Swanson: On any given Sunday in MLS, a champion can lose to an expansion team

• February 24, 2025

CARSON – That sound that echoed through Dignity Health Stadium on Sunday night, spoiling the Galaxy supporters groups’ familiar songs and chants?

That was an alarm clock going off. And who doesn’t hate that sound?

After hitting the snooze button all throughout a ho-hum preseason, the Galaxy were forced to wake up and face a new day, a new season, reality. It might have been Sunday Night Soccer on Apple TV, but the Galaxy played as if they had a bad case of the Mondays, having to go back to work, back to the drawing board, their 2024 dream season really and truly over.

Add a fourth P to the “Killer Ps” – Puig, Pec, Paintsill – who wrought so much damage last season for the Galaxy: Parity.

The thing the MLS prides itself on.

Where on any given day, any team can win. Where, on this given Sunday, the expansion team beat the defending champs: San Diego FC 2, LA Galaxy 0. New Kids On The Block > OGz.

Where the team that spoiled its fans with a record 18 goals en route to its league-record-extending sixth MLS Cup last December can have its celebratory season-opener and last season’s unbeaten-at-home record spoiled on Day 1, by a team playing Game 1.

Where an afternoon can start with a trophy relay, fireworks and a banner ceremony and end with fans streaming for the exits, well before the final whistle’s blown.

Exactly how Major League Soccer likes it, I guess.

If you didn’t know any better, you wouldn’t have been able to guess which was the new team and which was the defending champion.

Because the defending champs entered Sunday’s match without pace-pushing forward Joseph Paintsill (quad) and havoc-causing, hell-raising heart-of-the-matter midfielder Riqui Puig (ACL), who will be out for weeks and months, respectively.

The Galaxy also traded Dejan Joveljić (21 goals in 2024) to Sporting Kansas City for necessary salary cap relief, benched goalkeeper John McCarthy in favor of the younger Novak Micovic (whose pair of impressive saves Sunday were overshadowed by a critical mistake that led to Anders Dreyer’s goal in the 52nd minute) and insulted veteran defender Maya Yoshida, whose reward for captaining the Galaxy to the title was a pay cut (salary cap relief strikes again!)

That left Gabriel Pec as the Galaxy’s only returning prolific scorer and thus the focal point of San Diego’s defense, which bottled him up, limiting the 24-year-old Brazilian forward to just one shot on target.

The vibes, so immaculate and unimpeachable last season, morphed into frustration Sunday.

The good and bad news: There’s a long season ahead, and so, so much work to do – all with the added benefit of having the defending champion’s target on their backs, a burden felt even by players who weren’t a part of the trophy-raising last season.

Like Christian Ramirez, the striker form Garden Grove who made his Galaxy debut Sunday, finishing without a shot in 63 minutes: “It becomes a championship game for teams to prove themselves against us.”

Or against what’s left of them.

Still, Yoshida said: “We should have done better. Today is totally lost, defeat …  after the game, they are celebrating like [they won] a cup final. We have to be ready for this.”

And Coach Greg Vanney called his new-look team’s performance out of sync in every sense: “disconnected,” “disjointed,” “we weren’t very dynamic.”

“We didn’t look like a team that just won the championship,” he said. “We looked like a team that was fitting some things together still.”

Understandable, no?

But losing at home? No good.

“Thats what I said in the locker room: ‘This can’t happen,’” said Vanney, whose club’s last loss in Carson came on Oct. 21, 2023. “‘This is where we get points, this is where we win. We don’t lose at home.’

“Is it a rallying cry?” he asked. “It’s a wake-up call.”

Rise and try to shine, Galaxy. You’ll always have last season, but now it’s time to get up and get back to work.

​ Orange County Register 

Limited Clippers can’t stop surging Pacers in loss

• February 24, 2025

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton had 29 points and 12 assists for his 16th double-double of the season, Aaron Nesmith scored a season-high 19, and the Indiana Pacers defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 129-111 on Sunday.

