times

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. If all goes as expected, Matt Logan of Corona Centennial will earn career victory No. 300 on Thursday night, becoming the 15th coach in state history to achieve that mark, according to CalHiSports.com records.

The Logan way

Corona Centennial coach Matt Logan is in his 29th season.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

It’s going to be party time in Corona on Thursday night when Centennial hosts Eastvale Roosevelt. Centennial will be a heavy favorite to deliver win No. 300 for coach Matt Logan, who has made his program one of Southern California’s most consistent and perhaps the top public school football program in his 29th season.

Centennial is the last team to win the Southern Section title in 2015 other than St. John Bosco and Mater Dei. His teams have won 10 Southern Section titles and a state title in 2018. His influence has been immense.

Twenty-two former Centennial players have reached the NFL, including five on current rosters. More than 250 players have reached the college ranks. He became a trendsetter with his quick tempo, no-huddle offense that required officials to be in good shape because of the speed in which the Huskies would snap the ball after the whistle had been blown. He became the coach not afraid to play anyone, scheduling home and away games with Mater Dei, playing Florida’s IMG Academy and playing three Trinity League opponents this season.

Through the years, any time there was an opening at a top private school, Logan’s name got mentioned as a candidate. But the Norco High graduate was never going to leave the community he grew up in.

“I don’t think our school district and our area would be recognized without him,” said Anthony Catalano, a former quarterback and current assistant coach. “It changed the outlook of our community and kept a lot of people home. It set the standard for what our expectations are.”

I’ve seen some of Logan’s greatest wins and some of his toughest losses through the years. There was the 62-52 triumph over St. John Bosco in the 2015 Pac-5 championship game. There was the 68-64 playoff victory over Gardena Serra in 2014 that was called “offensive madness.” There was the Division 1 semifinal playoff loss to St. John Bosco 49-47 in 2016.

One moment that is always most memorable comes at the end of the final game or final practice. The whole team lines up to salute every senior. Logan gives a hug to each senior offering words of appreciation and encouragement. That embrace to a teenager preparing to become an adult makes them Matt Logan fans for life.

Quarterback Taylor Lee of Oxnard Pacifica had four touchdown passes in 42-14 win over Hamilton.

(Craig Weston)

The Trinity League begins football action this week. Get ready for a five-week grind that ends on Halloween, with St. John Bosco hosting Mater Dei. On Friday, St. John Bosco is at JSerra, Mater Dei is playing Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast College and Santa Margarita is playing Servite at Santa Ana Stadium.

All six teams remain in contention for the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. The key will be how many teams are chosen for Division 1. Corona Centennial, Mission Viejo and Sierra Canyon are certain selections. If the Southern Section only goes with eight teams, then one Trinity League team won’t make it. Last season there were 10 teams selected. Los Alamitos is 7-0 and a contender going into its three league games against Edison, San Clemente and Mission Viejo. The rankings are done by hsratings.com.

Monrovia has lost sophomore quarterback Jesse Saucedo for the rest of the season after a knee injury.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame unveiled 6-foot-8 basketball star Tyran Stokes at receiver. Here’s the report.

Los Alamitos earned a long-deserved break after improving to 7-0 with a win over Calabasas. The surprising Griffins don’t play again until their league opener on Oct. 16. They can become a Division 1 playoff team by beating Edison, San Clemente and Mission Viejo over their final three games. Quarterback Colin Creason was 17 of 19 passing for 296 yards and three touchdowns against Calabasas. Talented tight end Beckham Hogland had seven catches for 140 yards.

Taylor Lee of Oxnard Pacifica has 19 touchdowns in his last three games after a 42-14 win over Hamilton. Here’s the report.

Here’s the top performances from last week.

Here’s the top 25 rankings by The Times.

Here’s this week complete schedule of games.

The City Section is closing in on booking L.A. Southwest College to host its Open Division championship game on Nov. 29. Birmingham would host championship games on Nov. 28.

Last week, L.A. Jordan (0-6) forfeited its game to Fremont because of lack of healthy players and first-year coach James Boyd is out. Boyd was a former Jordan standout. Leonard McConico was named interim coach. Also Dymally has officially canceled its season.

Carson had a breakthrough nonleague win over St. Pius X-St. Matthias. Sophomore defensive end Kingston Sula had four sacks.

Palisades receiver Go Moriya makes a sliding catch in the second half of Friday night’s 35-28 intersectional win.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Palisades improved to 5-0 by rallying to beat Mary Star 35-28. Here’s the report.

Birmingham begins West Valley League play this week against El Camino Real and has a 49-game winning streak against City Section opponents.

Crenshaw hosts Dorsey on Friday night in a big Coliseum League game that will decide the main challenger to King/Drew.

Marshall is 6-0 after a 42-18 win over Jefferson. Junior quarterback Nathaniel Cadet has been a key player for the Barristers. Marshall will find out where it stands in a Northern League opener against Eagle Rock on Friday night.

Here’s the City Section top 10 rankings.

Marquez big man on campus

Elyjah Staples is a star junior defensive end for Marquez and also straight-A student.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

It’s a tradition for the Marquez High football team to raise a black Gladiators flag up the stadium pole after each victory.

Imagine how often that flag could be raised each time Elyjah Staples, the school’s star outside linebacker, earned an A on his report card? That’s the only grade he’s gotten in three years of classes, no matter taking Chemistry, Algebra 2 or advance placement U.S. History.

He seems to be in a personal competition to keep getting A’s along with sacks at the Huntington Park school. Here’s a profile of a junior with a Stanford offer.

Midseason report

Senior running back Darnell Miller of Santee leads the City Section in rushing with 1,159 yards and 13 touchdowns.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Halfway through the high school football season, Darnell Miller of Santee is leading the City Section in rushing with 1,159 yards.

He has quite a story to tell. A profile and also a look at MVP candidates in Southern California.

It’s the game of the year in high school flag football.

On Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. at Orange Lutheran, the unbeaten Lancers (18-0) take on unbeaten JSerra (19-0) in a game that should attract a large crowd and produce a memorable matchup.

Orange Lutheran and quarterback Makena Cook are the defending Division 1 flag football champions. JSerra, bolstered by a group of talented freshmen, have been surging and preparing for this showdown. Freshman quarterback Katie Meier and freshman receiver Ava Irwin get to test themselves on a big stage.

Girls volleyball

Venice continues to be a City Section title contender in girls volleyball, handing Palisades its first defeat in Western League play, 25-23, 22-25, 12-25, 25-21, 15-9.

Mira Costa came through with a win over rival Redondo Union to go to 4-0 in the Bay League and 14-7 overall.

Marymount hosts Sierra Canyon on Monday night in the first of two Mission League matches.

Here’s the latest Southern Section power rankings.

Another day, another life saved

San Clemente athletic trainer Amber Anaya helped save a soccer assistant coach who went into cardiac arrest.

(San Clemente HS)

For those high schools in California that still don’t have an athletic trainer, what happened at San Clemente High was another reason why they are so valuable for the safety reasons. And also proven was the requirement that coaches be certified in CPR every two years.

Here’s the report.

Guitar national anthem

Calabasas senior Elie Samouhi took out his electric guitar and played the national anthem before the Calabasas-Los Alamitos football game last week. What a performance. You can hear it here.

Basketball

Fall basketball is picking up steam more than a month away from the official start of the season.

Former St. John Bosco guard Brandon McCoy made his fall debut for Sierra Canyon, which has a number of transfer students that still need to be cleared by the school and Southern Section.

In fact, most of the Mission League is loaded with transfers, and if they’re eligible, it will be quite a league season ahead.

Freshman Nico Mecilli should be a contributor for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame basketball.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame might start a little slow with several players on the football team, including standout Tyran Stokes, but that will only give the newcomers the opportunity to play, such as 6-foot-5 Bishop Gorman transfer Ilan Nikolov and 6-5 freshman Nico Mecilli.

Three of the big risers have been 6-7 junior Kevin Keshishyan of Los Altos, 6-9 junior Nick Welch Jr. of Rolling Hills Prep and senior guard Josiah Johnson of Mayfair.

In girls basketball, Etiwanda and Ontario Christian are gearing up to be the top teams again, but watch for big improvement from Troy, where future Hall of Fame coach Kevin Kiernan has returned after being at Mater Dei and not coaching last season. Oak Park could be on the rise with several transfer students.

Transfer warning

Southern Section commissioner Mike West (left) addressed the Southern Section Council on Thursday.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

I’ve been trying to find a way to educate parents, fans, coaches and players about the ongoing crackdown of Southern Section transfer rules, and commissioner Mike West made a brief presentation at the Southern Section Council meeting to provide an update.

Here’s the report.

In the latest development, five Long Beach Poly football players and one volleyball player have been declared ineligible for two years for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves providing false information. Also Victor Valley lost four football players to two-year punishments. Pacific in San Bernardino lost two football players for one year.

Notes . . .

Chris Huber is the new girls lacrosse coach at Newbury Park. . . .

Tressa Beatty of Bonita has committed to Azusa Pacific for women’s basketball. . . .

Softball standout Mireya Gonzalez of La Mirada has committed to Connecticut. . . .

Emilia Krstevski, a 6-4 center at Sierra Canyon, has committed to play women’s basketball at Oregon. . . .

Rio Hondo Prep and Brentwood have moved their football game to SoFi Stadium on Oct. 16 at 4:30 p.m. . . .

Outfielder James Tronstein of Harvard-Westlake has committed to Vanderbilt. . . .

Junior outfielder/pitcher Carson Richter of Newbury Park has committed to Michigan. . . .

Junior Ivy Burnham of St. Anthony has committed to Stanford softball. . . .

South Hills softball standout Charli Moreno has committed to Washington. . . .

Junior pitcher Andrew Carlson from Trinity Classical Academy has committed to Texas Christian. . . .

Junior pitcher Tate Belfanti of Cypress has committed to Texas Christian. . . .

Pitcher Owen Shannon of Mater Dei has committed to Pittsburgh. . . .

Adam Goldstein, who has been an assistant baseball coach at Agoura, has emerged as the leading candidate for the vacant head coach position. . . .

Former standout offensive line Mark Schroller from Mission Viejo has medically retired from football at UCLA. . . .

Quarterback Wyatt Brown of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame takes off on a touchdown run against Culver City.

(Craig Weston)

Quarterback Wyatt Brown of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has committed to West Virginia. . . .

Linebacker Glenn Baranoski of Newport Harbor has committed to San Diego.

From the archives: Peyton Woodyard

Peyton Woodyard during his St. John Bosco days in 2022.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Freshman safety Peyton Woodyard, a St. John Bosco grad, is making an impact at Oregon.

It’s no surprise, since Woodyard was a key contributor for St. John Bosco over three seasons.

Here’s a story from 2023 explaining how Woodyard treats people with class and respect.

Recommendations

From the Washington Post, a story on a running back and podcaster in high school.

From the Riverside-Press Enterprise, a story on a running back who used to be a YouTube sensation.

From the San Diego Union Tribune, a story on Torrey Pines having the best girls golf team in the nation.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.

A look at the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland:

Rk. School (record) result; Next game; last week ranking

A look at how the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland fared this week:

1. ST. JOHN BOSCO (5-0) did not play; at JSerra, Friday; 1

2. SIERRA CANYON (5-0) did not play; vs. Gardena Serra, Friday; 2

3. CORONA CENTENNIAL (4-1) did not play; vs. Eastvale Roosevelt, Thursday; 3

4. MATER DEI (4-1) did not play; vs. Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast College, Friday; 4

5. MISSION VIEJO (5-1) def. Chaparral, 36-21; vs. Long Beach Poly, Friday; 5

6. SANTA MARGARITA (3-2) lost to Bishop Gorman, 14-0;, at Servite, Friday; 6

7. LOS ALAMITOS (7-0) def. Calabasas, 48-21; vs. Edison at SoFi Stadium, Oct. 16; 7

8. ORANGE LUTHERAN (3-2) did not play; vs. Mater Dei at Orange Coast College, Friday; 8

9. VISTA MURRIETA (5-0) def. Oceanside El Camino, 38-12; at Chaparral, Friday; 9

10. SERVITE (4-1) def. St. Paul, 49-18; vs. Santa Margarita at Santa Ana Stadium, Friday; 10

11. DAMIEN (5-0) did not play; vs. Rancho Cucamonga, Friday; 11

12. SAN JUAN HILLS (4-1) did not play; at Corona del Mar, Friday; 13

13. BEAUMONT (4-1) did not play; vs. Redlands, Friday; 14

14. JSERRA (3-2) did not play; vs. St. John Bosco, Friday; 15

15. GARDENA SERRA (3-2) did not play; at Sierra Canyon, Friday; 16

16. DOWNEY (4-1) did not play; at Mayfair, Friday; 17

17. CORONA DEL MAR (5-0) def. Trabuco Hills, 35-13; vs. San Juan Hills, Friday; 18

18. OXNARD PACIFICA (5-0) def. L.A. Hamilton, 42-14; vs. Oaks Christian, Friday; 19

19. MURRIETA VALLEY (4-1) def. San Clemente, 26-14; at Norco, Friday; 20

20. YORBA LINDA (4-1) did not play; at Villa Park; Friday; 21

21. LEUZINGER (4-1) def. Hawthorne, 59-6; at Inglewood, Friday; 22

22. EDISON (4-2) lost to La Serna, 23-21; vs. Summit, Thursday; 12

23. PALOS VERDES (3-2) did not play; vs. Culver City, Friday; 23

24. CREAN LUTHERAN (5-0) did not play; at Foothill, Saturday; 24

25. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (3-2) def. Culver City 57-14, vs. Loyola, Friday; 25

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

The 13th edition of Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque has already begun but lasts until Oct. 8, so there is still plenty of excitement on the way.

