Sports

When John Beck first watched Jayden Maiava throw a football up close this summer, he could see pretty quickly why USC might hang its hopes on Maiava’s rocket right arm. “He spins the ball really well,” Beck said. “The talent is there. The ability is there.” Few are as qualified as Beck to make that…

When Julie Vanloo drew her second traveling violation before halftime, the crowd’s disapproval rose in unison. On the floor, with tempers simmering on the Sparks’ bench, a delay-of-game whistle drew another round of jeers from the Crypto.com Arena crowd. The calls weren’t the only sources of frustration for the Sparks — the team also was…

The Little League team from Honolulu has a chance to become a three-time world champion. Winners of the Little League World Series in 2018 and 2022, the team from Hawaii earned a spot in this year’s World Series on Thursday night with a 4-1 win over Fullerton Golden Hill in San Bernardino. They will travel…

Rashawn Slater, the Chargers’ star left tackle who became the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history last month, sustained a torn patellar tendon in practice and will undergo season-ending surgery, the team announced Thursday. Slater went down in team drills after going up against edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu. As Slater planted his left foot, he…

An 18-year-old man has been arrested after the sex toy he allegedly threw during a WNBA game in Phoenix hit a man and possibly a young girl sitting in front of him. It is one of at least five recent incidents of such objects being thrown by fans at a WNBA game and the second…

When 6-foot-5, 315-pound all-league offensive tackle Jorge Gonzalez of Santa Paula High had to take a mandatory two-week break this summer under the Southern Section dead period rules, he didn’t just sit at home. He went to the wheat fields of Santa Barbara and earned money using a weed whacker eight hours a day so…

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has been sidelined because of a back issue, will work out for the first time Saturday before the Rams play the Dallas Cowboys at SoFi Stadium, coach Sean McVay said Thursday. Stafford, 37, is dealing with an aggravated disc, and recently received an epidural for the condition, McVay said, confirming…

When is AI not artificial intelligence? When it refers to ammonia inhalants, aka smelling salts. When are these AIs in the news? When it was reported that the NFL banned their use, San Francisco 49ers star George Kittle protested, and the NFL walked back the ban a day later. The league’s players association clarified that…

UCLA’s defense, the biggest unknown on the team a year ago, is facing even more questions. A slew of players moved on to the NFL. No full-time starters return. Success will depend on several players with promising pedigrees but limited college production becoming playmakers. As he stepped off a team bus Wednesday afternoon in Costa…

Los Angeles just can’t get a break. The latest embarrassment is LA28 chair Casey Wasserman, the man tasked with making sure the 2028 Summer Olympics are a massive success. At a news conference this week announcing that President Trump will head a federal Olympics task force, Wasserman offered L.A. a giant whoopie cushion. With Wasserman…