniversary, performed before the game to kick off a yearlong celebration.
The band will perform a two-hour concert in the Fan Zone outside the Rose Bowl starting three hours before every home UCLA football game — including a show with the UCLA spirit squad 90 minutes before kickoff — followed by a 30-minute concert in the Court of Champions starting 45 minutes before kickoff. All fans are welcome to attend.
Olympic sport spotlight: Women’s volleyball
The free agency era of college sports could be a great thing for this team.
Coming off a sub-.500 season, the UCLA women’s volleyball team restocked its roster with a bunch of highly coveted transfers. Among the new arrivals are outside hitter Maggie Li, a former Pac-12 Conference freshman of the year at California; Zayna Meyer, a former Big West Conference setter of the year at Long Beach State; middle blocker Phekran Kong, a onetime star at Louisville; and defensive specialist-libero Lola Schumacher, a former All-Big Ten freshman from Wisconsin.
They will join senior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette, a returning first team All-Big Ten selection, in the bid for a breakthrough. UCLA opens the season Monday evening against Long Beach State at the Pyramid in Long Beach.
Opinion time
So, does UCLA’s football team rally immediately against the soft pocket of its schedule — consecutive games against UNLV, New Mexico and Northwestern — or fall further into despair before facing Penn State on Oct. 4 at the Rose Bowl?
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Aug. 29 (UPI) — Inflation rose in July, according to the Personal Income and Outlays report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Fed’s preferred measure.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy costs, was at a 2.9% seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the personal consumption expenditures price index. That showed a rise of 0.1% from June and the highest annual rate since February.
The core PCE index increased 0.3% monthly, which is in line with expectations, CNBC reported.
Personal outlays, which is the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments, increased $110.9 billion in July. Personal saving was $985.6 billion in July, and the personal saving rate — personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income — was 4.4%.
The increase in current-dollar personal income in July primarily reflected an increase in compensation. Personal income increased $112.3 billion, 0.4% at a monthly rate, in July. Disposable personal income — income less personal current taxes — increased $93.9 billion or 0.4%.
Many policy-makers consider core inflation to be a better indicator of trends because it excludes the gas and groceries figures, which are volatile, CNBC said. Central bankers prefer inflation at 2%. Friday’s report shows the economy isn’t near where the Fed wants it.
“The Fed opened the door to rate cuts, but the size of that opening is going to depend on whether labor-market weakness continues to look like a bigger risk than rising inflation,” said Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, to CNBC. “Today’s in-line PCE Price Index will keep the focus on the jobs market. For now, the odds still favor a September cut.”
Chaotic footage was captured Saturday night at Rose Bowl Stadium of a man brutally beating a woman in the stands during a Rüfüs Du Sol concert. Other concertgoers expressed shock over the incident, and some attendees said they were concerned about crowd control and safety measures at the sold-out show.
The video, shared by festival news platform Festive Owl, shows a man knocking a woman to the ground and repeatedly throwing punches at her while other attendees try to pull him back.
“This man punched me in the face, knocking me out and causing significant bleeding, while he continued attacking our group,” the woman wrote in a message shared by Festive Owl. She is asking for the public’s help in identifying the man after the attack, which took place in Section 12-H, Row 20 at the venue.
The victim said the man became agitated after a drink was accidentally spilled on him. According to the woman, he then yelled that the spill was intentional and stormed off before returning 30 minutes later screaming and threatening violence.
“I tried to calm the situation and apologized again — and the next thing I remember I woke up in a medical tent an hour later and missed the entire show,” the woman wrote.
The Australian electronic music trio said in a statement shared on social media Monday night that they were heartbroken to hear about the act of violence that took place during the opening act of their show. They encouraged anyone with information on the incident to contact the Pasadena Police Department.
“This type of behavior is completely unacceptable anywhere and the fact that this happened at one of our shows was devastating to hear about,” the group wrote. “Local law enforcement is actively investigating the situation.”
The concert organizers were criticized on social media, with fans complaining about long lines, the packed venue and poor crowd control, with some citing fears that it could have turned into a tragedy similar to the fatal crowd crush at 2021 Astroworld.
“It was honestly out of control. It was a circus. It was not safe, and I’m very angry,” a concertgoer identified as Derek told NBC4 News.
Christina Molina told KTLA News that the venue was so packed people were watching the show from the walkway.
“I literally had people pressed up against my back, all of them blocking that entire walkway,” she told the station. “Crowd control was nonexistent.”
THERE can be no cooler claim to fame than to be name-checked in one of the greatest pop songs ever written.
Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks, released at the height of the Swinging Sixties, featured a couple referred to only by their first names — Terry and Julie.
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Terence Stamp with lover Julie Christie in 1967’s Far From The Madding CrowdCredit: Alamy
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Down the boozer with drinking buddy Michael Caine, who he shared a flat with in London before they found fameCredit: Alamy
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Stamp in Paris for the premiere of comedy-drama Song For Marion in 2013Credit: Getty – Contributor
Julie was Julie Christie, the drop-dead gorgeous actress, and Terry was Terence Stamp, her real-life boyfriend.
The accomplished actor died yesterday morning, aged 87, and last night his family led the tributes to him.