Japanese icon Meiko Kaji will make a series of appearances during her first time visiting the U.S. A double-bill of 1973’s “Lady Snowblood” and 1974’s “Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance” will feature a Q&A with the actor moderated by Jen Yamato, while another Q&A will be moderated by “Anora” Oscar winner Sean Baker.

Other upcoming screenings include “The Testament of Ann Lee” in 70mm, “The Secret Agent” with filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho, “It Was Just an Accident” with filmmaker Jafar Panahi, a Guillermo del Toro retrospective, Mike Nichols’ 1973 sci-fi thriller “The Day of the Dolphin” in 4K and a 10th anniversary screening of “The Invitation” with filmmaker Karyn Kusama, screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi and actor Logan Marshall-Green.

Meiko Kaji in the movie “Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion.”

(Arrow Films / Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque)

Saturday will see screenings of “Manhunter” and “To Live and Die in L.A.” with star William Petersen in attendance. I spoke to Petersen this week about going from being a Chicago theater actor to starring in two now-classic ’80s crime thrillers in the span of one year.

“It was never my intention to make any movies, it wasn’t like I was seeking them out,” Petersen said. “They kind of just came and found me.”

I also spoke to some of the team behind the festival about how they manage to harness the energy of L.A’s rep-house scene and point it toward an eclectic mix of new and old titles that increasingly includes legitimate prestige titles, including awards winners from the international festival circuit.

“It’s not just all about the films — it’s about the theatrical experience, seeing it all together,” said Grant Moninger, co-founder of Beyond Fest and artistic director of the American Cinematheque. “This does not happen online. You’re not watching a screener with a watermark at your house. You’re all together, you’re just celebrating cinema and going through all the emotions together. We put on a show every year at all these theaters because we’re thankful that everyone’s coming together and we’re going to try to give them as much as we can give them.”

‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ at 50

Tim Curry, center, as Frank-N-Furter in the movie “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

(20th Century Fox)

Tonight the 50th anniversary of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” will be celebrated at the Academy Museum with a screening of new 4K restoration and an appearance by star Tim Curry. The screening will include “a full-blown audience participation and shadow cast experience,” capturing some the feeling of the riotous fan-fueled midnight shows that made the film a sensation over decades. There will be additional screenings of the film Oct. 4 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and Oct. 15 at the Grammy Museum.

Directed by Jim Sharman, who also mounted the original stage show, from a story and songs by Richard O’Brien (who also plays Riff-Raff), the film is said to have the longest theatrical release in cinema history, thanks to its ongoing life as a cult object.

Steve Appleford interviewed the film’s star, Tim Curry at the Roxy, where the original stage show was first performed in L.A. In the film, Curry’s character, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, is a singing scientist in fishnets and high heels who introduces a young couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) to a world of new experiences.

“It was part of the sexual revolution, really,” said Curry. “Experiment was in the air and it was palpable. I gave them permission to be who they discovered they wanted to be. I’m proud of that.”

Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick do “The Time Warp” (again) in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

(John Jay / Disney)

The Times identified the “Rocky Horror” phenomenon from the very start. Gregg Kilday interviewed Curry for an article published in March 1974 as the stage show transferred from London to L.A. The feature follows Curry, then only 27, from the Roxy to Musso & Frank and on to the Chateau Marmont, a pretty enviable tour of the city.

Curry described the character at the time by saying, “He says he’s a transvestite transexual, whatever that means. I don’t play him as a transexual. But he’s a fairly complex guy. He just takes anything he can get. He’s not fussy, really. Though I think he’s something of a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am.”

In his original review of the film from Sept. 26, 1975, critic Kevin Thomas (of course, it was reviewed by Kevin Thomas) said, “All of this plays less depraved than it sounds. … This Richard O’Brien musical is simply too exuberant and too funny to be seriously decadent. Indeed, there’s an underlying quality of tenderness and even innocence in this loving send-up of horror and sci-fi flicks and celebration of post-graduate sexuality.”

The format wars of ‘One Battle After Another’

Teyana Taylor in the movie “One Battle After Another.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

The new film from Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another,” features another of the filmmaker’s impressive ensembles, one that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall, Alana Haim, Sean Penn, newcomer Chase Infiniti and Benicio del Toro.

The film is playing in a variety of film formats, and Los Angeles is lucky to be one of only four cities in the world to be screening the movie in VistaVision. (Appropriately enough, it will be at the Vista.) The film is also in Imax 70mm at the Universal Citywalk and in Imax at multiple locations including the TCL Chinese and in 70mm at the CGV by Regency in Buena Park. (Plus, it’ll be in more conventional digital formats at many other theaters.)

A politically minded action-comedy based loosely on Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Vineland,” the film stars DiCaprio as a former bomb-making revolutionary who has gone underground to protect his daughter (Infiniti). When a power-mad military man (Penn) comes after them, Bob must spring into action in ways he is not ready for.

Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie “One Battle After Another.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

In her review, Amy Nicholson wrote, “Paul Thomas Anderson’s fun and fizzy adaptation views its Molotov cocktail as half-full. Yes, it says, the struggle for liberation continues: ideologues versus toadies, radicals versus conservatives, loyalists versus rats. But isn’t it inspiring that there are still people willing to fight?”

Glenn Whipp spoke to Anderson in his first solo interview for the film. Despite the fact that the movie opens with a raid on a government immigration detention center, Anderson was reluctant to directly connect it to the current political moment.

“The biggest mistake I could make in a story like this is to put politics up in the front,” Anderson said. “That has a short shelf life. To sustain a story over two hours and 40 minutes, you have to care about the characters and take those big swings in terms of the emotional arcs of people and their pursuits and why you love that person and why you hate this person. That’s not a thing that ever goes out of fashion. But neither does fascism and neither does people doing bad s— to other people. Unfortunately, that doesn’t go out of style, either. That’s just how we humans are.”

Points of interest

‘A Scanner Darkly’ in 35mm

Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder in director Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly,” based on the Philip K. Dick novel.

(Warner Independent Pictures)

On Friday night, Brain Dead Studios will host a 35mm screening of Richard Linklater’s 2006 animated adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “A Scanner Darkly.” A comic, deeply paranoid tale of identity, the rotoscoped film features a cast that includes Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr.

Reviewing the film, Carino Chocano wrote, “As the saying goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that everybody isn’t out to get you. In the dismal near-future of the film, when large-scale government spying has taken the next logical step into thought-surveillance, questioning the effect of shadowy forces no longer requires an overactive imagination. It doesn’t even require a drug habit (though, of course, it helps to have one). The dropouts and burnouts of ‘Scanner’ don’t have to wonder if they’re being watched; they are in every sense part of the program. … The brilliance of ‘A Scanner Darkly’ is how it suggests, without bombast or fanfare, the ways in which the real world has come to resemble the dark world of comic books.”

Much as Linklater has recently made “Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague” in short order, in 2006 he had both “A Scanner Darkly” and “Fast Food Nation,” a fictional adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s nonfiction book.

“I make the joke that I’m like that British bus,” Linklater said at the time. “You wait forever and then two show up at the same time.”

Terence Stamp x2

Terence Stamp in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Teorema.”

(Criterion Collection)

The Eastwood Performing Arts Center will feature a program of two films starring Terence Stamp on Friday and Saturday, with “Teorema” and “Toby Dammit.”

Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, “Teorema” captures Stamp’s otherworldly beauty as a mysterious stranger who seduces all the members of a wealthy family in Milan (played by Massimo Girotti, Silvana Mangano, Laura Betti and Anne Wiazemsky) and then disappears from their lives as suddenly as he appeared, leaving them all in spiritual crisis.

“Toby Dammit,” directed by Federico Fellini, was one section of the anthology film “Spirits of the Dead,” with the other sections directed by Roger Vadim and Louis Malle. Stamp plays a fading alcoholic actor who makes a deal to shoot a film in Rome in exchange for a new Ferrari. He begins to suffer from terrifying visions.

Writing about the anthology in 1969, Kevin Thomas noted the film’s “swirling, shimmering worlds of fantasy populated by decadent Roman society,” adding that they only paled in comparison to Fellini’s previous triumphs “La Docle Vita,” “8½” and “Juliet of the Spirits.”

In other news

Henry Jaglom dead at 87

Henry Jaglom, arriving at a premiere in Los Angeles in 2009.

(Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

An insistently independent filmmaker, Henry Jaglom died this week at age 87. His deep love of actors led him to a loose, improvisatory style that gave freedom to his performers. Often drawing story ideas from his own life (and casts from his wide circle of friends), his films included 1976’s “Tracks,” 1985’s “Always,” 1994’s “Babyfever” and 2007’s “Hollywood Dreams.” A new restoration of Jaglom’s 1983 film “Can She Bake a Cherry Pie?” is premiering this weekend as part of the New York Film Festival.

I visited with Jaglom once at the offices he long kept on Sunset Boulevard, a warren of rooms stuffed with the accumulated memorabilia of a life dedicated to movies. In a corner was an editing machine he said belonged to John Cassavetes.

Jaglom well understood his own privilege in life and equally understood that there were those who would not respond to his work.

“I enjoy, even if I’m being attacked, knowing I’ve had an impact,” Jaglom told me. “People are looking at it, talking about it, thinking about it. And that some people are moved, feel better. It’s reaching out and trying to touch people. It’s what film can do. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Henry Jaglom, the uncompromising indie filmmaker who eschewed big-budget operations in order to preserve his creative vision, died Monday night. He was 87.

Jaglom died at his Santa Monica home surrounded by his family, his daughter Sabrina Jaglom said. The writer-director, whose filmography includes “Last Summer in the Hamptons” and “Eating,” was known for his intimate, naturalistic style and foregrounding of women’s stories in his work.

Sabrina, also a director, said in a statement that her father was “larger-than-life, and made the world a lot more colorful for those of us lucky enough to know him.”

“But, most of all, he was the most loving and supportive Dad. He will be greatly missed, but impossible to forget,” she said Thursday.

From his earliest directing gigs, Jaglom was committed to creating autobiographically inspired and emotionally resonant stories with as little studio intervention as possible. He kept costs low, cast his friends and family in his movies and pursued an improvisational production style that preceded the early-2000s film genre mumblecore.

“My movies talk about the emotional side of life,” Jaglom told The Times in 2009.

“I just try to have people do what we do, which is sit around, talk, deal with the emotions of life,” he said. “It can be touching, sad, happy, but it allows people to go through some of what they go through in life and not feel isolated and lonely.”

Jaglom’s 1985 film, “Always,” in which he co-starred with his ex-wife Patrice Townsend, was inspired by the disintegration of the couple’s own relationship. Jaglom and Townsend divorced two years before the film’s release.

Nearly a decade later, conversations Jaglom had with his second wife, actor Victoria Foyt, about parenthood were distilled into 1994’s “Babyfever,” which the couple wrote, directed and Foyt starred in.

Former Times staff writer Chris Willman called the comedy-drama “remarkable in its comprehensive documentary aspects.”

“Jaglom is, as always, big on verite and improvisation; with such a large cast milling about the airy, oceanside house, he’s managed to cover just about every conceivable baby base, with sentiments ranging from banal self-interest to self-conscious belly laughs, and a lot of very real, undeniably affecting poignancy in-between,” Willman wrote in his review of the film.

“Babyfever” was lauded for sincerely engaging with topics affecting women and for starring a mostly female cast — both of which were trademarks for Jaglom, who went on to form a women’s arm to HHH Rainbow Productions, his production company with producers Howard Zucker and Henry Lange, which for many years was located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.

“Women are the most disenfranchised people in this business,” he told The Times in 1987. “They still have to play mostly by men’s rules. And as I’ve been successfully making million-dollar movies for some time now I thought: ‘Why can’t they do it too?’”

Jaglom was a mentee and close confidant of acclaimed filmmaker and actor Orson Welles, whose farewell performance came in Jaglom’s 1987 comedy “Someone to Love,” which screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

“He plays himself, shedding even the persona he adopted for TV talk shows,” Jaglom told The Times of Welles’ acting style in the film. “People will finally get to see him the way I knew him; it’s almost as if he was sitting there having lunch with you.”