Haliburton scored 17 points in the third quarter, when the Pacers (32-23) took a 101-83 lead. The All-Star point guard shot 9 of 14 overall with four 3-pointers.

The Pacers, who are an NBA-best 16-5 in 2025, had seven players score in double digits. Indiana center Myles Turner returned from a three-game injury absence with 17 first-half points.

The short-handed Clippers (31-25) were without leading scorer Norman Powell (left knee soreness) and No. 3 scorer Kawhi Leonard (left foot soreness). Powell averages 24.2 points per game, and Leonard 16.9.

That meant veteran All-Star guard James Harden looked to take more shots — he went 9 of 17 with six 3s to finish with 31 points and 11 assists. Ivica Zubac added 22 points.

Takeaways

Clippers: Leonard has played in just 16 games this season, but Powell’s absence proved problematic. The lack of scoring options became increasingly evident as Los Angeles steadily fell behind.

Pacers: It’s an ideal time to make a run, with two more home games this week and Indiana riding a three-game winning streak. And it helps to have Turner back after he missed three games with a cervical strain.

Key moment

Haliburton buried 3-pointers on three consecutive third-quarter possessions as the Pacers opened a 90-69 lead.

Key stat

Indiana made 13 of 20 shots to outscore Los Angeles 35-28 in the third quarter. The Pacers finished 46-of-84 shooting (54.8%).

Up next

The Clippers visit Detroit on Monday. The Pacers host Denver on Monday.

​ Orange County Register 

Mater Dei’s Brian Campbell catches a break, 1st PGA Tour victory

• February 24, 2025

By DOUG FERGUSON | AP GOLF WRITER

VALLARTA, Mexico — Brian Campbell cashed in on a huge break Sunday when his tee shot in a playoff bounced out of the trees and back into play, leading to a birdie on the second extra hole to win the Mexico Open over Aldrich Potgieter.

Campbell, a Mater Dei product who closed with a 1-under 70 at Vidanta Vallarta, won for the first time since he turned pro a decade ago and the timing could not have been better.

The victory sends him to the Masters, The Players Championship and the PGA Championship, along with five of the $20 million signature events left on the PGA Tour schedule.

“To be in this position is just so unreal,” the 31-year-old Campbell said after calmly holing a birdie putt just inside 4 feet on the 18th green for the win. “I can’t believe it, really.”

Good golf wasn’t enough. Campbell needed the break of a lifetime.

Campbell and Potgieter, who shot 71, each made birdie on the 18th in regulation and began the playoff with a par. Returning to the par-5 closing hole for the third time — a big advantage for the 20-year-old South African with his power — Campbell hit a low, hard fade toward the out-of-bounds stakes.

But it crashed into the trees and popped back out into the rough. He still was 94 yards behind Potgieter, but at least he had a shot. He hit fairway metal to 68 yards short, and hit a lob wedge that checked up just short of the hole.

“You’ve got to get those breaks sometimes,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately I hit a really bad tee shot there, caught the tree, was able to keep it in play and get ourselves in a good position to get a wedge and keep the pressure on.

“I was just so happy that I was able to kind of stay in it to the end.”

Potgieter twice hit the 18th fairway in the playoff and had a 6-iron for his second shot, and both times he made par. The first time was a hard draw over the green. On the second playoff hole, he was posing over a shot on a perfect line until it came up a foot short and into a bunker.

He blasted out some 6 feet by and missed the birdie putt to the left, setting up Campbell for a moment that once seemed so far away.

He was winless in 186 starts on the Korn Ferry and PGA Tour combined, earning $1,487,830 and just over $300,000 on the PGA Tour. His payoff Sunday was $1,260,000.

Potgieter started the final round with a one-shot lead, fell behind with two bogeys to end the front nine, caught up to Campbell with a superb up-and-down on the par-5 14th. They each made one bogey coming in and finished at 20-under 264.

Potgieter, who led the field in driving distance, failed to capitalize on the par-5 closing hole after hitting the fairway each time.

“Hopefully, my time will come soon,” said Potgieter, who won the 2022 British Amateur at age 17 and last year became the youngest to win on the Korn Ferry Tour.