They said in a statement: “He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer, that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come.”
Along with a handful of other leading men from humble backgrounds such as Michael Caine and Albert Finney, Stamp epitomised a new breed of screen star.
Ruggedly handsome, uncompromising and from a tough working-class background, he shot to fame with his first movie.
But as the Sixties drew to a close, it looked as though the sun was also setting on his career — and it was almost a decade before he triumphantly reappeared.
The oldest of five children, he was born Terence Henry Stamp on July 22, 1938, in Bow, East London, to mother Ethel and father Thomas, a £12-a-week tugboat stoker.
‘I was in pain. I took drugs – everything’
That made him, according to the saying, a genuine Cockney — “born within the sound of Bow bells”.
His first home had no bathroom, only a tub in the backyard which he would be dragged into on Friday evenings.
He later remembered: “The first one in would get second-degree burns — and the last one frostbite.”
Superman defeats General Zod, played by Terence Stamp, in Superman II
In 2016, he said of his childhood: “The great blessing of my life is that I had the really hard bit at the beginning. We were really poor.
“I couldn’t tell anybody that I wanted to be an actor because it was just out of the question. I would have been laughed at.
“When we got our first TV, I started saying, ‘Oh I could do that’ and my dad wore it for a little bit.
“After I’d said, ‘Oh I’m sure I could do better than that guy’, he looked at me and he said, ‘Son, people like us don’t do things like that’.”
As an 18-year-old, he tried to evade National Service — a year and a half of compulsory duty in the military — by claiming to have nosebleeds but was saved when he failed his medical because of fallen arches.
Determined to realise his dream, Stamp left home and moved into a basement flat on London’s Harley Street with another promising young Cockney actor — Michael Caine. The pair became firm friends and ended up in repertory theatre, touring around the UK together.
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Stamp in the title role of his first hit, 1962’s Billy Budd
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In the 1966 spy comedy Modesty Blaise with Monica VittiCredit: Alamy
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Stamp as an alien in Superman II with Sarah Douglas and Jack O’ HalloranCredit: Alamy
Stamp’s performances soon brought him to the attention of acclaimed writer and director Peter Ustinov, who gave him the lead role in the 1962 historical drama movie Billy Budd. He was an overnight success.
Nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, he also won the hearts of millions of female fans. And with his first Hollywood pay cheque, the image-conscious actor celebrated by buying himself a Savile Row suit and bleaching his hair blond.
Stamp heeded the career advice Ustinov gave him — to only accept job offers when something he really wanted came his way.
That may explain why he made only ten movies between 1962 and 1977.
His most famous role was as Sergeant Troy in Far From The Madding Crowd in 1967 — where he met and fell in love with co-star Julie Christie.
While Stamp was fast becoming a screen icon, his younger brother Chris was making waves in the music biz.
I was someone who was desperately unhappy. I was in pain. I took drugs — everything
Terence Stamp
Stamp Junior managed The Who and Jimi Hendrix, and was friends with many music legends of the time.
Talking about The Kinks’ classic Waterloo Sunset, written by frontman Ray Davies, Terence said: “My brother was quite friendly with him.
“He asked Ray Davies about that lyric and Ray Davies told my brother that, yes, he was visualising Julie and me when he wrote the lyric.”
But by the end of the decade, Stamp’s career was on the wane — and he was devastated when his “Face of the Sixties” model girlfriend Jean Shrimpton walked out on him — beginning what he called his “lost years”.
He said: “I’d lost the only thing I thought was permanent.
“The revelation came to me then — nothing is permanent, so what was the point trying to maintain a permanent state?
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Stamp as tough ex-con Wilson in Steven Soderbergh’s 1999 crime thriller The LimeyCredit: Imagenet
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Stamp with Guy Pearce, left, and Hugo Weaving in Priscilla, Queen Of The DesertCredit: Alamy
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Stamp in 1964 with model Jean Shrimpton, who left him devastated when she ended their three-year relationshipCredit: Getty
“I was someone who was desperately unhappy. I was in pain. I took drugs — everything.”
He clung on to a feeling that “the call would come” — but the wait was a long one.
It finally came in 1977 when he was offered the part of General Zod in Superman.
He took it — mainly because it gave him the chance to appear alongside his acting hero Marlon Brando.
The part brought him to the attention of a new audience — and last night fans paid tribute to his portrayal of the banished alien villain.
In a nod to his role as the evil leader who demanded his enemies show him deference, one fan wrote on X: “Thank you Terry . . . we will kneel today in your honour.”
Another wrote: “Terence Stamp was much more than Zod but at the same time one of the best comic book villains ever.”
‘My present was a box of Star Wars stencils’
Making up for lost time after the 1978 release of Superman, Stamp made dozens of films from then until 2021, showing off his huge range.
He won universal praise for his portrayal of an East End villain in The Limey (1999) and transgender woman Bernadette Bassenger in The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert. Stamp also played Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum in Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace, although the director George Lucas did not give him a huge payday.
He once cornered a producer during the shoot and complained about the pay.
He recalled: “I said, ‘Listen, you’re not paying much money and it’s making hundreds of millions. What goes down? What happens?’