Peter Biskind compiled conversations between the longtime friends for his popular 2013 book, “My Lunches With Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles.”

Several people approached Jaglom about publishing the tapes before Biskind came knocking, the director told The Times in 2013. But Biskind was the first one he took seriously.

“I said, ‘You want to put yourself through all this?’” Jaglom said. “And he said, ‘Yeah, on the one condition that you don’t censor me.’”

Jaglom, born in London in 1938, was the child of Jewish parents who immigrated to England to escape Nazi persecution. Later, Jaglom’s family moved to New York, where Jaglom spent his formative years and returned after attending the University of Pennsylvania.

In New York, Jaglom trained with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, acting in and directing off-Broadway theater and cabaret before moving to Hollywood in the late 1960s. The multihyphenate went on to make his directorial debut in 1971 with “A Safe Place,” which starred Wells and Jack Nicholson.

After finding commercial success with his third film, “Sitting Ducks” (1980), Jaglom told The Times in 1987 that he was pitched by several big-time studio heads who said, “‘When you’re ready to make a serious movie, a big movie, come and see me.’”

“I said: ‘If you love my films why would you want me to come and make one of your big ones?’” Jaglom said, adding that with a large studio at the helm, directors run the risk of ceding the “final cut.”

“As far as I’m concerned all the big stars and fancy limos and fine dressing rooms aren’t worth a thing if you don’t control your film creatively,” he said.

For years, Henry ate at the same cafe on Santa Monica’s Montana Avenue. He was always delighted when fans and aspiring filmmakers stopped to say hello.

In addition to Sabrina, Jaglom is survived by a son, Simon Jaglom, and ex-wives Townsend and Foyt, Sabrina and Simon’s mother.

Newsmax (NMAX -1.68%) and The New York Times Company (NYT -1.05%) represent two opposite ends of the political spectrum in the media, and they’re also two of the few pure-play news media stocks available for investors.

While some might think of the news media as a dying industry, the response to Newsmax’s initial public offering (IPO), which faded soon after, and the success of The New York Times’ digital transformation, shows otherwise.

Let’s take a closer at these two stocks to determine which is the better buy today.

Image source: Getty Images.

Business model: Newsmax vs. New York Times

NewsMax is a diversified media company, best known for its Newsmax linear cable channel.

Today, more than 40 million Americans watch, read, and listen to Newsmax. Newsmax has grown over time to become the fourth-largest with 21 million regular viewers.

The company’s broadcasting assets include two streaming channels, Newsmax and World at War, and Newsmax2, a free streaming channel. Additionally, Newsmax Radio offers a syndicated radio and several podcasts. Newsmax also has a digital arm that includes online advertising and specialized subscription newsletters, and it has a publishing subsidiary, Humanix Publishing, which has published around 100 titles. Additionally, it owns Medix Health, which sells 22 nutraceutical products, and Crown Atlantic Insurance, an insurance agency that sells annuities, life insurance, and other insurance offerings.

That collection of businesses makes Newsmax different from other media companies. While the vast majority of its revenue comes from cable subscription fees and ad revenue, the company also makes money from selling nutrition and insurance products, as well as books that it can advertise on its programming.

The New York Times may be the best example of a traditional newspaper that transitioned to the digital era. While the transition hasn’t always been smooth, the Times now makes the vast majority of its revenue from digital subscriptions and ad revenue, though digital ads have not been as lucrative as print ads.

After selling assets like The Boston Globe, the Times has sought to add complementary news products to the core New York Times newspaper, including sports through The Athletic, games such as Wordle, Cooking, and Wirecutter, a product review site. Overall, the Times continues to set the news agenda in the country, giving it outsize influence over the media landscape, despite the relatively small size of the company, which currently has a market cap of $9.5 billion, even as it trades at an all-time high.

Financials: Newsmax vs. The New York Times

Newsmax is still small. In the second quarter, the company reported $46.4 million in revenue, up 18.4% from the quarter a year ago. Broadcast revenue growth was particularly impressive at 28.5% to $38 million.

However, the company reported a loss on an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) basis of $3.8 million, down from a profit of $1.9 million.

The New York Times also delivered solid growth in the second quarter with revenue up 9.7% to $685.9 million, while total subscribers were up 10% to 11.9 million. Its adjusted operating profit rose from $104.7 million to $133.8 million, giving it an operating profit margin of near 20%. Adjusted earnings per share was up $0.45 to $0.58.

Valuation: Newsmax vs. The New York Times

Newsmax currently has a market cap of $1.15 billion. It is not profitable, and analysts expect it to continue to report a loss at least through 2026. Newsmax currently trades at a price-to-sales ratio of 9.

The New York Times, on the other hand, is solidly profitable and trades at a lower price-to-sales ratio of 3.6. On a price-to-earnings ratio, the stock trades at a multiple of 30. The New York Times also offers a dividend yield of 1.2%.

What’s the better buy?

While Newsmax attracted some attention when it went public earlier this year, it’s still losing money and is more expensive on a P/S basis than The New York Times.

The Times, meanwhile, is delivering solid revenue growth and strong and expanding profit margins. It’s the better buy of the two.

From Jack Harris: Shohei Ohtani entered uncharted territory in his final pitching start of the regular season Tuesday night, shutting out the Arizona Diamondbacks over a season-high six innings while throwing a season-most 91 pitches.

Given the woeful state of the Dodgers’ implosion-prone bullpen, however, the only way they would’ve won was if Ohtani was able to go nine.

In the kind of late-game giveaway that did not feel the least bit surprising, the Dodgers were instead walked off by the Diamondbacks in a 5-4 loss, cutting their division lead to 1 ½ games with five to play.

Rookie relievers Jack Dreyer and Edgardo Henriquez combined to give up three runs in the seventh, cutting deep into what was then a 4-0 Dodgers lead.

Closer Tanner Scott completed the collapse in the bottom of the ninth, suffering his 10th blown save and fourth loss in a two-run inning punctuated by Geraldo Perdomo’s walk-off RBI single.

“It’s hard to absorb those games,” manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 11th walk-off defeat of the season. “Especially games that we need to win right now.”

Continue reading here

‘A good message.’ Why celebrating Clayton Kershaw’s retirement gave Dodgers mental ‘reset’

MLB will use robot umpires in 2026, ushering in a new era for calling balls and strikes

Former Kings broadcaster Alex Faust to replace Bob Costas on TNT’s MLB playoff coverage

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

ANGELS

Bobby Witt Jr. and Adam Frazier each drove in two runs, Salvador Perez moved into second place on Kansas City’s career RBI list and the Royals beat the Angels 8-4 on Tuesday night, shortly after being eliminated from postseason contention.

The Royals (79-78) were knocked out of the race for an AL wild card with five games remaining in their regular season. Kansas City, which reached the playoffs last season, has failed to qualify for the postseason in nine of the last 10 seasons.

Perez singled to center in the first inning to score Witt. It was the 35-year-old catcher’s 97th RBI of the season and 1,013th of his career, moving him past Hal McRae. The Royals’ all-time RBI leader is George Brett with 1,596.

Bryce Teodosio hit his first career homer for the Angels in the fifth inning, in his 45th MLB game this season. Taylor Ward added his 35th homer, a career high, in the ninth inning. The Angels have lost 10 of their last 11 games.

Continue reading here

Angels box score

MLB standings

From Ben Bolch: A winless football team went bowling. It’s true.

With his players in need of a refreshing change that would still allow them to compete, UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper took the Bruins to a bowling alley last week on one of their days off from practicing.

“I also wanted to get out of the [football practice] building, to be honest, even for me and the coaches’ sake,” Skipper said Monday. “We’ve been locked in working and grinding and all that stuff, so we needed to get away and just kind of take a deep breath and compete in a different way.”

While it was the sort of team bonding exercise usually carried out in the offseason or during training camp, throwing a few strikes together could be the thing to help spare players from walking out on the rest of the season after an 0-3 start that led to the dismissal of their coach.

Continue reading here

UCLA UNLOCKED

Sign up for UCLA Unlocked, our new weekly newsletter featuring all things Bruins athletics. Ben Bolch, in his 10th season covering UCLA football and men’s basketball for The Times, will be your host. To sign up to get this newsletter delivered every Monday to your inbox, click here.

UCLA POLL

Almost every week in UCLA Unlocked, there is a poll for readers to give their opinion on UCLA athletics. This week’s poll:

Who would you rather have as UCLA’s next football coach?

An exciting lower-level coach such as Tulane’s Jon Sumrall?

A rising star such as Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein?

An existing Power Four coach such as Arizona’s Jedd Fisch?

A wild card such as Mississippi’s Lane Kiffin?

Click here to vote in our survey.

From Ryan Kartje: As USC enters a critical stretch of its conference slate, it’s unclear if it’ll have its star wideout or starting left tackle ready to play.

Junior wideout Ja’Kobi Lane did return to practice on Tuesday after sitting out last Saturday’s win over Michigan State with an upper body injury he suffered the week before. But junior offensive tackle Elijah Paige was not seen entering or leaving USC’s practice field.

USC coach Lincoln Riley declined to provide an update on Lane or Paige on Tuesday and instead referred reporters to the Big Ten’s availability report, which is released two hours before kickoff every Saturday.

Continue reading here

TIMES OF TROY

Times of Troy is our weekly newsletter featuring all things Trojans athletics. Ryan Kartje, who covers USC football and men’s basketball for The Times, is your host. To sign up to get this newsletter delivered every Monday to your inbox, click here.

LAFC

From Kevin Baxter: How good is Son Heung-min? On the night LAFC celebrated Carlos Vela’s induction into the team’s ring of honor, Vela asked for Son’s autograph.

And he’s not the only one. Small crowds of fans have begun gathering outside LAFC’s training center at Cal State Los Angeles, some waiting for hours, to request Son’s signature on scraps of paper, photos and plush likenesses of the South Korean star in a Tottenham uniform.

On a recent afternoon, Son stopped his car and obliged every one of them.

Forget, for a moment, what he’s done on the field — which isn’t easy to forget since he’s scored six times and assisted on three other goals in seven games, only one of which LAFC lost.

The transformation Son has brought everywhere else since joining the team seven weeks ago has been breathtaking.

Continue reading here

DODGERS DUGOUT

Dodgers Dugout is our award-winning Dodgers newsletter. Current news, historical items, polls, top 10 lists, you name it, if it’s about the Dodgers it is covered here. Houston Mitchell is your host. You can sign up by clicking here.

PREP RALLY

Want one place to get all your high school sports news? Our Prep Rally newsletter is what you need. Twice a week, we’ll deliver all the scores, news and features you crave, straight from our award-winning high school sports columnist, Eric Sondheimer. You can sign up for Prep Rally here.

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1930 — The Portsmouth Spartans beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 12-0 in the first NFL game played under floodlights. More than 6,000 fans turn out on an unseasonably warm evening to watch the game at the new University Stadium.

1950 — Philadelphia’s Russ Craft has four interceptions to lead the Eagles in a 45-7 rout of the Chicago Cardinals. Chicago quarterback Jim Hardy sets an NFL record by throwing eight interceptions.

1953 — Rocky Marciano knocks out Rolando La Starza in the 11th round at the Polo Grounds in New York to retain his world heavyweight title.

1967 — Jim Bakken of St. Louis Cardinals kicks an NFL-record seven field goals to give the Cardinals a 28-14 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. His longest field goal is 33 yards.

1971 — The World Hockey Association announces its formation with 12 teams to start play in October 1972.

1988 — American heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee sets new world record 7,291 points to win the gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; East Germans Sabine John & Anke Behmer take the minor medals.

1988 — American swimmer Matt Biondi sets world record 22.14 to win the 50m freestyle gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; his 4th of 5 gold medals for the Games.

1988 — Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson breaks his own 100m world record with a time of 9.79 at the Seoul Olympics; disqualified 3 days later for use of drug stanozolol; Carl Lewis awarded gold and world record 9.92.

1993 — Juniata’s women’s volleyball team beats Washington of St. Louis to end Washington’s NCAA-record winning streak at 59 matches.

1994 — Washington ends Miami’s NCAA-record home winning streak at 58 with a 38-20 victory against the Hurricanes at the Orange Bowl.

1995 — On the final day of competition, Europe rallies past the U.S. to win the Ryder Cup 14 1/2 to 13 1/2 at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y. Europe takes seven singles matches to win its first Ryder Cup since 1989.

2001 — Green Bay’s 37-0 shutout of Washington ends the Redskins’ NFL record of scoring in 231 consecutive road games.

2006 — The Europeans turn the Ryder Cup into another rout, winning 18 1/2-9 1/2 and becoming the first European team to win three straight times.