“Pressure is a big thing,” he said. “You can’t beat it. You just have to learn and adjust to it the next time.”

Isaiah Salinda finished with a bogey-free 65 to finish alone in third. Aaron Rai, at No. 29 in the world the highest-ranked player in the field, briefly shared the lead with an approach to 20 inches for eagle on the par-5 sixth. He was 1 over the rest of the way for a 67 and tied for fourth with Ben Griffin (67).

Campbell said it was grit that helped him win, and that goes back further than Sunday.

He played his college golf at Illinois and was the low amateur in the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. He earned a PGA Tour card in 2017 and missed the cut 13 times in 20 starts. One of those was the Zurich Classic, where he received a penalty for slow play in a peculiar ruling because it also involved his partner, Miguel Angel Carballo.

And then it was back to the minor leagues for the next seven years until he was runner-up three times and finished No. 8 on the Korn Ferry Tour to get another crack at the PGA Tour.

The victory gives him a two-year exemption through 2027 and gives him a busy March and April with the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, the Masters and the RBC Heritage all on his schedule.

​ Orange County Register 

Reid Detmers, Chase Silseth allow early runs in Angels’ loss to Guardians

• February 24, 2025

THE GAME: The Angels scored a run in the first and then nothing else till the ninth in a 14-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday at Goodyear Ballpark.

PITCHING REPORT: LHP Reid Detmers gave up two runs in two innings. He allowed three hits in the first inning, but then pitched a 1-2-3 second inning. Detmers said he had a little extra adrenaline from his first inning of competition of the spring, but otherwise felt no difference from the first to second innings. “It was good. The first one you just want to go out there and throw strikes and fill up the zone and have your stuff feel good. I can’t complain. Everything I threw felt good. My body felt good. I felt like I was moving well.” … RHP Chase Silseth gave up a homer to Steven Kwan on his first pitch on his way to allowing four runs in the third inning. Silseth was pulled after throwing 24 pitches and recording one out. Silseth returned to the mound in the fourth, which is permitted in spring training games, and he pitched a perfect inning on 10 pitches. Manager Ron Washington said Silseth, who missed the end of last season with an elbow injury was “out of sorts. He hasn’t pitched in a while. It’s a different animal when you get on the mound and someone is standing in the box thinking with you. It’s not a bullpen. It’s not a live (BP).” … RHP Dakota Hudson pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three. Hudson was once one of the most promising young pitchers in the majors, but he’s struggled over the past few years and is now on a minor-league deal.

HITTING REPORT: The first two automated ball-strike system (ABS) challenges of the spring for the Angels occurred during the same Ryan Noda plate appearance in the fourth inning. First, Cleveland catcher Dom Nuñez challenged a 2-2 pitch that was ruled a ball, and the call was upheld. The next pitch was called strike three, but Noda challenged and won, drawing a walk. Later in the game, a Guardians hitter won a challenge on a pitch that was shown to be less than a half an inch outside. In the ninth inning, Christian Moore challenged a third strike that would have ended the game. It was reversed and he walked, extending the game for the Angels to score a run. … Noda has already walked four times in his first six plate appearances of the spring. He also doubled. … Scott Kingery led off the game with a double and he scored on a Mickey Moniak single.

DEFENSE REPORT: C Chuckie Robinson made a nice play pouncing on a dribbler up the third base line and then throwing to first to get the out. … LF Matthew Lugo dropped a popup, allowing a run to score. … CF Mickey Moniak made a sliding catch on the warning track in left-center. … RF Randy DeJesus threw out a runner at the plate, with C Sebastian Rivero reaching back to make a nice tag.

UP NEXT: Angels (RHP Kyle Hendricks) vs. San Francisco Giants (RHP Mason Black), Monday, 12:05 p.m. PT, at Tempe Diablo Stadium,  FanDuel Sports Network West, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register 

UCLA men celebrate Bill Walton, Cronin’s 500th win

• February 24, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Between celebrating Bill Walton’s memory and UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin earning his 500th career win, history loomed over Pauley Pavilion on Sunday.