“She said, ‘If the actors are really good, George gives them a present’.
“I thought, ooh, that’s all right. So when I leave the studio I go into my dressing room and there’s a box. It was a box of Star Wars stencils.
“That was my present. I just couldn’t believe it. I thought, may the Force be with you, George. I didn’t keep my stencils. I left them in the dressing room.”
Around that time, he said: “I moved from England some time ago because I wasn’t getting any work.
“I’m getting work in America and my films appear in France but for some reason I’m not getting any offers in Britain.”
But he kept himself busy by launching a successful parallel career as an author, writing five bestselling memoirs and two cookbooks.
Talking about The Kinks’ classic Waterloo Sunset, written by frontman Ray Davies, Terence said: ‘My brother was quite friendly with him’Credit: Supplied
Although he dated some of the world’s most beautiful women, including Julie Christie, Brigitte Bardot and sisters Joan and Jackie Collins, he married only once — to Elizabeth O’Rourke.
The pharmacist was 35 years his junior and the marriage lasted from 2002 to 2008.
He admitted he was upset by the split but added: “I always said I’ll try anything once, other than incest or Morris dancing.
“I’d never been married and I thought I would try it, but I couldn’t make a go of it.”
Looking back on his career, he once said: “I’d be lying if I said I was completely indifferent to the success of all my contemporaries. There are parts I would love to have had a stab at, but I see the decisions I made as invaluable.
“I’m not just chasing an Oscar. I am learning how to die — how to build something within myself that does not become dust.”
WATERLOO SUNSET (extract) by RAY DAVIES
Terry meets Julie Waterloo Station Every Friday night But I am so lazy Don’t want to wander I stay at home at night
Millions of people Swarming like flies ’round Waterloo underground But Terry and Julie Cross over the river Where they feel safe and sound
And they don’t need no friends As long as they gaze on Waterloo sunset They are in paradise
Aug. 12 (UPI) — The Consumer Price Index rose slightly less than expected in July annually as tariffs showed only a minimal influence on prices.
The CPI increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month and 2.7% on a 12-month basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. The Dow Jones estimates were 0.2% and 2.8%.
Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.3% for the month and 3.1% from a year ago, compared with the forecasts for 0.3% and 3%. Federal Reserve officials generally consider core inflation to be a better reading for longer-term trends, CNBC reported.
The 2% increase in shelter costs was the main uptick in the index, while food prices were flat and energy fell 1.1%.
New vehicle prices, which are tariffed, were also unchanged, but used cars and trucks saw a 0.5% bump. Transportation and medical services both rose 0.8%.
Stock market futures showed gains after the report, while Treasury yields were mostly lower.
Tariffs did affect some areas. Household furnishings and supplies showed a 0.7% increase after rising 1% in June. But apparel prices rose just 0.1%, and core commodity prices increased just 0.2%. Canned fruits and vegetables, which are usually imported and also sensitive to tariffs, were flat.
“The tariffs are in the numbers, but they’re certainly not jumping out hair on fire at this point,” former White House economist Jared Bernstein said on CNBC. Bernstein served under former President Joe Biden.
The report comes in the middle of a political shake-up in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which releases the CPI.
President Donald Trump on Monday nominated economist E.J. Antoni as commissioner of the BLS, a non-partisan agency he has criticized.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the chief economist with the conservative Heritage Foundation would replace Erika McEntarfer, who was fired by Trump on Aug. 1, alleging that she had manipulated the jobs reports for three months.
He worked for the Texas Public Policy Commission before the Heritage Foundation. He has master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from Northern Illinois University.
Last week, Antoni posted on X: “There are better ways to collect, process, and disseminate data — that is the task for the next BLS commissioner, and only consistent delivery of accurate data in a timely manner will rebuild the trust that has been lost over the last several years.”
On Nov. 13, one week after Trump was elected again, he wrote on X: “DOGE needs to take a chainsaw to the BLS.”
Every man, woman and child deserves only the best fan experience at the Rose Bowl.
Too few are getting it, leading to dwindling UCLA football attendance over the last decade-plus.
The sad phenomenon is only partly attributable to mediocre teams. In 2022, the Bruins got off to a 6-0 start, rising to No. 9 in the national rankings, and still averaged just 41,593 fans for home games over the season.
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There’s an endless list of excuses for not making the drive to Pasadena. It’s too far. Traffic’s too bad. Games are too expensive. The weather’s too hot. The opponent is from the Sun Belt Conference. The Bruins are out of contention for anything meaningful. The game’s on a Friday. The game time wasn’t announced until less than a week before kickoff. The game starts too early. The game starts too late.
Since it’s not possible to move the stadium closer to campus or lower the temperature in August or September, we’re offering eight ways to make a day of Bruins football more enticing. Some of these suggestions might seem as realistic as moving the San Gabriel Mountains, but who ever imagined that UCLA would play in the Big Ten?
Give freebies: The best way to help fans stretch their entertainment dollar is to let them keep it.
Tickets are reasonably priced given they sometimes go for next to nothing on the secondary market and currently can be bought for as low as $43 for some games through UCLA, but how about offering free parking? Even if this is a cost the school has to subsidize, free parking would be a tremendous lure and goodwill gesture.