2006 — Washington’s Mark Brunell breaks the NFL record for most consecutive passes completed in a game when he connects on his first 22 throws in a 31-15 win over the Houston Texans.

2011 — Dwayne De Rosario scores the quickest hat trick in MLS history, leading D.C. United to a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake.

2012 — Russell Wilson throws a disputed 24-yard touchdown to Golden Tate on the final play of the game, and the Seattle Seahawks rally to beat the Green Bay Packers 14-12.

2013 — Skipper Jimmy Spithill and defending champion Oracle Team USA extend their winning streak to seven to force a winner-take-all America’s Cup finale against Emirates Team New Zealand.

2016 — Daniel Carlson kicks six field goals and Auburn beats No. 18 LSU 18-13 after a ruling that Danny Etling’s apparent last-gasp scoring pass comes after time expired.

2017 — Peter Sagan of Slovakia becomes the first man to win three straight road race titles after holding off Norway’s Alexander Kristoff at the World Cycling Championships.

2017 — Diego Valeri scores twice to extend his MLS-record scoring streak to nine straight games and Portland beats Orlando City 3-0. Valeri moves in front of NYCFC’s David Villa for most goals this season with 20.

2017 — Jake Elliott kicks a 61-yard field goal as time expires to give the Philadelphia Eagles a 27-24 victory over the New York Giants. It is the longest by a rookie in NFL history.

2017 — Laver Cup Men’s Tennis, Prague: Roger Federer is unbeaten as Team Europe dominates Team World, 15-9 in the inaugural teams event.

2018 — Real Madrid midfielder & Croatian World Cup captain Luka Modrić is named world’s best male player at the FIFA Awards in London; Brazil & Orlando Pride forward Marta best female player; France’s Didier Deschamps best men’s coach.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1940 — Jimmie Foxx of the Red Sox hit his 500th career home run off Philadelphia’s George Caster in the first game of a doubleheader at Shibe Park. Foxx’s homer came in the sixth inning after Ted Williams homered. Joe Cronin followed with a homer and, later in the inning, Jim Tabor also homered. The four homers in the inning were a first in the AL.

1969 — The New York Mets clinched the NL East title, with Gary Gentry pitching a four-hitter in a 6-0 victory over St. Louis.

1974 — Detroit’s Al Kaline doubled down the right-field line off Dave McNally of Baltimore for his 3,000th career hit. The Orioles beat the Tigers 5-4 at Memorial Stadium.

1977 — Jack Brohamer of the Chicago White Sox had four extra base hits and hit for the cycle in an 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome.

1984 — Rick Sutcliffe threw a two-hitter and led the Chicago Cubs to their first league title since 1945 with a 4-1 victory over Pittsburgh.

1988 — Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays, one strike from a no-hitter, gave up a bad-hop single to Julio Franco. Stieb settled for a 1-0, one-hit victory over Cleveland.

1998 — Boston’s Tom Gordon set a major league record for most consecutive saves with his 42nd to preserve the Red Sox’ 9-6 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

2004 — The Atlanta Braves clinched their 13th consecutive division title, winning the NL East with an 8-7 victory over the Florida Marlins. The Braves’ record streak of division championships began with the 1991 NL West title and excludes the 1994 strike-shortened season.

2006 — Trevor Hoffman became baseball’s career saves leader, earning No. 479 to pass Lee Smith and help NL West-leading San Diego beat Pittsburgh 2-1. It was his NL-leading 43rd save in 48 chances.

2008 — Francisco Rodriguez worked the ninth inning of the Angels’ 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners to end the season with a major league record 62 saves.

2014 — The New York Yankees were eliminated from postseason contention after losing to the AL East champion Orioles 9-5. The Yankees missed the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since 1992 and ’93.

2016 — Jose Bautista hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees 3-0 to send New York to its third consecutive shutout defeat — the first time that has happened to New York since 1975.

2022 — The Braves’ Kyle Wright, who had only won two regular season games in four seasons, becomes the first 20-game winner in the majors this year with a 6-3 win over Philadelphia. The win moves Atlanta within one and a half games of the Mets, holders of first place in the NL East.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

A MASKED man who gassed trams with a highly flammable vapour in a UK city centre has pleaded guilty.

Ghalib Saeed, 31, let off butane gas inside Manchester Metrolink tram carriages on three “disturbing” occasions on March 15, 20 and 22.

4

4

4

Passengers on the trams reported hearing a “hissing sound” and seeing a man clad in a terrifying gas mask during the attacks.

A number of commuters complained they felt dizzy after the incidents but thankfully no injuries were reported.

Witnesses reported seeing Saeed board the trams with a gas mask covering his mouth and nose.

Passengers would then hear a hissing sound as he emptied gas canisters in the carriages.

People then reported a strong smell of gas filling the trams and said they developed “headaches” and were left feeling “dizzy” during the incidents.

Several reports were made to the police and Saeed was arrested.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of causing a public nuisance at the eleventh hour today.

He changed his plea just before a trial at Manchester Crown Court was due to go ahead today.

During a court appearance in April prosecution counsel Neil Fryman said: “The Crown says it’s very disturbing behaviour, a lot of people were affected on a number of occasions.”

Saeed was warned by the judge that the starting point for an offence of this nature is a prison sentence.

The case has been adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be written up.

Judge Elizabeth Nicholls warned Saeed that “all sentencing options will remain open.”

Saeed has been remanded in custody and is due to return to court to learn his fate in November.

At the time of the bizarre incidents Transport for Greater Manchester said: “We are aware of these incidents on Metrolink and are assisting Greater Manchester Police with their enquiries at this time.

“The safety of our Passengers and staff is a core priority – everyone has the right to feel safe and be safe across the Bee Network.”

At the time of Saeed’s arrest Detective Chief Inspector Paddy Connell, from GMPs City of Manchester Division, said: “We fully appreciate that incidents of this nature can cause concern in our communities, but I want to reassure the public that we do not believe there is any wider threat present.

“We have now secured the arrest of a man and are working hard to establish the full circumstances of the events that have been reported over recent days.

“As officers continue to work their way through all the evidence available, we are asking anyone who has any information to please come forward.

“This includes anyone who believes they have witnessed something suspicious, or similar to the incidents that we are dealing with.

“Our transport hubs are operating as usual, and I would encourage anyone with any concerns to speak to a police officer, who will be more than happy to discuss any queries you may have.”

4

One UCLA football legend sat across from the other, lamenting how far their beloved program had fallen.

On one side was Rick Neuheisel, a onetime Rose Bowl most valuable player and Bruins head coach, wondering aloud whether his alma mater had put itself in position to pick a strong successor to the recently dismissed DeShaun Foster.

“Is there confidence in the current athletic director when there’s been swing-and-misses,” Neuheisel asked, “or do you need to go find somebody else?”

On the other side of the CBS Sports studio roundtable was Randy Cross, a former All-America offensive lineman and three-time Super Bowl champion so angry about the state of the Bruins that his voice rose as he spoke.

“UCLA is clueless, they’re rudderless, they’re leaderless and it’s been decades since they had anybody there that had a freaking clue as to, A, what they want to do and, two, how they’re going to do it,” Cross said. “It sounds simple — there isn’t a better school in America to go to than UCLA — but that athletic department is a joke led by the football team.”

Theirs weren’t the only critical voices.

National college football writers and other pundits tweeted about the athletic department’s massive deficit, meager NIL resources and failed leadership. An online petition that called for athletic director Martin Jarmond’s resignation or removal generated more than 750 signatures as of Sunday evening.

Some of the fire has been friendly. Roughly 100 former UCLA football players met with Jarmond via Zoom to vent their frustrations about a variety of topics, including the need to get back to the days when football was a top priority at the school.

As UCLA commences a hiring process that will likely last until at least November, one of its biggest hurdles might be a perception problem. Its athletic department has been labeled as impoverished and directionless, with Jarmond squarely in the crosshairs of most detractors.

UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Many have questioned whether Jarmond should be involved in selecting Foster’s replacement after so badly whiffing on his hiring. A former position coach who had never run an offense or a defense, much less a team, Foster compiled a 5-10 record that included back-to-back losses to Mountain West Conference opponents before his dismissal three games into his second season.

“The puzzle doesn’t fit together,” said one veteran agent who works in the NIL space, speaking on condition of anonymity so that he could share his thoughts on the situation candidly. “It’s like, the bad AD hires the coach and they get rid of the coach but they still have the bad AD.”

UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk affirmed Jarmond’s standing in what amounted to a vote of confidence, saying in a statement provided to The Times last week that the athletic director would “oversee the process of hiring a new head coach who will elevate UCLA football to national prominence.”

In announcing a search committee that would assist him in making that hire, Jarmond said he was convening a group of accomplished sports and business executives and UCLA greats that would be revealed once finalized.

The agent who spoke with The Times said having a committee of respected names with UCLA ties such as football legend Troy Aikman, sports executive Casey Wasserman and former Golden State Warriors general manager and Washington Commanders consultant Bob Myers could elevate the Bruins’ prospects of finding a top-level coach.

“The more heavyweights involved, definitely more people might come to the table who wouldn’t otherwise come to the table and then they can try to convince them,” the agent said. “But then you have a lot of chefs in the kitchen picking, and they can’t get it wrong this time.”

The candidates will presumably have more questions than how much they would be getting paid. What does UCLA define as football success — eight-win seasons or reaching the College Football Playoff? What resources will they commit? How firm is Jarmond’s footing inside his department? How will the school bolster its NIL program to be competitive with top counterparts around the country?

Discussions about the school’s complex finances could take up a good chunk of any meeting.

The widely circulated figure of UCLA’s athletic department running a combined $219.55-million deficit over the last six fiscal years doesn’t fully reveal the financial situation. That tab has been covered in full by the university, bringing the balance to zero, thanks in part to $30 million in direct institutional support in the most recent fiscal year.

The university’s forgiving stance has been taken, in part, because a significant chunk of athletic department revenue is diverted to several other business units on campus, including the recreation department, parking, housing, food and Associated Students UCLA, which benefits from long-held trademark and licensing agreements.

That hasn’t stopped the Bruins from making significant investments in football, mostly thanks to an infusion of cash from their Big Ten media rights deal. The team spent $2.9 million to install new grass and artificial turf practice fields while also renovating the weight room inside its relatively new practice facility. A locker room renovation is in the works.

This summer, UCLA paid to hold its 18-day training camp in Costa Mesa. The team has also spent untold millions on food, travel, biometrics and mental health services while also upgrading the infrastructure of its football staff, including general manager and assistant general manager positions and expanded coaching, analytics and recruiting departments.

UCLA committed the maximum $20.5 million for revenue sharing with its athletes, earmarking an estimated $15 million or so for football players. The team also poured millions into NIL deals consummated before the House settlement so that players could benefit prior to the NCAA’s clearinghouse, NIL Go, going into effect July 1.

But how sustainable is that kind of spending?

In May, the UCLA Academic Senate’s executive board sent a letter to Frenk and Darnell Hunt, the executive vice chancellor and provost, outlining “profound concern” related to the athletic department deficit at a time of anticipated budget cuts for academic departments.

“We have been told that financial sacrifices are necessary to ensure that there is a UCLA in the future,” the letter stated. “How can austerity of this magnitude be imposed on the core academic mission while athletics spending goes unchecked?”

Fans attend the UCLA season opener against Utah at the Rose Bowl on Aug. 30.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

The letter went on to note that Jarmond received a contract extension paying him more than $1.5 million annually despite never operating his department with less than a $20-million annual deficit. It also detailed several ways in which the athletic department’s roughly $80-million deficit for the most recent fiscal year (not counting the $30-million lifeline from the university) could be used to support academics, including covering nearly all in-state tuition for every doctoral student.

“All of these potential uses would directly support the academic mission in austere times,” the letter said. “Yet the money is instead being directed to bail out a non-academic department that consistently demonstrates poor fiscal management.”

The senate ended its letter by requesting, among other things, immediate assurance that campus would no longer subsidize the athletic department in any form, including providing or authorizing loans. What was Frenk’s response?

Megan M. McEvoy, the academic senate chair for the 2025-26 school year who is also a UCLA professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, told The Times that the academic senate did not receive a reply and its concerns are ongoing.

But any pressure to save will undoubtedly be offset by calls to spend.

During a discussion of the coaching openings at UCLA and Virginia Tech on ESPN’s “College GameDay” on Saturday, reporter Pete Thamel noted that the Hokies were adding $50 million to their athletic department budget to display their commitment to winning at the highest level.

Host Rece Davis wryly added that of the two schools, Virginia Tech was the one that knew what needed to be done.

The agent who spoke with The Times said that UCLA’s best move might be to hire a coach from a lower-level conference who could bring a good chunk of his roster with him like Curt Cignetti did as part of his transition from James Madison to Indiana. In his first season with the Hoosiers, Cignetti won 11 games and took his team to the College Football Playoff.