UCLA honored the late Walton with video tributes and a halftime ceremony; and Cronin achieved his personal milestone.

Both of those moments will be etched in UCLA lore.

The Bruins (20-8 overall, 11-6 Big Ten) grinded out a 69-61 win over Ohio State (15-13, 7-10). They overcame offensive shortcomings, poor officiating — according to Cronin who called out the “lack of foul calls in the first half and around the rim” — and the overall malaise that shadowed this recent homestand against a pair of Big Ten bottom-feeders.

“All wins are good wins,” Cronin said. “It’s late February. … I think we overcame adversity with the way the game was called today.”

There was no moaning from the crowd about missed free throws on Sunday, as UCLA maximized the foul calls it did get, making 13 of 15 from the line in the second half (15 of 20 overall).

In fact, fans cheered in encouragement after Eric Dailey Jr. missed a pair of foul shots, Cronin inspiring them for better or worse. They pleaded for Aday Mara’s presence and grew tense with every stagnant offensive possession. They backed their coach with boos toward the referees, and in heeding his words, they were rewarded with a win that, while ugly, made Cronin proud.

“If you’re going to make any type of run,” he said. “You’re going to have to win when the ball doesn’t go in.”

The Bruins have done that on multiple occasions this season. In their 65-62 win against Gonzaga on Dec. 28, they shot 36.4%. In a 65-60 win at Washington on Jan. 24, they shot 41.1%. In a 63-61 win over No. 14 Michigan State on Feb. 4, they shot 35%.

On Sunday, they made up for a 40% shooting night by grabbing 15 offensive rebounds and holding the Buckeyes to 31.7% from the field.

UCLA’s first Sunday game of the season, which tipped at 12:45 p.m., seemingly had too early of a wake-up call.

But it wasn’t too early for UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr., who scored a game-high 20 points, knocking down three 3-pointers and grabbing eight rebounds.

Dailey had averaged just 6.8 points over the last five games.

“I’ve been in a lull for the past few games, everybody knows that,” Dailey said. “The preparation and the work that I put in, that finally showed.”

Dailey scored the first nine points of the second half, largely benefitting from UCLA’s ability to grab offensive rebounds. After a trio of missed layups, the ball found Dailey for a 3-pointer from the top of the key. He then grabbed an Aday Mara miss to score a putback layup, before curling off a screen from Mara for an elbow jumper.

Before Dailey’s eruption, the UCLA offense again looked disjointed.

UCLA didn’t score a point from the 17:01 mark to the 11:29 mark of the first half. The Bruins’ ball movement was often stagnant, but their suffocating defense made up for it.

Mara was especially effective defensively, deterring the Buckeyes’ drives by hedging pick-and-roll actions and coming up with a pair of blocks.

“I thought Aday’s energy really picked up,” Cronin said. “He changed the game.”

The 7-foot-3 Spaniard had played just an average of 14 minutes over the last five games. At halftime, though, Mara said Cronin challenged his toughness and rebounding and he was determined to respond. He fought through contact, giving the Bruins a presence in the paint, while scoring nine second-half points.

Ohio State switched into a 2-3 zone with less than 15 minutes to go and that’s when a sluggish UCLA’s offense came to life. The Bruins passed around the zone. Dylan Andrews hit Skyy Clark for a pair of threes. Clark delivered entry passes to Mara who finished with a pair of dunks and a hook shot that extended the lead into double digits.

Clark added another 3-pointer with 41 seconds left to help shut the door on the Buckeyes.

Kobe Johnson went 1 of 8 from the field, but grabbed 13 rebounds (six offensive), as Cronin praised his sticktoitiveness.

“He keeps playing when things don’t go his way,” Cronin said. “That’s what really consistent winners do.”

Four days after Cronin challenged his players to focus on aspects of winning — such as defense and rebounding, rather than their volume of shots — they responded. They looked past their misses to execute their defensive game plan and dominate the glass.