Students also should get in free. While student attendance has been robust since athletic director Martin Jarmond and his staff implemented several initiatives, it would make sense to have even more of the stadium packed with a segment of fans who tend to make the most noise and create the best atmosphere. It would also build lifelong loyalty and help pack the Rose Bowl with alumni in future seasons.
Eliminate six-day selection: Just tell us the kickoff times already. People need to plan their lives.
As of early August, the only home games with known kickoff times are the opener against Utah on Aug. 30, which starts at 8 p.m. (yikes), and a Friday game against New Mexico on Sept. 12 that starts at 7 p.m. (good luck getting to the Rose Bowl in weekday evening traffic).
The other four home games — against Penn State, Maryland, Nebraska and Washington — all come with the dreaded TBD tag.
The uncertainty is, of course, a function of television running the sports world, waiting for the best matchups to fill prime-time slots. Fox executives don’t want to miss out on possible surprises, such as undefeated Maryland coming to the Rose Bowl in mid-October to face nationally-ranked UCLA.
Some kickoff times will be announced once it becomes clear how good the Bruins are; others won’t be known until six days before the game. The indecisiveness hurts attendance given that many fans like to plan their schedules way more than a week in advance.
No more Friday night lights: This is something else that can be blamed on greedy TV execs and conference commissioners.
Fridays should be reserved for high school football, not college games that seem out of place. And the fans seem to agree.
Recent UCLA games played on Fridays haven’t generated big crowds. Even a showdown between unbeatens when the Bruins faced Washington in 2022 drew just 41,343.
When it comes to Friday college football games, just don’t do it.
Start every game in the afternoon or early evening: Nobody wants to be getting home from the Rose Bowl after midnight.
Games that start too late also miss one of the most glorious sites in college football: sunset over the San Gabriel Mountains.
Ideal kickoff times are early to mid-afternoon, which don’t make you set an alarm clock and allow you to get home in time to watch some game involving Hawaii or Boise State.
Bring in a live bear cub mascot: How much fun would it be to have a baby bear on the sideline at the Rose Bowl?
Imagine the possibilities involving “Fuzzy,” our preferred nickname. Snuggle with Fuzzy. Get your picture taken with Fuzzy. Put your fours up with Fuzzy.
Since we can feel the outrage from animal-rights activists, let’s point out that Colorado has a massive buffalo running onto the field at its home games and that UCLA once had its own live-bear mascots for games at the Coliseum into the early 1960s.
Attacked by a bear in 1932
(Los Angeles Times)
Fuzzy could probably only stick around for a season or two until he got too big and possibly tempted to chomp on someone (which actually happened in 1932). Then it would be time to introduce Fuzzy II.
Get the towel waver back on the sideline: In more than a century of UCLA football, Ed Kezirian holds the distinction of being the school’s only unbeaten coach.
OK, so he coached just one game, taking over for the Las Vegas Bowl in 2002 after the dismissal of Bob Toledo. But Kezirian is even more widely known for waving a white towel on the sideline to get players — and fans — juiced.
It was a tradition that started in 1994, coinciding with a missed Stanford field goal and a Bruins win, and formally ending in 2007 with Kezirian’s retirement as the football team’s director of academic services. It’s time to get those towels flapping again.
Wear more alternate uniforms: Fans love this stuff.
Need we remind you of all the uniform and helmet combinations at Oregon, where the Ducks sold out 110 consecutive games between 1999 and 2016?
Partnering with Nike and Jordan Brand means that there’s no shortage of cool (and marketable) possibilities for the Bruins when it comes to getting creative. Wearing all white uniforms or Gary Beban-era throwback blues once a season isn’t enough.
Bring back Geoffrey Strand on a limited basis:
Imagine the fourth quarter of a taut game, the Bruins needing to drive 75 yards for the go-ahead score against Penn State.
That would be the perfect time to unveil a secret, deafening weapon.
“All right, I need every man, woman and child on their feet!” Strand would yell through a microphone, triggering a huge roar.
The world’s oldest cheerleader hung up his tattered blue-and-yellow sweater and newsboy cap after the 2013 season, a year after he was briefly suspended for referencing the Taliban in cheers and allegedly using a golf cart without authorization.
But no one loves UCLA more, and no one could revitalize his alma mater quite like him.
Finding a new voice
Josh Lewin, UCLA’s lead radio announcer, has gone Hollywood.
Don’t worry, not in that way; he’s just taking a cue from his environment.
“This is L.A.” Lewin said, “and this is where creative things get made.”
Given an extended break in his schedule after calling his last Major League Baseball game in 2019, Lewin has pivoted to producing a series of soccer documentaries in his free time between the end of the Bruins men’s basketball season and the start of the football season.
His latest project, a series on Cambridge United Football Club’s attempt to extricate itself from hard times, will air its third and final segment Saturday on CBS Sports Network. It’s the sixth documentary that Lewin has produced, including others on English and American soccer.
“I’m building the airplane as I’m flying it — I mean, I never went to film school, never went to business school,” said Lewin, who earlier this year launched Josh Lewin Productions. “I really only trained to be a play-by-play guy and that’s been great, it’s made me a nice living and I love doing it, but this is just a really interesting way to learn how to connect with fans at kind of a deeper level.”