“If you bring in a guy from Tulane, where those players don’t make as much [in NIL] as what UCLA has to pay,” the agent said, “you can just get it all done in a one-stop shop, so that’s a very interesting dynamic. I don’t think an A-lister [at a bigger school] can really build it as fast as the B-plus guy because the B-plus guy can bring players from his school right now.”

That’s assuming, of course, that the B-plus guy takes UCLA’s call.

Call him Skip.

That was among the first things Tim Skipper said this week, the interim UCLA football coach’s opening remarks part introduction, part pep rally, part ritualistic cleansing.

The Bruins needed drastic change after an 0-3 start led to the dismissal of coach DeShaun Foster, and Skipper provided a promising start. He was engaging, energetic and about as insightful as one could possibly be only four days into the job.

It was a refreshing departure from a predecessor who displayed little of the enthusiasm that he preached.

In perhaps the most encouraging early sign, Skipper disclosed that there had been no immediate player defections, though that could change given that everyone on the roster has 30 days to enter the transfer portal. Defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe’s mutually agreed-upon departure was certainly a blow, but the team is finalizing the addition of veteran assistant Kevin Coyle — a former longtime college and NFL defensive coordinator — to help coach the defense for the rest of the season.

The strain of the previous week was apparent in the words of offensive tackle Garrett DiGiorgio, who spoke glowingly of both Foster and Malloe while discussing the players’ role in the struggles that led to the coaching change.

“I think he could tell that we all felt that way,” DiGiorgio said, referring to the team’s brief farewell meeting with Foster, “like we knew we had responsibility as a team and we knew that it wasn’t all on him.”

Skipper acknowledged the need to change the style of play for a team that has been badly outperformed on both sides of the ball. He said the Bruins must play harder, faster and more physical, with coaches helping to make that possible by simplifying schemes so that players could perform without having to do so much thinking.

The new man in charge has considerable experience making the best of a bad situation. Skipper guided Fresno State to a victory over New Mexico State in the 2023 New Mexico Bowl while filling in for sidelined coach Jeff Tedford, and then helped the Bulldogs reach the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last season after Tedford had to step down because of ongoing health problems.

But Skipper has never stared down a schedule such as the one he faces, with games against Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana just part of a punishing Big Ten slate that starts with a road game against Northwestern on Saturday.

A win over the Wildcats could do far more than reengage fans; it could also prevent a rash of players from using their available redshirt and sitting out the rest of the season. Sticking around to play out the season at 0-4 might feel far less enticing than preserving additional eligibility. Players will need to decide soon because they cannot play in five games and redshirt.

For all his admirable traits, the 47-year-old Skipper is probably not a serious candidate to land the permanent job unless the Bruins go unbeaten the rest of the way. But he’s already shown a willingness to embrace these difficult circumstances, a strong showing undoubtedly putting him in the running for a head coaching job somewhere.

“There’s still nine games left,” Skipper said. “You know, there’s a lot to be motivated about.”

Recruiting fallout

Six high school players backed out of their nonbinding verbal commitments to UCLA in the wake of Foster’s dismissal, including four-star offensive tackle Johnnie Jones.

That left 16 players committed to the Bruins as part of a 2026 high school class that dropped to No. 52 nationally in the 247Sports.com rankings.

What will be the recruiting approach of a staff that might need to seek new jobs as soon as the season ends?

“We have a whole recruiting staff and this is where they’re going to make their money,” Skipper said. “So, they’re in communication with those guys, and they know this is a great place to be. It’s a tradition-rich university, so we’re just gonna keep on sending the message. But ultimately, when everybody turns on the TV and our style of play looks the way that everybody wants it to look, they’ll want to be here.”

In the good news department, teams can restock rosters quickly because of the transfer portal and the tendency of coaches to bring a good chunk of their old team with them to their new destinations. The elimination of the spring transfer portal window will place increased significance on the 10-day window that starts Jan. 2, 2026.

Heard on campus

On the same day that UCLA fired Foster, a group of about 100 former Bruins players representing multiple eras met with athletic director Martin Jarmond via Zoom.

The point of the meeting wasn’t to weigh in on the coaching change or to make suggestions for Foster’s replacement — it was to vent.

According to two people on the call who spoke with The Times on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private, the players talked about getting back to the days when football mattered at the school.

There was also sentiment expressed about feeling shut off from the program, largely as a result of practices established under former coach Chip Kelly. One former player said it was difficult to get a field pass for games and asked how can players give back to a program that makes it hard to be around? The same player noted that at USC, it’s easy for alumni to go back and feel like part of the program.

Another former player who said he was around the program almost daily last season said he would suggest transfer prospects who wanted to come home to Southern California and could be impact players but received no follow-through. Some of those players went on to start at Alabama, Utah and USC.

Jarmond told the former players he appreciated the feedback and provided his email address. Former player James Washington, who helped organize the meeting, said there would be future meetings to keep the discussion going.

Among those on the Zoom — first reported by the website Last Word on College Football — were Cade McNown, Troy Aikman, Donnie Edwards, Dennis Keyes, Bruce Davis II, Datone Jones, Audie Attar, Matt Stevens, Joe Cowan and Ben Olson.

Olympic sport spotlight: Men’s soccer

Maybe UCLA football can follow the model of this team.

After a winless start to the season, the Bruins men’s soccer team defeated Northwestern in its Big Ten opener and is now 2-0 in conference play after a 3-1 victory over Wisconsin on Friday.

Forward Sergi Solans Ormo, who scored the only goal during UCLA’s 1-0 triumph over Northwestern, gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead with a shot into the bottom right of the goal in the second half against Wisconsin. Forward Francis Bonsu added an insurance goal about eight minutes later.

Once saddled with an 0-3-2 record, UCLA (2-3-2 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) has some significant momentum going into another conference game on the road Friday against Indiana.

Opinion time

Who would you rather have as UCLA’s next football coach?

An exciting lower-level coach such as Tulane’s Jon Sumrall?

A rising star such as Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein?

An existing Power Four coach such as Arizona’s Jedd Fisch?

A wild card such as Mississippi’s Lane Kiffin?

Click here to vote in our survey.

Poll results

We asked “Who will end up as UCLA’s next football coach?”

After 231 votes, the results:

An up-and-comer such as Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, 45%

A known commodity such as Michigan State’s Jonathan Smith, 30%

A hotshot offensive or defensive coordinator, 19%

A former Bruin such as Florida State defensive coordinator Tony White, 6%

In case you missed it

UCLA finalizing deal to add Kevin Coyle to defensive staff for rest of season

UCLA loses defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe in more fallout from 0-3 start

‘He’s been an underdog his whole life’: Meet UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper

Have something Bruin?

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.

Welcome Times of Troy readers, to a special middle-of-the-night edition of this newsletter. It’s now just before 3 a.m. as I sit at my dining room table, cursing the greed of the TV executives who conceived of the 8 p.m. kickoff as a concept in the first place. My utmost respect goes to the diehards outside of the Pacific time zone who went the distance in USC’s 45-31 win over Michigan State. May your body clocks recover better than mine surely will.

Until about 1:30 a.m. Eastern time, early Sunday morning, it looked like USC might roll to another resounding victory. The Trojans were up 31-10, a few minutes into the third quarter. They’d piled up twice as many yards as Michigan State.

“We were dominating the football game,” coach Lincoln Riley said.

USC’s defense had forced one three-and-out to open the half, and it was on its way to another quick stop when, on a fourth down, linebacker Ta’Mere Robinson came flying around the edge and clipped Michigan State’s punter as he booted a kick.

Faced with a 4th-and-2 after the penalty, the Spartans decided to go for it. Quarterback Aidan Chiles was flushed from the pocket, and his pass fell incomplete … but another flag was thrown. USC inexplicably had 12 players on the field.

The back-to-back penalties, while troubling, weren’t totally back-breaking at the time. USC was still well in control, with a three-score lead intact. But what happened from there would hint at a larger issue, one that USC will have to iron out in a hurry with the hardest stretch of its schedule looming.

Twice, in the next eight plays, it seemed USC forced Michigan State into a decisive 3rd-and-long, only for a penalty flag to wipe away the stop.

The penalties would kick the door open for Michigan State. And in less than 10 minutes, they’d cut the USC lead to just a single score.

It wasn’t so much the season-high 10 penalties that was most concerning, but rather the lack of discipline on defense that inspired those mistakes. (Though, ranking 129th in the nation in penalty yards per game certainly isn’t great.) Of the defense’s eight penalty calls, there were two illegal substitution flags, an unsportsmanlike conduct and an illegal hands to the face call for the fifth time in three weeks.

Riley said after that he doesn’t want to discourage his defense from playing aggressive. But those aren’t penalties of aggression. They’re self-inflicted wounds. And if USC’s defense continues to make them a habit, they will eventually pay for it.

“We definitely thought we’d be better from that standpoint,” defensive tackle Devan Thompkins said. “Going forward, playing these Big Ten games, we have to reduce those penalties for sure.”

There are plenty of reasons for Riley to be encouraged by the progress of USC’s defense. The pass rush is actually disruptive. The run defense is giving up just three yards per carry.

The problems on that side of the ball are no longer about the quality of players. Linebacker Eric Gentry, in the midst of an All-American season, ranks first in the Big Ten in tackles for loss, third in sacks and fifth in tackles. The defensive line is so deep that five-star freshman Jahkeem Stewart played just 17 snaps on Saturday, despite dominating almost every one of them.

Which is what makes the discipline breakdowns so disappointing. USC, for the first time in Riley’s tenure, has the talent to compete on defense. The question now, as the Trojans enter their toughest stretch of the season, is whether that will be enough.

Huge shoes to fill

When Lindsay Gottlieb set out to rebuild USC’s roster in the spring, she knew there was no way to make up for their most important loss from last season.

“No one is filling JuJu’s shoes,” she said. “Those are unique shoes.”

Watkins tore her anterior cruciate ligament in March. She’s “doing great”, according to Gottlieb. “But there’s still no timeline for her return. If she comes back at all this season, I can’t imagine it would be until late in the calendar. Her absence from the lineup is no less than a gaping void.”

But when losing a generational superstar, it sure helps to have another No. 1 prospect in the pipeline.

Enter freshman Jazzy Davidson.

“The fact that Jazzy can step into our program and already just make a really unique and incredible impression on everybody is pretty wild,” Gottlieb said. “She’s really, really good. I’ll start with that. She’s next-level good.”

“Her impact on the basketball court just comes in a lot of different ways. She glides. She’s very fluid. She can score it. She can pass it. She impacts the game defensively. She comes in ready in a way that’s very unique for someone her age. So we’re super excited. We know that we’ve got something special with her.”

We know much less about what to expect from the new-look Trojans frontcourt, which lost a WNBA All-Star in Kiki Iriafen and an entrenched team leader in Rayah Marshall. Replacing their production means counting on transfers Yakiya Milton and Dayana Mendes, Lithuanian import Gerda Raulusaityte or returners Vivian Iwuchukwu and Lauren Williams to fill the void.

“We knew that size and the frontcourt was going to be important,” Gottlieb said. “I don’t think any of us said we have to find one person to get us 18 and 10 like Kiki. As a group, we need production in different ways.”

Ja’Kobi Lane makes a catch in front of Purdue defensive back Hudauri Hines.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

—Ja’Kobi Lane’s absence couldn’t come at a worse time. Riley said that the unspecified ailment became an issue unexpectedly in the middle of last week, but that Lane sustained the injury sometime during the Trojans win over Purdue. Lane didn’t have a catch in the fourth quarter of that game. Riley didn’t offer much more information than that and even called the injury “inconclusive”. But he left the door open for Lane to miss more games. If he’s saying that already, I’d expect that’s a serious possibility. USC’s next opponent, Illinois, just lost six of its top seven defensive backs, so maybe it won’t be so much of a problem next week. But against Michigan, in a critical game at the Coliseum, USC could really use its top red zone target.

—USC lost its left tackle for more than half the game yesterday. The offensive line still held up well. Elijah Paige isn’t expected to be out long term, according to Riley, but the fact that USC only allowed three pressures all game in spite of his injury is a good sign. Michigan State doesn’t have a fearsome pass rush exactly, but that’s a strong performance against any Power Four opponent. Tobias Raymond, who played at both guard and tackle Saturday, continues to live up to Riley’s rave reviews from the offseason. I also thought right tackle Justin Tauanuu looked good switching between the right and left sides after Paige went out.

—New point guard Jordan Marsh is receiving rave reviews in preseason. USC knew that Marsh could step in as a scoring threat, after he averaged almost 19 per game at North Carolina Asheville last season. But the transfer guard looks like more of an all-around impact player than anyone anticipated. “He’s hands down one of the fastest guards I’ve ever played with,” said forward Ezra Ausar. He’s also a deceptively feisty defender for as small as he is. The question now is how well Marsh can orchestrate the offense. Could he allow for Rodney Rice to play some on the perimeter? Regardless, early indications continue to be Marsh will play a key role in USC’s rotation.