The game was sloppy, but it’s a win just like the other 499 on Cronin’s resume and it’s one that the Bruins can learn from when shots aren’t falling and the going gets tough down the stretch.

​ Orange County Register 

No. 4 USC women celebrate senior day with win over No. 25 Illinois

• February 24, 2025

LOS ANGELES — The USC women’s basketball team celebrated senior day on Sunday, honoring five players who were instrumental in elevating a program from obscurity to national powerhouse.

Forward Kiki Iriafen, guard Talia von Oelhoffen, forward Rayah Marshall, Center Clarice Akunwafo and guard Dominique Darius each walked on the court accompanied by family members before the game at Galen Center. It was a moment to be toasted by the fans and coaching staff, none more so than Marshall who has been one of the cornerstones of the Trojans program for the past four years.

Marshall posted a double with 12 points, 13 rebounds, to go along with five assists and four steals in helping No. 4-ranked USC to a 76-66 victory Sunday over No. 25 Illinois.

“This is just what we call Juicy Rayah – 12 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, four steals – but she’s really the catalyst for getting us going,” Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.

With the victory, USC will face No. 3 UCLA for the Big Ten regular-season title next week. The Trojans defeated the Bruins 10 days ago, knocking them out of the No. 1 spot and will be looking to avenge the stinging loss.

The Bruins, which beat Iowa on Sunday, are 26-1 overall, 14-1 in conference play; the Trojans are 25-2, 15-1.

It’s another moment in the Trojans climb from a sub-.500 team to the national stage, a move started in 2021 when then-new Coach Lindsay Gottlieb, who called Marshall to convince the center to stay with the program. Marshall listened and set aside any thoughts of transferring.

“This culture shift here and becoming a winning program was hard and I think it probably would’ve been easier (for Marshall) to be like, yeah, good luck coach. Do that on your own and I’m going to go somewhere else,” Gottlieb recalled. “Seriously, we had to get the right people on the bus, the people not wanting to be here off the bus and then that’s a process.

“(Marshall) has grown as a player. She’s grown as a human being. She had a generational talent walk in last year (JuJu Watkins) and she embraced her. Then we have a chance to get Kiki this year and she embraces her and all while she continues to improve herself and has her fingerprints all over making the program better. I think those are the things that are going to be as lasting as her blocks and her points.”

Watkins, the Trojans’ 6-2 superstar, shared the spotlight with her teammates Sunday, many of whom were playing their final regular-season home game.

While Watkins posted an impressive 22 points, five rebounds, three assists, one steal and four blocked shots, Iriafen was equally notable with 22 points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocked shots.

Marshall, from Lynwood High, said she could remember a time when there were few remarkable moments in her freshman season when the Trojans finished 12-16.

“I remember my freshman year we would come in and the games literally looked like a closed scrimmage and to now, I mean it’s just really been a culture shift. We bring in Coach G and her staff, they do a good job recruiting, not just great players, but set the jersey aside and really good humans like Kiki, too.”

The Trojans’ commanding finish Sunday – they opened a 13-point lead late in the game – didn’t tell the whole story. For the second consecutive game, the Trojans needed to overcome mistakes and flaws to come out ahead.

The Trojans missed their first 14 shots over the latter part of the second quarter and early third quarter, an unusual in-game slump for a team averaging 82.2 points. The Illini didn’t waste that opportunity and used the lapse to tie the game at 40 points apiece at the 7:42 mark.

“Illinois is a really good team,” Gottlieb said. “They’re a Top 25 team. We knew they would come here with a lot of fight, and they did. I thought the difference was our energy level, led by Kiki and Rayah. We really just kind of turned up our juice and that’s what gets everyone going.”

Marshall kicked-started the Trojans’ stagnant offense with back-to-back layups, the second off a steal, to pull USC ahead 45-42. Watkins followed immediately with a basket for a 47-42 lead.

By the end of the third quarter, USC held a comfortable 57-47 advantage.

“We have such athleticism and sometimes when we just need to change the pace (and) it starts with our full-court press and then the players do all the effort,” Gottlieb said. “And I thought that got us going.”