Lewin’s first project, “Five Dollar Derby,” pitted three American owners of English soccer teams against one another in a manner reminiscent of “Trading Places” — the owners placed a $5 bet among themselves to see who would fare the best. You can watch a trailer for “Five Dollar Derby” here.
When he started making documentaries, Lewin fully immersed himself in every aspect. He wrote, produced, directed, narrated and served as musical director — “everything but key grip,” he quipped — but has since ceded some of those duties to others with more experience to enhance the production quality.
“It’s been a really interesting side hustle, I guess you could call it,” Lewin said. “I’ve learned so much about soccer, England and filmmaking, three things that I really didn’t have on my plate before all this happened.”
After calling the Rams’ game against Dallas on Saturday at SoFi Stadium for Compass Media Network, Lewin will savor the airing of his soccer documentary before preparing to shift back into his usual work flow.
“That’s the perfect time to hit the pause button,” Lewin said, “because Bruins season begins exactly two weeks later and there are 19 new starters to learn about, so it’s time to shift back into Bruins mode.”
Olympic sport spotlight: Women’s soccer
UCLA women’s soccer coach Margueritte Aozasa gets water dumped on her after winning the Division I title in 2022.
(Eakin Howard / Getty Images)
Curt Cignetti, Indiana’s football coach, once said that he wins, just Google him.
Well, Margueritte Aozasa can top that.
She only wins championships, just check her assortment of trophies.
In her three seasons guiding UCLA’s women’s soccer team, Aozasa has won one NCAA championship and two conference titles, including a Big Ten tournament championship last season that made her team the first in UCLA history to take home a Big Ten title. The Bruins went on to reach the second round of the NCAA tournament.
UCLA should be back in contention for another national championship this season thanks in part to the return of skilled midfielder Emma Egizii and forward Lexi Wright, members of the 2022 national title team who were lost for much of last season because of injuries. Also returning are defender Nicki Fraser, the reigning Big Ten freshman of the year, and midfielder Val Vargas, who was a third-team all-conference selection a year ago.
Pulling it all together will be Aozasa, one of Jarmond’s best hires. Her team will be the first on campus to open the 2025-26 UCLA sports calendar when it travels to face Georgia in Athens, Ga., on Thursday.
Mount Rushmore results
Jonathan Ogden with his bust during the induction ceremony at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
(David Richard / Associated Press)
A mountain of a man might be the preeminent face of UCLA football.
Jonathan Ogden was the leading vote-getter in our Mount Rushmore of UCLA football survey, the 6-foot-9, 345-pound offensive tackle named on 282 of 417 ballots. The others who made the cut were coach Terry Donahue (named on 227 ballots) and quarterbacks Troy Aikman (191) and Gary Beban (182).
The next four were safety Kenny Easley (136), linebacker Jerry Robinson (100), coach Red Sanders (93) and halfback Jackie Robinson (82).
Others named on at least five ballots: Maurice Jones-Drew, DeShaun Foster, John Lee, Marcedes Lewis, Cade McNown, Jim Mora, Ken Norton Jr., Tommy Prothro, John Sciarra, JJ Stokes, Bob Toledo, Wendell Tyler and Dick Vermeil.
Opinion time
Which UCLA football player not named Nico Iamaleava will be the team’s most important in 2025? Is it offensive tackle Courtland Ford, part of an offensive line that must protect its new quarterback? How about running back Jaivian Thomas? Wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer? Defensive tackle Gary Smith III? Linebacker Isaiah Chisom?
The last time UCLA faced Utah in a season opener, the Bruins featured a highly touted quarterback making his first start with the program.
Sound familiar?
It was 2006, and Ben Olson, who had not started a game since his senior year at Thousand Oaks High in 2001 after making a Mormon mission, lived up to the five-star hype in shredding the Utes for 318 yards and three touchdowns. You can watch highlights from the game here. UCLA went on to finish 7-6, the season highlight coming in a 13-9 upset of second-ranked USC at the Rose Bowl.
Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on X @latbbolch. To order an autographed copy of my book, “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” send me an email. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
But this time the world number 20 held his nerve to take it to a third sudden-death hole with American Spaun at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
Both hit par on their first go at the 18th hole and birdied their second, before Spaun failed to follow suit after Rose claimed another birdie.
That gave Rose his 12th PGA Tour title while compatriot Tommy Fleetwood’s wait for his first win goes on after he had gone into the final round of his 162nd event on the US circuit with a one-stroke lead.
The world number 15, a seven-time winner on the European Tour, bogeyed the penultimate hole to relinquish a share of the lead and finish one adrift of Rose and Spaun.
The world number 15 lost his lead early in the third round following a double bogey at the par-five third and a bogey at the seventh.
That left Rose alone in the lead and he followed with a birdie at the seventh, but then found water at the ninth and made bogey while Fleetwood birdied the ninth to regain a share of the lead.
The 34-year-old went clear again with a 14-foot birdie putt at the 12th and claimed another birdie on the 16th.
He had a three-shot lead after 17 holes, but a bogey on the last allowed Rose to pull within one with a birdie.