—Remember when Trojan fans wanted Luke Fickell to take over as head coach? Well, I’m sure Wisconsin would happily trade places now. The Badgers were blown out at home this week by Maryland, and fans chanted for Fickell to be fired. It’s an important reminder that coaches don’t always fit in new situations in the way we expect them to. It’s only getting worse from here for Wisconsin, with Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Illinois and Indiana all upcoming.

In case you missed it

With Makai Lemon slicing and scoring, USC defeats Michigan State to remain unbeaten

D’Anton Lynn says he hasn’t been contacted by UCLA, and his focus is on USC’s defense

How Bishop Fitzgerald’s roots as a quarterback helped him become a prolific USC safety

What I’m watching this week

Cary Christopher as Alex in “Weapons.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

We are closing in on spooky season, which is the one time of year my wife will agree to watch a scary movie with me. The selection process for that single horror flick every year is usually extensive. But this year, it was an easy choice.

“Weapons” is one of the most talked-about horror movies in recent memory, and I’ve spent the last several months somehow dodging spoilers at every turn. What I do know: A classroom full of kids mysteriously disappears in the middle of the night one night, leaving a community to reckon with who or what is behind it all.

Until next time …

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected], and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

This week’s City Section top 10 high school football rankings by The Times:

1. BIRMINGHAM (1-3): Receiver Paul Turner is making plays but Patriots have to figure out how to get him more opportunities.

2. CARSON (2-3): The Colts will be strengthened by several players joining team after sit-out transfer period ends on Thursday.

3. PALISADES (4-0): Quarterback Jack Thomas has 17 touchdown passes with zero interceptions in four games.

4. SAN PEDRO (2-3): Face another tough test against unbeaten Laguna Beach.

5. BANNING (4-1): Pilots found out there is work to do after 52-0 loss to Palos Verdes.

6. GARFIELD (2-2): Bulldogs begin Eastern League play against Huntington Park.

7. KENNEDY (4-1): Golden Cougars are still team to beat in Valley Mission League.

8. MARQUEZ (4-1): Showdown game with Eagle Rock on Friday.

9. VENICE (2-3): Suffered 41-6 loss to Westlake.

10. HAMILTON (2-2): Jacob Riley has six interceptions as Yankees keep improving.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. After five weeks of high school football, you think you know who’s good and who’’s not. Guess again. The sit-out period for transfers is ending, and the cavalry is about to arrive to change the fortunes of teams.

Here comes help

The sit-out transfer period ends for City Section players Thursday and for Southern Section players on Sept. 29. Some teams will be getting better.

Carson is adding receiver Jordin Daniel (Dominguez) and defensive lineman Tion Marshall (Gardena). King/Drew is picking up several players that will boost its chances of winning the Coliseum League.

Cathedral, which started the season as a top 25 team, is 1-4. A group of linemen become eligible to help protect quarterback Jaden Jefferson and add to the defensive front. Linebacker Daequan Jeffes from Loyola and lineman Mike Watson (6-4, 265 pounds) from Warren will help immediately on defense.

Unbeaten Sierra Canyon adds talented kicker Carter Sobel, who was a standout at Chaminade. Orange Lutheran’s running game will get a big boost with the arrival of Sean Morris, a transfer from Loyola. Corona del Mar adds standout lineman William Herrington from Newport Harbor.

Offensive lineman Saik Fiataugaluia, a transfer from Santa Margarita, becomes eligible at Corona Centennial. He’s 6 feet 5 and 350 pounds. Cornerback Jacob Whitehead, who was a star at Inglewood, joins an already talented St. John Bosco secondary. Cornerback Khalev Patrick Hall joins Mater Dei from Crean Lutheran. Richard Dunn, who was a standout at Hamilton last season as a freshman,, becomes eligible at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. He’ll play on the defensive line.

Murrieta Valley will get two new defensive starters in linebacker Erick Romo from Orange Vista and defensive end West Gomes from Vista Murrieta.

There’s dozens of players becoming eligible around the Southland, so prepare for some new names to be heard on the public address system at games.

Chris Henry Jr. of Mater Dei prepares to make touchdown catch against Corona Centennial.

(Craig Weston)

It was gut-check time for Mater Dei in its trip to Las Vegas to face Bishop Gorman. The Monarchs were facing the possibility of losing two games for the first time since the 2013 season.

They came away with a 27-24 victory to resurrect their season behind tight end Mark Bowman, receiver Chris Henry Jr. and quarterback Ryan Hopkins. Here’s the report.

Sierra Canyon stayed unbeaten and earned respect with a dominating win over Trinity League power Orange Lutheran. Here’s the report.

Freshman quarterback Jonah Tuaniga of Long Beach Millikan passed for 508 yards and nine touchdowns in a 63-0 win over Cabrillo. That’s a freshman record for touchdown passes.

Verbum Dei won its first game since the 2022 season with a victory over Belmont. Here’s the report.

Rocco Thomkins had 16 tackles and sophomore quarterback Gino Wang rallied JSerra to a 39-35 win over Leuzinger.

Edison won its 21st straight game in its rivalry series with Fountain Valley.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

Here’s the top individual performances from the weekend.

Here’s this week’s schedule of games.

There’s plenty of parity at the top in the City Section. Birmingham, Carson, San Pedro and Banning continue to lose to Southern Section teams, so it leaves lots of questions when league play begins.

Carson lost in double overtime to North Torrance 42-35. Birmingham lost to Calabasas 49-38. San Pedro lost to El Modena 34-14 at SoFi Stadium. Banning lost to Palos Verdes 52-0. They’re all following the Birmingham example that losses to Southern Section opponents can turn out to be victories by preparing teams for City Section play.

Elyjah Staples of Marquez had four touchdown catches and two sacks in a win over La Puente.

Quarterback Liam Pasten of Eagle Rock was 17 of 19 passing for 309 yards and five touchdowns in a 56-21 win over Taft.

Here’s this week’s top 10 City Section rankings.

Wait your turn still works

Junior quarterback Taylor Lee of Oxnard Pacifica has 15 touchdown passes in his last two games.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

“Wait your turn.”

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

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

Two of the top quarterbacks this season, Luke Fahey of Mission Viejo and Taylor Lee of Oxnard Pacifica, waited their turn and are thriving. Here’s the report.

Basketball standout Tyran Stokes of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame made his first appearance in a football uniform on Monday.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

On Monday, the No. 1 high school basketball in the country for the class of 2026, Tyran Stokes of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, started practicing with the football team. He’s 6 feet 8, 245 pounds and will play receiver. He needs 10 days of practices before he can play in a game.

Here’s the report.

With an injury at quarterback, Camarillo turned to its best athlete, Mya Rei Smith, to move from receiver to quarterback, and she has adjusted as if she’s been playing the position all season. She’s the starting point guard for the basketball team and is receiving lots of interest from college programs. Camarillo is 16-1.

Orange Lutheran’s Makena Cook passed for a season-high 410 yards and seven touchdowns in a 46-20 win against Aliso Niguel. Orange Lutheran is 17-0 and begins league play on Thursday against Mater Dei.

Other top teams are JSerra (18-0), Newport Harbor (16-1) and Dos Pueblos (16-1).

In the City Section, Panorama has won its first 16 games. Quarterback Yadhira Hermenegildo has thrown 41 touchdown passes.

Girls volleyball

Middle blocker Elle Vandeweghe of Marymount.

(Steve Galluzzo )

There was a terrific national tournament in Las Vegas, the Durango Classic, and Marymount emerged as champion by knocking off No. 1 Sierra Canyon in the final. Redondo Union, Mater Dei and Mira Costa were also in the tournament.

“Elle Vandeweghe was awesome,” coach Cari Klein said.

Vandeweghe had eight kills in the 21-25, 25-15, 25-12 win over the Trailblazers. Teammate Sammy Desler was named tournament MVP.

Thousand Oaks won the Chatsworth tournament, defeating Palisades in the semifinals and Canyon Country Canyon in the final.

Senior setter Hailey Lauritzen of the Lancers was named tournament MVP.

Cross-country

The Woodbridge Classic brought out lots of top runners from outside California. Here’s the report.

Ivy League play begins

Former St. John Bosco quarterback Caleb Sanchez is playing for Columbia in the Ivy League.

(Columbia Athletics/Stockton Photo)

Former St. John Bosco quarterback Caleb Sanchez has returned for his second season playing in the Ivy League for Columbia. The season began last week, and there’s 39 former Southern Section players on rosters.

Here’s the report.

Notes . . .

In an interview with NBC Los Angeles, former Bishop Montgomery football coach Ed Hodgkiss said he was approached before the season to change the philosophy of the football program.

Last December, according to Hodgkiss, he met with Bishop Montgomery’s now former President Patrick Lee and two others, who previously worked for football powerhouse St. John Bosco.

“They approached me and said we can do the same thing at Bishop Montgomery,” Hodgkiss said, adding the three men had planned to hire a new coaching staff, build a new stadium and bring top players to the Torrance high school. Hodgkiss ended up being fired and the school canceled its varsity season after an Archdiocese investigation and CIF penalties that resulted in 24 players being declared ineligible.

Also the high school association that runs Arizona passed an emergency bylaw to disallow out-of-state transfers to play who transfer in the middle of the season. At least four former Bishop Montgomery and one Long Beach Millikan football player have transferred to Arizona after being declared ineligible for two years in California. They transferred before the bylaw went into effect and are eligible. . . .

Sage Hill standout guard Amalia Holguin has committed to Texas for women’s basketball. . . .

Pitcher Noah Darnell of Santa Margarita has committed to Harvard. . . .

Junior pitcher Sean Parrow of Sierra Canyon has committed to LSU. . . .

Delan Grant, who played basketball at St. Francis until transferring this year to Sierra Canyon, has committed to New Mexico State. . . .

Junior softball player Mattea Stern from Garden Grove Pacifica has committed to Arizona. . . .

Infielder Tate Hammond from Long Beach Poly has committed to UCLA. . . .

Pitcher Mason Sims of Corona.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Junior pitcher Mason Sims of Corona has committed to Texas. . . .

Former Sierra Canyon quarterback Wyatt Becker will be enrolling at Princeton in 2026. He’s taking a Catholic mission this year. . . .

Maddie Smith from Flintridge Prep has committed to Yale for women’s basketball. . . .

Junior softball catcher Riley Hilliard of La Mirada has committed to Oklahoma. . . .

Junior pitcher Ben Lewis of Corona Santiago has committed to Oklahoma State. . . .

Chadrack Mpoyi, a 6-foot-11 center at Crean Lutheran, has committed to Minnesota. . . .

Gardena Serra baseball coach AJ Perry will become the school’s athletic director. He will be replaced by Ryan Odums. . . .

Jordan Myrow is the new baseball coach at Palisades. He played at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, UCLA and Cal State Los Angeles. He has a tough task because the campus baseball field is gone for several years while temporary bungalows are used because of damage from the Palisades fire. . . .

From the archives: Robin Yount

The best baseball player in Taft High history is Robin Yount, a member of baseball’s Hall of Fame who turned 70 years old last week.

He had a 20-year career with the Milwaukee Brewers playing mostly shortstop. He got his 3,000th career hit on Sept. 9, 1992. He made his major-league debut as an 18-year-old.

Here’s a story from 1986 by the great Hall of Fame writer Ross Newhan.

Here’s a bio of Yount’s accomplishments.

Recommendations

From NFHS.org, a story on high school football continuing to rebound national in participation numbers.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story of the growing concerns with artificial turf fields.

From ESPN.com, a story on MLB banning teams from watching or compiling information on high school baseball during a period that should be a break.

From the Riverside Press Enterprise, a story on Lorenzo Sims, Ramona’s latest top running back.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.