The Trojans got off to a quick start opening a nine-point lead late in the first quarter. Watkins drove the lane to cap a 11-1 run for a 24-15 cushion. But the moment was fleeting and by the end of the first half, the Trojans were fighting to hold off the Illini and held a slim 40-36 lead.

Watkins stole the ball and drove in for a layup to cap a 9-4 run and help USC turn a 26-22 lead at the end of the first to a 37-26 lead with 5:46 left. After the Illini scored, Watkins scored another layup off an assist by von Oelhoffen.

Illinois adjusted midway through the second quarter, clamping down inside and forcing the Trojans to shoot from outside, where they struggled. The Trojans connected on just 3 of 10 3-point attempts in the first half.

The Illini offense then went to work, outscoring USC 8-1 to pull within four points to close out the first half.

“I thought our team did a really good job of feeding off their (starters) energy today. And we got contributions from a lot of places,” Gottlieb said. “We can still be better. Illinois is good. We played into their hands at times, but I’m really pleased with getting a win for these guys on senior day and now every game moving forward is a championship-type game. So, the stakes get higher. That’s going to be fun.”

​ Orange County Register 

Kings, NHL host ‘Skate for LA Strong’ to aid wildfire relief

• February 24, 2025

LOS ANGELES –– The Kings and a star-studded assortment of entertainers, athletes and influencers came together for Sunday’s “Skate for LA Strong” at Crypto.com Arena, a fundraiser for and homage to the courageous responders and fire victims throughout Southern California.

January brought immeasurable and unprecedented devastation, particularly from the Eaton Canyon and Pacific Palisades blazes. The Kings were the first team to have an event canceled as a result, with their match against the Calgary Flames being postponed on Jan. 8. By then, the ravaging effects of the infernos had already extended light years beyond such minor inconveniences.

As Al Michaels said Sunday, it was better to “look through the windshield than the rearview mirror,” with supportive events like these offering some assistance and direction forward.

Sunday’s tournament was won by Team Red, which was coached by actors Vince Vaughn and Cobie Smulders and featured a number of former hockey stars, including Dany Heatley, Natalie Darwitz and hall of famer Jeremy Roenick, who even got into a pretend tussle with pop singer Justin Bieber.

But the action on the ice took a backseat to the solidarity shown by both the local community and global outreach to the region in the wake of the fires.

“Being a part of something bigger than yourself is what community and all those things are all about,” said 6’7”, 330-pound former Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth, who most appreciated the “time, effort, energy, love and passion” that people in the area and around the world dedicated to disaster relief.

Whitworth developed that strong sense of compassion as a senior at LSU in Baton Rouge, La., a mere 75 minutes from New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina caused damage that Whitworth understood still lingered today.

“For me, it was a reminder when people would come up to me and say, ‘I lost everything, but I still have my LSU season tickets, so, please, you guys go win on Saturday,’ to give them just that reprieve to get away for a minute, think about something else and be inspired,” Whitworth said. “As athletes, I think it’s one of the greatest obligations we have.”

Whitworth wasn’t the only NFL star lending a massive hand. At the arena were Julian Edelman and Matt Leinart, while Matthew Stafford and Travis Kelce joined Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky among those who offered video messages. Cooperstown inductee, Minnesotan and Twins icon Joe Mauer joked that he “never thought he’d leave Minnesota to play a hockey game.”

Whitworth also wasn’t the lone empathetic figure who’d previously witnessed tragedy and responded with kindness. Actor Jay Harrington, who played on winning team, became emotional before the event in recanting his interactions at his Santa Monica pizzeria with families whose homes were part of the fires’ unfathomable toll. A Boston native, he also remembered how his hometown rallied following the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

Kings goalie guru Bill Ranford felt close to the calamity in more ways than one. His father was a firefighter for the Canadian Armed Forces and Ranford’s son-in-law followed in those footsteps. Additionally, Ranford was tethered to the harrowing experiences of those impacted by the Maui fires of 2023 –– he and his wife are frequent visitors to the island –– and the victims of the Fort McMurray fires in 2016, which prompted Ranford’s former club the Edmonton Oilers and their archrivals from Calgary to each make substantial contributions to reconstruction efforts in Northern Alberta.