Fleetwood has had five top-five finishes this season and was runner-up behind Keegan Bradley at the Travelers Championship in June.
Players who finish in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup standings after Sunday’s round at TPC Southwind will advance to next week’s BMW Championship – the second of the PGA Tour’s three play-off tournaments.
July 31 (UPI) — The Federal Reserve‘s preferred inflation gauge rose more than expected in June, according to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released Thursday.
The personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, rose 0.3% in June from the previous month and 2.6% from June 2024. Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices rose 2.8% on an annual basis.
Additionally, when measured at a monthly rate, Americans saw their income increase by 0.3%, or $71.4 billion. However, after taxes that increase in dollars dips to around $61 billion, and the value of the goods and services bought by or for American citizens, or personal consumption expenditures, also rose 0.3% to $69.9 billion.
As for savings, residents held on to $1.01 trillion in personal savings in June, and when measured as a percentage of disposable income, those personal savings came in at 4.5%.
Inflation was also evident via the consumer price index, or CPI, as that rose 0.3% for urban consumers increased 0.3% since June when seasonally adjusted, and 2.7% over the last 12 months not seasonally adjusted, despite dipping as low as 2.3% in April.
The Fed continues to hold short-term interest rates steady at a range of 4.25% to 4.5% following its meeting earlier this week, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell citing earlier this month that the impact of President Donald Trump‘s reciprocal tariff strategy is the reason the Fed hasn’t gotten back to cutting rates.
Trump, who has been pushing for the Fed to lower rates, posted to Truth Social Thursday in regard to the Fed’s hold, saying Powell “is costing our Country TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS,” and called him a TOTAL LOSER.”
Fans of the venue said it is “nice to stroll around on a warm day” and dubbed it “cute and wholesome”
The award-winning rose gardens are being praised online by people keen to visit(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Award-winning rose gardens have been praised online as a place to add to your “weekend list.” The venue, tucked away in Norwich, Norfolk, has drawn attention online due to its picturesque views.
Peter Beales Roses, in Norwich, has been dubbed a “hidden gem” by fans on TikTok, who praised the rose gardens specifically. That will come as no surprise to many as Peter Beales is renowned for being home to the largest variety of roses in the UK and having 29 RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medals to its name.
TikTok user Shauna (@ilyxshaun) shared a clip showcasing the venue on a recent trip. Her caption read: “One for your weekend list.”
In the video, Shauna walks through the venue and shows viewers the entrance, the indoor shop selling produce, meets, handmade jewellery, the cafe, and the garden shop. She then moves on to the rose gardens, which she claims are “nice to stroll around on a warm day.”
In her voiceover, Shauna said: “This award-winning spot in Attleborough might just be Norfolk’s best kept summer day out. It’s known for its beautiful rose gardens, but there’s a lot more you can do here.
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“Inside. They’ve got a shop with lots of local produce like jams, chutneys, fresh meats, even handmade jewellery. They also have a cafe for brunch and afternoon tea.
“Plus you can sit outside when the weather’s warm, which is a bonus. There’s a garden section with indoor plants, tools and just all the little bits that you didn’t know you even needed.
“But the best part, without a doubt, is the rose gardens. There were rose bushes everywhere, little archways to wander through and so many pretty corners. It’s so nice to stroll around on a warm day. Peter Bales is ideal for when you don’t have plans but want something cute and wholesome to do.”
Peter Beales Roses has 29 RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medals to its name.(Image: Getty Images)
Beneath the video, others praised the venue and shared their favourite things about it too. One viewer said: “such a lovely day out” and a second wrote: “looks lovely.”
A third added: “When I last went there was a little hidden play park too for children we had to follow signs and it was very hidden but very cute.”
A different person said: “Yep there’s a children’s play area right at the back and a little nature walk.” The praise continued, with one viewer writing: “I love visiting here solely for the rose gardens!” and another adding: “Love it here. The rose festival is fab!”
According to Peter Beales, the rose gardens allow visitors to “escape to a world of beauty and tranquillity”, where “nature’s artistry meets timeless elegance.” The venue’s website adds that the gardens are the perfect place to “lose yourself in a sensory paradise.”
The rose gardens feature rose-covered archways and walkways draped in vibrant blooms, a “stunning” observation turret offering panoramic garden views, a “serene” wildlife garden buzzing with biodiversity, and display gardens with “intoxicating perfumes and seasonal colour.”
Peter Beales Roses is based around half a mile off the A11 in Attleborough, Norfolk. The venue features free parking, wheelchair access, toilets, and baby-changing facilities. Entrance to the rose gardens, which is open seven days a week, year-round, is free.
The K-pop girl group, made up of Rosé, Lisa, Jennie and Jisoo, triumphantly kicked off the North American leg of the Deadline world tour Saturday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. After taking a two-year break to focus on solo projects, the group reunited for its first U.S. concert since the Born Pink tour concluded in 2023.
Despite dropping only one group number since then — hardstyle, Diplo-produced “Jump,” released Friday — Blackpink sold out two nights at one of the Los Angeles area’s biggest venues.
“This is incredible. It is such an honor to perform at the SoFi Stadium for you guys,” Rosé said. “We are really really excited to be here.”