A look at the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland:

Rk. School (record) result; Next game; last week ranking

1. ST. JOHN BOSCO (5-0) def. Honolulu St. Louis, 49-20; at JSerra, Oct. 3; 1

2. SIERRA CANYON (5-0) def. Orange Lutheran, 41-9; vs. Gardena Serra, Oct. 3; 2

3. CORONA CENTENNIAL (4-1) def. Rancho Cucamonga, 42-14; vs. Eastvale Roosevelt, Oct. 2; 4

4. MATER DEI (4-1) def. Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, 27-24; vs. Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast Coll., Oct. 3; 5

5. MISSION VIEJO (4-1) lost to Chattanooga (Tenn.) McCallie, 25-14; at Chaparral, Friday; 3

6. SANTA MARGARITA (3-1) did not play; vs. Bishop Gorman at Trabuco Hills, Saturday; 6

7. LOS ALAMITOS (6-0) def. El Cajon Granite Hills, 49-42; at Calabasas, Friday; 8

8. ORANGE LUTHERAN (3-2) lost to Sierra Canyon, 41-9; vs. Mater Dei, Oct. 3; 7

9. VISTA MURRIETA (4-0) def. Beaumont, 21-14; at Oceanside El Camino, Friday; 9

10. SERVITE (3-1) did not play; at St. Paul, Friday; 11

11. DAMIEN (5-0) def. Salesian, 40-18; vs. Rancho Cucamonga, Oct. 3; 12

12. EDISON (4-1) def. Fountain Valley, 34-0; at La Serna, Friday; 13

13. SAN JUAN HILLS (3-1) def. Mira Costa, 38-28; at Corona del Mar, Oct. 3; 15

14. BEAUMONT (4-1) lost Vista Murrieta, 21-14; vs. Redlands, Oct. 3; 14

15. JSERRA (3-2) def. Leuzinger, 39-35; vs. St. John Bosco, Oct. 3; 19

16. GARDENA SERRA (3-2) def. Oaks Christian, 19-10; at Sierra Canyon, Oct. 3; 16

17. DOWNEY (4-1) def. Inglewood, 21-20; at Mayfair, Oct. 3; 17

18. CORONA DEL MAR (4-0) did not play; at Trabuco Hills, Friday; 18

19. OXNARD PACIFICA (5-0) def. Bishop Montgomery, forfeit; vs. Oaks Christian, Oct. 3; 20

20. MURRIETA VALLEY (3-1) def. Riverside King, 49-7; at San Clemente, Friday; 22

21. YORBA LINDA (4-1) lost to Tustin, 21-7; at Villa Park, Oct. 3; 10

22. LEUZINGER (3-1) lost to JSerra, 39-35; at Hawthorne, Friday; 21

23. PALOS VERDES (3-2) def. Wilmington Banning, 52-0; vs. Culver City, Oct. 3; 23

24. CREAN LUTHERAN (5-0) def. La Serna, 38-14; at Foothill, Oct. 4; 24

25. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (2-2) idle; at Culver City, Friday; NR

Re “Keep stockpiling oil,” editorial, May 14

In the never-ending blame game about high oil and gasoline prices, why is there no outrage that the Democrats in Congress have blocked all attempts to expand supply and refining capacity in this country for 30 years? The Democrats and the mainstream media must have failed Economics 101. Energy supply is one of the biggest challenges facing the world. Unfortunately, environmental groups have the Democrats in their pocket, and we’re all going to pay for it.

Ralph Reichert

Sierra Madre

—

The vote by Congress to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve comes at an inappropriate time. As much as I haven’t supported President Bush or his policies, this pandering is no lasting solution.

A dozen years ago or so, when Americans stubbornly turned to SUVs and trucks, the ultimate strain on supply and higher prices for increased demand should have been predicted. When winter is upon us and home heating concerns are paramount, such a measure would be more appropriate. This now is just political expediency and will only encourage more waste and delay a return to smaller vehicles. Playing politics with public sentiment is not the solution our leadership should be offering.

Nancy Wilson

Nashville, Ind.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Robert Redford died this week at age 89 at his home outside Provo, Utah. The actor, producer and director had been a star for more than 60 years, going back to the 1963 comedy “Barefoot in the Park” and covering an enormously long list of performances in films such as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Hot Rock,” “Downhill Racer,” “The Way We Were,” “The Candidate,” “The Sting,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “All the President’s Men,” “The Electric Horseman,” “The Natural” and many more.

Redford was also an accomplished director, winning an Oscar for his debut “Ordinary People” and going on to make films such as “A River Runs Through It,” “Quiz Show,” “The Horse Whisperer,” “The Conspirator” and others.

In a survey of his career, Amy Nicholson wrote, “To appreciate Redford fully, we have to applaud not only the work he did but the simple, feel-good roles he rejected. He could have become a celebrity without breaking a sweat as the war hero, the jock, the husband, the cowboy, the American ideal made incarnate. Yet, he had the rare ability to sidestep what audiences thought we wanted from him to instead give us something we didn’t know we needed: selfish victors (‘Downhill Racer’), self-destructive veterans (‘The Great Waldo Pepper’) and tragic men who did everything right and still failed (2013’s ‘All Is Lost’).”

Robert Redford at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York in 2015.

(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)

Nicholson added, “Lately, the Redford roles I’ve been thinking about are the ones where his all-American appeal makes us examine all of America, good and bad. The two that instantly jump to mind are his pair of political thrillers: ‘Three Days of the Condor,’ in which he plays a CIA agent on the run from his own co-workers, and ‘All the President’s Men,’ in which he doggedly uncovers the Watergate scandal. Both films believe in the power of getting the truth out to the press; neither is so naive as to think the truth alone will save the day.”

And then there is a whole other side to Redford: his extensive work as an activist on behalf of environmental causes and his founding of the Sundance Institute, which lead to the creation of the Sundance Film Festival.

I took a look at Redford’s work with Sundance and how he did nothing less than transform Hollywood, carving out a space for independent artists and opening doors for those who had been previously shut out by the industry.

“Mr. Redford was a shining example of how to leverage success into community building, discovery and empowerment,” filmmaker Ryan Coogler said in a statement. Coogler’s own career was launched via Sundance.

“In these trying times it hurts to lose an elder like Mr. Redford, someone who through their words, their actions and their commitment left their industry in a better place than they found it.”

Robert Redford and Lauren Hutton in 1970’s “Little Fauss and Big Halsy.”

(Steve Schapiro / Fahey / Klein Gallery)

I personally met Redford only once, when I moderated a Q&A in 2013 for “The Company You Keep,” in which he starred as a former ’60s radical. It would be the last feature film he directed. I was introduced to him shortly before we were to go in front of an audience together and he wanted to sit and talk for a moment. He immediately asked me about myself, where I was from and how long I had been a journalist.

It was thoroughly disarming to have someone so famous engage with me in a way that felt so genuine. Suddenly he was not a movie star, though he did indeed possess an otherworldly grace, charm and rugged beauty, but rather something even larger, someone who engaged with the world from a place of true curiosity. He leaves a lasting legacy, having touched countless lives.

There will surely be many more tributes and events to come, but Vidiots has already announced a screening of Alan J. Pakula’s 1976 “All the President’s Men,” starring Redford and Dustin Hoffman, on 35mm for Friday, Oct. 3.

‘Mysterious Skin’ in 4K

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, left, and Brady Corbet in the movie “Mysterious Skin.”

(Tartan Films)

Seeing the ongoing revival of Gregg Araki’s filmography in restored versions as fans wait for his upcoming film, “I Want Your Sex,” has been very gratifying. Tonight, the Academy Museum will present Araki’s 2004 “Mysterious Skin” in a new 4K restoration followed by a conversation with Araki, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt and novelist Scott Heim, moderated by “Anora” filmmaker Sean Baker.

“Mysterious Skin” is a delicately told, crushingly disturbing tale of two young men (played by Gordon-Levitt and future “The Brutalist” director Brady Corbet) who each process an incident of sexual abuse from their childhood in different ways. The cast also includes Elisabeth Shue, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Michelle Trachtenberg, who died earlier this year.

Reviewing the film at the time, Kevin Thomas wrote, “The most mature work by the idiosyncratic and gifted Araki, ‘Mysterious Skin,’ based on the book by Scott Heim, highlights the director’s talent for inspiring the most demanding of portrayals from actors and for richly evoking the world his characters inhabit. The film has a mesmerizing floating quality, heightened by Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie’s deceptively serene score, and it has considerable offbeat, deadpan humor to offset its dark undertow. … it’s hard to imagine a more serious or persuasive indictment of the horrors inflicted on children by sexual abuse than ‘Mysterious Skin.’”

I spoke to Araki at the time about the perception that the film was a step toward a new-found maturity following the bratty punk charm of his earlier work.

“I like that it was a real departure for me and that people didn’t expect it,” said Araki. “I really appreciate that aspect of it, that I’ve never done a serious drama before. I do think that the film totally makes sense with all my other movies. There is a thematic similarity and the sensibilities of Scott [Heim] and myself are really attuned to each other. It’s not as if I’ve directed ‘Chicago.’”

J. Hoberman’s avant-garde NYC

An image from Ken Jacobs’ 1961 “The Whirled (aka Four Shorts of Jack Smith).”

(The Film-makers’ Coop)

On Thursday at 2220 Arts + Archives, Acropolis will present an evening in celebration of J. Hoberman’s inspiring and vivid recent book, “Everything Is Now: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde — Primal Happenings, Underground Movies, Radical Pop.”

Hoberman, formerly the longtime film critic for the Village Voice and an insightful cultural chronicler, will be present for a signing and Q&A along with a program of short films from the era surveyed by the book, when New York was a bubbling cauldron of creativity and restless energy. Titles screening will include Ken Jacobs’ 1961 “The Whirled (aka Four Shorts of Jack Smith),” Ron Rice’s 1962 “Senseless,” Michael Snow’s 1964 “New York Eye and Ear Control” and Jud Yalkut’s 1966 “D.M.T.”

In the introduction to his book, Hoberman explains his thesis of creating a snapshot of a time and place — he pays incredible attention to actual addresses, mapping out what was happening where — by saying, “Cultural innovation comes from the margins and is essentially collective. … New York City in the 1960s was one such cradle of artistic innovation. Boundaries were transgressed, new forms created. A collective drama played out in coffeehouses and bars, at openings and readings, in lofts and storefront theaters and ultimately in the streets.”

Points of interest

Joe Dante’s ‘Pirahna’

A scene from the 1978 movie “Piranha.”

(New World Pictures)

It is always heartening to see longtime local hero Joe Dante celebrated. He will be appearing at Vidiots on Friday, this time with his 1978 film, “Piranha.” Made for producer Roger Corman, the movie was obviously one in a series of films intended to capture the excitement and scares generated by “Jaws,” and it certainly accomplishes that, but it is also so much more.

From a screenplay written by John Sayles, who would go on to an illustrious career as a director himself, and with sharp, smart direction by Dante, “Piranha” is about a mutant strain of killer fish engineered by the military and accidentally released into a small community’s waterways.

Writing about the film in 1978, Charles Champlin said, “‘Piranha’ is what it is: a swift, efficient program picture which squeezes the most out of its dollars to squeeze delicious chills from the audience. But it also plays to the attitudes as well as the emotional needs of its young customers. The bad guys are scientists, the military, the police, the politicians (what were we doing in Vietnam?), authority in almost any uniform.”

Writing about the film in 2012, Dennis Lim added, “This was Dante’s first solo directorial outing after several years at Corman’s New World Pictures, where he got his start editing trailers, and it establishes a distinctive tone that he has sustained throughout his career, right on the line between homage and parody. The actors — several, including [Dick] Miller and [Kevin] McCarthy, who would go on to become frequent Dante collaborators — give performances that are once committed and tongue-in-cheek and the effects, in contrast to the sophisticated animatronics of ‘Jaws,’ are charmingly rough and ready.”

Aaliyah x2

Jet Li and Aaliyah star in “Romeo Must Die.”

(Kharen Hill / Warner Bros. Pictures)

As part of an ongoing Y2K Fridays series, the Gardena Cinema is showing a double-bill of movies starring the late singer and actor Aaliyah, with Andrzej Bartkowiak’s 2000 “Romeo Must Die” and Michael Rymer’s 2002 “Queen of the Damned.”

Riffing on “Romeo and Juliet,” the story of “Romeo Must Die” revolves around Jet Li and Aaliyah as members of warring crime families in Oakland who fall for each other.

Kevin Thomas wrote, “Body counts run high in this genre, but ‘Romeo Must Die,’ which marks Li’s first English-language starring role, tries for some depth and sophistication. … The film is a new step for both Li, who hopes to break out with it, and for recording star Aaliyah, in an accomplished film debut.”

Stuart Townsend and Aaliyah in “Queen of the Damned.”

(Jim Sheldon / Warner Bros. Pictures)

Based on one of the novels from Anne Rice’s popular “Vampire Chronicles,” “Queen of the Damned” stars Stuart Townsend as the vampire Lestat, here taking on the guise of a rock star, and Aaliyah as Akasha, the first vampire.

In his review at the time, Kenneth Turan wrote, “As directed by Michael Rymer and with the late rock star Aaliyah in the title role, ‘Queen of the Damned’ turns out to be a muddled limp biscuit of a movie, a vampire soap opera that doesn’t make much sense even on its own terms. Though the previous film based on Anne Rice’s popular novels, the Tom Cruise-starring ‘Interview With the Vampire,’ was far from a success, this brain-dead venture makes it look like a masterwork by comparison.”

Afew hours after California voters approved his Proposition 13 tax-cut measure on June 6, 1978, a bibulous and exultant Howard Jarvis dropped his pants for the benefit of a few reporters gathered in his suite at the L.A. Biltmore Hotel.

A reporter had asked Jarvis why he was limping, so his ostensible reason was to show a large, ugly bruise, which he’d suffered in a fall a few days before, on his ample, boxer-clad behind. The surprise gesture, however, also afforded the earthy and profane Jarvis a chance to display his contempt for the press and, by extension, the political class that had mocked him and opposed his cherished measure.