“It’s catastrophic, there’s no other way of putting it. The number of families it affected was crazy, and a lot of these homes were family homes for years and years and years,” Ranford said. “It’s so disappointing that it happened, and thank goodness the fire departments from all over the world all stepped in and did what they could.”

Not only were the stands populated by responders and affected families, but there were several valiant emergency personnel peppered among the four teams that laced up their skates Sunday.

“It means a lot. My crew and I were there on the first day of the Palisades fire. Immediately, there was an outpouring of love and support for us and what we were doing, which we felt,” said Jason Northgrave of the El Segundo Fire Department. “To do something like this is just phenomenal, it’s a blessing, we’re thankful for it, and plus it’s a fun game to play.”

Roger Sackaroff, a native New Yorker who once worked for NHL.com, said his calling to service as a firefighter and EMT rang out in the chaos of Sept. 11, 2001.

“I was in the office at 6th Ave. and 51st St. when the planes hit the towers, and over the course of that time, it just changed my perspective on my role in the world and what I was doing,” Sackaroff said.

Sackaroff said the response from the community, its sports franchises and other entities was “overwhelming,” especially given that most first responders were accustomed to their diligence and heroism going unheralded.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the job that all of our firefighters did. Our guys were there the first day, but over the course of that time, it was a rainbow of fire engines,” said Sackaroff, pointing out that the recovery efforts were still very much ongoing. “It’s like the 4 Nations [Face-Off], everybody comes together from different teams to get the job done and be the best they can be.”

​ Orange County Register 

Hiding in plain sight: Film shines a light on ageism

• February 24, 2025

When her 20-year-old grandson comes upon hard times, Barbara takes him in.

But her generosity backfires. Thinking she’s snooping, Erik becomes physically abusive when he finds her cleaning his room. Soon he starts demanding money, issuing implied threats to force trips to the bank.

Barbara’s friends are concerned but powerless to intervene.

This vignette of elder abuse is a key component of a film titled “Making the Invisible Visible,” created and produced by the Laguna Woods group Community Bridge Builders.

The film, which will be shown at the Laguna Woods Performing Arts Center on Monday, Feb. 24, puts a glaring but overdue spotlight on the pervasive yet often ignored or misperceived scourge of ageism.

Ageism is “a form of segregation, apartheid for the old,” says the film’s executive producer, Rebeca Gilad. “And then there is also the politicization of ageism. Lastly, let’s also not forget ageism in oneself.”

While the film focuses on the indignities of aging in a youth-obsessed world, it also touches on discrimination based on race, gender, disability and sexual orientation – all insidious enough that even those at the receiving end often don’t realize what is coming at them.

The film consists of several skits, such as “Loss of Relevance,” “Becoming Invisible,” “When Does Old Age Begin,” “Elderspeak,” “Follow the Money,” “Gray Hair in the Workplace,” “It’s Up to Barbara” and “Who Me, Ageist?”

The skit “Follow the Money” illustrates the stranglehold the beauty industry has on women, and increasingly on men. The episode is related through the eyes of a grandchild who is aghast that her aunt may die from botched plastic surgery. Through a series of questions, she forces her mother to admit that she too had such surgery.

The child’s questions imply that plastic surgery is inconceivable to her, yet the segment also touches on the subject of shaming. Who benefits from our fear of aging and how will its tentacles reach the young?

In “Gray Hair in the Workplace,” an older woman is fired from her job after previously garnering awards for excellence. She hears that her job is no longer needed, but shortly after she is dismissed, the position goes to a younger man.

In “Who Me, Ageist?,” two younger women at a restaurant exhort a friend to hide her walker so as not to expose them all as “old.”

And in “The Last Game,” friends discuss prejudice in the health care system as it touches upon aging as well as race and sexual preference. Should Black patients seek Black doctors, should gays seek gay doctors, and should women use only female doctors?