Sarah Hoang has been a Blackpink fan since 2019, following their Coachella debut that same year. To celebrate her first time seeing the girl group, the San Diego resident passed out commemorative tickets to other fans.
“I’ve been waiting for them for a long time,” Hoang said. “I was really excited to be finally seeing them in L.A., especially at the first tour of the U.S. leg.”
The stadium was awash in pink as fans went all-out for their idols. While many dressed according to the band’s namesake, others took inspiration from the girls’ solo projects. Concertgoer Evelyn Rios, who lives in Los Angeles, nailed Jennie’s look from the “Ruby” album cover in her all-black outfit and cherry-red wig. A fan since 2020, she attended the 2023 show at Dodger Stadium and noted she was most excited to hear “like Jennie.”
The show consisted of five acts and an encore, alternating between group and solo sections. Blackpink started off strong, firing through “Kill This Love,” “Pink Venom” and “How You Like That.”
The Saturday night set list was identical to the one in Goyang, South Korea, last weekend, save for Lisa’s solo section. While the maknae — or youngest member of the group — performed “New Woman” and “Rockstar” for the tour’s opening dates, she opted for the edgier “Thunder” and “Fxck Up the World” Saturday night.
Lisa’s two-piece Louis Vuitton set evoked Wonder Woman as she conquered the stage, lightning crackling behind her. Channeling the same spellbinding energy from her Coachella set earlier this year, where she also performed tracks from “Alter Ego,” Lisa proved why she’s among K-pop’s most magnetic performers.
All four solo projects are sonically distinct, and seeing them back-to-back highlighted just how artistically diverse the Blackpink members are. Jennie, who also performed solo at Coachella this year, leaned into her hip-hop influences as she delivered a mashup of “Mantra,” “with the IE (way up)” and “like Jennie.” Meanwhile, Jisoo pleased with the effervescent, electronic pop of “earthquake” and “Your Love.”
Rosé prompted laughs from the audience as footage of her filming a TikTok and eating French fries backstage played leading up to her solo section. When she finally appeared in front of the audience, she took a more intimate approach, sitting at the edge of the stage with guitarist Johnny “Natural” Najera.
Starting with heartbreak anthems “3am” and “toxic till the end,” Rosé concluded with the upbeat, global chart-topping single “Apt.,” during which she brought a fan on stage. Released with Bruno Mars in October, the song still sits comfortably on the Billboard Hot 100.
Blackpink debuted “Jump” before its official release last weekend in South Korea, so Los Angeles fans were prepared for the long-awaited comeback single. They jumped and danced all the way through the addictive track when Blackpink performed it not once, but twice.
“I must say the song is really addictive the more and more I hear it,” Rosé said after the first run. “I personally think it’s the most exciting one to perform during our set.
With a mix of old and new hits, Saturday night brought together both longtime fans and K-pop newcomers.
Sydney Grube and Thet Aung drove up together from San Diego just for the concert. While Aung has been a fan since the group began, Grube started listening after seeing Lisa in HBO’s “White Lotus” in February.
“I started listening to all the solo acts, and then started listening actually to the Blackpink music,” Grube said, adding that she was most excited to see the individual sections.
The concert also united fans of all ages, with plenty of families arriving in coordinating outfits. At one point, Blackpink even shouted out all the “baby blinks” in the audience — many of whom were not even born when the group debuted in 2016.
“I did want them to dance more, but they did really good,” said 9-year-old Tara Castro, who was wearing a Blackpink hat and glasses. “They’re my favorite K-pop.”
With tour dates charted through January, fans are expecting new music — perhaps even a full album — sometime soon. Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of Blackpink in our area.
By Alan Niven ECW Press: 240 pages, $23 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.
As the manager of Guns N’ Roses during the band’s debauched heyday, Alan Niven has no shortage of colorful stories.
Slash going off script and taking a Winnebago for a joyride — and then standing in rush hour traffic and brandishing a bottle of Jack Daniels — while filming the “Welcome to the Jungle” music video.
Guitarist Izzy Stradlin carrying a $750,000 cashier’s check that Niven had to take from him and hide in his own shoe for safekeeping during a raucous trip to New Orleans.
About 15 minutes into a thoughtful Zoom conversation, the garrulous Niven poses a question of his own: “Why was I managing Guns N’ Roses?”
Given what he describes, it is a good question.
“Because nobody else would do it,” he says, noting that the band’s former management firm “could not get away fast enough” from the group. “No one else would deal with them. Literally, I was not bottom of the barrel, darling — I was underneath the barrel. It was desperation.”
Case in point: his very first Guns N’ Roses band meeting. On the way into the house, Niven says, he passed by a broken toilet and “one of the better-known strippers from [the] Sunset Strip.” Stradlin and Slash were the only ones who’d shown up. Once the meeting started, Stradlin nodded out at the table and Slash fed “a little white bunny rabbit” to a massive pet python.
“And I’m sitting there going, ‘Keep your cool. This may be a test. Just go with it and get through it.’ But that was my first GNR meeting.”