Thirty years later, the ghost of Jarvis and his legacy initiative still aim antipathy, scorn and disdain at California’s government and its leaders. Proposition 13 was the first, and most far-reaching, in a cascade of political decisions over the last three decades that have shaped the dysfunctional structure of governance in the state.

Simply put, California today is ungovernable.

As state and local officials struggle to weather the state’s fiscal crisis, they wield power with the damaged machinery of a patchwork government system that lacks accountability, encourages stalemate and drifts but cannot be steered.

In this system, elected leaders carry responsibility, but not authority, for far-reaching policies about public revenues and resources. That’s not governance — it’s reactive management of a deeply flawed status quo.

Here is a look at six key factors that have made California impossible to govern. Proposition 13: The fiscal effect of Proposition 13 itself is only part of the damage the initiative did to California. Even worse have been the methods Capitol politicians devised to try to lessen the measure’s financial impact. After Proposition 13 passed, then-Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democrat-dominated Legislature realigned — “tangled” would be more accurate — the relationship between state and local governments by effectively shifting control of remaining property tax revenue to Sacramento. In a crisis atmosphere, they radically transformed California’s political landscape, taking power and responsibility for health, welfare, schools and other local services away from city councils, boards of supervisors and school boards, thereby establishing today’s chaotic maze of overlapping jurisdiction, which defies efforts at accountability.

Budget initiatives: Proposition 13 also ushered in an era of ballot-box budgeting, as fiscal initiatives became a favored special-interest tool to take control of public fund expenditures. A series of post-13 initiatives — including measures creating the lottery, financing public schools by mathematical formula and earmarking revenues for special programs, from mental health to medical care — established an exquisitely complex state budget calculus that has hamstrung the rational operations of government.

Gerrymandering: The once-a-decade process of redrawing political maps based on the census has created an increasingly partisan Capitol atmosphere. Reapportionment has become essentially an incumbent protection effort, as lawmakers craft districts that are either safely Democratic or safely Republican. In this way, the crucial contests are party primaries, not the general elections. Because primaries draw the most partisan voters, the most conservative Republicans and the most liberal Democrats tend to win the nominations that guarantee election in November. The dynamic locks in ideological polarization in Sacramento, where lawmakers have little motivation to compromise.

Term limits: Despite the claims of backers, the 1990 term-limits initiative did not get rid of career politicians — it simply changed the arc of their careers. Instead of spending decades in the same Assembly or Senate district seat, legislators position themselves for the next office — or job as a lobbyist — as soon as they arrive in Sacramento. The up-or-out system rewards short-term, self-interested political thinking more than long-term policymaking in the public interest. Term limits also make lobbyists, not the Legislature, the repository of Capitol expertise; that lobbyists are useful in raising campaign cash adds an overlay of soft corruption to the process.

Boom-and-bust taxation: Since Proposition 13, state government has become increasingly dependent on volatile sources of revenue — the sales, corporation and progressive personal income taxes — that generate annual shifts in tax collections corresponding closely to the business cycle. When economic times are good, as during the dot-com and housing bubbles, money pours in and there’s little political incentive — in fact, term limits create a perverse disincentive — for long-term financial planning. When revenues contract, the Capitol has rarely made real spending reductions, preferring to wait for the next boom.

The two-thirds vote: California is one of only three states requiring a two-thirds legislative vote to pass a budget, one of 16 requiring a two-thirds vote to raise taxes — and the only state to require both. The budget requirement has been in the Constitution since the New Deal; the tax restriction began with Proposition 13. In the polarized atmosphere of Sacramento, the two-thirds rules effectively hand a veto to the minority party. Under these conditions, stalemate and deadlock on key fiscal issues have become the political norm.

So what can be done about the dysfunction? In the next few weeks, a blue-ribbon commission is set to recommend sweeping changes in the tax system to stabilize revenue collections. Voters last fall approved Proposition 11, which takes away the Legislature’s power to draw its own districts in favor of an independent commission. Next year, as they elect a new governor, Californians also will vote on a system of “open primary” elections aimed at aiding moderates, and they also will probably decide on one or more initiatives to dump the two-thirds budget vote requirement.

California Forward, a bipartisan good government group financed by major foundations, is crafting proposals to conform government systems and processes to modern management methods. And the business-oriented Bay Area Council is pushing initiatives for a state constitutional convention, the first since 1879, to wipe the slate clean and build a new, rational structure for state government.

“The seriousness of the problem has reached a crescendo,” said Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council. “The public is making a statement, loud and clear, that they expect action.”

As the nation’s attention reluctantly turns to the political parties’ conventions, with their scripted suspense and stage-managed sentiment, it is important to keep in mind that these are phony representations of American political life. But the slick video profiles, the teary appearance of a beloved party elder — these are not what is most phony about the conventions.

This gathering of America’s civic tribes — and the reporters who love them — in separate cities for days of synchronized cheering and jeering is the embodiment of a great American myth: that the nation is divided into “two Americas,” polarized between “red” and “blue” camps that have fundamentally different values and moral outlooks. Each of the nominees will tell our allegedly divided country that he, and he alone, can manage to unite America for the next four years.

The idea that there is vast war over the moral and spiritual compass of the nation is a dramatic narrative, and it has dominated popular political analysis for nearly two decades. It makes for potent, inflammatory political commercials. It just doesn’t have the added virtue of being true.

In 1991, a scholar at the University of Virginia named James Davison Hunter coined a term that has haunted us ever since in his provocative book, “Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America.” His argument was that America’s history of religious pluralism had devolved into two antagonistic movements, one progressive and the other orthodox or fundamental. But Hunter also noted, “In truth, most Americans occupy a vast middle ground between the polarizing impulses of American culture.” That was and remains the case.

But at the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, Pat Buchanan fired the phony war’s first shot in anger. “There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America,” declared Buchanan in prime time. “It is a cultural war.” The assembled press corps loved it. And red and blue bruises have distorted the American body politic ever since.

Poll after poll, focus group after focus group show that the vast majority of Americans — the Silent Majority, perhaps? — are pragmatic, independent and un-partisan in their basic views. They are eclectic: “liberal” on some matters, “conservative” on others. They are not slaves to that hobgoblin of small minds, consistency. On fundamental matters such as belief in equality for women and minorities, or how large a role religion and family play in individuals’ lives, the consensus among voters is broad. Unlike other times in U.S. history, there simply are no issues such as slavery, Prohibition or Vietnam that inspire violent protest or social disruption.

In his 2005 book, “Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America,” Stanford University political scientist Morris P. Fiorina showed that when you examine the actual views of Americans, “voters are not deeply or bitterly divided.” This held true even on the issues that are supposedly the most contentious: abortion, immigration and gun control. To analyze the most polarized recent presidential election, that of 2000, Fiorina divided the nation into Democratic-voting “blue” states and Republican-backing “red” ones — and found that voters in these supposedly warring camps had much in common. On immigration, for example, he found 41% of blue-state voters wanted it reduced, as did 43% of red-state voters; 43% of blue-state voters believed protecting the environment should trump protecting jobs, as did 42% of red-state voters. And 62% of voters in red and blue states believed that Americans should tolerate each other’s moral views. Fiorina also has found that these patterns held through the 2004 election.

In fact, it’s because we agree on so much that our elections are so close. Fiorina’s “sorting” theory of voter behavior explains it with a certain simple elegance: Voters dislike both parties equally. And since the widespread disenchantment of Watergate, they trust neither party with great power. So in election after election in which most voters face only two choices, both unpopular, their votes understandably get sorted into two roughly equal halves.

Extremists, however rare, are becoming more common and, importantly, more rabid. Analyzing survey data from the National Opinion Research Center, political scientist Arthur Brooks discovered that the percentage of people who described themselves as either “extreme liberals” or “extreme conservatives” grew a stunning 35% from 1972 to 2004. Still, as a percentage of the total population, the extremist factions — right and left combined — remain a small slice, 6.6%. These civic slivers obsess disproportionately on whatever issues are most divisive at the moment, while the majority of voters stick with basic economic and national security concerns.

Extremists, Brooks also found, have grown more intolerant and prone to “personal demonization.” Pollsters use something called “feeling thermometers” to gauge how people react to others. Extreme liberals and extreme conservatives are now essentially dead to one another, as Tony Soprano might have put it. That is new.

The political elite and the politically engaged are, of course, much more likely to be on the extreme wings than the majority. These also happen to be the people who not only go to conventions, but whom the cable news bookers corral to argue about politics on their shows. Increasingly, they are also the people who host television and radio talk shows, who publish blogs and who make civic noise.

But they are not us. Despite the stories we will read, hear and see this week and next, Americans are a much more pragmatic, moderate and independent crowd. But we do need to be careful not to pick up the intolerance and bad manners of those who seek our votes.

Dick Meyer is the editorial director of Digital Media for National Public Radio and the author of “Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium.”

Sept. 19 (UPI) — A $15 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against the New York Times was rejected by a federal judge Friday.

Judge Steven Merryday in Tampa, Fla., said Trump’s lengthy lawsuit had too much praise for the president and “superfluous allegations.”

Merryday said Trump’s two civil allegations against the newspaper are only mentioned in the last few pages of the 85-page complaint. The other pages are full of complaints about his political enemies and boasting of his accomplishments.

Merryday gave Trump 28 days to file another version of the lawsuit.

“As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective — not a protected platform to rage against an adversary,” Merryday wrote. “A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner.”

“This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner,” the judge wrote.

The Times company wrote in a statement when Trump’s lawsuit was filed that his complaint is “without merit.” Times executive editor Joe Kahn on Thursday said he was confident the paper would win.

“He’s wrong on the facts; he’s wrong on the law. And we’ll fight it, and we’ll win,” Kahn said at an Axios Media Trends Live event Thursday. He said he did not see a scenario in which the Times would settle with the president.

When he filed the suit on Monday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to accuse the newspaper of being a “virtual mouthpiece for the Radical Left Democratic Party,” but did not give details of the alleged falsehoods.

The action for damages amounting to more than the full market capitalization of The New York Times Company, was, Trump said, motivated by an imperative to “restore integrity to journalism.”

“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” Trump said.

He also criticized the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for president in the 2024 election.

Experts have said it was another instance of a strategy of using lawsuits of doubtful legality to gag critical voices and suppress free speech.

Trump has won multi-million dollar settlements from ABC News and CBS News, in December and July, respectively, prompting groups representing the journalism industry to warn that opting to settle out of court was only fueling Trump’s “lawfare.”

Addressing the Reporters & Editors 50th anniversary gala in New York on Monday, before the latest suit was filed, Times publisher AG Sulzberger warned of a growing so-called “anti-press playbook” trend among “aspiring strongmen” globally of leveraging civil law to exert financial pressure on media.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.  — A Florida federal judge on Friday tossed out a $15-billion defamation lawsuit filed by President Trump against The New York Times.

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday ruled that Trump’s 85-page lawsuit was overly long and full of “tedious and burdensome” language that had no bearing on the legal case.

“A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally,” Merryday wrote in a four-page order. “This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner.”

The judge gave Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint that should not exceed 40 pages.

The lawsuit named four Times journalists and cited a book and three articles published within a two-month period before the last election.

The Times had said it was meritless and an attempt to discourage independent reporting. “We welcome the judge’s quick ruling, which recognized that the complaint was a political document rather than a serious legal filing,” spokesman Charlie Stadtlander said Friday.

Merryday noted that the lawsuit did not get to the first defamation count until page 80. The lawsuit delves into Trump’s work on “The Apprentice” TV show and an “extensive list” of Trump’s other media appearances.

“As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective — not a protected platform to rage against an adversary,” wrote Merryday, an appointment of former President George H.W. Bush. “Although lawyers receive a modicum of expressive latitude in pleading the claim of a client, the complaint in this action extends far beyond the outer bound of that latitude.”

The lawsuit named a book and an article written by Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig that focuses on Trump’s finances and his pre-presidency role in “The Apprentice.”

Trump said in the lawsuit that they “maliciously peddled the fact-free narrative” that television producer Mark Burnett turned Trump into a celebrity — “even though at and prior to the time of publications defendants knew that President Trump was already a mega-celebrity and an enormous success in business.”

The lawsuit also attacked claims the reporters made about Trump’s early business dealings and his father, Fred.

Trump also cited an article by Peter Baker last Oct. 20 headlined “For Trump, a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a Moment of Judgment.” He also sued Michael S. Schmidt for a piece two days later featuring an interview with Trump’s first-term chief of staff, John Kelly, headlined “As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator.”

Trump has also sued ABC News and CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” both of which were settled out of court by the news organizations’ parent companies. Trump also sued The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch in July after the newspaper published a story reporting on his ties to wealthy financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Anderson writes for the Associated Press.