Hide that walker, dye that hair and see that plastic surgeon is advice that is ostensibly well-meant, but, as the videos illustrate, it’s anything but.

The vignettes are based largely on research by Gilad.

“All examples (in the film) come from the real world,” she said. “I witnessed an incident like the one with the walker in Virginia.”

With a PhD in gerontology, Gilad drove the project in part inspired by her love of aging family members.

“I have always been interested in age and ageism,” she said. “My grandfather was a good role model.”

She also cited moving to Laguna Woods as an eye opener: “I looked at the 55- to 65-year-olds and how they treat the older residents 85 to 100.”

The film will serve as the foundation to workshops on combating ageism, Gilad said. The workshops are based on the methodology of Paulo Freire, a Brazilian pedagogue, who “believed that educators and students teach each other based on their life experiences,” she said.

The film will also serve as a trigger for conversations within small groups on participants’ life experiences. Trained group leaders will ask questions and lead participants to gain awareness of themselves and find their own paths to combat prejudices against older people.

At the root of conveying this knowledge is language. A training manual provides definitions of terms from “age” to “wellderly,” the latter meaning older people who are healthy.

“Gendered ageism” refers to differences in ageism as experienced by women and men. And, of course, “gray tsunami” refers to the growing number of older people. (In 2022 there were 58 million people over age 65 in the U.S; that number is projected to reach 82 million by 2050, according to the Population Reference Bureau in Washington.)

For those involved in the project, it has been a labor of love with deeply personal meaning.

Ed Green, 76, said that not only has he personally experienced ageism, he has overheard comments by people in their 20s about the limitations of older people.

“I have experienced antisemitism directed at me as well as comments about my age and physical abilities,” he said. “I believe ageism limits not only the older person but also the person or group fostering it.”

As a workshop facilitator, his goal will be to challenge the beliefs that many older people have of themselves.

“Aging just refers to a normal process,” he said, “not a list of things ‘older’ people can or cannot do.”

His wife, Judy Green, 70, is also among those training to conduct workshops. For her, the goal of helping increase self-awareness and reaching out to the community comes from her experiences teaching students studying to become social workers at CSULB.

“Helping students solidify field placements in agencies serving an aging population taught me to navigate meaningful discussions of our preconceptions of aging in small group seminars,” she said.

For Valerie Lipow, 70, ageism is “just another type of prejudice that distances neighbors.”

She said she experienced ageism while looking for work though not while on the job.

“I’m a woman, physically disabled and Jewish,” Lipow said. “Stereotypes abound all around me. Decisions made by others may have limited me but not blocked me.”

As a workshop leader, she hopes to “engage learners into looking closer at their assumptions about older adults.”

Sunita Saxena, 75, grew up seeing grandparents being treated with respect and dignity in her native India.

“To build a society here where every elderly person has rights inspired me to be a trainer,” she said.

She said she experienced vicarious prejudice in the U.S. when her daughter’s fellow students said everyone in her family worked at 7-11 stores. Saxena also once was told that she’d be more attractive if she dyed her gray hair.

“I want to build awareness that aging is a normal process and not an illness,” she said.

Dennis Backer, 78, helped write the script for “Follow the Money.”

“I remember being with my elderly mother at times when she was not spoken to directly by salespeople or even doctors,” he said. “They spoke to me, as though she could not understand or make her own decisions.

“I want to raise awareness about the lack of respect for the knowledge and experience that older individuals bring to the table,” he said.

Myung Sung’s interest in promoting seniors’ well-being intensified when she moved to Laguna Woods.

“As a retired nurse-educator, I want to contribute what I learned throughout my career and life in general,” she said. “I have noticed that many people are influenced by the external environment and become depressed and intimidated, such as others’ negative comments about one’s appearance, speech, illness and many areas of life.

“Ageism can destroy one person’s spirit that eventually would affect one’s life/world view.”

“Making the Invisible Visible” will be screened Monday, Feb. 24, at 4 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. Admission is free to residents and their guests. For more information, email [email protected].

​ Orange County Register