These kinds of stranger-than-fiction anecdotes dominate Niven’s wildly entertaining (and occasionally jaw-dropping) new book, “Sound N’ Fury: Rock N’ Roll Stories.” With brutal honesty and vivid imagery, he describes the challenges of wrangling Guns N’ Roses before and after the band’s 1987 debut, “Appetite for Destruction.” These include mundane business matters (like shooting music videos on a budget) and more stressful moments, such as navigating Rose’s mercurial moods and ensuring that band members didn’t take drugs on international flights.
But “Sound N’ Fury” also focuses extensively on Niven’s time managing the bluesy hard rock band Great White, whose lead singer, the late Jack Russell, had his own struggles with severe addiction. To complicate the entanglement, Niven also produced and co-wrote dozens of the band’s songs, including hits “Rock Me” and “House of Broken Love.”
Niven mixes delightful bits of insider gossip into these harrowing moments: firing for bad behavior future superstar director Michael Bay from filming Great White’s “Call It Rock ’n’ Roll” music video; Berlin’s Terri Nunn sending President Reagan an 8-by-10 photo with a saucy message; clandestinely buying Ozzy Osbourne drinks on an airplane behind Sharon Osbourne’s back.
And his lifelong passion for championing promising artists also comes through, including his recent advocacy for guitarist Chris Buck of Cardinal Black.
Unsurprisingly, Niven says people had been asking him for “decades” to write a book (“If I had $1 for every time somebody asked me that, I’d be living in a castle in Scotland”). He resisted because of his disdain for rock ‘n’ roll books: “To me, they all have the same story arc and only the names change.”
A magazine editor paid him such a huge compliment that he finally felt compelled to write one.
“He said, ‘I wish I could write like you,’ ” Niven says. “When he said that, it put an obligation on me that I couldn’t shake. Now I had to be intelligent about it and go, ‘Well, you hate rock ‘n’ roll books, so what are you going to do?’ ”
Niven’s solution was to eschew the “usual boring, chronological history” and structure “Sound N’ Fury” more like a collection of vignettes, all told with his usual dry sense of humor and razor-sharp wit.
“If you tell the stories well enough, they might be illuminating,” he says. “I saw it more as a record than I did a book. And you hope that somebody will drop the needle in at the beginning of the record and stay with the record until it’s over.
“For me, dialogue was key — and, fortunately, they were all more f— up than I was,” he adds. “So my memory of the dialogue is pretty good. … There’s some dialogue exchanges in there that imprinted themselves for as long as I live.”
One of the artists that doesn’t get much ink in “Sound N’ Fury” is another group known for its hedonistic rock ‘n’ roll behavior, Mötley Crüe.
“The fact that people are still interested in what you’ve got to say about things that happened 30 years ago is almost unimaginable,” Alan Niven says.
(ECW Press)
Niven promoted and facilitated distribution of the independent release of the band’s 1981 debut, “Too Fast for Love” and helped connect Mötley Crüe with Elektra Records. He doesn’t mince words in the book or in conversation about the band, saying he feels “very ambivalent about the small role I played in the progression of Mötley Crüe because I know who they are. I know what they’ve done to various people. I know how they’ve treated certain numbers of women. And I am not proud of contributing to that.
“And on top of that, someone needs to turn around and say, ‘It’s a thin catalog that they produced,’ in terms of what they produced as music,” he continues. “There’s not much there and it’s certainly not intellectually or spiritually illuminating in any way, shape or form. They are brutish entertainers, and that’s it.”
Still, Niven says he didn’t hesitate to include the stories that he did in “Sound N’ Fury,” and by explanation notes a conversation he had with journalist Mick Wall.
“He sent me an email the other day saying, ‘Welcome to the club of authors,’ ” he recalls. “And I’m going, ‘Yeah, right. You’ve been doing it all your life. I’m just an enthusiastic amateur.’ And he said, ‘Welcome to the club — and by the way, it’s cursed.’”
Niven pondered what that meant. “A little light bulb went on in my head, and I went, ‘Ah, yes, the curse is truth,’ because a lot of people don’t want to hear the truth and don’t want to hear what truly happened.
“There are people in the Axl cult who won’t be happy. There will be one or two other people who won’t be happy, but there’s no point in recording anything unless it’s got a truth to it.”
Niven says when the book was done, he didn’t necessarily gain any surprising insights or new perspectives on what he had documented.
“The fact that people are still interested in what you’ve got to say about things that happened 30 years ago is almost unimaginable,” he says. “I never used to do interviews back in the day. But at this point, it would just be graceless and rank bad manners not to respond.
“Occasionally people go, ‘Oh, he’s bitter,’” Niven continues. “No, I am not. I don’t think the book comes off as bitter. Many times I’ve said it was actually a privilege to go through that period of time because I didn’t have to spend my life saying to myself, ‘I wonder what it would have been like to have had a No. 1. To have had a successful band.’ Well, I found out firsthand.”
Niven stresses firmly that management was more than a job to him.
“It was my way of life,” he says. “People who go into management and think it’s a job that starts maybe at about half past 10 in the morning once you’ve had your coffee and then you check out at six, they’re not true managers.
“They’re not in management for the right reasons,” he adds. “Rock ‘n’ roll is a way of f— life. It’s 24/7, 365. And that was my approach to it.”
